For several years now, supermarkets have tried to get you to buy more with offers like “10 for $10.” Savvy shoppers know when you see offers like that, you are not required to buy 10 units to get the $1 each price. You can buy as few as you want and only pay the mathematical equivalent of that number.
Drug stores like Walgreens and Rite Aid have gotten a bit more clever by advertising “2-fer” or “3-fer” offers like 2 for $10 or 3 for $2, but then in small print indicate if you only want one, you will pay more, sometimes significantly more.
*MOUSE PRINT:
In this case, if you just want one pack of gum it is 99 cents — 50% more than the sale price.
Not wanting to be left out of being able to charge more if you just want one sale item, supermarkets are beginning to mimic drug store pricing policies on some items. Here are some examples of supermarkets requiring the purchase of multiple items in order to take advantage of the sale price:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Sometimes it is clearly stated that you must buy the advertised quantity to get the advertised price. Other times, the disclosure is not conspicuous, and they don’t always tell you how much one will cost you if that is all you want.
Stores may be counting on the fact that most shoppers don’t scrutinize ads or their sales receipts with many items on it, and won’t catch the higher price if they only buy one of the advertised items.
It happened to me at Shaw/Star last week. Instead of six lean cuisines I bought four. Six at $1.67. One to five were on sale for $2.50 each. The added problem was the store’s tags were in small print, and the lighting in that particular Shaws is terrible.
Albertson’s in Huntington Beach California does this on almost everything in the store. I am a senior pushing 80 years old, and my eyes are not that good. It gets annoying and really slows down my shopping. I live alone and do not need or can afford to buy in larger quantities. I have been stuck several times picking up something I need at a good price only to pay double at the checkout. To me this is a very cheap trick, and is forcing me to save up and shop more at the bulk stores.
I’m okay with stores using a minimum quantity in order for shoppers to receive a discount, but ONLY if it is made clear in plain writing next to the listed price. These types of sales usually seem like inventory clearing sales anyways, so if I was a store I would want people to buy in bulk.
What I don’t understand is why stores don’t just advertise all items as a sale for ONE item. I don’t care if the item is 2 for $5 or 4 for $10 if I can buy 1 for $2.50. Just tell me that and I can do the math myself.
Of course, I also recognize that trickery is usually the way stores increase sales, so there is a strong incentive to pretend that shoppers need to buy a larger quantity to receive a discount.
One of my biggest pet peeves. I live alone and on a fixed income. Most of the time buying more than 1 item is wasteful. Bread and other perishables for example.You are not saving money if food goes stale and you have to throw it away. It’s also tough on the budget. I have tried a few times to buy just 1 multiple priced item at the lowest sale price but I’ve had to wait while the cashier got the OK to do it and once had to go the the service desk, a huge waste of time. And, my request for the lowest price was not always honored.
These large chains need to realize that not every shopper is from a large family. That’s what BJ’s and Costco are for.
Another complaint in the same category : more and more coupons now require you to purchase more than one item. This creates the same problems as those listed above.
When stores sell (order) more of an item, they pay less for the item. So they lower the price on quantity purchases to sell more of the item. Easy concept to understand, but we have come to learn to complain about everything. If you can’t use the higher quantity then don’t buy them. But don’t complain because some people can use more.
I hate this – Sometimes it’s unclear on the shelf whether they will observe unit pricing or not, so I always ask at the check out just to make sure. Sometimes they do observe the unit pricing and sometimes they insist that a certain number of items be purchased to get the discount. It’s a real PITA (pain in the a@@) and I have no problem handing the item back to the checker if I can’t get a discount.
And to Alan, I disagree with you. Many if not most seniors live alone and on a fixed income, plus seeing and figuring out the actual price they would pay for one item is often a real challenge. I don’t blame them for complaining. My husband and I are in our late 50s and have no children at home. I have gotten used to finding ways around the “volume discounts”, first by making sure the store will honor the unit pricing. I also have no problem asking a butcher to take a few steaks out of a package and re-wrap it so that I can buy fewer at the sale price. They have never had an issue with this. The trick is being aware and asking questions.
