So there is this TV ad announcing “buy three tires, get one free!”
I suppose it is catchier than saying 25% off tires, but still.
“Hi, I want to buy three tires for my car.”
“You’re in luck - today we’ll throw in a fourth for free!”
“Na, I just want three tires.”
Perhaps they should use this idea for other products.
“Buy 11 eggs, and get the 12th for free!”
“Buy a new flat screen TV and get the remote for free!”
“Pay for 10 chemo treatments, get the last 2 for free!”
“I’d like the ‘Last 2 chemo treatments for free’ deal, please”
“Alrighty then! Just sign this release absolving us from all responsibility for your death after the second treatment, and then we’ll get going”
“WHAT!! I’m going to die after the second treatment? Why?”
“Well, that’s the only way we can guarantee that the second treatment will be your last.”
They want to sell you four tires, not two or one so they don’t advertise 25% off. They also make money on the work for all the tires put on, so they want you to get four new tires.
That’s my understanding as well. If you don’t rotate your tires regularly, it’s likely that two of them will wear faster. It isn’t uncommon for people to buy only two tires at a time. This way they can say “Well, I’ll sell you two tires… BUT if you buy JUST ONE MORE, you can get that forth tire for FREE!!”
Also, they raise the prices of each individual tire by a third.
I wouldn’t want to paint with an overly broad brush, so I have to ask… Do we have documented evidence that this is a widespread practice, or is it just conjecture?
I noticed it the last time I went shoppin for tires. I went once, to figure how much I had to budget, and then again about three months later. The price for four tires was about the same at all locations, plus or minus fifty bucks. The place that was offering four for three was fifty bucks higher. Documented? No. Rule of thumb, yeah.