The Clearance Craze
This is a guest post by Melissa at A Penny Closer. A Penny Closer is full of great tips about saving money, being frugal, and spending wisely, and is entertaining as well. If you like the post, why don’t you subscribe to their RSS feed?
The other day we noticed that the grocery store that is shutting down was having a “45% off” sale. There were signs everywhere proclaiming “Store Closing” and “Everything Must Go”. They even had guys holding signs up at the intersections. How can I resist that? We turned around and headed to the store to see what we could scavenge.
The store was pretty well picked over by the time we got there. They had everything on sale ranging from 15% to 45%. We decided to cruise the whole place to see what treasures we could find. I was pumped at the idea of being able to stock up on items for deep discounts.
Going through the aisles of processed foods I started looking for items we use all the time. I found some canned chipotles that I already had on my shopping list for that week. Canned chipotles are an item I don’t buy frequently so I was unsure of comparison pricing. But they were 25% off so I decided to get them anyway. What luck! I found something I needed on sale!
Halfway through shopping I spotted Hamburger Helper on sale for 25% off. I know the price of this item at all of the stores so I was able to compare prices. My excitement began to fizzle once I calculated the price. It was $2.19 and with the 25% off it brought it down to $1.64. My regular store currently sells them for $1.59 when NOT on sale. I knew this store was one of the priciest around but the lure of the clearance clouded my judgment. I mean, how can it still not be a good deal with these deep discounts?
After chuckling at the price I moved on, now leery of the “sale” prices but still optimistic I might find something truly on sale. Then I spied large cans of brand-name baked beans. I didn’t need them at the time but if they were on sale it might be worth stocking up. I normally buy the small cans so I was unfamiliar with the pricing on the larger size. On top of that I didn’t have my price book with me to verify the price for the smaller size. Now that I was no longer mesmerized by the sales I suddenly found myself in a dilemma:
Am I passing up a good opportunity to save money by stocking up on things I use?
Will I feel cheated if I buy them and find they were overpriced?
I stared at those beans trying to figure out if I should take a chance on them. They looked reasonably priced even before the discount but I truly had no idea what they typically sold for elsewhere.
Finally, I decided it was best to pass up the “awesome” 25% off sale after contemplating the following questions:
- Am I really saving money if I spend money on something I don’t particularly need right now? No, I’m not. I’m still spending money I don’t need to.
- Is it such a good deal that I can’t pass it up? I don’t know - I have no price comparison to see if the 25% off makes it a good deal.
- Based on my experience with this store, is it likely that it is a really good deal? No, this store is consistently overpriced. Judging by the sale prices on items I know the comparisons for, the discount only gets the price down to the other store’s everyday prices.
I realized I had gotten sucked in by the clearance propaganda. All the discount signs gave the appearance of a good deal. How many people can resist sharp discounts like up to 45% off groceries? There were a lot of people in the store with full carts so I’m guessing not many.
The problem was I was shopping blindly and impulsively, fueled by the clearance craze. I didn’t have my price book with me so I was unable to determine if the discounts were really a good deal. I let the lure of the sale get in the way of my desire to be an informed bargain shopper. That is, until I found an item that I could compare prices on.
We put back everything in our cart but ended up buying the chipotles since I needed them anyway. Later that day we went to my regular grocery store to do our weekly shopping and I compared the prices to what I saw at the other store. Everything but one item was either overpriced or only a better deal by pennies. And yes, I overpaid for those chipotles. Not exactly the mind blowing savings you expect with that much discount clearance hype.
The lesson I learned from all of this is that if I allow myself to get dazzled by clearance signs, I am more likely to shop blindly; either by not comparison shopping or by spending money on things I don’t currently need. Next time I see a clearance I will block out the signs and focus on the thing that really matters: the price.
Image Source: maulleigh
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
You can also: Stumble It! Bookmark Submit to Reddit Submit to Tip'd
October 16th, 2007 at 7:42 am
That’s funny. In NYC tourist district, there are stores that have been “going out of business” for years. I never shop in them because I knew the sales price is still more expensive then average, and didn’t like their shady sales tactic.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:28 am
I agree with you about the big sale or clearance sign. A sale is only a sale if you really need something. I run into this problem when I try to save money by shopping at the big discount stores. Anytime I go in with my list, thinking that I’m saving I end up spending more than if I just wait until the item goes on sale in my grocery store. This happened recently with something that is $1.29 in the grocery store. It’s usually $1.00 in the large discount store. However, when it went on sale at the grocery store it was $.79. Patience. That’s the key.
October 16th, 2007 at 11:53 am
Great post — I love both these blogs and have them linked on my own for speedy access. Around here, there’s one grocery store that’s pricey but everyone shops there because it’s a CO-OP and country folk are loyal. There’s a newer, national chain store as well, that’s significantly cheaper, but they’re tricky. They post HUGE bright yellow price tickets for No-Name brand (that’s what they’re brand is called and as a rule, it’s cheaper than real brand name stuff)stuff on sale, but if you look at the tiny price tags on the brand name stuff, they’ve actually jacked the price of the cheap stuff so it makes more sense to buy brand name! Or they’ll have big “buy 3 for $X” and if you do the math, it’s actually cheaper to buy individuals. Man, they’re sneaky!! I’m onto them though… As long as you know how they work, I still save a lot of money by shopping there, rather than at the other store.
October 16th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
That’s marketing for ya! And, it makes sense that the store is going out of business–it was overpriced from the very beginning.
October 16th, 2007 at 7:31 pm
Clever of them. They probably market it down from their overpricing to what they could still make a profit on. We normally think that they’re not getting a profit, but these people clearly were. Thanks for the reminder.
October 22nd, 2007 at 3:35 pm
Thanks for the great post Melissa! Looks like you got lots of great feedback.