Regional supermarket chain Stop & Shop said Wednesday that it would install kiosks in all of its U.S. stores to make digital-only coupons more accessible to customers.
Stop & Shop, which operates in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Rhode Island, said the kiosks will let customers scan a loyalty card or enter a phone number and quickly get access to any digital coupons or personalized offers.
The kiosks, known as Savings Stations, are expected to be installed in all 365 Stop & Shop locations by early January, the company said.
Digital-only deals are advertised online or on store shelves. They can offer significant savings but generally require customers to electronically clip a coupon located in a grocer’s app or on its website.
In 2022, a coalition of consumer groups sent letters to a dozen supermarket chains, including Kroger and Stop & Shop, urging them to make sure deals are available in both digital and non-digital formats.
The groups, which included Consumer Reports, Consumer Action, the Public Interest Research Group and the National Consumers League, said many shoppers may lack smartphones, internet access or the technical savvy to figure out how digital-only coupons work.
Smartphone access varies widely by age group in the U.S., according to a 2021 study by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center. The study found that 96% of people ages 18 to 29 own a smartphone, compared to 61% of those 65 and older. The same study found that 25% of people 65 or older don’t use the internet.
Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky said Wednesday that Stop & Shop was the first chain to respond to the group’s request. Dworsky said the kiosks would help customers who have been shut out of deals previously. But he also thinks they will help regular app users, since they give shoppers access to all of a store’s deals at once.
Stop & Shop said it started piloting the Savings Station late last year. The kiosk give shoppers a printout of the digital coupons loaded onto their loyalty cards if they want to reference them while shopping.
Stop & Shop President Roger Wheeler said the chain was hearing from customers who felt they were missing out on deals.
“It ensures that our customers can easily access all of our great deals, especially during the holiday season when savings are top of mind,” Wheeler said in a statement.
FILE - A digital-only coupon for Pampers brand baby wipes is displayed at a Kroger in Ann Arbor, Michigan, on Nov. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Dee-Ann Durbin)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Hannah Kobayashi, the missing Hawaii woman whose disappearance prompted a massive search and a missing persons investigation in Los Angeles, has been found safe, police said Wednesday.
Kobayashi vanished last month in Los Angeles. She missed her connecting flight and planned to explore the city the next day, but subsequent text messages to her family — and an inability to then reach her — alarmed them so much that they later reported her missing.
Other details about her disappearance, as well as where and how she was found, were not immediately available Wednesday, but police previously said she was “voluntarily missing” and had gone on her own will across the border into Mexico.
“We are happy to learn that Hannah has been found safe," the Los Angeles Police Department said in a statement. “Now that we have this new information, this has become a private matter and we will wrap up our investigation.”
Kobayashi's mother and sister, in a statement through their lawyer, were the first to announce Wednesday that she had been found safe.
“We are incredibly relieved and grateful that Hannah has been found safe,” Brandi Yee and Sydni Kobayashi wrote. “This past month has been an unimaginable ordeal for our family, and we kindly ask for privacy as we take the time to heal and process everything we have been through. We want to express our heartfelt thanks to everyone who supported us during this difficult time. Your kindness and concern have meant the world to us.”
Kobayashi, a budding photographer from Maui, was heading to New York City on Nov. 8 for a new job and to visit relatives when she missed a connecting flight during a stop at Los Angeles International Airport. She told her family she was sleeping at the airport that night and texted them the next day to say she was sightseeing in Los Angeles.
Her family reported her missing to law enforcement on Nov. 11 after relatives received “strange and cryptic, just alarming” text messages, according to her aunt Larie Pidgeon.
“Once the family started pressing, she went dark,” Pidgeon told The Associated Press late last month. After the texts on Nov. 11, her phone “just went dead,” Pidgeon said.
Family members, friends and local volunteers searched for Hannah in Los Angeles. Hannah’s father, Ryan Kobayashi, was among those who flew in from Hawaii to help in the search. He was found dead Nov. 24 in a parking lot near LA International Airport, according to the county medical examiner. Kobayashi’s family confirmed Ryan Kobayashi's death in a statement the same day, saying they “endured a devastating tragedy” and that he died by suicide.
Police said Hannah Kobayashi walked into Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing about 125 miles (201 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles on Nov. 12, the day after her family reported her missing. Authorities made the announcement after reviewing security video from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Kobayashi disappeared voluntarily as she sought to “step away from modern connectivity,” Jim McDonnell, the LA police chief, previously said.
FILE - Ryan Kobayashi, center, holds a picture of his missing daughter Hannah Kobayashi outside Crypto.com Arena, Thursday, Nov. 21, 2024 in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
