Safeway Return Policy: Receipt Refunds, No-Receipt Credit & Produce

Safeway's return rules sit on its Fresh Guarantee page, which combines a produce money back guarantee with the store's refund terms. What you get back depends on whether you have a receipt, how you paid and where you bought the item.

Returning an item with a receipt

Present the product and the receipt, and Safeway issues a full refund ¹. The refund is issued based on your original method of payment, so the form it takes can differ from what you expect ¹.

How Safeway pays your refund

If you paid by check and the refund is more than $20, plan for the 7-day wait before the cash is paid out ¹.

Returning an item without a receipt

Safeway can still take a return without a receipt, with conditions:

• Refunds over $10 without a receipt require manager approval ¹.
• Approved refunds are issued as merchandise credit, not cash ¹.
• The credit is for the lowest selling price of the item in the past 30 days, which may be less than you paid ¹.

Alcohol and tobacco returns

A receipt is required for all alcohol, cigarette and tobacco product refunds, and the person making the return must be of legal age ¹.

The Safeway produce guarantee

All produce items are covered by Safeway's money back guarantee ¹. If you're not 100% satisfied with the freshness of your produce, you can request a full refund ¹. To ask for it, talk to a store associate at any Safeway or contact Safeway by phone, web, mail or chat ¹. If you noticed the problem at home after shopping in store, bring the items back with the receipt if you have it, or contact Safeway by phone, web or mail ¹.

Drive Up & Go and delivery orders

Orders placed through Safeway's Online Grocery Ordering Service have their own satisfaction guarantee. You can return any item you aren't satisfied with, for any reason, for a full refund or credit on account, apart from a few exclusions ¹.

• Deadline: notify the driver at delivery or the store associate at pickup, or contact Safeway within seven days after delivery or pickup ¹.
• Not returnable once accepted: baby formula, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products ¹.
• Refund form: a credit to the payment method you used or, if you prefer, a credit on account for your next online order ¹.
• Not covered: damage from improper use, storage or accidents after delivery or pickup, and ordinary wear and tear on durable goods ¹. You may have rights under a manufacturer's warranty where one applies ¹.

Freshness refunds on third-party delivery orders

If items you ordered through a third party such as Instacart, Uber Eats or DoorDash weren't fresh, you can request a refund through that service or come into any Safeway store ¹. Safeway also accepts these requests by phone, web, mail or chat ¹.

This answer sits in the FAQ for Safeway's produce money back guarantee ¹. The page doesn't cover other returns of third-party orders, such as a non-produce item you simply don't want, so check with the service you ordered through for those.

Quick tips

• Keep your receipt: it gets you a full refund instead of merchandise credit at the lowest recent price ¹.
• Check delivery and pickup orders right away, since the contact window is seven days ¹.
• Bring a receipt for any alcohol or tobacco return; without one there's no refund ¹.

Comparing grocers? See the Publix return policy, the ALDI return policy or all store return policies. More Safeway guides are on the Safeway store page.