Do Not Fall Into Target's Orange Juice Trap
Target would like you to buy two bottles of Simply Orange instead of one. To that end, they've decided to charge you slightly more if you buy two. Why? Who knows.
(Thanks, Jason!)
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Notice how it says, "Even lower than our advertised price". The ad for the region says 2 for $6, but that particular store already sold it for $2.99 each. Even if you were at a store where that is not the case, you could get 1 for $3. You don't have to buy 2 to get the 2 for X price.
I knows!
Round numbers are sexy. That's why.
hate to be devil's advocate, but are we sure that $2.99 is the regular price? i'm not seeing it.
I'll gladly give them 2 extra cents if they give me an actual half-gallon of juice.
So, what happens if I go there and buy two, but want them at the price of $2.99 each?
Someone should try this.
theres no vodka in the oj. so whats the point???
Publix does the same thing. And they also sell the bigger jugs of the Simply Orange, and since the price doesn't actually double, it looks like a good deal. However if you look at the price/oz thing on the tag, you see that the regular size bottles are the better deal.
/Simply Orange is my favorite OJ ever.
$2.99 likely is not the regular price. Simply Orange is a premium orange juice (and a damned good one), most likely regularly selling for $3.49-$3.99 at Target. $2.99 is the more common sale price for a half-gallon (even a 59-ounce half-gallon) of premium OJ.
Incidentally, the grocery shrink-ray has not struck Simply Orange. The carafe packaging has always been 59 ounces since it was introduced to the market.
Mild trickery. My pennies mean a lot to me, so that "deal" is the suck.
It's not always Target's fault. Some of their prices are set by the vendors. My girlfriend has worked for Target for 6 years and is constantly asked about this. She just rolls her eyes and explains that the companies are a little "special" at times.
Is it my imagination or is there fine print everywhere nowadays?
Methinks this is to prevent hoarding of certain grocery items, causing price inflation to occur.
Don't you think?
Simply Orange is good OJ. That has nothing to do with this story. Just voicing my opinion.
Because it's ugly to put "2 for $5.98"
Round numbers are sexier, and easier to read. We have seen the .99 trick for decades, and I think most of us read $5.98 as $6 anyways. Target is just no longer making you do the mental calisthenics on these signs that are designed to get your attention.
I bet when they ring up, they ring up as $2.99 each. I also doubt there are few people complaining that their OJ was 2 cents LESS than the tag.
Ha, Consumerist - who cares what the price is? I'll pay any price, and I will do anything for some good Orange Juice.
/but I won't do that.
I believe that depends on your particular state's laws. I know in Michigan they have to sell you 1 for $X/N if they offer N for $X, but other states might have different laws.
Target does this A LOT. It seems like every target I go to does this.
2 doritos for $7 (or $3.50 each)
2 loaves of bread for $5 (or $2.45 each)
Most grocery stores also do a sneaky the sneaky "so many for so much" deals. Ever ring up at the do-it-yourself station? Those "2 12-packs for $6" will ring up for $3 alone.
Actually had a funny conversation with a cashier about something like this recently. You can buy Redbull in the 4-pack for $7.99 usually. I thought why not just buy 4 of them at the individual price of $1.99. The cashier gave me a smarmy, "You know, you could buy the 4-pack." I said, "Yeah, or I could buy 4 for less..." to which I got a blank stare. Math is hard some times...apparently.
Round numbers are the new black.
And that price is a pretty decent discount over the regular price, although the sign does a poor job of letting you know.
Still the Target Grocery section is a very good place to save money on certain staple items which are often much cheaper then the Harris Teeter (which does the high/low strategy, and loyalty promotion route- which can lead to huge savings if you learn the tricks) I use.
@zimzombie: No, it's Target policy to not require buying however many it says, unless it is "buy x get x free"
@uomdeacon: I'm going to take the side of the cashier. I work part time on weekends to pay off student loan debt (yay!), and I immediately go into robot mode.
I must get 20 customers a day that crack the same jokes ("if it doesn't scan, it must be free!"). If you tried to challenge me on the price differences, I would smile and continue to ring up your order but would be bitching you out in my head.
Cashiers don't set the prices.
/rant over
Much ado about nothing?
I know that pennies can add up, but I swear I won't buy a hundred packs of OJ...
I've seen plenty of these "savings" at Target lately. Not as this brave attempt at fooling their customers. But, I've seen the ones with the "Famous Amos" cookies that if I buy two boxes together, I'd save maybe 5 cents. They probably wasted more in resources than what they're trying to fool me into thinking of "saving me money."
I caught this the other day. I stuck my tongue out at the sign and bought the cheaper Tropicana instead.
My local Kroger (grocery store) does occasional "10 for $10" sorts of deals, and I sent them an email asking the reason for advertising as such, rather then simply $1 each. They were actually very forthright with their answer, telling me that their research found that people bought more product when they used the $10 method. I had to appreciate their honesty to me at least!
SCORE! There's a grocery post, I was hoping for a grocery post. I saved $50 in groceries today...I did go to three different grocery stores, but the drive between them was less than 10 minutes and the savings were worth it. My biggest coup was grapes for 99 cents and two boxes of betty crocker brownie mix for $1.08.
I must seem extremely cheap only because I was disappointed when I was looking through my grocery circulars last night that I missed triple coupon weekend because I was out of town.
