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Walmart's 2 For $5 Hot Dog Deal Is A Trap!

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Reader Albert says he took this photo at his local Walmart in Olathe, Kansas. As you can see, Walmart has set a trap for people who love hot dogs and hate math.

Don't fall in!

Attention, Walmart shoppers! This ad is for you! Woo hoo!

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Comments:

54
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The funny thing is I bet a LOT of Wal-Mart customers fall for this one, hook, line and sinker. When your only agenda is to save, save, save and you let marketing and labels do your work for you, myopia will always bite you in the ass.

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It's possible they forgot to take that sign down from a previous promotion. Wal-Mart will ring up the lower price or give it to you without questions asked. I'm not taking Wal-Mart's side or anything, I'm just saying what would probably happen.

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Here's a bigger ripoff, courtesy of TheDailyWTF:
[img.thedailywtf.com]

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It would be much funnier if this were frozen calamari instead of hot dogs.

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Since the sign doesn't stipulate that you must buy two to get 2 for 5, how do you know that when you reach the register with 1 package that you wouldn't be charged $2.50 anyway?

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@ribex: the yellow tag says "$2.44", so you'd be out $0.06.

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The other one is the shelf tag even right. I have seen shelf tags that did not match the register ring. Usually in my favor.

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When did ground snouts get so expensive in the first place?

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Good catch by the Olathe reader. Wal-Mart's sketchy pricing, along with their new logo adds to their reputation as a bunch of *holes.

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It looks like they forgot to change the $2.44 price? You'd probably pay $2.50 for 1 at the register. I personally wouldn't run back and argue the 6 cent difference, but they're still wrong.

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ive actually encountered this same thing at wal-mart and made sure to see what would happen at the register. both items scanned at the lower individual price.

this isnt like the 2 packs of hot dogs are packaged together with a different UPC that will ring up at a higher price (like target has been doing).

i think its just a marketing error that a human eye didnt catch. but in my experience, wal-mart did not rip me off.

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I don't ever fall for that. In most cases, they're hoping that people don't look at the other tag OR that they don't lift the sales tag (I do at Target.. they're not slick!) and compare.

Silly Walmart...

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@timmus: Yeah - those stupid rednecks will get what they deserve when they get gypped out of 12 cents!

2 for $5 is still probably cheaper than most grocery stores, I'd imagine.

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@zigziggityzoo: What's all that gobbledygook, is that an alien language?

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@nffcnnr:


Really?


Honestly, I shop where the best price is. It isn't always Wal-Mart, but that is because I will actually check other stores while I am out and price match on something I generally buy a lot of. If I can get a better price per unit somewhere else, I will try to get that item there. But, if the cost of gas to get me to a competitor's store negates the savings to be had, it isn't worth it.


It looks like this was just a mistake attributable to human error - nothing more, nothing less. The lower price should be honored, and the employees at Wal-Mart should do a better drop of verifying the pricing on the racks is accurate.

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Having worked at Wal-mart, the hotdogs probably went up in price from $2.44 to $2.50 and someone forgot to remove the old label. Buying one would ring up $2.50 as that's the new price. The "X for x.xx" tags don't mean you have to buy that quantity, it's just to make it look like a better deal, and to trick some people into buying multiples.

All you'd have to do is say the tag said $2.44 anyway and they'd override it. I doubt you'd find many cashiers that would bother taking the time to double check on a $.06 difference.

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One of those tags has to be wrong. It wouldn't make any sense for the register to tack on an extra 12 cents if you buy two.

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This is a common scam.Many places do this besides Walmart and is common on soda laundry detergent especially.


People don't like math and the marketers know it.The average consumer ASSumes if it's a '2 for' or '3 for' etc it's a better deal.


Just follow the soda promotions of any given retailer.I've seen soda promotions as high as 3 for 12$ at a drug store like CVS(with card) and yet Kmart will do a 3 for 10$ and if you wait you will see a 2 for 5$ or 4 for 10$.

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@laserjobs: Cows don't have snouts. Pigs do, but they aren't considered beef.

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I have to believe this is just an example of employee incompetence or apathy (not necessarily in that order). Frankly (pun intended), do you really think Wal-Mart would (or could) setup such a diabolical scheme to get an extra $0.08 out of people for hot dogs?

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Who would spend $2.50 for a mere hotdog? You can get coneys for a buck in my town.

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I think we're looking at it all wrong. It's designed to save a trip to the store (and gas) when you need the second pack of hot dogs. And Walmart is ONLY charging you $.08 for that convenience. With the price of gas, it's a bargain! :)

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Walmart is constantly charging me a few cents over market prices for various items. I wonder how much they make on these overcharges when multiplied by all their nationwide customers.

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@testsicles: And that, my friends, is what happens when children raised to believe there is nothing beyond their national borders reach adulthood.

