Message to Wal-Mart...I can do the math

[clh2]

even without a calculator...

Went grocery shopping with DH today.

A single can of tuna was $0.70. The 4-packs were 4/$3.29.

Hmmm...let me think about that for a minute...Why in the world would I spend $0.81 per can, when I can spend $0.70. Hmmmm...let me think about that for a minute...

 

[SaraJayne]

Walmart isn't always the cheapest place to shop, like many people claim.

Know your prices (and math apparently ) and you can find better deals elsewhere.

 

[Goofydiane]

they do that because most people will not do the math that you did.

I agree with the previous poster that Wal-Mart is not always the cheapest. In our market, the news did a comparison and they were the 2nd highest priced store.

Super Target and Cub were the lowest priced.

 

[luvflorida]

The "I can do the math" part of your post made me laugh because it made me think about a trolley ride we took yesterday.

The conductor punched two round-trip tickets for a young couple and the charge was $5.00. He then came over to us and asked how many tickets and if we were going round-trip. There were four of us, but he said there was no charge for our grandson (under 24 months), so the cost would be $12.50. I'm thinking, wait a minute, you just charged $5.00 for two people, but you're charging us $12.50 for three?

My husband asked him if that was the right price and the conductor counted us again, then said yes, because the baby was free. We're still confused. Even if he charged for the baby, it would still be under $12.50. My husband said wouldn't it be $7.50? The conductor counts us again, then says, "Ok, $7.50."

Another math problem gone wrong!

 

[loveadobie]

It was probably the extra packaging to make it a "convenient" 4 pack.

 

[Sparx]

Were they a different brand? My walmart has the unit price on the ticket on the shelf. They do the math for me.

 

[dawson5]

what about when they break down the price per ounce and you know it's wrong? I run into that quite often. This is at Meijer's though.

At WalMart, I always run into the detergent being more expensive for the larger container. I think they charge $5 for 50 oz and $11.XX for the 100 oz. (Might be the 100 & 150, can't remember.)

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

That same thing happened to me at Target about a month ago! I don't know is it was those numbers but I went... OK, do they thing that stupid?

I think it happens enough, as it's not the first time I've seen something like this. Or it'll be 5 cents more for twice the amount.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

Speaking of math issues,

Often, I go to the bank to get change (coin change, not paper) for a place I work, just for the rest of the night. It's not a lot because a lot of people pay with a card or just leave the change but it's usually around $100 worth of coin. I've tried everything I can think of, I write the list down, I say the list out loud but it almost never fails that the teller messes up the amount. They often give me $.50-$20 more in which I have to go back and explain how they gave me more, as they usually assure me when I come back initially, I am wrong.

It really makes me . I understand that some people are bad at math, or just not so great but you would think that if a person works at a bank, they would be at least semi-good at it.

 

[merryweather20]

Whats wrong with that? Places frequently have only one size of items on sale. Thats the size they want to sell, so thats whats on sale. Why would you think its a trick? They're simply trying to sell some one packs.

 

[antmaril]

I was at Tubby's yesterday getting a sub for my son. All footlong deli subs are $5.00 each. They also have a special on Tuesday and Thursday - 2 footlong deli subs for $10.99

I don't think so.

 

[dawson5]

Speaking of math issues,

Often, I go to the bank to get change (coin change, not paper) for a place I work, just for the rest of the night. It's not a lot because a lot of people pay with a card or just leave the change but it's usually around $100 worth of coin. I've tried everything I can think of, I write the list down, I say the list out loud but it almost never fails that the teller messes up the amount. They often give me $.50-$20 more in which I have to go back and explain how they gave me more, as they usually assure me when I come back initially, I am wrong.

It really makes me . I understand that some people are bad at math, or just not so great but you would think that if a person works at a bank, they would be at least semi-good at it.

