Is that a Wal-Mart price tag? I could be wrong.

FYI, there's a huge related thing going on at Giant Eagle. I got a bottle of this very stuff there and I didn't realize it was slightly smaller until I got home and compared it to my other bottle. One of the reasons I didn't see it is that every bottle next to it is also slightly smaller! Shocking.

They gotta do something to offset all that plastic that holds them together.

Kind of off-topic: It reminds me of some post-it notes I just bought: Two packs of twelve were wrapped together in plastic, then each (plastic wrapped) twelve pack contained individually wrapped post-it notes. Didn't feel like such a great value once I got through it all.

@javi0084: That does look like the kinds of price tags Wal-Mart uses (see Milk post). Target uses white tags with yellow stripes.

@javi0084: It's Target, it says in the article.

This is New Math. It is widely used in the finance industry & government.

For example: How to solve the huge US deficit? Spend more and increase the deficit.

Target is simply adopting New Math on a smaller scale. I think Target should be rewarded for its patriotism.

This really isn't new...one could think it was just a crazy random happenstance or could think it was a sinister plan on the part of the store to deceive buyers into thinking they were actually saving by not making them do any math.

Knowing this happens, I always calculate how much it would be to buy two of a product individually vs. buying two of a product bundled together. It doesn't take that long to figure out (I use the calculator on my phone) and if you think the company is trying to scam you out of $1.81, you have the satisfaction of knowing this is the case and you can avoid it.

@SkokieGuy: I can always count on you to introduce politics into the conversation in an interesting/funny way.

@PandaWatch: Wal-Mart uses different tags for grocery and non-grocery items. The normal tags are yellow on top and white on bottom and they don't tell you the per-unit price.

@javi0084: Pretty sure it's Target. This is a Target tag from an earlier post, basically same except for color: [consumerist.com]

For comparison, Walmart: [consumerist.com]

The photo shows the big lie of unit pricing too -- leaving aside the fact that this one is dead simple, one tag shows the cost per quart and the other shows the cost per half-gallon. It gets a little more complicated at my Kroger where they price items in liters on one tag and ounces on the other.

I've seen pricing like this at lots of places.

I once went to a Dunkin Donuts where a half dozen donuts cost more than six individual donuts.

And in my neighborhood CVS, for roughly a year they had a half gallon of milk costing more than two quarts--and the margin kept growing (from a penny to 11 cents to 21 cents).

On a side note, I bought one of these bottles a few weeks ago and filed a complaint that it didn't actually get me "3X" as clean. They didn't respond.

Just a note about your headline. Nothing really says "Two-for-One" anywhere on the package so your headline is completely misleading.

@deadandy: XXX clean sounds very dirty indeed!

If marketing monkeys think it's okay to take advantage of consumer laziness and trust, I think it's okay to produce and distribute "Not a good deal" stickers so consumers with a modicum of arithmetic skill can protect the rest.

@gtbernstein:good point. The package only says buy two and save, but of course that isn't possible unless you don't buy the shrink wrapped package.

@gtbernstein: Inaccurate, yes, but the gist holds true so it isn't misleading.

yeah that really looks like a walmart price tag...

@legwork:

The gist holds true? Not really. "Two for One" usually implies two things for the price of one thing, doesn't it?

In this case, it's more like two things for the same effort to pick it up off the shelf as the one thing.

Neither Target nor Consumerist in any way implies that it's two for the price of one.

There's no good way to title this article beyond what Old Spice already did on the shrink wrap, which we've determined is a lie.

I'm just nit-picking because there's nothing better to do at the moment.

@legwork:

YES! A true public service!

the extra buck and .51 is for the shrink-wrap process...yeah that's it

Show me a photo of a 2 fer bundle at target that was actually less than purchasing 2 individual units, then I'd be interested.

I ran the math at a burger King the other day and found that many of their 'value meals' are also more expensive than buying the individual items.

Buyer Beware

It is a convenience charge.

@gtbernstein: You're right, thanks for pointing that out.

@themicah: Do you mean four quarts or two half gallons? 4 quarts=1 gallon.

@Coles_Law: He's comparing the price of two quarts to the price of a half gallon. Don't see anything wrong with that.

with the snow last month I was buying some of those duraflame logs at safeway and it was a dollar more to buy the 6 pack in a box than to buy the 6 individual logs.

@PandaWatch: I agree, those don't look anything like Target labels. This wouldn't be the first time Consumerist has had incorrect posts about Target, though.

@larrymac808: I've seen that same unit price mis-match tactic at my local big-chain supermarket. They'll unit price the national brand at so much per gallon, then use 'per quart' as the unit price basis for their own store brand. Often on an equal basis, their store brand is more money per unit.

@legwork: I endorse that. Make it so.

Check out the 12 packs of Ceasar's dog food; the 12 pack of 2 flavors runs about 9.98 at both Walmart and Target while they sell the singles at .72 each. Buying the singles costs $8.64 and I can mix and max the flavors for my picky yorkie babies. Why buy the value pack?

That absolutely isn't a Target tag, they don't look like that at all. They don't have the price comparison part, that is for sure. And, they aren't orange.

@johnarlington: I'm sorry to say, most people don't bother calculating the price of each item individually and together in a "value" package. If more people did we could all save some money.

Off topic, but I save money when I eat out with my boyfriend by just buying one beverage between the both of us - free refills come with soda and also restaurants don't get much profit from soda fountains.

@larrymac808: The flyers up here in Canada do that - some prices are per item, some per 100 grams, some per kilogram (1000 grams) and some per pound (454 grams).

It's really flipping annoying!

Hm, I bought this exact same 2-pack from Target on Thursday, and it was $5 even. Maybe your Target is just heinously overpriced?

Another fake saving.

Glade Scented Oil Refill:
1-Pack = $2.00
2-Pack = $4.72

I always keep an eye out for Targets "Buy One Get One Free" on Hair Dye, I don't dye my hair, but I always make around 15 bucks when I return them, separately, 3 weeks later.

This practically fed me when I was in college

@tozmervo: Looks like a food store almost.

I am pretty sure if you use "body wash" as a dude, market research has told these companies that they can pull one over on their consumer with inflated 2 for one deals