Office Depot: Buy More, Pay More!
Stores usually offer discounts as an incentive to buy in bulk. Not the rebels at Office Depot! Penny-pinching thriftmongers can buy three boxes of paper at $32.99 each, but the true cash-wasters out there won't miss the chance to buy four or more boxes at $42.99 each. Take that, office managers! (Thanks to Andrea!)
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Comments:
Unfortunately, it probably works most of the time, too.
Rather than print something that makes the company look dumb maybe they could have said sale limit 3? That's the message they're trying to send, just their advertising guru wasn't thinking.
More@Snarkysnake:
More likely, the laziness is on the part of the barely-able-to-read, minimum wage data-entry monkey who hit the 4 instead of the 3. Still, $0.10 off per case is a pretty lousy discount.
@aja175: I really don't think that's even close to what they were "trying" to say. It's just a typo/database error/whatever technical screw-up you want to call it.
Dunder Mifflin has found a new sales strategy.
Fraud. The sign should say 'Buy Less and Save' but they knew better.
It's just a mistake. I work for an online retailer, and so much pricing is done on the fly, too fast, by people who just need to get it done and move on - and if they don't totally understand the way to code in discounted pricing for multiple amounts correctly, then it's easy to get something wrong.
If this had been a story of a retailer trying to jack up the prices or cancel once an order had been placed (something that happens way too often when there's been a pricing issue and no one wants to admit it), then I'd be a little more on board - but this is just a site mistake no one has spotted.
If the Consumerist had uncovered an issue endemic across the Office Depot site, where they were systematically and deliberately charging more for bulk orders, then that would deserve some righteous indignation.
Reminds me at out local market. 24 Ounce cans of Tecate are $1.74 each but the exact same cans wrapped up in plastic are $6.49!
They got me once, I was in a hurry and happened to need 3 cans, I thought the 3 pack would be cheaper :|
Only the Michael Scott Paper Company can offer a better deal.
My office printer Jams up that stuff 2 to 3 times a ream. %99.99 Jam free my ass. Although the printer is old and cranky so it's really not the papers fault.
This is a hot deal. In for four!
Consumerist readers new slogan "...Pointing out typos on the internets since 2005"
Wow. Is that really the retail price of that stuff? That's WAY more than what we pay. By nearly twice.
@dave23: I have to agree with this. It is not a consumer issue, no one was apparently actually charged that amount.
It is simply a typographical error, and not particularly amusing or otherwise noteable such as to rate notice by consumerist.
How recent is that picture?
It doesn't say that now. Do you have to have an account there and be logged in?
I doubt you pay half that price. I own an office supply store, that paper costs about $27 per case if buying truckload quantities. Nobody is selling it for $16 per case. Even non-branded copy paper *costs* $24 per case. i also doubt this is a typo. $40-45 is the normal price for the typical non business account.
@MooseOfReason: Seeing as it now reads $44.99 for up to three, and is still $42.89 for 4+, I'd be inclined to say that the original post reflected a sale that was going on at the time. Sale prices for paper are often limited to 3 boxes, which would explain why 4+ was more expensive.
Definitely sloppy of whoever put the page together, though, to just plug in prices without changing the "Buy More and Save" part, or adding any explanation.
This is a chronic problem with Office Depot. We have to order from them at work (office supplies contract with them), and we almost always have to buy small packs of things instead of large packs.
I like the Hammermill paper. It works good in our wheezy office copier. I order whichever is cheapest at the time on Quill's website.
No one likes the Georgia-Pacific paper because each ream comes in plastic wrap that you need a box cutter to open. They bitch at me until it's gone. Which takes forever, because I order 100 reams at a time.
The fact that this goes against any semblance of common and business sense pretty neatly sums up where American business finds itself today. Instead of delivering value to the customer,their whole business case here seems to rest on the premise that somebody will not be paying attention and they (OD) will profit from that laziness.