Life on the Road

I can appreciate it when people aren’t drawn in by a promotion, and realize that if they have to spend extra money to “save” that money, then they aren’t really saving…   But you do have to pay attention to the details to know when this is the case.

We were in a discount shoe store today looking for a new pair of “Church shoes” for Miss J, who is having a growth spurt.

There were two ladies in front of us in the checkout line, and both had issues with their purchases.

The first was a couple of rounds of normal things like, “What do you mean those are $40? The shelf tag says they are on sale for $29.99!”

The second was more entertaining…

She had a pair of shoes marked $49.99, and a purse marked $16.99.  She also had a coupon that would allow her to save $10 on a purchase of $60 or more. 

Well the pure was on sale, it turns out, for $10.99.  But in addition, the store was running a “Buy One, Get One for 50% Off” sale.  So the purse rang up at 50% off, or only $5.49.

Now she was well short of her $60, and could not use the coupon. 

She was frustrated, and told the clerk that in that case she would just take the shoes, and not get the purse.  “I’m not going to go find something else, and spend another $20, just so I can ’save’ $10!” she declared.  So she paid and left.

…Apparently missing entirely the point that the she would have gotten the purse - marked $16.99 but ringing up at $5.49, at a savings of more than $10, even without using the coupon!

BTW, they didn’t “get” us…  We bought J the one pair of shoes that was needful, and went on our way thankful for the few dollars we had saved by shopping there.