Buyer Beware! "Good Deals" Aren't Always Good Deals...

In these strange days of high inflation and frequently declining income, spending our money wisely is perhaps more important than ever... in part because many shops and supermarkets are resorting to some sketchy trickery in order to both "hide" rising prices and keep people shopping.

Meanwhile, it never ceases to amaze me just how much and how often people are sucked into shopping for (and buying) stuff they don't actually need... "because it's on sale," and doing so without really being aware of the money they are spending.

One of my favorite "stupid shopping tricks" a remarkable number of people fall for is the promises advertised as items that are "50% off!" or "75% off!"

I guess what puzzles me is that very few actually stop to consider the issue of "50% off... WHAT, exactly?"

"How much did you spend on that bottle of wine?"

"Oh, it was on sale for 50% off!"

The Fine Art of Being Misled...

As the person who does most of the grocery shopping in our household, I've long since stopped paying attention to these banner headlines!

Frist off, what does "75% off" even mean, in dollars and cents?

"75% off" isn't an amount; it's not something I have in my pocket or my bank account... it's purely an idea. I can't help but wonder why so many people completely ignore the fact that "75% off" actually has no real life "meaning."

Let me offer up an actual example of these kinds of deceptions, from right here in our little town:

Locally, we have two major grocery store chains vying for people's grocery dollars.

One of the things Mrs. Denmarkguy and I often use is boneless skinless chicken breasts, which we use in salads, sandwiches and various dishes.

Our local Safeway supermarket typically sells these for $4.29 per pound ($9.45/kg). All the time. Except when they go on sale. When that happens, they might drop to $2.99 per pound... but "mysteriously" the regular price suddenly becomes $5.99 while the sale is on!

Meanwhile the other supermarket often has a big sign up — with the inevitable LARGE red writing — that you can get their chicken breasts for "buy one, get one FREE!" Which is basically another way of saying "50% off!"

A meaningless Offer...?

What does that even mean?

Evidently, to a lot of people it matters. But if we look closer, we discover that their chicken breasts are "originally" priced at $9.99 per pound... so even after the "buy one, get one free" you're actually paying $4.99 per pound! As opposed to $4.29 per pound, at Safeway, remember? Sadly, a bunch of people are wasting their precious grocery budgets on the more expensive chicken breasts because they are "on special."

Clearly, this practice wouldn't be an issue if it wasn't working," but I watch it happen, week after week, year after year... and evidently (many) people aren't wise to it... and that makes me sad.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great Sunday!

How about you? How good are YOU at comparison shopping? DO you comparison shop? We can all read signs, but do you know what "a good deal" IS, in dollars and cents? Do you see such deceptive offers where you live? Do leave a comment if you feel so inclined — share your experiences — be part of the conversation!

(All text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is ORIGINAL CONTENT, created expressly for this platform — Not posted elsewhere!)
Created at 2023.05.07 01:16 PST
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