Here is a snippet of a weekly advertisement from Albertson’s. We get this in our mail box very often and each time it’s almost the same stuff. Most of the deals in the pamphlet are advertised as 10 for $10.
Yeah…pretty cheap when converted to 1 for $1, but who’s going to buy 10 ?!! $10 for 10 different things is fine, but what’s with trying to sell 10 pounds of plum for $10 to just one customer? Till date, I have never been able to take advantage of Albertson’s *great deals* because of this. May be, Albertson’s doesn’t want to give *great deals* to people like me, or may be they don’t realize that half the people in this town are students who would never buy 5 gallons of milk just because it’s selling cheap at $2 per gallon (may be 5 students can get together and do their shopping in bulk and then redistribute the stuff…but then that defeats the whole purpose of bunching products in groups of 10 and selling them for cheap).
It’s not just Albertson’s, here is another snippet from a similar 10 for $10 ad pamphlet from Kroger:
Probably, some convenience stores make good use of those offers (however, I am not so sure…I am aware that our neighborhood convenience store owners do their bulk shopping in Sam’s Club). Do you (or anyone you know) buy things in that kind of *bulk* from these stores? Do such *great deals* hold any appeal for you?
Sometimes, I wonder if there is a better strategy to offer *great deals* like these. How about offering a “combo basket” with 10 different things (for example, half gallon milk, one bottle of ketchup, a pound of plum (or any other fruit), one pack of waffles, one pack of ice cream, one toothpaste, one pound of tomatoes, one pack of cookies, one pack of frozen vegetables, and one frozen dinner)? May be, more people will be ready to spend $10 for such a combo than spend $10 on buying 10 pints of ice cream. Better than that, wouldn’t more people be willing to buy milk (as much as they want) in multiples of half-a-gallon, at $1 each, rather than 5 gallons at once at $10?
Update: Apparently, the “10 for $10″ text in the advertisements and my singular experience in Albertson’s led me to believe that I cannot buy individual items at discounted price. Readers have reported in their comments that they have made use of such offers to buy just one or two units. Oh!..now I am wondering how many deals I have missed because of this. Anyways, I will head over the nearest Albertson’s at the first available opportunity and check it out myself.
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Living in Japan where they rarely have deals like that (or coupons of any kind to speak of), I can only say I’m jealous…even if you can’t use them. If you buy less than 10 does the price increase? Sounds like you need to go shopping with friends.
Have you tried at a store? I think you will pay $1 per 1/2 gallon milk if you just buy one, or two.
What TFB said. I don’t think the stores actually expect you to pay for each unit that they’re advertising. They figure you can divide 10 by 10 and get one.
What they are doing is *anchoring* your purchase expectations, so that rather than buying one or two of each item you might buy three or four.
I can confirm stores will give you the sale price even if you just buy one or two. I take advantage of it all the time. The only exception is if the actual tags say something like ‘10 for $10 or $1.50 ea.’ But I’ve found that’s pretty rare in grocery stores.
Guys thanks for confirming this thing for me, I tried looking in Albertson’s for a deal like this a few months ago and returned empty-handed…didn’t see any change in individual prices marked on a couple of items. That sort of made me think the way I did in the post.
Plus, I think I was stupid enough not to ask anyone about what’s going on and whether they can sell me individual items at the advertised prices.
I will go to Albertson’s tomorrow and try again. It’s quite possible that they had the deals but never bothered to change the price stickers.
Must.learn.to.open.my.mouth.and.ask.
“How about offering a “combo basket†with 10 different things…”
HEB has somthing similar to what you are looking for. I think they call it combo loco or something. It usually involves making one big purchase (eg. 4 lb package of fish) and you get a bunch of other things (eg. salad material, a big bottle of soda, tortillas etc) for free. If you were planning to buy the main item anyway, it relaly works out.
I worked in a grocery store and was the one who inputted sale prices into the computer system. The newer systems are made to ring up the sales price when you only buy one of the item.
However, when the deal is buy one get one free you have to get two of the product to get the deal. You can’t get half off one (I’ve had quite a few people ask me that).
You would be surprised what “deals” you may find out from grocery store workers if you chat with them and get to know them
ispf: Thanks for mentioning the HEB deals. We have seen similar deals before but generally they were stuck with over priced items…I will check more carefully next time.
Tricia: “You would be surprised what “deals†you may find out from grocery store workers if you chat with them and get to know them “…yeah I think I am coming to realize the importance of that. I need to work my smooth-talking skills for that.
The city I live in has a very large population of a certain ethnic group that would take full advantage of the 10 for $10 milk deal. It is not unusual to see somebody with a shopping cart absoloutely full of 1 gallon jugs of milk. Some of the local grocery stores actually limit the amount of milk somebody can buy in a day.
At Kroger, 10 for 10 does not mean that you have to buy 10. It looks beeter to say “10 for 10″ than “1.00″
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