When 50% is actually 27% off....
OhioGuy
if it is marked half off or more, so when I saw a bunch of Taco Bell
tostadas with sauce and spice mix, I gave it a look.
The sticker on the bottom of the box said "You save 50%" - pay just $1.29.
It was on the clearance rack because they were close to the "best by" date.
Later, as we went through the Internation aisle, I took a look at the ones
that were fresh.
The same, exact item was clearly marked with a normal, everyday price of
$1.79 each! It wasn't a sale, either.
That's right - 27% off, not the 50% it said.
This is very misleading, and probably illegal. It makes people think they
are getting a real bargain, yet what it really does is let the store sell
almost out of date items for much closer to the normal price than they are
saying.
I understand the incentive for the store to try to get as much as it can,
but when you put 50% off on something, it should really be marked half off.
I guess it's yet another reason why stores should HAVE to clearly mark the
price on each item they sell. Clearly no one could be fooled by something
like this if the original price was on the item, and not somewhere else in
the store on a shelf tag.
If we hadn't been in a hurry to get back to church to pick up our kids
from AWANA Cubbies, I would have talked to the manager about it. Probably
could have gotten a free $20 gift certificate by buying it, then pointing
out the discrepancy to the district manager - I've been successful at this
in the past. This time I didn't bother, though.
Al Bundy
By your own report, they clearly stated the actual price of $1.29 so
you knew exactly the cost of what you were buying. If you merely feel
the need to post, you can always find some minor flaw in a tag or
something to quarrel with and this is what you seem to do. You surely
have a difficult time navigating the wickets of everyday life.
Bill Rider
> By your own report, they clearly stated the actual price of $1.29 so
> you knew exactly the cost of what you were buying. If you merely feel
> the need to post, you can always find some minor flaw in a tag or
> something to quarrel with and this is what you seem to do. You surely
> have a difficult time navigating the wickets of everyday life.
>
I once paid a store $180 for a pair of speakers and $25 for a store
warranty. I knew exactly the cost of what I was buying.
When I opened the box I read the manufacturer's warranty. It said if I
had any trouble the store would fix them. The salesman had told me if I
didn't pay $25 for the store warranty, the manufacturer would require me
to ship them to the factory and probably turn down my claim.
The next day at the library I happened to see a magazine with a review
of the speakers I'd bought. The MSRP was $180. The store had
advertised that the $180 they charged was 50% off MSRP.
I returned to the store and the manager gave me the brushoff. So I told
my story on TV. I got a refund. Within a month the chain of stores was
out of business and the attorney general had charged the owner with
numerous offenses.
Have I been trolled?
OhioGuy
>knew exactly the cost of what you were >buying. If you merely feel the
>need to post, you can >always find some minor flaw in a tag or something to
> >quarrel with and this is what you seem to do. You surely
>have a difficult time navigating the wickets of everyday >life.
Hey, Al, good to hear from you again!
If you merely feel the need to troll, go try Lake Erie - I've heard the
fishing is good there lately.
Seriously, the name of this group is frugal-living. This post was about
an issue where I saw a store trying to pass off a discount as something more
than it was. My posting was simply a note to other consumers to be aware
that this sort of thing is going on at Meijer and other stores, and that
they might want to double check the price on the shelf before believing any
"% off" sticker they see on clearance items.
I've been on here since 1991 posting my thoughts on frugality, and my
experiences at the retail shops - and I'll probably be doing the same 16
years from now. I certainly don't claim that my postings are any better
than the next guy's, but at least I try to contribute in a positive way.
** Frank **
"OhioGuy" <no...@none.net> wrote in message news:fft1ef$sja$1...@aioe.org...
> Last night my wife and I were grocery shopping. I'll often try something
> new if it is marked half off or more, so when I saw a bunch of Taco Bell
> tostadas with sauce and spice mix, I gave it a look.
>
> The sticker on the bottom of the box said "You save 50%" - pay just $1.29.
> It was on the clearance rack because they were close to the "best by"
> date.
>
> Later, as we went through the Internation aisle, I took a look at the ones
> that were fresh.
>
> The same, exact item was clearly marked with a normal, everyday price of
> $1.79 each! It wasn't a sale, either.
>
>
> That's right - 27% off, not the 50% it said.
