To promote the opening of a new store, ultra-discount chain 99 Cents Only stocked a few things they don’t normally carry, and sold them for 99 cents. Things like iPods and scooters. When they opened a store in San Jose, Calif., this sale proved popular. Very popular.
Hundreds of people lined up hours before the store opened in order to paint the great deals.
“So I saw the ad and was like ‘oh good deal, 99 cents for a scooter.’ You can’t beat it because the market value is like probably like $40 to $50,” said shopper Jolon Nicolau.
Nicolau showed up at 3 a.m., and one of 99 in line able to buy a scooter for only 99 cents. The first lucky nine in line were able to score an apple iPod nano for a mere 99 cents as well.
“This is the best deal you can find anywhere right? 99 cents for an iPod nano,” said shopper Ericson Tianzi.
It certainly is. The store will continue offering promotional deals, but none as good as the first day’s.
Store gives away iPods, scooters for 99 cents [KGO-TV]
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I’ll buy that for a dollar!
@zentex: Plus tax!
@dpeters11:
Plus the .99cent fee for buying it from them.
And the $25 buy-it-at-the-store fee
and the $20 opening sale fee
and government tax fees of $105
… and it comes to $154.21
Wait, I think I have this story confused with something else….
@Herbz: Yes, and now that industry is asking for help from the government because they’re falling on hard times.
@Herbz: Airliners?
@zentex: Well give the man a hand!
@zentex: You quoted…Robocop.
I always remember him saying, “I’d buy that for a dollar!”, but I don’t have the greatest memory.
@admiral_stabbin: I’m somewhat sure it was “I’d”, too.
@admiral_stabbin & @Xkeeper:
[www.imdb.com]
Bixby Snyder: I’d buy that for a dollar!
Wow! That is a great deal. Surprised it didn’t turn into a riot.
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: That’s the first thing I thought, too.
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: So you predict, you predict a riot?
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: It’s San Jose. Everyone’s chipped and tracked over there.
@GitEmSteveDave_HurtHisKnee: That’s right, Chief. Or, do you prefer Kaiser?
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: That was the first thing I thought of too. I thought this article was gonna report some horrible riot because everybody wanted 99 cent ipods. Good to see it went pretty well.
I love going into 99 cent stores and asking the employees for price checks ; )
@barb95: I’m sure they love it too.
And of course I am all the way across the country when this happens in my hometown *headdesk*
@jhuang: Awww, that sucks.
Maybe something awesome will happen where you’re at before you have to leave again.
Brilliant marketing. Impressive.
@TruthHog: Most impressive. But you are not a jedi yet!
$.99 is a good deal, but that tax on the item pushing it over $1.00 kills the deal.
@coan_net: People muttering, “It’ll be a cold day in hell before I’ll give you $.06 in sales tax.”
Then they flip the cash register over.
@ZeusThaber: $.06? For sales tax? In CA? HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHA… but not really. It’s a $.09 to the dollar and rising.
@Pandare: Geeze, I never notice when I’m in Los Angeles.
and I though $.06 was on the high side.
*shakes fist at the fat cats in Sacramento*
@ZeusThaber:
Here in Tennessee, $.09 in sales tax on a $1.00 item is about right (I think it’s around 9.3%). But, then again, we don’t have a state income tax here.
@Nascar24Dude: Here in New York City, we pay 8.875% sales tax. It’s a function of three tax rates:
1. State – 4%
2. New York City – 4.5%
3. METROPOLITAN COMMUTER TRANSPORTATION DISTRICT – 0.375%
And we have New York State income tax, New York City income tax as well.
Isn’t it wonderful to live here in the Big Apple?
The article adds, “Shopper Jolon Nicolau would later be disappointed to realize that there was sales tax on the scooter and the sole dollar bill in his possession, by itself, would not be enough to purchase the item. After hours of waiting, he left with his head hung down, defeated.”
@Nate128: So this guy thought because there was this awesome promotion, he’d be exempted from sales tax?
@Nate128: Damn, nobody could give the guy a dime? ’tisn’t the season yet, I guess.
@Nate128: LOL. LOL…
@Nate128: How old was this guy? I learned that lesson the hard way when I was 6.
