Retail

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With So Many Coupon Exclusions at Kmart, What’s Left to Buy?

A couple of months ago, we showed you a six-foot-long disclaimer that Sears used to limit applicability of its Family & Friends sale. While its corporate cousin, Kmart, wasn’t quite as bad, they had a doozie just before Black Friday when they offered a very enticing deal.

10 off 20

Pretty generous to get $10 off a $20 purchase. But, of course… there are “details.”

*MOUSE PRINT:

Purchase requirement is before taxes and after discounts. Not valid on Nicki Minaj or Adam Levine merchandise; BOGO; gift cards; non-merchandise; concessions; federal or state regulated items; alcohol; tobacco; fuel; items behind the pharmacy counter; prescriptions; prior purchases; clearance items; partial-paid special order items; Lands End merchandise; Scrubology; at Sears HomeTown, Outlet, Appliance Showroom, Hardware and Parts & Repair stores; or during Family & Friends or Member events. Redeemable at kmart.com, sears.com and shopyourway.com. Limit one coupon per member. Valid on regular and sale priced merchandise. Not valid on Levis, Two Hearts Maternity, Scrubology, Sears Fan Shop, Insane Deals, Shaw rug gallery, recliners, Colormate 2.5 oz mini jar candles, generators, Weber, Mattresses, Jenn-Air, Dacor, appliance and floorcare accessories, appliance closeouts, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, water heaters, water softeners, air conditioners, air cleaners, fans, everyday great price items, propane tanks, automotive, video game hardware, Bose, Onkyo, prepaid calling cards, iTunes, computers, tablets, eReaders, Canon DSLR, Sony camcorders, Sony DSLR and lenses, Nikon DSLR and lenses, Samsung, Sharp and Sony UPP merchandise, Panasonic VT series TVs, installed Home Improvements, Home Services, PartsDirect, catalog orders, Gift Cards, money orders, wire transfers, protection agreements, Sears licensed business, Nicki Minaj and Adam Levine merchandise, BOGO, non-merchandise, concessions, federal or state regulated items, alcohol, tobacco, fuel, items behind the pharmacy counter, prescriptions, prior purchases, clearance, partial-paid special order items, and Lands End merchandise. Additional Sears online exclusions: Custom, family, and Moissanite jewelry, items powered by ShoeBuy, compact refrigerators, range hoods, compactors, Fisher & Paykel, fragrances and Hot Buys, Additional Kmart online exclusions: gaming hardware, computers, laptops, snow throwers, clearance, Hot Buys, Fruit of the Loom and Hanes. Void if copied, transferred or obtained via unapproved means and where prohibited. Any other use constitutes fraud. Cash value 1/20. On return, coupon savings may be deducted from refund. Online code limited to one-time use only and applies to merchandise marked sold by Sears or sold by Kmart. Sears Holdings reserves the right to terminate or modify this offer at any time for failure to comply with its terms and/or due to any operational malfunction of the software, hardware or equipment required to process this offer. Use of this coupon constitutes your acceptance of the Shop Your Way terms and conditions, available at www.shopyourway.com/terms. Not valid at Sears Home Town, Outlet, Appliance Showroom, Hardware and Parts & Repair stores; or during Family & Friends or Member events.

The above font is many times larger than the real disclaimer. Who has the patience to wade through all that mumbo jumbo?

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Here We Downsize Again 2015 (Part 4)

 
Note: The next new Mouse Print* story will appear on January 4th.

We end the year with our final installment of products that have undergone the shrink ray.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Gillette deodorant

Thanks to our ever vigilant Richard G. for catching Gillette deodorant going from a full four ounces to 3.8. And you still can’t carry it on an airline.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Kleenex Costco

We’ve seen the smaller boxes of Kleenex tissues get smaller over the years, but Albert L. found that they shrunk at Costco as well. In this case, each box in the 10-pack is now shy 30 tissues. Put another way, you are missing more than a whole box now from every 10-pack.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Campbell's Spaghetti

Frankie found and took a wonderful picture of Campbell’s Spaghetti, which went from 14-3/4 ounces to 14.2 ounces. Surprisingly, the can is noticeably smaller despite such a small decrease in contents.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Walmart Great Value nuts

Tim B. discovered that Walmart lopped off more than 12% from their Great Value mixed nuts, bringing cans down to an even pound from 18.25 ounces. The price also went up from a reported $7.98 to $8.84. Combined, that is the equivalent of a 26% price increase, making it not such a “Great Value.”

*MOUSE PRINT:

Soda Stream

Finally, Richard G. found that Soda Stream, which makes flavor concentrates so you can make your own soda, changed their packaging and a lot more. The old bottle made 50 eight-ounce servings of soda and cost $7.99. The new version only makes 29 glasses, but the price dropped by $2. Fair deal? Not at all. The customer is now getting 40% fewer glasses of soda, but the price only went down by 25%.

If you spot a product that has been downsized, send MrConsumer an email at edgar(at symbol)mouseprint.org . And if you can take a sharp photograph of the old and new product labels, that would be great too.

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Thanks for Nothing #1

We are starting a new recurring feature today called “Thanks for Nothing.” It is designed to highlight offers that seem great on their face, but when you get down to the details, you’ll probably say forget it.

Example 1:

For Black Friday, Lowe’s advertised 60-watt LED bulbs for an amazing 99 cents each — the lowest price ever.

99 cent LEDs

*MOUSE PRINT:

2000 hours

These bulbs only have an expected life of 2000 hours. That is about one-tenth the time the average LED bulb is expected to last. (See our prior story about LED bulb longevity.)

Thanks for nothing, Lowe’s.

Example 2:

Also during Black Friday weekend, online stores had some amazing deals. One that crossed our screen was this leather chukka boot for only $30 — quite a bargain at that price:

Vegan Leather

*MOUSE PRINT:

Upon closer examination, it says “vegan leather.” Huh? Is that like gluten-free leather? Who knows… so we asked the company whether this was man-made, and if so why they didn’t say so. They responded:

“It is man-made however, that is vegan friendly which is why they put vegan leather/suede.” — Street Moda, customer service

So if your dog is on a vegan diet and decides to chew on your chukka boots, he won’t be going off his diet, I guess.

And to the extent that this company is trying to mislead consumers into thinking that this is a form of real leather, thanks for nothing, Street Moda.

Example 3:

Also just ahead of Black Friday, Big Lots sent out an email with a seemingly very valuable coupon — “$10 off everything” it proclaimed in the subject. Since both Kohl’s and J.C. Penney offered similar $10 off coupons on anything, this seemed very plausible.

10 off everything

*MOUSE PRINT:

$10 off $50 purchase

Oh, did you forget to list the minimum purchase requirement in the subject, Big Lots?

Thanks for (almost) nothing.

We welcome your submissions of other great “thanks for nothing” examples. Just email them to edgar(at symbol)mouseprint.org .