Buy One, Get One Free sales (and especially Buy One, Get One 50% Off or the Buy One, Get One for $1 sales) are ticking me off lately.
They’re not crazy bothersome at the grocery store, where I can happily pick up two packages of frozen fruit, knowing that I’ll use them both.
But it drives me nuts when these types of sales are run on non-consumable items.
For instance, as part of Joshua’s room re-do (photos coming soon, promise!), I needed to buy him a twin-size blanket. I found one on the Kohl’s website that looked like it would work, and waited a day or two to buy it, because I had a coupon that was only good at that later date.
But lo and behold, the day the coupon was valid, the blanket went on a Buy One, Get One 50% Off sale, instead of the previously “discounted”* price (I think it was something like 30% off before).
*discounted is in quotation marks because the prices on everything at Kohl’s are artificially inflated and are rarely, if ever sold at what they call “full price”.
Ugh. Having to buy two food items to get the discount is one thing, but I didn’t want TWO blankets! The extra one would merely clutter up my linen closet, and I’d be spending far more out of pocket than I wanted to.
So, Kohl’s lost the sale to me and I bought a blanket from Amazon.
Shoe stores are awful for this too.
Recently, we stopped in at Famous Footwear to buy shoes for Joshua and Lisey (two pairs would qualify us for the discount. Yay!).
Well, we found a pair for Lisey but not for Joshua, which meant that if we just bought Lisey’s shoes, we’d get nothing in the way of a discount.
So, we walked out with no shoes and opted to shop elsewhere.
I would so much rather have a 25% off sale that requires the purchase of just one item. But of course, the store wants me to buy two, and they know that this type of sale will have that effect on most consumers.
This is a big reason I love shopping at stores like Aldi or Costco (or even Goodwill). Instead of running these gimmicky sales, they just offer their best price every day, all the time. It really takes a lot of the headache out of shopping.
I imagine these sorts of B1G1 sales are here to stay (consumers love thinking they’re getting a discount, even if they’re not really saving money!), but a part of me holds out hope that they will someday go the way of the dinosaur.
Elizabeth
Friday 24th of October 2014
I totally agree on the BOGO thing - I have a Dunkin Donuts App, and it keeps giving me BOGO Iced Coffee coupons. I don't know about anyone else, but I usually buy my coffees one at a time. My husband doesn't drink iced...so, there's that. I wish they would just give me $.50 off my one, or bonus points towards my next one, or even buy one today get one tomorrow free.
Cindy
Saturday 4th of October 2014
Hooray, for saying what I have been saying since the first day the B1G1 marketing ploy was unveiled. If I had wanted 2 of the same thing I would have bought 2. I only need one and preferably with the discount. Now if someone would just apply the B1G2 with curtains and draperies...... I am always surprised that soooooooooo many people actually believe they are getting a great deal. I also like the ad campaigns that informed me that I can't save more without buying from them. OMG yes I can, don't buy if you do not need. There I just saved myself money.
Jewlz280
Friday 3rd of October 2014
I have to say, this is one time I feel like I mostly disagree. I love it on food, personal items, shoes, jeans, whatever! I can see how it would be a pain with something like a blanket/comforter, though. But I would just ask if they would do a 25% since you're only getting one. Lots of stores honor that. And I see that someone mentioned that so... Nothing else to add. HA!
Linda Sand
Thursday 2nd of October 2014
I hate the buy one get one meals at restaurants when I am traveling solo. What am I supposed to do with the other meal?
JD
Thursday 2nd of October 2014
I was shopping at a discount store that still had price stickers. They also had a deodorant manufacturer's Buy One at regular price, Get One free sale going on, with two deodorants packaged together and a big BOGO emblem on the package. I checked the price- it seemed high, say $4.89, because I don't remember the actual price now. I dug in the shelf and found the single deodorants with stickers that said something like $2.89 on them, whatever was the normal price for that brand. I took both the BOGO and the single deodorants to the clerk and pointed out that if I was truly buying one at regular price and getting one free, as the label and store flyer both indicated, then the price should be $2.89. She let me have the BOGO package for the $2.89. These days, though, so few stores use stickers that it's almost impossible to catch that. And, I've noticed that most no longer say Buy One AT REGULAR PRICE, Get One Free. They just say BOGO free or 50%, etc. I've learned to either check them very carefully if I know the single price, or just skip them. I have seen some BOGO free sales in which I knew the "sale" price for the two items was more than double the normal price. The other day, I actually found peanut butter that truly was BOGO free with the first being at its regular price. Amazing. I bought four and donated three to the church food drive. And while I'm at it, I also hate the "sale" ads on meat that say, "Save UP TO $4.69 a pound", then lists a "sale" price that is a very few cents less than the normal price. Winn Dixie does this a lot. Ugh.