How much is your time worth? If it’s really an iPod Nano (and not a Shuffle) maybe it’s a good deal.
But the Scooter? It’s worth $50. Even if you only value your time at the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hr, you “spent” almost $50 worth of time waiting in line for 5-6 hours!
@MeOhMy: But if you’re unemployed you might as well try.. Got nothin but time anyway, right?
@MeOhMy: It really was an iPod Nano. Not an imitation. I considered lining up, but I have early morning meetings on Thursdays and it’s really cold at night (for CA, which I realize is shorts weather in South Dakota or whatever).
@MeOhMy: At least when they opened here they did full-on iPods. And the two or three that got them were in line about 18 hours, during the summer when the low here is about 90Ëš.
Hmmm, wonder if it was a real iPod or an “iPod like” knockoff.
@fruvous: it was a real ipod. They did the same promotion when they opened one in Redondo Beach. It was a zoo.
ipod Nanos 3rd gen 8GB for 99 cents. (to the lucky first 10 people)
practically have to give away ipods now. glad i got a zune. just kidding i dont have a zune or ipod.
I’ve been in the .99 Store here in San Antonio, and it was perhaps the most depressing experience I’ve had in recent memory.
@Segador: Agreed. Petroleum to shelf to landfill in as few steps as possible. They do cut the profit-fat on some items but the vast majority is the most depressing display of enabling I’ve ever seen.
The 99CentsOnly have consistently made money even before the economy tanked. We shopped there all the time when we had one close by. They cut back for this, as they usually give away 9 9 inch TV’s at new store opening.
Man, I wish we had a 99 Cents store in Austin. They were my favourite dollar-ish store in Vegas because they were always really clean with actual decent merchandise. I mean, I still followed the “don’t buy anything from a dollar store that goes in your mouth” rule, but honestly, I’ve subscribed to the CPSC recall list for ages and never seen something from their store on it, while other dollar stores are on those recall lists all the time.
But when I moved to Austin I emailled to ask why it looked like they’d just closed some in Texas, and they replied that Texas hadn’t been good sales for them so they were pulling out of the state entirely. Odd…
@kaceetheconsumer: Getting out of Texas? There was one the wrong way up the street from me (never needed to go that way for work or shopping or anything). I should see if it’s still there, maybe they’ll be having some good liquidation sales
I bought a car slim jim at a $.99 store in the mall once. It was labeled as a “universal lockout tool”. Rather cheaply made though (imagine that!).
@temporaryerror: LOL,,I must be getting tired. When I read “slim jim” I was thinking the beef stick you eat. Then I read “universal lockout tool”. Mmmmm,,,after breaking into a car you can have a snack too. Now that’s convenient.
Oh no, I work right by that store and didn’t know it had opened yet! I live in a different area, so I didn’t get the ad at home. I totally would have been there for the opening if I had known! Oh well.
@theblackdog_FeelingRandom: I suspect he was old enough to read the article and to detect obvious sarcasm on the internet.
Here’s hoping you learn that lesson next!
I kid, I kid. But seriously, read the article instead of taking comments at face value, most comment sections of most of the internet are chock full of sarcasm and other bits of humor.
My store did this when it opened two years ago. Nothing new.
@Oranges w/ Cheese has 2 cats! ahahaha.: I know! The person hands them a dollar bill in the commercial and in real life, that just wouldn’t fly.
To the rest of you who took my above comment seriously… wow. Lol.
Um, do they work? Do they fall apart after three uses? you get what you pay for.
@treimel: Thank you for mirroring my exact thoughts and counter arguments to that position.
@treimel: Not at all. Notice I didn’t say “how much do you make at work,” I said “How much is your time worth” and “even if you value your time at the federal minimum wage…” That is to say not “How much does your job pay,” but rather if you stop and think about it, do you REALLY consider trading 5-6 hours of your life for a cheap kick scooter a worthwhile trade?
When you’re not “at work”, you presumably compensate yourself for your time doing things you find rewarding. If you find sitting out all night in line to get a cheap scooter for $1 rewarding, more power to you. As long as you’ve considered whether it’s worth it to you. I think most people just say “Oooh free stuff” and never give it any consideration beyond that.