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

[Becky2005]

It's not just Wal-Mart! I have found that at grocery stores here too. Makes me do a double-take and think "WHY?" -- I found that with the Chicken Noodle Soup.

The only thing I can think of is I'm paying more for the 4 cans to be shrink wrapped together. Umm...no thanks. I can buy 4 seperate cans and pay less just fine thank you very much.

 

[Becky2005]

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.

I can believe that!!! I'm in the midst of a fundraising event and it is priced rock bottom but because of that we can't do any "enter this & get $X off" -- I'm VERY tempted next year to raise our price and then give an early bird discount, etc... I hate doing that because it just seem so not nice but I know it's the concept of thinking you are getting something at a better deal. If I raised the prices I could offer them something for "free" but without the raised prices I can't. I know when people saw the 5 cans for $1.00 sign they figured they were buying 4 cans at .25 & getting the 5th one free.

 

[Sparx]

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.

I've never noticed similar products to be in different units of measurement! Usually its ounces for dry goods and fl oz for wet, sometimes pounds for dry. I'll be looking for it now that you've said that, though!

 

[mamacatnv]

You all are obviously not the "average" consumer.
This practice is not exclusive to Wal-Mart it occurs in just about every retail establishment out there.

The retailer is counting on the consumer that assumes bigger/more is cheaper. Since the invention of Price Club/Costco our mentallity as consumers shifted. We went to thinking that because it comes in a 20# tub or in a 4/6/12 pack it is automatically a better deal.

My DH a college educated engineer is a retailers dream He doesn't look at the shelf per ounce label, heck, half the time he is looking at the wrong label entirely. Now, DH loves to shop so WE go to Costco, WE go grocery shopping etc. and I follow along with my Accountant brain and run damage control.

 

[DISdreamin']

You all are obviously not the "average" consumer.
This practice is not exclusive to Wal-Mart it occurs in just about every retail establishment out there.

The retailer is counting on the consumer that assumes bigger/more is cheaper. Since the invention of Price Club/Costco our mentallity as consumers shifted. We went to thinking that because it comes in a 20# tub or in a 4/6/12 pack it is automatically a better deal.

I'll second this - I've read about it and experienced it. Frequently the "club pack" or bulk-sized items are more on a pound for pound (or you name the relationship) basis. Happens all the time from Taget to WalMart to the local grocery store. Bigger isn't always cheaper, but they bank on people not doing the math and actually figuring that out (or just failing to look at the UPC tags for that matter).

And FWIW, the Super WalMart is cheaper here for some things. I don't buy anything perishable there (terrible product, meat is just scary) but some cereals and other items are less than the local grocery store chain. Some things (most notably MILK) are much more expensive, so you have to be careful. I also tend to grab a few non-perishables at WM rather than going to BJs - they may cost me a few dollars more, but I tend to SPEND more when I go BJs.

 

[Mr. Pig]

I tend to go with the non-intentional answer also. A lot of what makes up the retail is determined by the stores cost from the manufacturer. If Star-Kist wants to push a particular product they will offer an allowance and that can get passed on to the consumer. It is most often done on the most popular size so it is easy to believe that the more popular single can may have a lower cost per unit from the manufacturer than the 4 pack. Normally this is not the normal price but just temporary pricing.

I remember many years ago we carried 5, 10 and 25lb bags of flour. The 5 and 10lb were much cheaper per unit than the 25lb. It was just the result of the cost from the manufacturer. We got a much better price on the smaller sizes because we bought so much more of them. We even made more profit on the smaller sizes at cheaper prices.

So why to the stores have the bigger sizes if they aren't cheaper Well, they still want them available for customers that want them (and don't notice the difference) and costs do change over time.

 

[Mr. Pig]

I also agree that Wal-Mart isn't always the cheapest. They have done a good job making us automatically think that so now they don't need to be.

 

[bicker]

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.

Yes, good point. The negative assumption, whether it be about their intelligence or intent, is unnecessary and offensive. I have no great appreciation for Wal-Mart, but this is not one of the bad things about Wal-Mart afaic.

 

[bicker]

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.

I remember my mother spending all that time (well, except for the nutrition part ) back in the 1970s. I doubt much has really changed -- except perhaps now you're doing it more, because you're older and more aware of the need than you were back in the 1970s.

There is another complexity to add into the mix, though: How much is your time worth? Sometimes, the value of the time spent comparison shopping is not justified by the amount of money saved.

 

[bicker]

My DH a college educated engineer is a retailers dream He doesn't look at the shelf per ounce label, heck, half the time he is looking at the wrong label entirely. Now, DH loves to shop so WE go to Costco, WE go grocery shopping etc. and I follow along with my Accountant brain and run damage control.

