Wal-Mart "Sale" Item

[Flamingo]

Those of us who have shopped at Wal-Mart know they put their for sale/discounted items in certain areas at the end of aisles in those departments and red tags are listed with the discounted price under the item and also bear the name of the product. This past Saturday I was in the soap/lotion section to get bath soap and I viewed the discounted items at the end of that aisle. I noticed an 8 bar package of a name-brand soap on sale for $4.62. Red tag under item with that price, name of the item on the red tag. I put the item in my cart. Went to the soap aisle. There was the exact same item, sitting right there at the exact same price, listed as it's usual price.

This was no mistake - this was a marketing ploy to make one think the item was on sale since it was at the end of the aisle and if one did not go investigate the main aisle and see that product, one would not have known any better....

What you think is "on sale" or "discounted" may be just the regular price to look like it's discounted...buyer beware...

[sunshinepa]

That's an interesting post, thanks. I have seen the same thing where stores are going out of business. They advertise x percentage off original but folks don't realize, they jacked up the originals before they put them on sale. I have seen this many times and actually knew some of the real prices so I didn't get taken!!

The lesson..........try to know your prices!!!

[Exployer1234]

I know from years of retail stores do this all the time. The last company I worked for I would receive a price list and mark items up and then offer a discount off the new price. So the items always ended up being the same price and sometimes more.

Some things you may want to consider when buying non-essential items (clothing, shoes, and etc) is to buy summer items late September through the end of October and Winter merchandise in February-March. This is when most of the stores reduce the merchandise to dollars on the penny and you get the best deals. I normally would buy my merchandise this way and set back for the next year when it was either cold or hot.

[tigergem]

Oh. Here's an even better Wal Mart deal. A loaf of bread that had been $1.08 for like... forever... went on red tag special sale two weeks ago 4 for $5.00... and has stayed that way! lol.

And every single trip lately, I have had to correct them for charging a higher price at the register than what is marked on the shelf. For like 2 or 3 different items each time. Really annoying. But I was totally perplexed when a half gallon of milk was $3.07 and a gallon was $2.97. Same brand. Whatever...

[justbroke]

Wal*Mart uses those "end caps" to "push" product. The product may not actually be on sale or "rolled back", using their parlance. I love my Red Laser app on my iPhone. I tend to check "sale" prices to make sure they are actually sale prices and that it isn't offered somewhere else (closer) and cheaper.

This is probably no different than when I went into Sweet Bay. (I normally shop at Publix.) They had an end cap with a big giant sign that read that the product was 4/$5. I took notice but didn't want four, but went down the same aisle anyway. Then I saw the product in it's normal spot at its normal price... $1.25 each.

Merchandising is the ability to make shopper buy things (or quantities) that they wouldn't otherwise purchase. Wal*Mart is good, but BJs is probably the best at it!

[tigergem]

Yeah, I don't fall for it. The only time I buy more quantity than I really need is when the one gallon of milk is 10 cents cheaper than the half gallon lol. I keep ending up way out in the boonies, and my options to shop at different stores are quite limited. This town only has walmart and brookshires for groceries. I have to pass one on the way to the other, so comparison shopping is pretty easy. (no iPhone lol!)

[drowning123]

I shop at Wal-Mart every weekend. I can't stand them, but they do have a monopoly in my neighborhood and they do have the best prices in my 'hood. Shop-Rite is a little pricey. They never have good sales, but their produce is fresher than Wal-Mart's.

[lillymarlene]

Wal-Mart is not necessarily the best deal in town. Last week-end at Wal-Mart, Gator Aid was on sale 10 for $10. But then I checked out my local drug store, and they had the same item for $0.88 each. I'm lucky there is a lot of stores concentrated in my area. I sure agree though, you just have to know prices.