It's called a "pound" and it is worth twice what one of our dollars is worth.

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It's amazing how many stores do this, it's not just Walmart, believe me. And sadly, it's amazing how many people fall for it.

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But is the unit price the price of the item on sale? One thing I've learned is the price directly under the item often has no relationship to the item. I have learned to check store SKUs or part numbers against the signs after being burned by this a few times.

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walmart told me today if i eat pizza every week...i could save $350 a year by purchasing one of their pizzas to take home and heat instead of getting it from my local pizza shop.

what they neglected to say is that i'd be:

1. giving up the best tasting pizza in town
2. giving my money to a billionaire family
3. help to put my favorite LOCAL pizza parlor out of business.

GO F yourself and your 'live better' slogan wal-mart.

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"people who love hot dogs and hate math"

In other words, Wal-Mart shoppers.

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@GMFish: I'm pretty sure that price is for a pack of hotdogs, not just a single.

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Whoever owns the "Angus" name has really prostituted it into nothingness. Every fast food dive now has an Angus burger of some kind (Del Taco has an Angus Beef Taco now). And now Wal-Mart is selling Angus hotdogs??


Well, I guess the lips and asses of Angus cows have to go somewhere.

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I had a chance meeting with an old friend who happens to be a professional butcher (the cut up meat for food kind, not the hospital go in for a circumcision and get the whole thing removed kind) and she told me what is going into hot dogs these days... I will not eat another mass produced industrial hotdog again... Snouts and sphincters was one thing, but according to her it has gotten much, much worse with the "meat" ingredients not being recognizable as meat to any sentient being. Too bad as hotdogs were a childhood stable.

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Yeah, but think how much Keystone Light 12 cents buys!

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@odhen: It looks like someone tried to peel off the old label and wasn't successful.

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What I don't get is if you buy only one, which price will you be charged? At HEB, they will have sales where an item is "4 for $10", and even if you buy one, you will be charged $2.50. So at Walmart, do you still get charged the $2.50 for buying one?

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@GreatWhiteNorth: i haven't been able to eat a hot dog since 5th grade, when i found out that the same chemicals used to create mummies are used to preserve the meat. for some reason that put me off more than the snouts and assholes.

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@skitzogreg:

FWIW, if an item rings up for any more than the lowest posted price, if you request, they give you $3 off.

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@fuzzymuffins: Not to mention that the greatest pizza in town (I'm most likely not in your town, so I'm referencing the best pizza in my town) is fresh! And I don't have to pick off ingredients because I can order it to fit how I like it.

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If you knew what went in dogs,you'd never eat another one...

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I'm suprised they were able to get the shot without getting the shakedown from a floor manager since cell phone photos are not allowed per store policy.


I was approached when I took a picture of a toy I wanted to buy my baby who just turned one to show to my girlfriend when a manager (sans nametag) approaches and tells me I'll have to leave as it's not allowed. So I did and have never been back, nor will I ever now.

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@admiral_stabbin:


Why do all this for $.08 gain? Oh please. Multiply this particular scam X other creeping phoney prices over 10,000 stores, and you have a bonanza!


Think big; Wal-Mart does.

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Damnable, best price I've seen is $2.99 over here.
Stickin' with Boar's Head. 'tis the best!

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Is this some sort of test to see how retarded their customers are?

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@skitzogreg:

It's possible they forgot to take that sign down from a previous promotion.


The problem with that, is that the lower price label is clearly one of their standard price labels. The "sale" price is higher than the every-day shelf price.
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@testsicles: No, that's English. Which, I'll grant you, seems to be an alien language to some. Heh.

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@GMFish: If it were for a single hot dog, I could see your point. But as the picture clearly shows, it's a package of eight. Which is a good bit cheaper than a buck a hotdog.

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coney! mmm rabbit hot dogs would be awesome.

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McDonald's Double Cheeseburger Super Value Meal is the same way. Unlike all the other Value Meals in which you get a discount for buying all three products [sandwich, fries and a drink], the Double Cheese Value Meal is $3.50 [regular price for the sandwich is $1; regular price for the fries is $1.25; regular price for the drink is $1.25].

Other fast food places are even worse with some of them charging you extra for toppings that you would have gotten as part of the the purchase price as a penalty for asking for your sandwich without mayo.

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Actually, I worked at Wal Mart for about two months. This is how all of their 2 for *Insert Amount Here* works. For example, we had a bargain bin for 10$ which is 2 classic DVDs for 10$. One of those DVDs was actually 5$, but we were not allowed to tell customers that so most of them would try and find a second movie they liked.

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it's possible that it's a 'normal' sign that didn't get taken down on time, like 'pricecut' signs at target (which are normal signs in the sense that if you lift them up, the price will be the same)