We continue our series of offers, which upon closer scrutiny, offer less than expected.
Example 1:
Right in the heart of downtown Boston at Faneuil Hall, McCormick and Schmick’s has a great Friday deal:
At a place where fish and chips is about $18, getting a plate of fish tacos for just $5 on Fridays is a sensational offer. But wait… there’s more… or really less.
*MOUSE PRINT:
Tucked away at the bottom right corner of the sandwich board was the tiny disclosure “each taco.” Thanks for nothing, McCormick & Schmick’s… olé.
Example 2:
Larry S. from Texas sent us this “deal” he found at Staples.
Click to Enlarge
*MOUSE PRINT:
The box with six rolls of tape is $10, while the package with the “free” bonus dispenser is $13.99. (And yes, they both contain the same size six rolls of tape.) Thanks for nothing, Staples.
If you find a great example of a “thanks for nothing” offer, take a picture or screenshot and send it along to edgar (at symbol) mouseprint.org .
McCormick & Schmick’s would not do just one fish on the plate though… That would not bring in the customers.
If you could walk in and buy just one fish taco for $5, than I’d say the promotion is OK. But if it’s only available as part of a larger platter purchase, then I agree: Thanks for nothing.
If you feel the need to clarify that the price is per taco, perhaps ‘$5 fish taco’ would have been a better advertisement.
Your second ‘deal’ appears to have come from 3M directly. It may have been a special promotion for Staples, but it isn’t necessarily the fault of Staples. The office places (Office Depot, Max, Staples) all tend to be priced on the high side. Walmart has many of the same items, but not the breadth of the product line.
For the tape rolls case:
In Romania, by law, if a store has on shelf a promotion “Product A + product B”, it also must still have on shelf for sale the product that was sold before alone. And in this case the “free” part of the promotion would be false and the store would be fined by the national authority for consumer protection.
The free tape dispenser reminds me of when I used to live across the street from Pizza Pizza. They once advertised two deals. The first deal was one small pizza for $4.99. The second deal was one small pizza for $5.99. So what’s the difference? The second deal (for $5.99) came with a “free” can of Coke.