We just ran into something similar on Friday. My oldest was rolling his change (he wanted to buy/upgrade his own phone.) He had $37 in rolled change. He took it to the bank and the lady said the roll of pennies wasn't right, so she unrolled it and counted it. I looked at my son when he got back in the car and asked him if she thought you were going to stuff the penny roll with dimes? Seriously, why would you double check the pennies and not the quarters?

(the pennies were right, they were tilted, not straight up and down.)

 

[luvsJack]

My grandparents ran a small country grocery store for years. Grandma was trying to sell this big plastic container full of little cans of potted meat. (I know, YUCK, right?) She put up a big sign "Potted Meat .10 per can". Not one can sold all day. The next day she changed the sign "Potted Meat 5 cans for 1.00". By the end of the day all the cans were gone. True story.

Some things sell better just because it looks like a better deal at first glance. Most people are busy and thinking of other things and just grab what they believe to be a better price.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I can do the math too.

Meijer has berries for .99. Walmart has the same berries 2 for $5.
Where am I shopping? Not Walmart.

I don't like to price match either because if Meijer didn't exist, then the berries would be 2 for $5.

 

[LuvCuteBoys]

I don't think Wal-Mart was implying that anyone can't do math. The price they sell something for is going to be dependent on what they bought it for.

Maybe they got a good deal on individual cans of tuna.

Maybe they mismarked something.

Maybe, like another poster said, they are hoping that (even thought you can) you WON'T do the math.

Not every store is going to have the same deals on the same items.

As for the roll of pennies, if you're a teller long enough you know what a roll of pennies should feel like. And if some weren't in there the right way, the teller was just doublechecking. Because at the end of the day, if they were wrong and she used them, she is probably the one who is going to take the outage. And maybe this particular bank is particulary strict on how much the teller can be out. I've seen all different extremes where that is concerned.

 

[SandrA9810]

it's becoming real frustrating as a comsumer to go shopping anywhere these days. You have to make a whole day thing out of it, between ready labels for nutrition, labels for pricing, cutting coupons, searching the ads....
It's almost a full time job to be a concious consumer.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Hmmm...let me think about that for a minute...Why in the world would I spend $0.81 per can, when I can spend $0.70. Hmmmm...let me think about that for a minute...

Same brand, same variety, same size? Go ahead and buy all you want at seventy cents per can. When they run out of those, maybe they'll open the four-packs and sell those cans individually at seventy cents each, instead of eighty-two and a quarter cents each as part of the four-pack.

 

[Northstar]

I don't think they're especially trying to deceive you. It's just that stuff comes in at different times, inventory gets moved around, and, well, it costs money to pay staff to go around and do all that math to make sure the biggest pack is still the cheapest/unit.

Let's put it this way... if they checked all the prices of everything in the store every day to ensure that the pricing makes sense, they'd have to hire 6 more pricecheckers and the one can of tuna would cost $1.00.

I'm happy to do my own math for free. Yep, I often notice that the biggest isn't the cheapest/unit.

 

[luvsJack]

Two five pound bags of sugar have been cheaper than one 10 pound bag at Walmart for years. Now either one is cheaper than the same bag at any other place in town; but I buy it 5 pounds at a time and save about 1.00 per 10 lbs.

 

[bumbershoot]

Were they a different brand? My walmart has the unit price on the ticket on the shelf. They do the math for me.

You ever notice that sometimes they'll change the units? Now, if I could remember 1st grade a bit better, then I could easily convert ounces to pints, and could quickly figure it out. Instead I have to look at the container, see how many ounces are in that container, figure that out, and THEN compare.


Or Mission tortillas! The bags are, indeed, marked with weight. But they are also marked with how many tortillas are in the bag. The tags at Safeway are marked with the price per ounce. The one time I was alone and actually had the time to do it all...the soft taco size was cheaper to buy in 10 tortilla bags vs 20, but on the tag it looked like you were getting a better deal the other way when going by ounce. I got a headache figuring it out and I can't explain it better, but i'd never had time or brainpower to figure it out b/c I had DS with me asking lots of (good) questions about other things or wanting to move along etc etc etc.