>
Sounds like the new math taught in California high schools.
cat
> I've been on here since 1991 posting my thoughts on frugality, and my
> experiences at the retail shops - and I'll probably be doing the same 16
> years from now.
Well, that would be a neat trick, considering that m.c.f-l didn't exist
until late 1995.
OhioGuy
"cat" <catsand...@nospammeowmeow.com> wrote in message
news:yRkVi.27087$oC3....@newsfe08.phx...
By "on here", I meant Usenet, not this particular Usenet Newsgroup. I
don't remember when I started posting here, exactly, but I've been posting
in the various groups since then. Often my postings were about frugal
topics related to the main one.
John Benson
> That's right - 27% off, not the 50% it said.
>
> This is very misleading, and probably illegal.
Isn't it possible that what you saw was an honest mistake rather than an
attempt to deceive?
> If we hadn't been in a hurry to get back to church to pick up our kids
> from AWANA Cubbies, I would have talked to the manager about it. Probably
> could have gotten a free $20 gift certificate by buying it, then pointing
> out the discrepancy to the district manager - I've been successful at this
> in the past. This time I didn't bother, though.
It appears that the strategy you're describing is to buy the item and then
use the fact that you've purchased it at what you consider an insufficiently
discounted price as leverage to initimidate the district manager into giving
you a $20 gift certificate; is that right? If not, why was buying it
necessary for you to get the $20. Obviously you weren't planning to rely
merely on the district manager's gratitude for pointing out an honest
mistake; otherwise buying it wouldn't have been a necessary part of your
plan.
The truth is that the only reason your post caught my attention is that you
mentioned Awana and I happen to teach a Cubbies class. Frankly, I was really
disappointed to see you mention your (or at least your children's)
association with church and Awana in the same post where you seemed to be
bragging about what seems to me to be extortion or something awfully close
to it. Whether it was an honest mistake or an attempt to mislead on their
part, trying or expecting to get $20 from the manager because you "caught"
them with a mislabeled item doesn't seem very Christian to me. That's just
my opinion, but if you disagree I wonder if you'd be willing to show your
pastor what you posted here; or for that matter, I'd be curious to hear if
you think Jesus would approve or would have done what you did in that
situation.
OhioGuy
>trying or expecting to get $20 from >the manager because you "caught" them
>with a >mislabeled item doesn't seem very Christian to me.
It's store policy - once my wife was in the checkout line, and they caught
the fact that a bag of diapers was marked wrong. We missed it, but they
voluntarily gave us $25+ worth of diapers free. Should I have just said,
"Oh, no thanks, - we don't want the free diapers." ? No, it's a policy they
have in writing.
I believe that large stores like this often mark things incorrectly on
purpose to mislead and get higher profit margins from customers. The "right
price or it's free" policy is put there by corporate headquarters as a check
on this - one that can be enacted by consumers who are paying attention.
At the same store, my wife finds on average that 10% of the time, they try
to overcharge on at least one item.
Once I found steaks that were marked down quite a bit. Each steak had
both
1) a sticker marked 40% off
and
2) a sticker marked $1 off
These are those yellow markdown stickers that only the meat department
guys have, and which come apart if you try to peel one off and put it on
another item, so obviously both were supposed to be on there. (they weren't
moved from another item)
Doing the math, these were $4 steaks that I expected to get for between
$1.40-$1.80, depending on the order that they took the markdowns and applied
the % off. The lady at the checkout counter tried to just give me $1 off,
and I called her on it. She called the butcher guy up front, and he started
saying it was a mistake, and he was actually trying to peel the 40% off
stickers off of my steaks! I had to tell him to go ahead, but that I would
have to notify the district manager that they weren't honoring posted
prices. (which is illegal in our state - to post a discount, then not honor
it) They finally let me have it.
Was I being a "bad Christian" in your book because I stood up for my
consumer rights, and tried to get our budget to stretch a bit more? I think
not. Turning the other cheek does not mean giving up when somebody doesn't
want to honor an advertised or posted deal.
Besides, even Jesus got angry and violent once when he noticed marketers
profiteering at the public's expense. Remember, at the temple, where a
number of merchants were selling sub-par sheep for sacrifice at inflated
prices? They were taking advantage of people, and Jesus experienced
righteous indignation. He angrily drove the whole bunch of them out of the
temple.
