# Seriously Walmart? How stupid do you think I am? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 6, 2020, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922 "2020-09-06T05:53:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 7:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/41 "2020-09-12T07:33:30Z")
> [@DesertDog](#): > > > [@Velocity](#): > > > > I once visited a store in New York where the price for one T-shirt was listed as $3.99, but if one were to buy _two_ shirts, it would cost… **$10.** > > I remember as a kid when we were on vacation and ate at a coffeeshop, waiting with Dad as he paid at the counter, and seeing a box of peppermint patties with a sign > _10¢ each – 2 for a quarter_ > > I figured they spelled out ‘quarter’ to make the math harder. This brings to mind a story about my first WestPac, in 1984. I was walking in Olongapo City, Subic Bay, with my buddy Gamal. It was about time for us to be heading back to the boat, so he hailed the next jitney we saw. It’s relevant to the story that the exchange rate at the time was about five cents American to the peso. In fact, we had each drunk quite a few bottles of San Miguel at five pesos a pop (which was why we didn’t particularly feel like _walking_ back to the docks. So the jitney driver stops, and Gamal asks how much for a ride to the base. “Twenty pesos” says the driver. Ever the haggler, Gamal acts offended to be offered such an expensive ride. “No, that’s way too much! I’ll give you a dollar!” And that’s the story of how I learned from my friend Gamal how to haggle in a foreign land. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/42 "2020-09-12T07:39:22Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > I’m not familiar with that, but it sure seemed like we were in a “Candid Camera” scene. Really? [Here ya go.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hz1JWzyvv8A) ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/43 "2020-09-12T14:13:02Z")
Amusing. I don’t think I ever saw a single episode of Monty Python, although I did see the Holy Grail movie. ---
**Author:** ![Old\_Wench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ecccb3/32.png) [@Old\_Wench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Old_Wench)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/44 "2020-09-12T14:31:51Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > My local store (Winn-Dixie FTR) seems to have raised this to a high art. if there are 4 name brands of TP, one shelf tag will show the “price per each” by the roll, another by the linear foot, another by the square inch, and another by the perforated square. > > So it’s impossible to use those numbers to make the easy “who’s cheapest?” comparison the government intended when it mandated that price per each be disclosed on shelf tags. > > They even do the same thing within brands between package sizes or multi-packs. If, e.g., a particular brand, size, and style of paper towel is available as a single roll pack, a 2 pack, a 3 pack, or a 6-pack, they’ll each use a different “per each” measure to stymie picking the cheapest choice. > > Bastids. I was just looking at TP at Walmart yesterday and saw another price comparison – Scott brand was showing the unit price as per “10-sheet (or maybe it was 100-sheet) count.” I could see the currency amounts on each tag but couldn’t figure out what unit it was for until I looked at the really teeny print underneath. On their website, they use varying units of measurement - some are by the square foot, others are “each.” Each what? It isn’t by the roll (that would be way too easy). I tried the math several different ways and can’t get to the same unit price. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/45 "2020-09-12T14:47:58Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > … > And that’s the story of how I learned from my friend Gamal how to haggle in a foreign land As we used to say in the service, if you can order a beer, a burrito, and a bimbo in the local language, you’re fluent! Gamal sure showed him! ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/46 "2020-09-12T15:21:19Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I once visited a store in New York where the price for one T-shirt was listed as $3.99, but if one were to buy _two_ shirts, it would cost… **$10.** As I [tweeted](https://twitter.com/theevilwriter/status/1303430792031469572) about a purchase at Home Depot earlier this week: > I’m admittedly bad at math but the price on different numbers of identical items doesn’t seem to check out > > 1 light bulb 97 cents > 4 light bulbs $5.97 > 8 light bulbs $9.94 ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2020, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/47 "2020-09-12T15:59:35Z")
We got a grocery order pickup from WallyWorld yesterday. As I’m placing the order, I’m seeing “out of stock” for many items. Then, when I went to check out, I got a few more “out of stock” notifications. Back to shop some more, I look for replacement items. Different sizes, different brands, different containers. I finally check out, and everything apparently goes through. Mr VOW makes the pickup, and as we’re unloading at home, I get the strange sensation I’m seeing DOUBLE. It turns out, stuff that was supposedly “out of stock” apparently was in stock. It was kind of funny. And kind of not. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/48 "2020-09-13T02:31:45Z")