I know the feeling. My wife is a software developer, like me, but she doesn't look at the prices at all -- not the "per ounce" pricing, nor the actual price tag on the item. It's more like, "I want this." I have to come in behind and look at the prices and see if what she wants is reasonable or not, given the other options and their pricing.

 

[luvsJack]

I can believe that!!! I'm in the midst of a fundraising event and it is priced rock bottom but because of that we can't do any "enter this & get $X off" -- I'm VERY tempted next year to raise our price and then give an early bird discount, etc... I hate doing that because it just seem so not nice but I know it's the concept of thinking you are getting something at a better deal. If I raised the prices I could offer them something for "free" but without the raised prices I can't. I know when people saw the 5 cans for $1.00 sign they figured they were buying 4 cans at .25 & getting the 5th one free.

Try it next time, I bet it would work! People just like the concept of "getting a better deal" and don't always reason things out or even divide them out correctly. When my grandparents, and later my parents, had the grocery store they found this all the time. It was all in how you worded a sign or advertised the sale.

We found it the same way in child care. We changed the way our tuition agreement was worded so that it read "tuition is $X a year, but in order to help our parents budget for it better we will divide it into 52 weekly payments of $X" We didn't change one dollar on the tuition, but the parents loved this idea so much more than (their words) "having to pay when our kids are sick or on vacation". HUH?? They were still paying when their kids weren't there. But, it seemed to make some of them happy. (Of course there were those parents that did realize that it was the same amount and just grinned when the other parents would say that they just loved the way we changed our tuition payment agreement)

 

[Tinijocaro]

Don't most stores sell singles of anything more expensively than packs of the same item? I just look at the unit price to see which is the better deal-no math involved!

 

[dimimi]

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.

I used to work at a small convenient store. The owner tried giving away the large containers potato salad came in.....no one took them. Then she sold them for 50 cents and they sold like mad!

 

[Magpie]

What's even funnier is when you've got the two items sitting side-by-side on the same shelf. One is a single serving, the other is a bulk pack, and the single serving is still proportionately cheaper. That happens all the time in my grocery store!

Unfortunately, the sad truth is that a lot of people just can't do the math. I tutor students in math, and it's really disheartening to see that math education hasn't improved one bit since I was a kid. The standard math textbooks are AWFUL. McGraw-Hill's Math Power, for example, is cluttered with bright pictures that frequently have no relation to the math on the page, while the problems are crammed together in a solid, intimidating block of numbers, and the explanation of how to solve them is nearly impossible to read, assuming you can even find it. I'd hate math, too, if I had to work from that book.

And don't even get me started on calculators!

 

[Tinkermommy]

What irritates me these days is when manufacturers lower the amount of a product they are selling but it is in the same or very similar container.

My DH went to the store and bought ice cream from a major brand (Mayfield) and it was not a full 1/2 gallon. Blue Bell is still a 1/2 gallon though.

They do it with other products sold in boxes. It may not be very much (1/2 to an ounce less) but the price is not lowered and they don't tell you they do that. You only see it when they give you more (Now 20% more!). I honestly don't remember how many ounces every product I buy is so I am sure it's happened and I have been paying more for less.

 

[2binak]

It's not just WalMart. I was at Target yesterday, bought a bottle of brand name vitamins, 100 for $5.99. There was a "value" bottle of 200 of the very same vitamins for $13.49. Yeah - some value.

 

[left210]

Same thing happened to me at McDonalds this weekend. 4 pack of chicken nugget is $1 but the 20 pack is $5.45. So it is cheaper to just buy 5 4 packs instead of the 20 pack. Crazy!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

Many years ago, before the grocery stores put unit pricing tag out and before there were cheap calculators I would take a Slide Rule with me when I went grocery shopping and do my own unit pricing calculations.

And when I was in college and working part time in a combination pawn shop and liquor store next to an Army base I noticed that we sold the quarts of some of the more popular liquors at a higher per-ounce price than we sold the fifths.

 

[Becky2005]

Don't most stores sell singles of anything more expensively than packs of the same item? I just look at the unit price to see which is the better deal-no math involved!

No and it's this *very* assumption that is what we are talking about.

You have sitting on the shelf --

Single cans of soup for .25/each

Then a 4 pack of the exact same soup for $1.25

People go on the assumption that "bigger/bulk = cheaper than individual" without even looking.

In this case -- buying 4 cans of soup individually would only cost you $1.00 but a lot of people would just grab the 4 pack not even giving it a second thought.

 

[luvsJack]

Be careful of the "deals" at Dollar General and Dollar Tree, too. The packaging is much smaller so it looks like a cheaper price but its actually much more per unit. I noticed this on cookies (Chips Ahoy and Oreos) and on cereal and at Dollar Tree the bottles of dish washing liquid are smaller too.