# Stores With Fake Sales **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950 "2012-07-21T12:40:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/1 "2012-07-21T12:40:10Z")
Sales are ubiquitous-end of season, clearance, etc. Its a normal way to conduct business. My gripe is with outfits like K\*hls-they mark the inventory up 30%, then announce a “30%” sale. Is this dishonest? And every week, you get “discount” cards in the mail-entitling you to a discount from the mark-up. Big deal-why not be honest about it? ---
**Author:** ![Iggy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iggy/32/3364_2.png) [@Iggy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Iggy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 12:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/2 "2012-07-21T12:50:07Z")
JC Penny tried to do away with it. And failed. The markdown game is back. Enough people apparently like it. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/3 "2012-07-21T13:16:16Z")
Every supermarket in town does this, every day. They tell you that if you get an Exclusive Membership Card you’ll get the amazing discounts. On the shelf the food is labeled with the amazing discount you get (from the excessive regular price) if you’re lucky enough to have an Exclusive Membership Card. Then, when you get to the cash register, you panic as you realize that you’ve left your Exclusive Membership Card at home. “Don’t worry,” says the cashier, as she swipes her “cousin’s” Exclusive Membership Card for your purchase. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/4 "2012-07-21T13:20:30Z")
There’s a store down the street from me that’s actually doing the _You Don’t Mess With the Zohan_ going-out-of-business thing; they’ve been “going out of business” for at least the last 4 years. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/5 "2012-07-21T13:44:34Z")
Then there are places like Big Lots where “going out of business” sales are the reason for their existence. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/6 "2012-07-21T14:40:31Z")
Places like Kohls, Macys, Bloomingales, JC Penny etc. are wildly overpriced to begin with - easily a 300%-500% mark up from their wholesale price initially, on the first day things are put out for sale. Thus, they can start slashing prices pretty soon…sometimes the week after it first goes on sale. People who have the money and love the item don’t mind paying the full price on day one. If it is something special, and it fits, and you really, really want it and can afford it, go ahead and buy it. Good for you and good for the business! But they keep slashing prices week after week, until they start getting inventory off the floor. Actual wholesale jacket price: $25. First price when it is put on shelf:$100 (or even more for hot fashion name brands) The final huge 70% discount price sale: $30 Even at 70% off, they are still making a (small) profit of $5 per jacket, but have probably sold off 50-60% (or more) of the inventory at full price, or in the smaller 10%, 20%, 30% etc. sales over the weeks/months leading up to that final sale price. They have made their profit off that item and everything else is gravy. They just get rid of it now to make room for new inventory. Yes, I am aware they have to make a profit as well, and I don’t begrudge those places from making that profit. As mentioned, good for them. But the “original” price on those items is always so ridiculously high that I am amazed when people think they are getting some great deal when it is first marked down to 30% off…“Look - only $70 for this $100 jacket!” Hmm…big deal/huge savings to pay $70 for a $25 item of clothing? ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/7 "2012-07-21T14:46:09Z")
I heard a Kohl’s radio commercial yesterday, and the phrase “women who shop to win” was in it. Shop to win? WTF is shopping to win? Win what, other than bragging rights? Am I supposed to view shopping as some sort of sport? ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/8 "2012-07-21T14:53:32Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > JC Penny tried to do away with it. And failed. > > The markdown game is back. Enough people apparently like it. JC Penny’s plan was easily one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen put out by a CEO of a company JC Penny’s size. When I first read about it I thought it was very reminiscent of the kind of clueless proposal a team of undergraduate business students would suggest. Their core market is value conscious middle aged women. They LOVE waiting for discounts, grabbing coupons and special deals. I’ve never met a JCPenny shopper who didn`t actively enjoy getting the most discounts possible, let alone wish for them all to be taken away. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/9 "2012-07-21T14:59:38Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > I heard a Kohl’s radio commercial yesterday, and the phrase “women who shop to win” was in it. Shop to win? WTF is shopping to win? Win what, other than bragging rights? Am I supposed to view shopping as some sort of sport? The lowest price, bragging rights, etc. Lot’s of women are very proud of the deals they get and enjoy deal hunting. Not every woman likes to shop, but of those who do, most need to be value conscious and look for deals. Succeeding at that makes it more fun. Everyone from my 30 year old sister to my 83 year old grandmother shops as some sort of sport. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/10 "2012-07-21T15:10:18Z")
I caught Circuit City doing this, and they gave me a true markdown perhaps in fear of what action I might take through Consumer Protection. ---
**Author:** ![Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/58956e/32.png) [@Emtar\_KronJonDerSohn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emtar_KronJonDerSohn)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/11 "2012-07-21T15:25:10Z")
They get my wife with that crap. She’ll ask if I can stay in with the kids because she needs to get a few pairs of shorts. She comes back hours later with a metric ton of clothes that she paid a small fortune for, but she had $30 in kohls cash! And it was all on sale! And she got a 30% in the mail! So really it’s “worth” a large fortune, and since she only spent a small fortune, and, well, I’ve been thinking of taking… This and this back… And this… And see? It’s not bad… Okay, I’m sorry, they got me… I’ll stop blowing hundreds of dollars a month at kohls on stupid shit we don’t need. But then she does go back to return those few items and she has $40 in kohls cash and another 30% so she buys another mountain of crap. Worst of all, you have to use their stupid kohls credit card to get the deals so you’re spending money you dont actually have yet and paying 30% interest on these “deals.” But I’m not bitter. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/12 "2012-07-21T16:27:19Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > There’s a store down the street from me that’s actually doing the _You Don’t Mess With the Zohan_ going-out-of-business thing; they’ve been “going out of business” for at least the last 4 years. We have a furniture store here in Bug Tussle that has an annual Going Out Of Business Sale. ---