I like Simply Orange but it's just never, ever on sale enough. I got Tropicana for $2.50 a half gallon today, which is good enough for me because most grocery stores don't have store brand orange juice. I wonder why... I know Whole Foods and Wegmans do, but I wasn't going to go there just to get juice (they didn't have anything else I needed on sale) and Wegmans' orange juice on sale was 9 cents more than the Tropicana.
It's easier to say 6 dollars rather than 5.98 and save on printing costs over thousands of stores. The 2.99 is most likely the sale price. I'd say they rang up 2.99 each at the registers.
@gopher646: can i agree with you any more. If it doesn't ring than it must be free.....stupid people. Lucky for me there is usually somebody to go run and do a price check for me.
I think it's an orange juice thing. I remember when my grocery store first got 3L Tropicana and it sold for close to twice the price of the 2L container.
I see this kind of stuff all the time at Target, so much so that I now just point at the tag and tell me wife, "Target math." The double packs of spray deodorant and toothbrushes are usually a good 10-12 cents more than 2 singles. The triple pack of Kleenex is more than three single boxes. And my personal favorite, Everyman Jack aftershave lotion is $0.99 for the 1 oz travel size, and $4.99 for the 4.2 oz regular size! What the?!? Needless to say I purchase my aftershave 1 oz at a time.
Anytime you see one of those Less than advertised signs at Target you should cry.
What they do is put a price in the ad flier thats higher than the normal everyday price. They then put up those signs which are the normal everyday price and trick people into thinking they saved money when really all they did was boost the price they advertised.
Because its in the flier people assume its some kind of deal or sale. What it really is, is a scam.
At one of the grocery stores I went to, a box of crackers was marked up to $4.20 a box with a buy one, get one free offer. I knew it was $1 more than another grocery store, but I took four boxes anyway because the cost to buy multiples of crackers without the deal is more expensive than buying two boxes of crackers that are marked up a dollar more than the other guy.
Sometimes it makes sense.
2.99 is a good sale price for 1 thingy of Simply Orange - that stuff is yummy and the package is cool. Yep, I fall for that stuff.....
And yes, I agree with others that it probably just says 2 for $6 b/c that's simply much easier than 2 for $5.98
OR just don't buy food at target. Groceries there are kinda a ripoff anyways.
Some target stores can will price match competition on certain products. Vendors can also adjust the price of the product depending on other stores in the area. When a sale like this comes down noone sits through and checks all the prices at every target store to make sure the sign looks right. I was in my local target and they had a single price of 3.39. I don't think target is trying to rip anyone off rather just the result of automation
@Zeniq:
I have to disagree - on select items (gatorade, for example), Target is always cheaper than my grocery, which makes it worth the trip for me...
Best OJ on the market and if you care about two cents that much, you have some serious mental health issues. As others have said, it's must simpler to read and easier to just round the numbers up. I normally only purchase one Simply Orange OJ at a time but I can afford to pay the extra two cents if I was to get two of them.
Again, It's TWO CENTS!!!
@ZitaAstydameia: You should read my previous post for info about Target ripping people off. You might find it changes your view on them.
That aside if Target price matches its because the person who is serving you likes breaking the rules. Target has a very strict no price match policy. They dont even allow matching their own website.
Vendors also have no access to change prices and cannot make Target change them.
How do I know? I work there. Please do yourself a favor and read my previous post.
@Murph1908: Actually, lots of people (not me, but I'm a suspicious sort by nature) read "2 for $5.98" as "2 for $5" because they just mentally drop everything after the decimal. Oddly, I think they'd probably sell more of the OJ if they put the less pretty but more enticing "2 for $5.98" on the sign.
Not to mention, that would also have the advantage of being mathematically correct. The 2/$6 on the sign strikes me as laziness more than anything else.
It's not a trap! It's an, uhhhh, surcharge, for the added convenience of not having to shop for orange juice so often, 'cos if you've got two bottles rather than one, you won't run out so quickly! See, Target are doing you a favor, and for that favor, you owe them an extra couple of cents. Or something.
"Lower than our advertised price" would appear to be a downright, barefaced lie... although I suppose they may be advertising OJ for sale at $3.01, somewhere, in which case they're just being misleading, cheating bastards here, rather than actual liars.
Sorry to burst the "Target sucks" bubble guys, but that "2.99 each" simply explains what price you would pay for one if you only decided to only buy one, for those guests who can't do basic math.
I work at Target, and this the "2 for $6" is just a nice way to round the numbers up on the sign - when you go to check out, it will ring up on the receipt as "2 & 2.99 each = 5.98"...no worries....
oh and btw, although prices vary by region, our simply orange prices at my store (grove city, ohio) run at 3.29, I believe...for awhile, it was 2.99! either way, its cheaper than Wal-Marts 3.48...
One more comment regarding the "lower than our advertised prices"...that sign is only for certain stores that are priced lower for competitive reasons...so its not a "scam" - just like with all retailers, prices at Target vary by region, by state,and usually by city....so you may see that "lower than..." sign at one store but not at another store that is priced just at the advertised price...
Target's policy, as seen on the back of the ad, is to charge the lower price if the store sells an item for less than the advertised "sale price". Coincidentally, this store's price was lower and therefore the advertisement becomes not so enticing. These signs are set by corporate and the store has no control over these signs.
I'm a manager at Target btw.
It's because those pennies contain more than a penny's worth of zinc in them. There's no zinc in Simply Orange juice, according to their website [www.simplyorangejuice.com] Coincidence? I think not!