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Ran into something like this last week when buying lightbulbs from Target. Single Bulbs were discounted by $0.30, while a 2-Pack was discounted $0.40... Needless to say, but the 2 Single Bulbs were a better deal
I'm beginning to suspect that all large retail chains do this, especially now because heavy discounting is "more important than ever."
I keep seeing things that are %50-80 off, yet are still not that reasonably priced. So the regular price seems only to make it seem like you are getting a deal. When in fact the item probably was hidden in a remote corner of the store and never sold at regular price.
To target's defense, the price could have gone up, and the old tag would have been left there by some lazy employee. We don't really have a way of knowing how long the '$2.39' tag was in place.
So the price went up... then it went on sale.
What's the problem here, aside from poor price tag changing?
I love finding things like this. Our local supermarket charges a higher per pound price on bulk size vegetables. I brought it to the managers attention and am told there is nothing they can do.
@MustyBuckets: Guaranteed, this is what happened.
There's not a demon under every bush, Consumerist.
/but it doesn't stop this from being funny, nonetheless1
My guess is the $2.14 price tag is the old price. Someone forgot to take it off when the price was raised. Sometimes things are just simple mistakes rather than "screw the consumer" conspiracies.
Don't even get me started on the "items scanning higher than the shelf price" myth.
@InfiniTrent: Actually, it may be easy to find out how long the tag had been there...I know some chains put the date when the tag was printed on it
Target's "sale" prices on everyday items like foil are rarely that dramatic of a price drop. Their regular prices are already pretty low compared to grocery stores. That 75 sq ft roll of private label aluminum foil is regularly priced at $2.14 or $2.39 at Target while the regular price of the private label foil is $3.79 at vons.com and $3.99 at albertsons.com.
@MustyBuckets: I like how the price "went up" through no fault of Target. They're the ones who raised the price, then lowered it to something still higher than the original price, and called it a sale.
I worked at Target for 3 years (during summers), and don't remember anything like this ever happening. If this little picture is enough to make you believe that Target execs are maliciously manipulating prices to trick people into paying more, so be it.
I'm gonna go with the much more believable explanation... they have an ungodly amount of different products for sale (100,000 +) and probably make stupid pricing mistakes on a select few. Is there really a pattern of people getting screwed over by fake sale pricing at Target? I don't think so.
@acknight: People don't understand that the economy has caused prices to increase. The margin probably roughly stayed the same, and the same margin was probably same to.
Very complex, i know.
[Target Worker Here]
It's common practice to cover up old labels with new labels when the price changes. Usually the new labels are sticky on the back so they don't fall off the shelf, so the person taking the picture either peeled off the new label off, or the new label didn't have a sticky back.
As for the price difference, prices do change, and sometimes they go up.
Every store does it, it just happens that Target is doing it wrong. Prices went up from Summer to Winter. Im sure I am not the only person alive who remembers everything getting more expensive and smaller...
Now the price is lower and this cunning person took a picture of an old label! Surprise prices change!!! OMG NEWS!
It's like walking into JCPenny and always seeing their Jewelry and watches at least 25% discounted. When they are ALWAYS sold at a discount, why would you believe they were ever worth the original price, whenever that price was actually used, if ever.
This past week my wife and I went to our local JCPenny and looked at some watches. They had some kind of extra discount and when my wife asked for the final price of a watch, the girl called it up on the monitor in plain view of me. It had an 'Original Price' of $250, a 'Selling Price' of $168.25, and the girl quoted my wife $153. How she got to that price beats me (it did not fit the advertised percentage-off, which I can't recall right now), but it should be pretty clear that the Selling Price is the real market price, and the $250 is just some made-up price that makes it possible to give seemingly deep discounts.
Why is it that each and every major chain retailer tries to deceive and mislead their customers in every way possible in the name of profit? I know, rhetorical question, but is that really what they teach upcoming business people - forget honesty and moral values - here PROFIT is king!
*sighs*
Is this some lame attempt to get another catch-phrase, so instead of "shrink" we're getting "foiled?"
@The_IT_Crone: (just in case I'm not being clear, I don't think the fact that this is post-worthy unless someone can prove it happened in the span of say, a week)
Hold your horses! This might not be what it looks like. I would guess that the price tag underneath is fairly old. We got the same thing going in my store, instead of removing the old tag, we just put the new on top. I'm pretty sure we got 2 year old price tags right behind newer price tags. And that's probably the case here on Target.