**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/13 "2012-07-21T16:34:48Z")
> [@Iggy](#): > > JC Penny tried to do away with it. And failed. > > The markdown game is back. Enough people apparently like it. Just two days ago, the JC Penney CEO said the company is sticking with their “no markdowns” plan in the long-term. [http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/j-dot-c-dot-penney-s-johnson-vows-to-stick-to-everyday-low-prices](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/j-dot-c-dot-penney-s-johnson-vows-to-stick-to-everyday-low-prices) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/14 "2012-07-21T17:21:08Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Then there are places like Big Lots where “going out of business” sales are the reason for their existence. I don’t think Big Lots has ever claimed they were going out of business. They’re supposedly selling products they bought at a discount from sources like other stores going out of business. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/15 "2012-07-21T17:30:44Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I don’t think Big Lots has ever claimed they were going out of business. They’re supposedly selling products they bought at a discount from sources like other stores going out of business. Yes, that’s what I meant, just stated badly. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/16 "2012-07-21T18:24:55Z")
Has anyone ever paid full price for suits at Joseph A. Bank? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/17 "2012-07-21T18:35:44Z")
> [@Justin\_Bailey](#): > > Just two days ago, the JC Penney CEO said the company is sticking with their “no markdowns” plan in the long-term. > > [http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/j-dot-c-dot-penney-s-johnson-vows-to-stick-to-everyday-low-prices](http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/j-dot-c-dot-penney-s-johnson-vows-to-stick-to-everyday-low-prices) Man, I’d be shorting JCP-this guy has “failure” written all over him! I just got my fake “discount” card from Autozone-if I spend $100, I get $5.00 back! They charge \>$22/ 5 quart engine oil (WalMart is at $16.00). What a deal! ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/18 "2012-07-21T19:02:50Z")
Every woman I know falls for this shit. Her: I just bought $800 worth of clothes for $123! Me: Wonderful! Let’s go sell those for $800, go back to the store and buy the same clothes again for $123 and pocket the $677! Her: \*nasty look It irritates me. If I am selling a 10 dollar bill for a hundred dollars, but give you a 90% discount and sell it to you for $10, you didn’t get any “discount.” ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/19 "2012-07-21T19:07:36Z")
I used to work in marketing for a chain of furniture stores. On my first day, I was working on an upcoming event called “The Greatest One Day Sale Ever” and I was honored, _honored_ I tell you, that I was doing such important work. Needless to say, it turned out that they had this sale three times a year. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2012, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950/20 "2012-07-21T19:32:09Z")
> [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > JC Penny’s plan was easily one of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen put out by a CEO of a company JC Penny’s size. When I first read about it I thought it was very reminiscent of the kind of clueless proposal a team of undergraduate business students would suggest. > > Their core market is value conscious middle aged women. They LOVE waiting for discounts, grabbing coupons and special deals. I’ve never met a JCPenny shopper who didn`t actively enjoy getting the most discounts possible, let alone wish for them all to be taken away. > [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > The lowest price, bragging rights, etc. Lot’s of women are very proud of the deals they get and enjoy deal hunting. Not every woman likes to shop, but of those who do, most need to be value conscious and look for deals. Succeeding at that makes it more fun. Everyone from my 30 year old sister to my 83 year old grandmother shops as some sort of sport. Hey, I’m middle class, female, and I am value conscious. I hate clipping coupons, waiting for discounts, and playing other sorts of games, though. I tend to shop thrift stores and used book stores, though. And I hit the clearance/sale racks in those shops first. To my way of thinking, if a garment is only “in” for this season, and I have to buy it new…there’s simply no way that it’s going to be cheap enough for me to consider it a bargain, unless I get it for about two dollars. Most fashion items have a very short life span. Every year, there’s a new color palette of “in” colors, which means that last year’s Ocean Blue is a couple of shades different from this year’s Teal Blue. And more often than not, the two blues will clash rather than complement each other, so if I have a top that has Ocean Blue as its main color, but the corresponding skirt didn’t survive living in the same household as little Miss Kitty Krazy Klaws, then this year’s skirt won’t go with it. I dunno…I enjoy shopping for some items, but not clothes, so I guess I’m not the target audience. I consider the number of uses that I’ll get from an item as compared to the price. So, for instance, if I see a sewing machine for $79.99, but I know that that particular brand is prone to breaking down and it’s impossible to sew on, but I see another machine for $799.99, and I know that it will last me 20 years of heavy duty constant sewing, without breaking down…I’ll consider the eight hundred dollar machine to be cheaper, in the long run. See also Sam Vimes’ Boots. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stores-with-fake-sales/628950.md?page=2)