In the UK at least, fizzy drinks - coke, lemonade, ginger beer etc - are waaay cheaper in bigger bottles. The bottles are inconvenient; they don’t fit in my fridge, they go flat sooner, and I like cans. I know I’m paying more per litre for cans and in general I’d also pay more per litre for a smaller plastic bottle (1l) too. If I’d ordered three 2l bottles of Sprite and got roughly the same amount in cans, they wouldn’t be allowed to substitute it without explicitly asking me, but they also wouldn’t be allowed to charge me more than the original amount I agreed to. Basically, I can say yes, gimme the Sprite at 1/3 of the price, but they can’t ask me for the original price of the cans of Sprite. This is not just about allowing substitutions; even if you allow substitutions you can’t be given one that costs more unless they check with you on the doorstep and have to sign off on that specific substitution, not just the overall order. For the supermarkets it works out fairly well, because you get the occasional customer who’s pleased about a good deal. And they get to have really quick delivery times. If they expected their delivery guys to argue with customers about whether the customer should pay more for an item slightly different to what they ordered, they’d miss the next delivery slot. Got a load of free salmon and avocados recently, after realising it wasn’t in my order as we took everything in - I noticed it quickly and let the delivery guy know before he left. He said to keep it because they wouldn’t be able to sell it to anyone else anyway, after it had been delivered to me already. If he hadn’t have still been there, I wouldn’t have reported it, because the supermarket can take the hit, but the person who mis-packed might get into trouble. ---
**Author:** ![Courk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/91b2a8/32.png) [@Courk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Courk)\ **Post date:** [September 13, 2020, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/49 "2020-09-13T04:39:33Z")
Several years ago I had my dad pick out a new grill for father’s day from WalMart. We checked out from the garden section. Only us and the cashier were back there, so it wasn’t crazy, but in the process of checking out somehow it came up that we had wanted a grill with different wheels. The cashier swapped out, but didn’t re-scan (so we paid for the first grill). He had said something about being the same grill just different years. Getting it home and assembling it, start getting suspicious and realize we got a nicer and more expensive grill than intended. I went back to customer service the next day, explained what happened, and wanted to pay the difference. The customer service guy Did Not Care about the extra $50-100 I owed WalMart. I couldn’t pay it. So, no, they don’t care about the soda. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 8:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/51 "2021-10-07T08:20:19Z")
> [@CairoCarol](#): > > I buy Iams cat food at my local Safeway for my three cats. The bags come in two sizes. The usual rule is that buying in bulk is cheaper, but I always check the per-unit price. Weirdly, the small bags are $2.79/lb and the large bags are $3.15/lb. Since this thread has been zombified by a spammer, I may as well offer my take on this as a grocery store worker; it’s quite possible that it’s an issue of volume. For example, most of the time at my store, the 24-count packages of Kraft Singles are cheaper by a good 50-60 cents than the 16-count packages, despite them being larger. This is because we don’t sell much of the smaller packs and so our warehouse gets them at full price, but we sell a LOT of the larger packs, so Kraft gives us a volume discount for making large purchases and we’re able to pass that savings on. Chances are that it’s the same with the Iams at your store; cats only eat a few ounces of food per day, so most cat owners, who probably have 1-2 cats, buy small bags because a large bag would go stale before the cats go through it, and therefore the store gets a discount on those bags whereas they pay full price for the large ones, which are preferred by the minority who have 3 or more cats. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/52 "2021-10-07T08:26:23Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > the 24-count packages of Kraft Singles are cheaper by a good 50-60 cents than the 16-count packages, despite them being larger. This is because we don’t sell much of the smaller packs and so our warehouse gets them at full price, but we sell a LOT of the larger packs, so Kraft gives us a volume discount But that’s a chicken-and-egg thing. If the 24-ct are priced more cheaply, then of course most people are going to buy those over the more expensive 16-ct product. Locks in the pricing cycle. