Yesterday I stopped at a grocery store which I don’t frequent too often. It’s not in my neck of the woods, but it is in the same plaza as one of my favorite thrift shops. So after my thrift store excursion, I walked over to the grocery store and quickly scanned the isles for their weekly sales. They had their usual BOGO in their meat department featuring pork loin chops. I thought the price per pound was terribly inflated, but considering it was a BOGO, the price of the two packages combined came close to what I would normally be willing to pay per pound. I usually don’t like meat department BOGOs because the two packages you choose have to be within pennies of each other to make it worthwhile. I don’t do math in my head very well and I don’t carry a calculator when I shop, so it’s difficult for me to figure out what I’m actually paying per pound if there’s more than a few cents spread in the equation. However, I do have a firm understanding that since the lower priced package is the one you get for free, the greater the difference between the two, renders more money to the house and less savings to you! I think the people at the corporate offices have it pretty much figured out that a lot of us are mathematically challenged and try to use that knowledge to their advantage.
Green and red seedless grapes were on sale in the produce department too! The display was very nicely arranged with two rows each of green, red, and black seedless grapes. I like black grapes best, so I picked up a package and put it in my cart. But something was bothering me—the sale signs made no mention of the black grapes, although they were displayed alongside the green and red ones. And there was no pricing for the black grapes anywhere to be found. Was I to assume that the black grapes were on sale also? I did at first, but then thought better and asked the girl, I saw arranging another display in the produce department, what the price was for the black grapes. After acknowledging that there was no visible price available and no mention of them on the sale signs (plural!), she offered to find the answer for me. She swiftly disappeared, but returned minutes later with some unfortunate news. The price of the black grapes was almost double that of the green and red ones—they weren’t on sale! With that information in hand, I put them back on the display and choose a bag of red grapes in their place! Hmmmmmm, makes you wonder…
Finally I checked out and on my way to the car, I get another feeling that something just isn’t quite right. Something seems to be wrong with the receipt. I quickly calculated (ball parked in my head) the total price of the items I purchased and realized I had been overcharged by almost five dollars! I walked back into the store and showed the receipt to the girl at the courtesy counter. She pointed to the two packages of meat on the receipt—it wasn’t BOGO as I had thought. I figured I must have read the sign wrong—the one in the meat case right next to the ten or more packages of pork loin chops. But still, I wasn’t willing to pay for overpriced meat—my mistake or not. So, I went back to my car, grabbed the bag of chops and bought it back to the girl at the courtesy counter for a refund. However, to our surprise, as she pulled them from the bag, the BOGO sticker was clearly visible on each package! Supposedly, it was the “meat department’s mistake.” Hmmmmmm, makes you wonder…
Remember where this all began? The thrift store—where I bought a great book for ninety-nine cents—clearly marked! Hmmmmmm, makes you wonder…
