Math games that retailers play
Posted
Mar 05 2008, 12:15 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
Which deal sounds better: buy one item and get 50% off the second, or get 25% off each of two items?
What's more attractive: a low monthly payment or a high one?
Are deals like "six for $10" capitalizing on people who are bad at math?
Smart Spending message board reader "SC CDF" started a thread about "math games" that retailers play with consumers' heads.
Somehow the idea of "buy one, get one half off" makes SC CDF think, "I'm going to buy one anyway, so why don't I buy another?" But if she stops to think about it, she realizes she's actually getting 25% off each item.
Suddenly the deal doesn't sound so great.
Free! (kind of)
Or take the promos she saw while shopping online at L.L. Bean and Lands' End. Each retailer offered a $10 gift card if you spent $50. But to redeem the $10 gift card, you had to spend at least another $50.
"Both times I almost had $50, so I ordered a little more to make $50. Each time in my mind I was 'saving' $10, but in reality I had to spend at least $90 to get $10 off," says SC CDF.
Another reader, "Dallas79," notes tantalizing in-store coupons for 99-cent milk, sugar or eggs at a local supermarket. But these coupons require an additional minimum $10 purchase -- and this store tends to have higher prices overall. "So your savings are very minimal," Dallas79 writes.
Here in Seattle, Safeway also offers loss leaders with a $10 purchase. My frugal hack is to buy a $10 store gift card, which I use to pay for my groceries the next time I shop.
What's that in real dollars?
Reader "Cronewitch" wonders if six-for-$10 deals are designed to make the math-impaired "think '60 cents each.'"
"Why can't they give a price (for) each for those that don't want six? What if you want seven, or five?" Cronewitch asks. Her theory: "They figured out we will buy the number of items on the sign." Not all such deals require you to buy the stated number, but some people probably don't read the ad that closely.
Another brain-twister: unit pricing. "Beesmoker" says the shelf labels sometimes show "the larger-sized packages to be more expensive per unit than the small ones." But only if you're comparing apples to apples, since the labels may "list one manufacturer's price unit in ounces and another's in quarts."
Checking the shelf tags might also indicate that your "sale" price isn't real. "Sam814" saw a supermarket display of items "3 for $1, today only!" But farther down the aisle, "the same item was sitting there, four for $1."
"The (display) was almost empty," Sam814 noted.
Coupon coups, sales that aren't
Suppose you have more than one store-issued coupon? "TD2K" was using 20%-off coupons at Bed Bath & Beyond. The cashier said there was a three-coupon limit. So TD2K separated the purchases into groups of three and had them rung up separately, with a trio of coupons per batch.
On another trip, TD2K had some 20%-off coupons and some coupons with a specific dollar amount. The intent was to match coupons to specific items, "as that would maximize my savings." The register applied the discounts in the store's favor, i.e. applying the biggest discount to the cheapest item, until TD2K insisted the coupons be re-scanned.
Coupon/discount rules vary from business to business, so I'd suggest reading the coupon's fine print and/or the store's posted policy before making a fuss. For example, the BB&B coupon insert in last Sunday's paper included the phrase, "one to a customer per visit." On the other hand, at least one BB&B honors expired coupons, according to reader "Aspiring2BeMore."
"Montco2" swears that some products get "jacked up" in price before a buy-one-get-one-free promotion. "Makes it sound like you are getting a bargain, when you're not."
And a "deal" that can really hurt, according to "Gr8ful gal," is the automobile that's sold on the virtue of its low monthly payments. "The car salesperson is able to tell you some crazy-low payment per month. Never mind that the payments will go on for the next 72 (or more) months," Gr8ful says.
"I don't want to know what the car will cost me per month. I want to know what it's going to cost me total!"
Do the math -- please
The old advice applies: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That isn't always the case, especially when it comes to coupons and rebates. However, it's always smart to think things through before buying.
Bring your calculator if necessary, and keep an eye on those coupons as they're scanned. It's logical that a store would rather use the $1-off coupon on a $100 item instead of the 20%-off coupon.
But consumers can't be blamed for wanting the best deals they can get. If retailers make coupons available, then they should be willing to make good on their offers.
And please watch out for anything that's sold on the virtue of its "low monthly payment." When I hear that phrase, I also hear cash registers -- and they aren't ringing in our favor.
