I’m in a convenience store today, and I decide I’ll grab a bag of potato chips. I notice all the Lays chips have a sticker reading, “2 for $3.00.” So I grab one bag.
The checkout counter rings it up as $2.29. I point out the sale sticker, but I am told that is only when you buy two. So I grab another bag and get 2 for $3.00.
No biggie, but I’ve never heard of this before. I have bought a single item many times without incident. Is this something new, or have cashiers been giving me the sale price when they should not have all these years?
Around here, which may be where you are too, if it’s 2 for $3, a single is $1.50. OF course they they could have signage stating $2.29 each or 2 for $3. But if it only says 2 for $3 I think you’re correct.
At most supermarkets that I go to they simply mark individual prices down to whatever each unit in the x for y works out to. (Their systems will often count for the extra penny if it’s an uneven number, like 3/$5, where the first item will be $1.67 and the rest will ring up at $1.66.) However this past weekend I was at the pet store buying wet cat food for the kitties and they had a promotion of 12 cans for $5 which works out to about $0.41 per unit, which saves about $0.16 per if I buy 12. So, what the hell, I bought 12. Each rang up at their regular price of $0.57 until she rung up the last one, when it was all suddenly reduced to the proper sale price.
Around here anyway, the unit-priced X for Y sales are most common, while the sale price is only applicable in the prescribed number of units is the exception.
However one supermarket right near me (which is now closed) did have a sale on a couple of years ago. 3 (2 litre) bottles of pop for $5, or single bottles for $1.39. :rolleyes: I actually bought 3 just for giggles, and then had to go all grade 2 math on the poor cashier who had to get no fewer than two managers involved to figure it out.
I’m not getting this, why would the retailer advertise “2 for $3” if it were just $1.50 for 1 of the item? There’s no saving to the customer in buying two, so why would they buy the “2 for $3” unless one was a chunk more than $1.50.
Definitely varies. There’s one store here that does make you buy two for the sale price, but if you want an odd number of the item they do allow the sale price. So using your price examples the first one would ring up as full price, say $2.50 the second rung up as the different to get to the sale price, in this case as $0.50, and all the others as $1.50. It was kind of weird.
The reason they do this is that some people will think they need to buy 2 items to get that price, so they will sell more items, because of the occasional sucker.
Around here the grocery store chains seem to do the unit price sale, even with the 2/something, but the sticker on the shelf will say so. The rest of them, convenience stores, warehouse places, etc. you pay the regular price unless you buy the required number.
And yes, it’s a marketing trick. It’s meant to make you think you need to buy that number of items.
I agree. I do not assume 2 for $3 means 1 for $1.50 for this exact reason. It’s an incentive to get you buy two things for a discounted per-unit price. Anyhow, around here, there’s no rhyme or reason to who follows what rules. Last time at Walgreens, the cereal was on sale for something like 2 for $6, but we only bought one, which rang up as $4 (approximate numbers, but Walgreens did have a unit price that was different than the per-unit price in the bulk purchase).
I recognize (and occasionally fall for) the whole “let’s advertise 2 items for 2x the normal price so people will buy two of them” thing, but I’d be astonished and indignant if I were to be told that you had to buy two of the item for that price, unless it was marked (“1 for $2, 2 for $3”). I just don’t think things work that way here.
I think that’s right, Blue Mood - I believe the ‘buy 2 for…’ phrasing can only be used when a saving is involved.
We (that is, a British company I used to work for) had problems with something like this when we opened a shop in Denmark or Sweden (I forget which) and wanted to advertise a BOGOF deal - apparently their consumer legislation - which is apparently aimed primarily at items sold with promotional gifts, rather than two-for-ones - states that instead of the free item, the customer can ask for a discount of equivalent value. Obviously in the case of a BOGOF deal, the equivalent value of the free item is exactly the same as the purchased one - so we’d have had to give the product away for nothing.
The greengrocer I frequent will almost always charge a higher price for a single than their two-for price (or three-for or ten-for or whatever it is). However, given that their low prices are the result of buying fruit that’s closer to expiration date, I’m pretty they’re trying to move as much product as they can before it goes bad and want to motivate people into buying two instead of one by offering a deal. It’s a win-win situation - they keep their spoilage costs down, and I get a cheaper grocery bill in return.
However, chips aren’t exactly a highly perishable item, so I can’t see where the store would benefit by charging more for one instead of two… unless of course the manufacturer has offered them a plump bonus for meeting a specific sales target, and they’re trying to artificially boost their numbers?
If you sell two packs of chips at a price less than twice that of a single pack, people will buy more than they set out to buy - this might mean they store the additional pack and don’t buy another one later (but if they were passing through, that’s someone else’s loss), or, having bought two packs, they might eat two packs in the same time as they normally eat one, and still come back for more as usual.
The point of giving a volume discount is that you sell more.
Is this a variation on the old joke of going to a store that has a Buy One Get One Free offer and saying you only want the free one?
In my experience, the grocery stores around here frequently have prices in the form of “X for $Y” (for psychological reasons, I guess, to encourage you to buy more than one), but it’s the same price no matter how many you buy. Walgreens, on the other hand, frequently has different prices if you buy 1 or 2 (e.g. “$1.99 / 2 for $3.00”).
Around here, the latest marketing gimmick is “10 for $10”. Albertson’s started it but now they all do it. You wouldn’t believe how many people I see at the checkout counters ringing up 10 fruit cups, 10 cans of soup, 10 pints of ice cream, etc. If they’d only look at the register screen, they’d see - $1, $1, $1…
Me: Ah. I don’t have the 52 cents. I’ll have to give you a $20.
[I hand over the double-sawbuck and get $9.48 in change.)
Me: Wait. I can give you a dollar and you can give me a ten back.
[Hand over one of the dollars the cashier just gave me, keeping the rest. Cashier hands me a tenner.)
Only I’m too honest to actually go through with it. I returned the ten and got my dollar back. It almost worked at a hobby shop I went to. The owner had the ten-spot in his hand before he figured it out. (Yeah, I was a jerk when I was a kid.)
