We all love the thrill of getting a great deal. A sense of pride overwhelms us when we get 50% off a purchase. Yet, grocery stores have learned how to play this love for the deal against us.
They have conditioned us to expect a great bargain whenever we pick up an item that has a bright red sale sign in front of it. But as we’ll see this habit can be dangerous to our wallet.
Let’s take a look at a basket of goods that an average shopper might purchase:
shredded cheese, cookies, waffles, orange juice, syrup, cereal, ravioli, trash bags, and spaghetti.
All of these items were recently on sale at a suburban Chicago supermarket. Now if we take a closer look we see that we did indeed get a great deal on some of our products.
| Product | Original Price | Sales Price | Percent Savings |
| 15 oz Chef Boyardee Beef Ravioli | $2 | $1 | 50% |
| 16 oz Nabisco Oreo Cookies | $4.49 | $2.50 | 44% |
| 16 oz O-BRAND Organic Spaghetti | $2.19 | $1.09 | 50% |
| 8 oz Kraft Shredded Cheddar Cheese | $4.99 | $2.50 | 50% |
We saved between 44% – 50% on each of these items. Truly great deals. But lets take a look at some of the other sale items in our basket.
| Product | Original Price | Sales Price | Percent Savings |
| 64 oz Florida’s Natural Orange Juice | $4.49 | $3.99 | 11% |
| 24 oz Ms. Butterworth Sugar Free Syrup | $4.59 | $4.09 | 11% |
| 17 oz Kelloggs Fruit Loops | $4.99 | $4.49 | 10% |
The savings now don’t look so great. Only 10% – 11% savings. The savings on the rest of the goods in our basket were even worse.
| Product | Original Price | Sales Price | Percent Savings |
| 40 ct – 1 gallon Glad Trash Bags | $3.99 | $3.79 | 5% |
| 8 ct Kelloggs Cereal Snack Packs | $3.99 | $3.79 | 5% |
On these items we saved a measly 5% and quite frankly a 5% savings is hardly worth the effort.
The lesson …. Before you instinctively pick up a sale item, compare the sale price with the original price to see if you’re truly getting a great deal. If you can’t save at least 30%, put the “sale” item right back on the shelf.
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