@BrazDane:
This is every jewelry store anywhere. The "list price" is a fake, very high price to make the price they are going to sell at seem like a deal. The problem here is that the first store to try to eliminate this practice will probably fail. The fact is... most regular people have no idea what jewelry "should cost"... they work off the list price, sale price, etc. If all of a suddent they see a real price of 500 that is fair, they wont want to pay more than 300 for it. It's a messed up system.
@MustyBuckets: Normally, I would buy that reasoning since prices do fluctuate...especially now. However, it is Target. They seem to have some type of pricing "issue" at least once a week on here.
It looks like 90% of the people posting here entirely agree with you. Stories like this actually hurt Consumerist's credibility... there is zero substance, research, etc... its just a silly picture that could mean any number of things.
The Target by me does this routinely. It's either that, or the "sale" price is the exact same as the old price below it, just with a "sale" cardboard thing tacked on. I went down the candy aisle one day just moving the clipped on "sale" price tag to expose the fact that the normal price was the exact same thing. Came back next week, and all the tags had been moved to cover up the original price again, but the original price tags still hadn't been removed. So I slid 'em over again.
If it was laziness, I wouldn't think they'd take the time to go back and cover up the originals for about 20 items. I'd think someone would have noticed the original tag and removed/changed it. Nope.
The original $2.14 is part of a 4 foot strip of plastic- this was the price when the planogram was initially installed. Since then the price of this item went up to $2.39 (and they simply printed up a paper sticker, not the whole 4 foot strip, no reason to waste resources).
While it does say as advertised, it does not say that this is a sale price. They're not trying to cheat anyone. Their prices are already low to begin with.
If you came in to buy that item because you thought it was a good price in their circular, SO WHAT if that's their new everyday price? I think target has excellent prices, even with inflation, and i'm willing to pay a little more to shop here.
@BrazDane: The watch either is, or is not, worth its current price to you. "Original Price," "Selling Price," or "Whatever Price" don't seem especially relevant to me.
People who buy something because it is "on sale" or is some large/larger/ginormous percentage off an arbitrary initial price pretty much deserve what they get, imo.
If you need a watch and you are willing to pay $153 for the watch in question why does it matter to you if the price is 50% off from $306 or 80% off from $765 or whatever? The price is what the price is and a decision should be made on that, not what the price used to be or what the price might have been.
I was in our local Target two weeks ago on a Sunday and found a tv stand I wanted, the sign said regular price $55.00 on sale for $45.00 unfortunately I did not have anyone with me and I was unable to load the box so I thought I would just come back Monday and bring my husband and thinking even if it's not on sale $55.00 would not be a bad price to pay. Imagine my surprise when I returned on Monday to find out not only was it not on sale but the price was now $69.95. I had checked the codes on the product and signs on both days to make sure I was looking as the right price. Did I buy the unit?, not hardly. There were two boxes on the shelf Sunday and two boxes on Monday which told me it was not a new shipment with a price increase. People would still like to spend and help the economy but we are not stupid and stores need to realize that.
Good for this store for keeping prices in check.
The price of this item, aluminum, has fluctuated almost as much as gasoline!
@philmin: It is teaching readers to be observant. Since reading the consumerist I have learned to always peel back price stickers and investigate. And even if the prices are old, it still can make you think twice about if you really need the product to begin with.
@plyhard13: Commodity prices went up across the board last year. The foil likely had a price increase due to this, now Target is offering a discount, but, due to cost increases, still can't offer as low as the prior price.
@B: What's the "original" price? $2.14? What was it before that? When did it increase/decrease to that?
Target is advertising a price drop. It is indeed dropped from its previous price. There's too little information in this picture to determine whether this particular example demonstrates any level of malfeasance.
All stores raise and drop prices according to market conditions. All this example shows is how lazy the employee was that repriced this item.
Just cause it has the "as advertised" tag on it doesnt mean its on sale. it just means it shows up in one of their fliers. It is just a way to get your attention with a big fancy price tag.
many times, especially in electronics, there is no change in the price whatsoever. it doesnt say "on sale"
The 3 different prices thing is messed up but that aside, keep in mind that Target has sale items and advertised items. Sale items are discounted from the regular price, while advertised items are just items that are in the flyer and are being promoted but are not necessarily on sale or discounted. This could be one of those items.
@Flynn: "As Advertised," in this case, doesn't necessarily mean on sale; it means it was in the advertisement at that price.
Video game systems are routinely advertised and not discounted, but they still certainly qualify as "Advertised" items.
In advert doesn't necessarily mean on sale.