Sneaky mouseprint, but they will make a buck anyway they can.
A big thumbs up to Ronnie. And to Alan, shame on you. Dollars to donuts, you work for Stop & Shop. They are the worst ! Sometimes, we on a fixed income wait for an item to go on sale so we can buy just one. It helps assure that we can still purchase food up until the next Social Security payment is received
It’s difficult to get the stores to bend and almost impossible when it’s “buy one, get one”.
I think that Mouse Print should contact Arthur T. at Market Basket. Maybe he will understand and start a new trend away from this multiple pricing bologna.
I don’t mind these ads. It’s a way for stores to clear their merchandise. It means that the consumer needs to pay attention – something seriously lacking in society today. Read all the info – don’t just scan the large print,
Teri, your comment makes absolutely no sense. We don’t read just the large print ! We know what the policy is and we think it’s unfair. [edited]
I actually agree with the stores here that if they say 2 for $3 you need to buy two to get that price.
The stores I have issue with are like Kroger. They have both the “2 for $4” type ad but also a “buy 5 and save”. The 2 for $4 you can buy individually for $2 but the buy 5 type you have to buy all 5 for the price, it is always confusing which is which and when I ask at the store they don’t always know.
I have noticed on some produce items advertised at a low price at certain stores is only available at that price on the pre-packaged ones. Loose and you pay more. Recently saw this with green beans. Advertised at $1.69 a pound – yet the smallest package was over two pounds. Loose, they were $2.29 a pound. So what am I suppose to do? Volume buy with others? Freeze them?
I think as long as the requirement to purchase a certain quantity is clear, it’s fine. That is the store’s choice, especially if they’re having the sale to clear inventory. Now if it’s not clear, then that’s a different story. To me, that’s bait and switch.
Ellis, I think I must be misunderstanding your comment above about “buy one, get one” offers. What exactly are you looking for stores to do in that situation? Those seem pretty simple, with the buy one at regular price and get the 2nd of same or less value at a reduced (or free) price. Are you expecting to only buy one and get it at the reduced price?
Jennifer, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. For example, a $4.00 loaf of bread. Buy one / get one free comes to $2.00 per loaf, that’s not rocket science. I can’t use 2 loaves of bread and don’t bother saying to freeze the 2nd loaf. Bread does not freeze well unless you will be toasting it after thawing. So, for us seniors on a budget, living alone, buying just 1 loaf of bread for $2.00 only makes sense. Trust me, the store will still make a profit when I pay up at the checkout. The CEO’s and CFO’s will not have to give up their Mercedes or yacht.
This is not false advertising (if the print shows everything) but I would consider it deceptive advertising if the font size of the per-item price is not close to the same font size of the Buy-X-For-$Y
What has always bugged me about these it how I can tell that buy-2-for-$4 is the same as buy-1-for-$2 unless I check at the register…which is a pain if I have a full shopping cart and have to monitor dozens of these things while I’m unloading the cart…I’d rather have a customer-scanner hooked up to their POS system so I can check before I stick it in my cart. Of course, if I consistently see errors or deceptions, I stop shopping there unless it really has great prices compared to others (which I never find at the Mega Stores like Von’s/Safeway, Albertson’s, Ralph’s)
Related…when those MegaStores first started offering their card programs, they actually had good deals if you issued your card. Then they realized they could raise the prices and offer a discount with the card so you pay the “regular” price and it seemed like a deal. At this point, I rarely buy anything at those stores unless I need it and can get the “regular” (aka card price) because I can usually get a better deal at the local non-Mega grocery store which has fresher produce at a better price (but I often have to sort through to find the matching quality items.)
This is why I won’t buy at stop &shop anymore they are the worst with this when they say in small letters less amount will be charged full price