How is this not age/disability discrimination?

In My Humble Opinion
1

My dad is over 80, still very active and sharp. His near vision is not very good, though.

He volunteered to go to the store to get stuff for our Easter dinner. Among other things, he bought two cases (12 cans per case) of pop, because it was featured in the store ad.

On the front page of the ad, in large type, it said “Seven-Up, 4 cases for $11.” Not bad.

In small but readable type, it said, “With Card.” Well, OK, we have a card, but I hate those kind of “sales.”

In teeny tiny type, that even I couldn’t read without a magnifying glass, it said, “When you buy 4.”

He bought two. They charged him $5.99 each. He didn’t realize it, but I caught it when I looked at the receipt to reimburse him.

He paid $12 for two; he would have paid $18 for three. But he would have paid $11 for four.

How is that not CHEATING old and/or low vision people? The store is obviously choosing the type size specifically to fool people. The cashiers could say something at checkout time, but they don’t. I suspect they are told not to.

I want to go to the store and tear the manager a new one, but it’s a big, multi-state chain, so obviously, this decision is made way above his level.

Suggestions?

2

I think you’ll find teeny tiny type is the norm and catches a lot of people, not just the older folk.

3

What’s the issue? It doesn’t say “Seven-Up, 2 cases for $5.50.”

4

So, your issue is with fine print? :confused:

5

[QUOTE=TonySinclair]
In large type, it said “Seven-Up, 4 cases for $11.”
[/QUOTE]

It says right there what the deal is. I think most people understand that means you have to buy four cases in order to get the discount.

6

Were they explicitly discriminating against your dad or just anyone who bought 4 cases of soda?

That’s the difference. It wasn’t personal, they were just offering a sale that requires certain conditions to get the lower price, and your dad’s purchases did not meet those conditions. This is routine. And, anyways, most stores would let you just return the soda and you could then buy the number that gives you a discount.

7

Caveat emptor is kind of not new…

8

Unless it *then *said underneath “Each case $2.75,” it said in big letters what the deal was: 4 for $11. Your dad knew what the deal was: 4 for $11.

9

I don’t understand what else “4 for $11” could mean. “4 for $11” doesn’t mean “$2.75 each” to me. It means “4 for $11; individual price unstated”.

10

I can’t believe this. Am I really the only person in the world who thinks it’s wrong to charge somebody $18 for three when “the deal” is 4 for $11?

ETA: I can just barely see charging $11 for two or three, although it would be much better if the cashier told you that you could get one or two more for three. I can’t see any justification at all for charging more for two or three than for four.

11

The premise of the advertised deal is that the store is giving a discount for buying four items instead of one. Like the other posters here, I don’t understand how anyone would see a “four for $11” deal as anything like that what it says exactly: you get a deal because you’re buying 4, not three, or two, or one.

12

That’s fine (well, not really) for something you’re only going to buy once every few years, like a car. But a grocery store should be competing to get your everyday business.

I won’t cut off my nose to spite my face, and I will buy the sale items, and only the sale items, at that store from now on if it’s a really good sale. But even though it’s only two blocks from my house, I will never again do my regular shopping there. So they lost my family’s future business, except for loss leaders, for six bucks. Is that in the store’s self-interest?

13

Again, unless it states that you can get the deal price on single items (which some stores *will *do), the deal is what is written: 4 items for $11. If someone only wants 3, they’ll pay for three single items, which in this case would be 3 x $5.99. It was the customer’s choice to only buy three when the deal clearly in large type stated “4 for $11.”

14

Boohoo, they don’t care. Look around and you’ll find that most stores do the *exact *same thing.

15

Seriously? You don’t understand how someone could think they would not pay six dollars more for three cases than for four?

Well, I don’t understand how anyone could not understand. I can understand the people who say that technically, the store met the terms of the ad, although I hope I never meet any of you in real life. But I can’t understand you not giving a shit. Maybe you would if it was your dad. He felt terrible about it.

I must shop in different stores than everyone else. The standard I’ve always seen is that three for a dollar means that one is at most 34 cents. And many of the stores I’ve shopped in that had a “buy one, get one free” deal would cheerfully let you buy one for half price, if you didn’t need two.

16

In the recent orientation I had for my grocery store job we were told not to comment on what people buy. It’s different for me as a clerk in the deli, where no money changes hands and people are still shopping, but in the register line customers aren’t usually looking for their purchases to be commented on, nor corrected. One POV is, ‘Hey, if you buy two more of these you get them for cheaper.’, while the customer may hear, ‘Hey, don’t you want to buy more stuff and spend more money than you’d planned?’

ETA - seeing the above post, OP - why did you bring it to your dad’s attention? Of course he feels badly about it now that it’s been pointed out how he missed it the first time, and that’s down to no one but you. You could easily have seen the receipt and gone back to the store on your own w/o saying anything to him; the manager would likely have adjusted the charge since you went out of your way to make a trip (regardless of the fine print) and your dad wouldn’t have been made to feel foolish by anyone.

17

How in the fuck is that age discrimination? You do realize that not all old people have poor vision, right? And that some young people have poor vision as well. BTW, I have poor vision and wear glasses as well, and I don’t consider “small print” discrimination against people who need glasses. I don’t believe needing glasses is considered a “disability” in the sense you do. Jesus Christ.
If you went to the store and “tore the manager a new one”, you’d be one of those jackass customers that end up on Not Always Right.

It is not the cashier’s duty to babysit people, or to read minds. All they knew is that your father wanted to buy 2 cases of 7-Up, and they charged him the correct price. That’s their job, not to hold everyone’s hands. Many customers bitch if told, “oh, if you buy more, you can save blah blah blah.” So you can’t please everyone.

In short, get over it.

18

It’s quite simple, no matter what angle you look at this from: you are entirely in the wrong.

There was a SIMPLE, PUBLISHED sort of contract. Buy four, and present a card, and you pay $11.

You want to instantly rewrite the contract to suit your personal desires, and expect the store to be unable to object to your reinterpretation.

If your father refused to investigate the situation before making his purchase, that’s not the store’s fault.

The fact that you don’t understand why the price was as it was, does NOT constitute proof that it was somehow unjust.

For this to constitute “age discrimination,” the facts would have to include that they changed the price because of your father’s age. Per YOUR OWN STATEMENTS, this was not the case.

Finally, this kind of pricing has been in place, not just for years, but for DECADES. There is no excuse for your remaining ignorant about that for all this time.

By the way, I’m not sure this thread is in the right category: the OP certainly doesn’t constitute a HUMBLE opinion.

19

Kroger often offers a price for multiple items.
Five candy bars for $4.

I buy 2 and the register still gives me the discounted price of 80 cents each. $1.60 for 2. The member plus discount is printed on the receipt.

It’s done that for as long as I can remember.

I wouldn’t shop at a store that didn’t honor their discounts.

McDonald’s is very good about reminding customers that their Breakfast sandwiches are on sale. I ordered a Bacon Egg Cheese Biscuit last week. It would have been around $4. They asked if I wanted the 2 for 1 special and got 2 for around $3.

20

Not always. A lot of times the store does mean $2.75 each, they’re just anchoring the thought of buying more in your head. As soon as you get used to relying on that, though, they switch back to “only if you buy 4”. I’ve been caught with it. It’s not old people they’re trying to get, it’s everyone.

People must cut up rough about it shifting, though, because lately the stores I go to make sure that the shelf tab also has an “each” price on it. It’s in smaller print, but not small enough to be hard to read.