Reader Erik Johnson sent us this photo of a rather unusual pricing scheme. “I only wanted one bag of chips,” Johnson wrote, “but if they’re paying me to take the second…”
Sure, it was probably a mistake. But if not, what does it say about the quality of the product?
Photo: Erik Johnson
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Hey! I live in North Dakota!
This state is much better than most I have lived in.
At my old store, they sold a particular type of bread in single and double packages. The double was approx. 10 cent cheaper than the single during the whole three years I lived there. Always made me wonder…
I assume that the word “each” is either implicit or intended after the “2 for $1″, which would make this perfectly sensible.
I once saw 2L bottles of pop on sale at my grocery store for $0.75 each or 4/$0.25. Naturally I bought 4. My friend bought 1. I said “it’s cheaper if you buy 4″, he said “I only want one.” I suggested he leave the other ones on the counter at the checkout but he didn’t want to.
I’ll take that two week vacation in North Dakota, please.
Yesterday, went to Walmart to buy a ball cap for my bald head. Found a cheap ball cap marked $7 (branded with the University of Kentucky logo)… at check out, it rang up for $1. I thought about going back and buying six more…
Yeah, in the discount store where I work p/t:
-you can buy a four-pack of Reese’s cups for $1.35, or an eight-pack for $1.
-you can buy a 20oz bottle of pop (soda? cola?) for $1.25 ($1.33 after tax), or you can buy a 2-liter for anywhere from $0.85 to the same amount, depending on the brand and whether there’s a sale going on.
People still frequently opt to pay more for less, and at least a few definitely do so on purpose. My guess is that either
1. They feel that having less to carry around and less packaging/extra product to throw away–or in the case of pop, a drink fresh out of the cooler–is a convenience they are willing to pay for;
2. They use it as a way of curbing their intake of unhealthy foods–a form of self-punishment, even; or
3. They perceive the more expensive item–even if it is the exact same product as the less expensive one–as being of better quality.
This makes me think of a related question I put to friends: at what point is the benefit of the deal outweighed by the negatives? Generally speaking, there are few or no benefits.
But what if a pizza place said $1 for 1 slice, or 1000 slices for $5. Clearly the latter is better, but if you had to somehow transport those 1000 slices out of the store, the deal is suddenly less appealing. What is the tipping point for this?
I’ll buy more for less upon occasion. I’m a single guy; I usually am shopping only for myself. Why buy a larger quantity that will most likely go bad? I don’t like to be wasteful (I realize that you could argue that I’m being wasteful of my money, but I’d rather be wasteful of that than of something non-renewable).