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/53 "2021-10-07T08:30:58Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > But that’s a chicken-and-egg thing. If the 24-ct are priced more cheaply, then of course most people are going to buy those over the more expensive 16-ct product. I suppose. I use it as an example because it’s the one that customers question me about most often, because they’re sure it must be a mistake and we’ve put the price tags in the wrong places. The point is that higher movement = a lower purchase price from the manufacturer/distributor. “How do we do it? VOLUME! VOLUME! VOLUME!” ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2021, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/54 "2021-10-07T16:35:04Z")
Okay, since this thread hasn’t been cornfielded (is too a word!) yet, here’s a single data point from my local Wal-Mart, as of an hour ago: **GO-GURT** (tubes of portable yogurt) 16-pack “Frozen II” branded: $3.98 24-pack “Spongebob” branded: $3.64 Guess which one I bought? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/55 "2021-10-08T23:41:12Z")
Came specifically to post this: We ordered delivery from Walmart this morning-- usually we get Amazon fresh for delivery, but I needed something specific that only Walmart carries. We ordered a few chewies for the dog, including a pig ear (yuck). They were out of pig ears, so they substituted a bag of bacon bits, the kind gentiles put on salads. It’s a very large bag. We got a good laugh out of it, and they did refund our money. I’ll drop the bacon bits off the next time we donate to a food pantry, or the mail carrier is collecting non-perishables. ---
**Author:** ![Bootb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e19b73/32.png) [@Bootb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bootb)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/56 "2021-10-08T23:53:24Z")
> [@psychobunny](#): > > Update. I went on their website and asked to “return” the product since the substitution was not to my liking. They refunded the money but told me I could dispose of the product or use it if I preferred. Now I actually feel a little bad about getting the soda for free. I also went on their website to check the actual prices which were as follows: > 2 liter bottle $1.69 > 1 liter bottle $1.08 > 20 ounce bottle $1.88 > Apparently they had given me a discount on the 20 ounce bottles. It is just so weird seeing them lined up on my counter and knowing that the mini bottles cost more than the big ones. 20-ounce bottles are one of the major products that people buy when they’re thirsty and want something to drink RIGHT NOW. This is the sort of thing that is often kept in the small refrigerators by the checkouts. In other words, you’re paying for the convenience factor. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2021, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/57 "2021-10-08T23:58:03Z")
I was going to grab an apple juice before heading to work. The convenience store sold them for $3.60 a piece. Or 2 for $8.00. Ummmmm… I went with one. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2021, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/58 "2021-10-09T00:04:03Z")
That’s one of occasions I would probably not totally laugh it off TBH - the salt content would be too high for dogs. It’s not a suitable replacement for dog treats. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2021, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/59 "2021-10-09T02:17:15Z")
> they substituted a bag of bacon bits, the kind gentiles put on salads. That decides it, I’m going with Gentile! (Was just reading a thread where people with Jewish and Gentile heritages are debating which they can/should/want to identify themselves as). But, hey, _bacon!_ ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2021, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/60 "2021-10-09T04:17:50Z")
> [@digs](#): > > > they substituted a bag of bacon bits, the kind gentiles put on salads. > > That decides it, I’m going with Gentile! > > Was just reading a thread where people with Jewish and Gentile heritages are debating which they can/should/want to identify themselves as). > > But, hey, _bacon!_ Someone on reddit confessed they gave up vegetarianism because they could not give up bacon. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2021, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922/61 "2021-10-09T04:34:46Z")
Had a student confess that in class. I told her don’t feel guilty for being a VEB-etarian. _Vegetarian Except Bacon._ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/seriously-walmart-how-stupid-do-you-think-i-am/919922.md?page=4)