Saving Money: Beware of Multiple Offer Deals

Recently I ran into this piece from MSN titled 10 Things Your Grocery Store Doesn't Want You to Know. Many of the tips deal with health issues, but one of them was definitely a money-related suggestion and I just had to share it with you. Here goes:

Bargains aren’t always a bargain. Who can resist an offer like “buy five, get one free,” or “three for $1”? Apparently, very few people can. “Any time you see numbers in a sign, you’re likely to buy at least 30 percent more than you may have purchased otherwise. “So if you go looking for soup and the sign says “limit 12 per person,” chances are you’ll purchase several more cans than you intended to buy,” he says. And of course, if you buy more than you need, it’s not necessarily a bargain. Or worse yet, it could lead to over-indulging. “Mindless shopping leads to mindless eating,” says Wansink. “Once the stuff is in the house, you’ll eat it whether you really want it or not.”

So be aware of these deals and the impact they have on you subconsciously. When you see them, ask "do I really need that many of this item?" Be honest with yourself in your reply. If you do need that many, go ahead and snatch up the savings. If not, only buy what you want/need and leave the rest behind.

Comments

[Skott]

I've noticed that when a sale reads, "Two for $3" or something similar, you can just buy one and it rings up at $1.50. This may not be the case everywhere, but at my grocery store that's what I've found.

[specialkindofstupid.com]

That's interesting. In my neck of the woods, grocery stores like to do this "2 for $x" deal with milk. Why buy only one gallon of milk for this price when you can get a second gallon of milk for only a little bit more? Never mind the little matter of most people cannot possibly finish second gallon of milk before its expiration date...

Movie theaters sort of do the same thing. A medium popcorn will cost $2.25. For 25 cents more, you can get a large that is almost twice the size. People pay the extra 25 cents because they see it as a better deal (even though they will not possibly eat that much popcorn and the 25 cents will be wasted).

Everyone wants a bargain, I guess.

[Scott]

On a similar note, anybody else have grocery stores nearby that do like mine does with the multiple offers...they choose (I believe intentionally) numbers for the quantity and price that do not easily or evenly divide so that it is hard to figure out the per unit price. For example: 7 cans of soup for $3.75. The average consumer can't do math in their head that well so they struggle to figure out how good of a deal that is (or isn't). I am blessed enough to have good math skills so it doesn't effect me but it does slow me down. Of course the whole thing is a non-issue if people bring calculators to the store, but most seem to not.

[James]

Large supermarkets like to move bigger amount of things through their stores. I find that sometimes, for food items, that are sold in bigger quantities usually have approaching expiry dates. If you don't consume it in time, you actually lose money.

Also, the last time we wanted to buy toilet paper, buying double the amount only saves about 20 cents, total. Besides having minimal savings, having large amount of stuff encourage people to USE more of it.

ed