Retirement is a week filled with Saturdays and Sundays interrupted only occasionally by a holiday.

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Friday, March 16, 2007

What’s On Sale?

As anyone who knows me will tell you, I almost never pay retail for anything. I comb the newspaper ads every day trying to find the best bargains for clothes, household items and anything else which might have a “sale” tag on it. So I always get a kick out of how stores advertise their sales. My biggest guffaw goes to the department stores who, in big bold letters, announce they are having their “ONE DAY SALE.” Can someone explain to me how a “one day” sale can start on a Friday and end on a Saturday? Yes, I know they often refer to Friday as their “pre-sale” day but what the heck does that mean? After all, if the prices are the same on both days, isn’t it really all one sale?

So this morning I was reading the newspaper and came across an “interesting” spin on the idea of a sale. One of our department stores has a big two page ad for their “Run Don’t Walk” sale. Of course, that caught my eye so I perused the ad to see if there was anything I might find appealing. Next to the photo of a model dressed in a spring outfit is an "Extra 25% Off" note along with the words “Permanently Reduced Spring Sportswear for Her.” OK…so if these items are permanently reduced, are they really on sale or are they really clearance merchandise masquerading as sale items? What do you think?

11 comments:

Bigger Hugs said...

((HUGS)) to you Joan

Renee Nefe said...

hummm... sounds to me like marking up the price to then mark it down to get folks to buy it.

I was checking out the clearance racks again yesterday at Kohls and was disappointed to see that they were only at 60% off. I didn't buy anything.

They also had all the regular stuff at 20% off...I never saw any of it at full price, which is a good thing because the full prices were causing me to choke. I tried on this one very pretty jacket then looked at the price... regular $99, on sale for $64! cough cough! I don't need a jacket that much.

Susie said...

Sounds like lots of advertising double talk to me! I love bargains too, and the hunt for them is part of the fun!!
:)

jaded said...

Have you ever gotten a receipt that told you how much you saved off the retail price. How can I have possibly saved a dollar amount that I would have never considered spending on the POS (piece of.....you fill in the blanks) in the first place?

meno said...

I think these ads are brought to you by the miracle of lying with statistics.

Joan said...

Bigger hugs: Thanks for stopping by.

Renee: I agree that marking up items was part of the ploy. While going to college, I worked for a sportswear manufacturing company and so I know a thing or two about markups. It's pretty scary to learn what's the actually cost to create a piece of clothing.

Susie: Bargain-hunting is my life and I've grown really good at it...especially now that I'm retired and have the time to shop.

Patches: Good point! The savings listed on the receipt is only there to fool you into thinking you've gotten a bargain.

Meno: I wonder whether these companies that advertise really believe that consumers are so gullible to actually believe their false ads.

Lynn said...

I think...no I take that back I KNOW, that you are an amazing shopper and not one to fall for misleading advertising garbage. When you shop and get a bargain...it is quite the bargain! Remember how we used to joke about the store who had "sales" every weekend?

Joan said...

Lynn: That store has now morphed into the "Permanently Reduced" store...so we've gone from the "Always A Sale" store to the "Always Reduced" store. Hey...what the heck...a sale is a sale.

Midlife Mom said...

There's nothing like a good, for real, sale. I agree with you that we have to be heads up on this stuff though. They'll use any tactic to lure us in!

Anonymous said...

It smells like a clearance to me.

Joan said...

Midlife mom: I have to say that going to sales keeps my math skills intact...I'm always doing mental calculations to make sure I'm truly getting a bargain.

Rhea: It sure does sound like a clearance gimmick to me...no matter what they try and call it!