[Pandora]

Dont you hate that?! Grrr... I try to view all the circulars before I go shopping, price comparing and matching up coupons to sale items. The bigger issue I have is that every single store has raised prices at least 3-5times this year alone on so many items, its baffling. For instance - my coffee (ok..gonna vent here LOL!) I always buy 8'oclock whole bean coffee, the small 1 lb bags started out at $3.46 a bag, larger bag was $10.99. Now...this year I've seen prices go up 5 times on just the coffee alone in the past 3 months! Now a small bag is anywhere from $5.99 - 7.99, with the largest bag now being almost $18! INSANE! Its not that "special coffee" that those damn cats pee on or the monkeys eat and crap out for pete's sake..its frigging 8'oclock brand!

i tried for years to avoid Walmart for shopping and always shopped at Giant or even Food Lion for certain things, but lately Giant has gone up at least 20% on many items and Food Lion has done the same. Why should I pay $5 for a gallon of Shennendoah's Pride 2% milk at Giant or Food Lion when I can get the same milk at Walmart for less than $4? Pop tarts are another thing that aggrevate me - $1.78 - $2.25 was the price earlier this year between the 3 stores, now it's $2.08 - $3.99 for the same stupid thing. And Walmart is always the cheapest, with them now being $2.08 a box, up from $1.78.

This is why I shop at Wegmans now - OMG..anyone else have a Wegmans?! LOVE LOVE LOVE that store! They are so upscale and have the best selections on everything, yet when you price compare, they're cheaper than Wally World for most items. It's insane! So much so that they've forced the local Walmart where my mom lives to lower their prices just to compete and they double coupons up to .99, where Walmart doesnt. AND... my 2% milk (same brand / size) is only $2.86 at Wegmans.... boggles.

*sighs* pretty soon no one will be able to afford food and we'll all have to go back to being hunter / gatherer's :/

[Freddy03]

I opened a pack of hotdogs for the kids dinner last night and the package only had 7 hot dogs!! What am I suppose to do with the 8th bun???

[Pandora]

I opened a pack of hotdogs for the kids dinner last night and the package only had 7 hot dogs!! What am I suppose to do with the 8th bun???

LMAAAAAAAAAAAO! OMG... that is probably the funniest thing I've read in a very long time

Thanks for the laughs Freddy!

[onthefence]

The bigger issue I have is that every single store has raised prices at least 3-5times this year alone on so many items, its baffling. For instance - my coffee (ok..gonna vent here LOL!) I always buy 8'oclock whole bean coffee, the small 1 lb bags started out at $3.46 a bag, larger bag was $10.99. Now...this year I've seen prices go up 5 times on just the coffee alone in the past 3 months! Now a small bag is anywhere from $5.99 - 7.99, with the largest bag now being almost $18! INSANE! Its not that "special coffee" that those damn cats pee on or the monkeys eat and crap out for pete's sake..its frigging 8'oclock brand!

This is why I shop at Wegmans now - OMG..anyone else have a Wegmans?! LOVE LOVE LOVE that store!

*sighs* pretty soon no one will be able to afford food and we'll all have to go back to being hunter / gatherer's :/

I can't believe the amount of price increases across the store - but I agree with you about the coffee - we were buying Kirkland (Costco brand) Columbian coffee at 12.99 for 3 lbs at the start of the year - now it is 18.99! Still cheaper than Starbucks, and I like it better, but dang! And this girl needs her coffee in the morning!

No Wegmans here - too bad, sounds like my kind of store!

[Freddy03]

LMAAAAAAAAAAAO! OMG... that is probably the funniest thing I've read in a very long time

Thanks for the laughs Freddy!

Glad I could help

[justbroke]

I opened a pack of hotdogs for the kids dinner last night and the package only had 7 hot dogs!! What am I suppose to do with the 8th bun???

You have GOT to see the scene with Steve Martin in Father of the Bride (1991). The scene is classic about the 12 bun package of hot dog buns, versus the 8 hot dogs in a package of hot dogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYIHLUxzRr8

[Freddy03]

You have GOT to see the scene with Steve Martin in Father of the Bride (1991). The scene is classic about the 12 bun package of hot dog buns, versus the 8 hot dogs in a package of hot dogs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYIHLUxzRr8

YES! That's one of my favorites clips!