# How important are reduced prices to you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [November 25, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935 "2009-11-25T18:48:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935/21 "2009-11-26T13:58:56Z")

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In other news, I once lived next to a furniture store that had a “Going Out of Business Sale” that lasted for at least three years. It was still going on when I left.

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**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\
**Post date:** [November 26, 2009, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935/22 "2009-11-26T15:48:51Z")

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That seems to be the usual furniture store m.o. I have a theory that all the furniture stores in town are just money-laundering fronts for various ethnic mafia types.

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**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935/23 "2009-11-28T13:38:30Z")

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> [@Iridescent\_Orb](#):
>
> In the US a product must be sold at the “regular” price for a minimum percent of the time in order for the company to legally advertise the reduced price as a “sale price”. This is usually regulated at the State level and is designed to avoid situations where an item is perpetually “on sale”. This is one of the reason stores often rotate sale items within a given category. For instance, there is often one brand of ice cream on sale at the local grocery store at any time, but the exact brand alternates week-to-week.
> 
> But to answer your original question…
> 
> Yes, I do shop sales. As much as possible I avoid buying things not on sale, aside from warehouse stores which typically do not have sales. If it is an item that I am not too familiar with, I will be influenced by seeing 50% off, for example. If I know the price well, the magnitude of the discount is less important than the final price.

In the US Sears explicitly has at least two very similar appliance models on the floor at any given time. They are slightly different in detail but essentially the same. That way one can always be on sale. 🙂

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [November 28, 2009, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-important-are-reduced-prices-to-you/518935/24 "2009-11-28T14:23:40Z")

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Wine is a special case. If the wine costs too little, customers think that it might not be any good. Thus, listing it as reduced makes it sound like it’s a better wine.

I will go for sale items, but only if I like them.

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