I was just at Target yesterday and came across this pricing scheme: Double packs of Glade Scented Oil for $2.49 while the singles were $1.00 each. Of course it is hard to see that right away with all the red SALE $2.49 tags all over the shelves.
First off, blanket responses of "If they don't have the knowledge or opinion that I have, then they deserve what they get" is SOOO inappropriate.
Second... I may be "willing" to pay $153 for the watch in question, but I'm much MORE "willing" to pay $145 for it. I'm even MORE willing to pay $125.
These arbitrary prices can be confusing. It makes it hard for some people to comparison shop. It makes you do MATH, and some people are just not good with math. It also plays on human psychology, just as "liquidation sales" do.
So, I guess you could say that if a customer is human, and falls for these psychological games, then they deserve whatever they get.
@SteveZim1017: That was my first thought too. Maybe I am in the minority, but I don't really change my shopping pattern based on a "sale price" anyhow. I usually have an idea on what I am willing to spend on something and shop accordingly. If I think $50 is a good price for a wool sweater, I'll buy on for $49.99. If it USED to be $100 and is now 49.99 or if it was ALWAYS 49.99, I don't care.
I guess people need to feel like they are getting a deal
People don't understand that the economy has caused prices to increase.
Nonsense. The current economy has caused prices to go down. According to the latest data from the Dept of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics:
"On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U decreased 0.7 percent in December, the third consecutive decline... The food index declined 0.1 percent in December, the first decrease since April 2006... Consumer prices declined at a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 12.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2008... Excluding food and energy, the CPI declined at a 0.3 percent SAAR during the last quarter of 2008"
CPI-U (seas. adj., all cities)
Sep-08 218.813
Oct-08 216.71
Nov-08 213.06
Dec-08 211.49
Very complex, i know.
Too complex for some, apparently.
You'll notice the sign does not say SALE! It only says "As Advertised" you can advertise crappy prices all you want.
@Dooley:First off, I didn't say they deserve what they get because their opinion might differ from mine. I said they deserve what they get if they base their purchases on some markdown percentage rather than whether the current price is a good -- in their opinion -- price.
Something can be marked down 99% and still be something to avoid or not marked down at all and still be something to be sought.
The question to ask isn't how much the watch has been marked down from some arbitrary price, it is whether the current price is one the buyer is willing and able to pay.
Second... I'm sure just about anyone is more willing to pay a lower price for an item they want. However, unless they know of someone selling the watch for $145 or $125 that willingness isn't relevant. If there is a seller at $153 and no seller at $125, the choice is buy at $153 or don't buy.
How do the arbitrary prices make it difficult to comparison shop? If the watches in two different stores aren't the same, the comparison is not as straightforward regardless of arbitrary pricing because it's probably not an apples-to-apples comparison even with some fixed, metaphysically fair price. If the watches are the same, the comparison is elementary regardless of arbitrary pricing... just compare the actual prices, not some arbitrary markdown percentage.
I've worked in retail before. This is why we always had to THROW AWAY the old price tags, lest some clever customer removed the new, higher price tag!
I recall reading some blog awhile back that mentioned how Target "codes" it's sales, I went and found it, don't know if it still applies or if they changed the method since this was posted:
"Full prices end in 9. Every time Target discounts, the final digit of the price drops. The lowest the final digit will go is 4. If you see something you want and the price ends in 4, buy it. You won't get it for less."
As someone who worked in retail, for you to have a 'compare' price you must have sold at least one of those items at that price to legally use the term 'compare,' in referencing a 'sale' price. That said, shop around. Do your homework. Know your prices before you go in to purchase an item. Use your coupons. Comparison shop in the same store with the store brands. If your goal is to get the best price, that's what you've got to do!
@TinyBug: Almost every single thing I have to buy regularly has increased in price. I call "nonsense" on whoever compiled that study.
They are all doing it. Anyone see the regular DVD's "on sale" at Circuit City? Regular price of $21.99? ha..
@cuchanu: Yeh I see this too... 80% off a hairbrush that is now $9.99... As if anyone would pay the full price of... anyone good at math?
Also a team member, and yeah, this is pretty standard. The $2.14 price is probably on a shelf-length strip, so we have to put new price labels over the old. That original price could have been really old, and $2.39 was the more recent price.
As someone said earlier in the thread, there's not a demon in every bush.
![[www.popsci.com]](http://www.popsci.com/files/imagecache/article_image_large/files/articles/foilhats_400.jpg){kind=link}
Finally, a definition for "Phase 2" of the plan...it only took a few (like 8) years to get here...