Bill Rider
> I believe that large stores like this often mark things incorrectly on
> purpose to mislead and get higher profit margins from customers. The "right
> price or it's free" policy is put there by corporate headquarters as a check
> on this - one that can be enacted by consumers who are paying attention.
>
> At the same store, my wife finds on average that 10% of the time, they try
> to overcharge on at least one item.
>
When it was becoming common for grocery stores not to put stickers on
items, Consumer Reports said 90% of the time, errors were in stores'
favor. At the local $ General, sometimes prices aren't posted even on
a shelf. If I ask a clerk, she'll say the only way to find the price is
to have it scanned at the register.
Modern supermarkets need an awful lot of shelf space to offer a bigger
variety (of sizes, for example) than the customer wants. It increases
overhead and makes shopping a bigger chore. I believe the purpose is to
make it harder for customers to remember what's a good price.
Meghan Noecker
>>Whether it was an honest mistake or an attempt to >mislead on their part,
>>trying or expecting to get $20 from >the manager because you "caught" them
>>with a >mislabeled item doesn't seem very Christian to me.
>
> It's store policy - once my wife was in the checkout line, and they caught
>the fact that a bag of diapers was marked wrong. We missed it, but they
>voluntarily gave us $25+ worth of diapers free. Should I have just said,
>"Oh, no thanks, - we don't want the free diapers." ? No, it's a policy they
>have in writing.
>
It';s a policy that they give you $20???
I find that hard to believe. I work in a grocery store, and the policy
here to give the item free (ONE item). And certainly no cash. That
would only encourage people to take sale tags and then bring them back
in the next week and claim the tag was still hanging there.
Any store is going to have mistakes. Each week, we have hundreds of
tags being changed, by hand, by several people. We do audits, but
there will be times that an item is missed. Sometimes the tag is
misplaced or falls off. Sometimes, an old sale tag is not removed. I
can't imagine any store giving away $20 everytime an error is found.
Certainly not for a $1.29 item. A free item is sufficient.
> I believe that large stores like this often mark things incorrectly on
>purpose to mislead and get higher profit margins from customers. The "right
>price or it's free" policy is put there by corporate headquarters as a check
>on this - one that can be enacted by consumers who are paying attention.
And when does the policy you quoted get you $20 on an item marked
$1.29. Sounds like you would have gotten a refund on the $1.29. NOT a
gift card for $20.
>
> At the same store, my wife finds on average that 10% of the time, they try
>to overcharge on at least one item.
And I do the audit for our deli deparment every week. I scan every
item out on the sales foor for our department. That's every salad,
dip, vac packed meat and cheese, soup, pizza, etc. I ussually need to
print about 10-20 tags, and almost every tag I needed was because the
item was actually on sale (tag was higher than correct price), or the
tag was missing completely. I would say the price is higher than the
posted price about once every 2-3 months. We are VERY good at making
sure the prices are correct. I sign my name to it every week, so it
better be correct.
>
>
> Was I being a "bad Christian" in your book because I stood up for my
>consumer rights, and tried to get our budget to stretch a bit more? I think
>not. Turning the other cheek does not mean giving up when somebody doesn't
>want to honor an advertised or posted deal.
>
You overstepoped your bounds when you expected to get $20 gift card
for a $1.29 item. It doesn't even sound like you wanted the item. You
just wanted the store to give you $20. It sounds like you go in
looking for mistakes so that you can complain.
OhioGuy
>$1.29 item. It doesn't even >sound like you wanted the item. You just
>wanted the >store to give you $20. It sounds like you go in looking >for
>mistakes so that you can complain.
I was just saying that based on my past experience, half of the time when
I've pointed out a discrepancy after the fact, I've gotten a $20 gift card
from the district supervisor. I've only done this 3 times, so I certainly
don't abuse it. This time, I caught it BEFORE we checked out and went home.
I was tempted to buy it anyway and go for the $20, but I didn't. Just
because I was tempted and didn't follow through on the temptation does not
mean that I did anything wrong.
And I certainly don't look for mistakes so that I can complain. What I
look for are great deals, in the range of 30 to 60% off. When someone won't
honor a markdown, that is when trouble starts.