Comments on: A Math Puzzle: Something's Not Quite Right Here ...

By: Christophe

Christophe — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 19:48:04 +0000

The little devil on my left shoulder makes me do that in my store : it works!

Promotion, end-stand merchandising, any sales, DOES NOT warranty a better price ; keep your eyes open dear consumer, and please come again!

By: dee

dee — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 18:50:09 +0000

Whatever the reason is, This is pretty funny.

By: Bonnie L.

Bonnie L. — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 03:11:44 +0000

That is why I always look for the price per unit that is usually found on the tag in the corner. If I can't find it on the tag, I pull out my cell phone's calculator and figure out the price per unit. It's a great money saving activity.

By: JME

JME — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 18:16:40 +0000

Only time I've ever encountered items in Walmart ending in $.00 was when they were on sale. It seems to me that the individual units are on clearance sale, and the two packs are just on promotional pricing. At full price, the two pack would be cheaper than buying two individual deodorant sticks.

By: Tweeker

Tweeker — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:03:40 +0000

Black > pink, it holds onto the bogomips better.

By: heather

heather — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:33:09 +0000

Being a wally world peon, I recognized the tags immediately, and since I just got off of my last shift before my weekend, I am greatly amused.
They do stuff like this all the time. A few weeks ago, a customer came up to me confused as to why a pink mp3 player was $34 while the same exact player in black was $44.

By: Brian Lutz

Brian Lutz — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:18:37 +0000

Here's one I ran into recently: A KFC coupon offering 5 of their Snacker sandwiches for $4.99, when buying them at the regular menu price would be only $4.95 for five of them:

http://thesledgehammer.wordpress.com/2008/07/29/we-do-chicken-right-ma th-not-so-much/

By: escapenguin

escapenguin — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 04:08:39 +0000

I'm surprised the tags are even in the right place. Having worked as a vendor I found most Walmarts were understaffed, behind in setting up planograms and tagging because they were so busy restocking and cleaning up after the cretins that shop there. Things like this happen too. You have to really pay attention when you shop. They do prey on ignorance, I've heard them talk about it.

By: Amelyn

Amelyn — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:55:05 +0000

I've seen something similar in a store once. They were doing a clearance sale on Cadbury's Cream Egg. They labeled "3 candies for $4" and right beside they were selling a 4-pack of the same candies for $3. I'm wondering if this picture will end on FailBlog?

By: WordyGrrl

WordyGrrl — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:30:50 +0000

Also, it's a sad sign that we are consumer whores when we can tell what store that is just by looking at the price label.

By: WordyGrrl

WordyGrrl — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:28:58 +0000

So many people still believe that "buy in bulk and SAVE!" stuff, that they automatically assume it's always true. One of the reasons I don't shop at Costco is because the price per pound on meats, for example is the same as my local grocery. But I don't have room to store 50 pounds of chicken breasts anymore than I want to burn up the gas driving across town to "buy in bulk."

By: Liz

Liz — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 02:06:39 +0000

Yeah, I think tankhard might be confusing 3 with 5. And English with some other, previously unknown language.

That might be a sale price for the one-pack, or it might not. At one of my local Wal-Marts, a small bottle of olive oil works out to be cheaper than a big one. I think they count on people assuming that bulk = cheap.

By: chris a

chris a — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:45:23 +0000

That's the deodorant I buy and I saw it like that a couple months ago. I thought the same thing as someone above, that maybe they were just counting on consumers not paying attention to price and buying the 2 pack.

By: SenorMysterioso

SenorMysterioso — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:37:30 +0000

re: thomas

that is exactly how I read, erm... deciphered tankhard's post. It sounds like that store's sign was fine.

By: Shelby

Shelby — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:36:07 +0000

Can I figure it out?

Yes!

Retailers think we're idiots! I don't buy products whose marketers or packaging teams or retailers try to fleece me.

By: Johnny Cat

Johnny Cat — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 01:20:43 +0000

Red-

Correct. Like those sweepstakes that have language like if your card has the secret code, you *could* win 1 million dollars. Didn't say you will.

By: red

red — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:55:26 +0000

It's actually against the law to lie in an advertisement (or packaging). Often you can catch an imminent "screwing" by paying attention to the wording on a package. "Buy two and save" is very different from saying "buy two and save X amount of money" The first is very ambiguous and could just as easily be sayind "buy two and save them on your shelf" Keep this rule in mind and you'll suddenly catch all sorts of things.

By: thomas

thomas — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 00:20:37 +0000

i don`t understand what tankhard is taking about. can anyone explain? it sounds like the store he buys milk sells a two pack for 3 dollars, while the competitor sells each individual unit for 2.50. you're saving 2 dollars shopping there so what's the problem?

By: Josh

Josh — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:58:12 +0000

That is quite common in Walmart. They do this likely to get rid of excess stock of a certain item. My deodorant will switch prices every so often so that the singles are cheaper than the double packs but most of the time the double pack is about $0.60-0.70 cheaper.

By: Neatoramawontsendmeapassword

Neatoramawontsendmeapassword — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:24:03 +0000

They're betting that their customers can't do math.

By: martinjester

martinjester — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 22:16:02 +0000

I have had this situation several times at WalMart. Their No-Rub Contact Lens Solution seems to switch back and forth between singles being cheaper and the two pack being cheaper. Everytime I go to restock I have to do some quick math to figure out which to buy.

By: SenorMysterioso

SenorMysterioso — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:41:56 +0000

I thought the one on the right may have more product because the package looks slightly larger but the price tags say they are the same

66.46 cents per ounce for the two pack
61.53 cents per ounce for a single stick

I suspect that the singles are on sale though because of the star on the price tag, which, is not on the price tag of the two pack

By: tankhard

tankhard — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 21:38:58 +0000

there is a store in chicago called food for less and I needed milk the milk was two for three dollars and it had a sign compare to a competitor with was $2.50 each I told the manager and he didn't understand why that sign was wrong for there store

By: CheeseDuck

CheeseDuck — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:50:16 +0000

I think the picture makes perfect sense!

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 20:10:51 +0000

Leave it to the way-too-happy yellow dot. My wife has seen similar inconsistencies at Sam's Club, where buying in bulk is naturally more economical, right?

I once went to a local big-box lumber store to buy some nails for a project. I needed about five pounds, but noticed that the 1lb boxes sold for 99 cents, and the 5lb for $5.99. Guess which way I went?

Quite a bargain, buying in bulk.

By: elfi21

elfi21 — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 19:35:50 +0000

Save gas by driving driving to the store once instead of twice?!