Great Deal At CVS
Reader Evan spotted this smoking deal at a Los Angeles CVS. He didn't specify what exactly a "CVS HLTH GRO THPST" is, but at that spectacular discount, who could pass one up? I'll tell you who — those wise consumers who hold fast until the price drops even further, to $3.19.
Target now has some competition in the field of crazy price tag exploits.
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Comments:
Wish it had shown the whole label - looks like there is a price to the left that was cut off. Wonder if it was $4.39?
And I'm guessing from the blurry words on the yellow tag that it is for CVS Healthy Guard Toothpaste (as well as I can make it out)
I would guess that if you zoom out, this is a comparison between a private brand and a CVS brand (with 1.20 being the difference in price).
You beat me to it.
Obviously the "Compare" of "Compare and Save" was cropped out...
To the left of this product will be the brand name product next to the CVS brand...
@Cybrczch: Yep, it's Healthy Guard Toothpaste.
@HRHKingFridayXX: This is what I'm thinking as well. I think the "savings" are from buying the generic brand over Colgate or Aquafresh.
The best translation I could think of was "CVS Health Group Therapist." Which would actually be pretty excellent, because HMO copay rates for therapy are probably fairly high, so a store-brand therapist would represent a real savings.
But no, "Healthy Guard Toothpaste" is what it appears to say..
wow awesome, why didn't you tell me sooner. With sales like this, products sell fast. This is just too good to be true, the price actually went down from $3.19 to $3.19, you save $1.20.
I think it was the way the photo was taken. The other half of the ticket is missing.
Might be it says it dropped from 4.39 to 3.19. The price above that might have been the adjusted price.
@ryanchristopher:
Yes- you can clearly see that there is a second half of a tag with a price ending in a 9 with the white side being the branded product
It makes more sense to present it like that than to keep the old label - when the price drops, you change all the tags so that even if the flag goes missing, the customer sees the correct price. It only takes a second to print a new label, after all.
Reader Evan either isn't familiar with CVS price tags, or else desperately wanted to get posted. As several people have already said, CVS stocks shelves with their store brand next to a name brand.
The "Compare & Save" stickers show the price of the name brand vs. the price of the CVS brand product.
Notice how the picture is cropped to carefully remove the other half of the tag? You're missing half the information!
Why not include the whole label for the whole story? Oh right, because it doesn't work when you see it's comparing generic pricing to name brands.
@triscuitbiscuit: What's sad is dreck like this gets posted while actual stories get passed by. Anything, however mundane or silly, would have been more of a story than this.
@RandomHookup: How so? They post both prices, highlight their own, show the pice difference? How would you improve the design?
Apparently CVS price tags are considered trolls. They've been disemvowled.
@nbs2: No, I think its helpful to show people how much they can save by choosing a generic. However, there are many CVS brand generics that would not be worth saving 1.20 over.
Anyone think this article should just be removed?
I will be at a CVS later and will check these labels
Me?
"CVS HLTH GRO THPST" ... first that's a "D" instead of "O" ... so what's really on there is "CVS HLTH GRD THPST" ... which is "Health Guard Toothpaste".
@nbs2: It's obviously poor design if the OP believed that the $1.20 savings was on the CVS product compared to the day-to-day price. I'm not a designer, but I've had this confusion myself.
@markrubi:
Agreed. This is in no way a scam. I personally do not care for the price difference when it comes to generic brands (especially with toothpaste) and go with the major brand, but they aren't posting phony deals here.
I lament the days when actual stories with more proof made the pages of the Consumerist. A poorly shot or cropped photo that cuts off the majority of the sale definition is bogus.
Is it because of the economy?
Wow, working as a store manager for CVS, this is a lame attempt to get posted on Consumerist. The other half of the label show the price of the name brand product, the savings being the difference between the two.
*sigh*
@Razor512:
As others have noted, this is a case of bad cropping. Someone has cropped out the comparison item that is $1.20 more to make it seem as if the comparison is between the price on the shelf and the price on the sticking out thing(I don't know what you call them).
Its obviously a way to make the 3.19 pop as many people may just grab the branded toothpaste without thinking.
Another one of these?
@markrubi: Me!!!
Considering that this is a complete non-story based on a deceptively cropped photo, one might even go so far as to utter the oft-fatal phrase: "Why is this on Consumerist?"
CVS HLTH GRO THPST:
Uuuh... CVS Health Grow The Rapist?
Right. That red box at the bottom says "Compare & Save".
This is not a Sale Fail.
I'm shocked this is still up. The commenters have addressed the issue (and I agree with them, the picture seems to support it), Evan hasn't popped in to clarify the issue although I am sure he is watching along, and neither Phil nor any of the other Consumerist folks has anything to say. This was posted at 10:04am, let's get it together folks!
Consumerist = FAIL
I LOVE CVS. Especially the never ending rewards coupons on every receipt. I recall getting Aquafresh toothpaste for 25 cents a tube and every time I went to check out they gave me ANOTHER coupon to get the same price with no restrictions. I also got shampoo for 50 cents a bottle with the rewards coupons; granted it was v06 but it still works.
It's generally not cheap, but with the neverending restriction free (I don't think you can use mfg. coupons though...) coupons you can get AWESOME deals when stuff is on sale.
I'm a CVS employee, and yes, everyone in this thread is correct. This is NOT a sale sign, but simply a Compare and Save sign that compares the Sensodyne brand versus the CVS brand and shows that to purchase the CVS brand will save you $1.20.
Whomever submitted this post is exactly the person we employees hate: THEY CANT READ THE WHOLE SIGN.
You'll notice there's no week to week mark anywhere on the sign. Real sale signs will list a date, for example, anything on sale this week will say 9/27 - 10/03 on the top left
@CFinWV: Also "oh right" because we're reading Consumerist, where anyone with the investigative skills of a doorstop can send in a blurry photo of a label they can't figure out, and it's instant controversy.
@jayphat: I'm considering sending in a blurry photo of a Consumerist article I can't figure out, just to see if they'd post it.
Those CVS signs are Compare and Save. They aren't actually sale signs, notice there's a second part cut off of the picture. There should be a brand name of the same product with a higher price. It's supposed to show you that the CVS brand is a cheaper than the brand name.
But in all honesty, I've actually seen CVS do that. It was probably a few years ago, but in a rare instances we would get signs for regular price changes that would lower the regular price to the sale price in the middle of the week, so it wasn't like you were saving anything at all. CVS had all the intention of lowering that price, they just wanted you to think you were saving so you'd buy the product more.
I have noticed these tags at CVS before. They are always to advertise the CVS brand of whatever national brand this product is sitting next to. If you notice the tag is attached to another price tag. The discount is difference between the CVS brand and the national brand.
Its basically CVS's bad way of marketing that you are saving when you purchase their brand over the national brand.