Why Learning Math is Important

My husband and I would always laugh that the two deodorants shrink-wrapped together at Wal-Mart would cost more than buying two separate ones. "Extra money and some useless plastic!" Only two times in years has it been marked with a cheaper prices.

well, wal-mart is nice enough to post the cost per ounce, which is in the orange box. All you have to do is pick the milk with the lowest cost per ounce, and you are getting the best deal. No math required :)

What I like to know is where is milk $2.25 a gallon? It is almost $4 here.

So if you want two gallons of milk do you have to go through the line twice to avoid paying an extra $.50?

If you only want a half gallon can you ask them to ring you up for a full gallon to save $.22?

Soymilk's expensive... If only regular milk didn't taste like snot to me.

I'd buy a 1/2 gallon because that's all I drink in a week. And I'd buy it somewhere other than Walmart so the dairy that makes the milk has enough income to stay in business.. When walmarts pricing puts all the suppliers out of business we'll regret such short term notions... Buy local! Support your neighbor.

you can find milk that wont go bad in a week. Well... Perhaps that's an advantage to having a large dairy farm locally.

Milk that does not go bad in a week is usually the organic kind.
I hade learned about "price shopping" waaaay back in home-ec classes. The teacher told us to look out for things that look like a good deal. This was back in the 80's. That wal-mart milk price thing is a perfect example.
I shop at a local independent store that actually carries locally produced milk. So I guess I never would have seen how wal-mart scams their customers.

pomokey:- Except it may be wrong. Retailers are supposed to make unit prices in the UK, but the units appear to be left to their choice, so not only can they choose units that make it hard to compare, but also there's more scope for errors.

Also - the larger packet isn't always the cheapest. Heinz ketchup is often cheaper in the second largest pack in UK stores.

It's important to remember that buying more than one needs just because of perceived or actual value is more of a resource strain on this planet. If 25,000 people a day bought the 1 gallon from Walmart when all they needed for 4 days supply was a 1/2 gallon, then that would be 12,500 gallons thrown out in the end. If that cycle repeats itself with all 25,000 people all year (approx 90 times), then it is approx 1,125,000 gallons. Approximating, this is about 4 semi truck loads.
Remember- it is pulled from extra cows out in more managed fields being maintained, fed, injected (more pharmaceutical use), etc. and more factory time producing, energy(petroleum) for heating to homogenize, plastic for packaging, gas and truck and road maintenance for shipping, refrigerator space for storing, and heavier strain on recycling/landfill services. Look at all the extra emissions/resource use involved in over-purchasing.
Now translate this to EVERYTHING that is bought/ consumed in a year of one's life. A seemingly insignificant buying decision has actually much larger consequences than we notice in our day to day living.

I don't know about milk, but my wife and I started buying eggs from a local farmer at our farmer's market. I couldn't believe the difference in taste (and size). We still occasionally buy eggs at the grocery store (a matter of convenience) but we now prefer the ones from the farmer's market.

I was told that there would be no math.

Not a skill that is even taught anymore.
Teachers are too busy teaching the crap kids are tested on to be able to teach stuff kids can use.

It's a markup for the convenience of not having half your milk go bad if your household don't use very much of it.

I've fallen victim to the assumption that everything at Walmart is cheaper than elsewhere... often not true.

Some organic milk will last longer than your nonorganic choice... if the store only carries a national organic brand, then it might have been extra pasteurized so they can ship it across the country. I use Parmalat (ultra-pasteurized) for my coffee at work because it will last forever even at a few teaspoons a day.

I'm with Richard.

I've even seen a sign at WalMart that was supposedly a rollback, but the new "lower" price was actually higher than the previous price, posted right there on the sign!

We go through a gallon of milk a day (myself, the wife, and 3 sons). Here in WNY we pay about that price, roughly $2.50 a gallon, but we never buy it from Wal-Mart.

For one, it tastes horrible. For two, there are so many local dairies it seems silly to get milk trucked in from 600 miles away versus milk bottled 10 miles away.

I'm lactose intolerant, so I purchase Lactaid. It's always expensive :( But then the milk itself will last for a couple of weeks.

a reminder "It’s important to remember that buying more than....."

What's really important is to ignore 15 lines of meaningless drivel by some weirdo. Why don't you figure out how much of the earth's resources are wasted by idiots breathing in oxygen? You need to relax some.

Courageous Grace "I’m lactose intolerant..."

Plus military intolerant but we won't mention that will we.

(someone left the door open again)

Hey Sparks-

Just checking how people responded, since I have posted only a few comments on anything on ANY website. I was motivated (and had a few free minutes) to give some MEANINGFUL information to help further peoples connection between how they live and the breaking down of our ecological, economic, and social systems.
I build non-toxic and deep green residential homes for a living, and am the director for regional green building conferences. So I guess I am a wierdo, because I know that my choices and actions on this planet make a difference. How do you spend your day?>........
If this is the quality of interaction that Neatorama readers are capable of, we're hosed.

A reminder, I doubt anyone read your post anyway.

"It’s important to remember that buying more than one needs just because of perceived or actual value is more of a resource strain on this planet. If 25,000 people a day bought the 1 gallon from Walmart when all they needed for 4 days supply was a 1/2 gallon, then that would be 12,500 gallons thrown out in the end."

...what?! Unless milk expires in 4 days (or everyone drinks milk only in 4-day bursts amid weeks of abstinence), why wouldn't the rest of the gallon get consumed after 4 more days?

I dont know about anyone else's milk drinking habits but I have never thrown out milk. It always gets consumed long before it could ever expire.

I don't like milk. Except unicorn-milk, but you can't get a gallon of that at $2.25 nowadays.

I thought all unicorns were male. I would think twice before drinking their milk

Here (Ontario) the milk comes in plastic bags, sold in lots of three. We freeze the other two until needed; there's no problem with it going bad. And the bagged milk is (apparently) more "environmentally conscious", but hasn't caught on in the US.

This is actually a really good way to prevent people from overbuying and hence in some indirect way saving the earth cause we dont lose that many natural resources...

My postings were to show again how over-consumptive we can be. I hope people can figure out how this theoretical example plays in their own lives. Don't waste time beating it to a pulp.

Fuck posting.

but pulp is much more eco friendly

@a reminder. Oh please don't get scared of posting because of a few trolls. Some people just read comments and doesn't post and some of them will probably be thankful for your posts. Also your posts are in the minority of comments that actually have something neat to say. So please keep posting and ignore the trolls.

This is WalMart. This company should be bankrupt due to the complete and utter ineptness of everything about it, but somehow it thrives. I guess prices so low you'll trample your neighbor to death to shop there is what the masses care about.

"I hope people can figure out how this theoretical example plays in their own lives."

Yes, I have figured out exactly how this theoretical example plays in my life: it doesn't, because I don't throw milk away 4 days after buying it. Awesome.

I work in an independent health food store in Northern Arkansas and we're constantly hearing how we're "just like Wal-Marts", typically because we've either moved something to expand product line or the customer just can't remember where it is. But I seriously fail to see how we're exactly like a corporation that pulls all kinds of ridiculous schemes from top to bottom, just like this one, not to mention sells mostly unhealthy food at prices that really are not that cheap when you're stuck in a town without many other options.

Or you could just look at the orange sticker on each bottle, which appears to be ¢/fl oz.

Wal-mart has been carelessly doing this for years. God only knows how things actually ring up. I won't purchase something there if this funny business is going on.

i noticed this at walmart some time ago and could not figure out why.