what a great deal!
10 05 2005I needed to kill some time last night between work and my scheduled haircut at 5:30, and also needed to buy a few things, so I figured I’d kill two birds with one stone and get some quick shopping in. I stopped at Super Target and got a few things, including a new tube of toothpaste. I went into the toothpaste aisle and looked for my normal toothpaste of choice — Crest Whitening with Scope — when I saw this:
I know the picture is a little fuzzy (sorry, camera phone pic), but you’re looking at two different packages of the same kind of toothpaste. The boxes on the left, which have the yellow strip across the top, come with a free sample of Crest floss. The boxes on the right are just in the normal packaging. Free floss. Nice deal, eh?
Well, not really. Not only do the packages with the “free” dental floss cost $0.05 more than the floss-free packages, they also come with less toothpaste — 6.2 oz. vs. 8.0 oz. in the cheaper package. What an amazing deal! For a little more money, you can get 22.5% less toothpase and FREE floss! WOOO!
EDIT: I forgot to mention that when I was about 12 or 13, I was with my family at a Hardee’s in Shelbyville and noticed a sign on the counter for the fried chicken they offered at the time. Basically, there were two deals being offered; one was just a regular family meal for x-number of dollars, and the other was the exact same thing, except it cost $1.50 more and came with a “free” 2 liter bottle of soda. Bastards.
There is a life lesson there! Sometimes what seems like such a great deal is not! We could go on and on - Budda at Target!
The Tao of retail!
I wonder what people passing by thought when they saw you taking pictures of toothpaste?
They were probably thinking, “Damn, check out the hottie in the toothpaste aisle!” Or not.
As an admitted price comparison freak (only because I’m poor) I believe this happens more than people realize. For example, we often dispense oddball stuff to clients at group homes like Act flouride mouthwash, 25% more for free deals. It costs about $2-3 to buy at Kroger, but we charge the client’s insurance $18. Why you ask? Well, the client’s insurance will pay for it but the client won’t. And oh by the way, that 50 count bottle of Tylenol you pay $6 or $7 for…we get a thousand for $1.48. Crooked bastards.:evil: