GO Target!!! GO FOR THE HATTRICK!!!

@MostlyHarmless: They're well on their way there...

Like my use of they're/their/there? I'm so proud of myself!

I definitely think it's a pricing error, given the fact that the price is the same regardless of size, but in some cases, certain smells sell better and are priced differently. Lemon is sometimes more expensive than citrus and weird novel smells sometimes don't get as much traction as a company previously thought, so it'll get discounted before being discontinued. Since one has more sheets than the other, though, this seems to be more likely a pricing error than Target pricing different things by popularity/smell.

One cannot just assume 110 sheets are more than 80. One must take into consideration the size of the sheet. Surface area does account and I always check sheet sizes when buying TP :)

@FrasierKingfisher: I squinted really hard at that first photo, but I am fairly sure both tubs contain 7x8 sheets.

@katstermonster: there well on they're way their

I see this all the time at Target. Dish washer cubes and dishwasher powder soap are ones I have seen like this multiple times. The pricing and quantities change every time I buy soap. I have had to pull out the handy calculator a few times to make sure I wasn't adding things wrong in my head. The box with more will be the same price as the exact same brand & item with less in it.

@gStein_has joined the star bandwagon: BOOM!

That was my head exploding.

@pecan 3.14159265: Yeah, the containers definitely both say 7x8"

@pecan 3.14159265: Yes, my monitor at work is not the greatest. Think you may be right though.

@katstermonster: I applaud you for coming up with the perfect sentence to demonstrate the difference between those particular homophones.

OH GOOD LORD. TARGET PRICING ERROR. MUST MAKE IDIOTIC COMMENT INSTEAD OF IGNORING SOMETHING I DON'T CARE ABOUT.

Does that take care of it? Probably not... *readies bingo card*

@squinko: I think we need a new bingo card square for that. We can title it, "Blah blah pricing error, I don't like funny things in life."

I like supporting corporations. I don't pay $4.79 for the 110, I pay $10.99 for the 80!

Oh wait, no, I'm a cheap bastard.

The "110 sheets" package is covered with fancy "New-and-improved" style wrapping which would make anyone suspicious. I'll take the tried and true 80's too.

@Hank Scorpio: I like how she decided to do that too.

@katstermonster: You hit a hat trick of your own!

@pecan 3.14159265: The old "stick up the ass" square.

They look like two different types of the lysol wipes and thus probably the different prices.

@The Porkchop Express: If only she had done it two times.

This is getting really fascinating!
Almost every week, Consumerist puts out yet another thread of truly bizarre pricing problems at Target, yet it appears that Target upper management does nothing about the problem.
You would think that somebody with actual authority at Target would get their ass in gear & make sure that pricing errors just don't happen!
If that meant an end to constant changes & price changes were allowed only once a week, then do that.
Small problems like this, and this is a relatively small problem in the course of running a huge retailer, even though to an affected customer it's a big annoyance, usually means that there are far bigger problems that we as customers don't see that aren't being addressed either.
Look for Target to have earnings or profit concerns in 2010 if those problems aren't fixed.
The customers will take it out on them eventually!

Its quite possible someone ripped the label off of the one that looks torn. When Target changes a price they just put the new label on top. Not that hard to remove it and snap a pic.

It just looks crazy. It's probably just logistics.

Here's an example of how it might work. When they bought the 80-count packages, the price might have worked out to, say, 3.67 per unit. At a later time, when they needed to stock the warehouse, they might have brokered an excellent deal on the 110-count packages, or obtained them from a closer supplier (minimizing their shipping costs), making their final cost per unit similar to the 80-count packages they bought earlier. Applying a similar markup could have resulted in the same shelf price.

Ahh big box stores. Gotta love em...they keep us on our toes!

Btw I found something similar when I was at Target a couple of months ago. I bought a Snoopy mug that was in their 1.00$ bin however it rang up at 2.50$. I walked the cashier over and asked her to explain why my mug (which should've rang up at 1.10$ after tax) was costing me another 1.40$? She couldn't explain it and I had to go to customer service to have them fix the issue. (You know,now that I think of it......Fred Meyers in Washington State, had similar issues where they were overcharging people and it ended up being a class action lawsuit.) Maybe people need to start suing Target and Walmart, it worked in forcing changes at Fred Meyer now whenever I cross the border to shop there, I never have a problem with being overcharged. They've done away with it permanently.

Yes but the 80 count wipes are probably "wipier" than the 100 count wipes and therefore worth it.

@FrasierKingfisher: Annnnnnnndd all of the world's problems have now been solved. Thank you thread.

i just bought target brand wipes. 2x 80ct for the same price as one lysol 110ct.

My cupholder can't hold the 110 count container.

They're two different products as far as scent is concerned. That and the usual influence of supply and demand are almost certainly the cause.

I don't see anything particularly "sneaky", especially since the products are placed so closely. An observant, price-conscious shopper would compare all the similar products and decide if dealing with the scent would really be worth it.

Those are 2 different products, you can tell by the label on the bottle, they both have a different shade of green.

Most likely different scents.

And what the hell is the point of sending Consumerist images of labels that are wrong, why not just ask someone in the store why are there two different prices.

@pecan 3.14159265: @squinko:
here
[www.flickr.com]

@Colonel Jack O'Neill:

Agreed. Consumerist, you're no longer part of Gawker, so you can reduce the number of posts and concentrate on quality not quantity.

Maybe it was one of those packages that advertise 29% more FREE!! or something like that. OP could have taken the picture of the whole package...

..or maybe he just wanted to get the consumerist?

@Greasy Thumb Guzik: Fix the problems? and give up on all the free publicity consumerist gives them for things that may not even be mistakes?

@parad0x360: Well as much free time as I might have, ripping off labels just to take a picture isn't exactly how I spend my time.

Trust me - the entire situation was baffling, and maybe had I bought the 80 count it would ring up a different price, but somehow based upon my experience with Target....I doubt it.

That being said, I just thought it was comical how the 80ct seemed to be selling while the 110ct (on a lower shelf mind you) didn't. Are people just too lazy to bend down or are they really that oblivious to minor quirks in pricing?

@triscuitbiscuit: They were the same scent and same type... just different count. I studied them for longer than I should hoping to be able to explain the issue, but to no avail.

@eigenvector: Again they were the same scent. The only difference was the number of wipes.

Mind you my camera phone seemed to have taken a darker image on one of the pictures, but the scent and packaging of both varieties was identical with the exception of the little number in the corner.

@Colonel Jack O'Neill: The "different shade of green" is due to my low quality camera phone, not the product themselves.

So yes - they are the same scent.

As to why I sent this in - that has to due with the humor of it all. I'm not about to track down an employee to ask why when I know full well they won't know the answer (and frankly I don't care to know the answer anyway).

I guess based upon some of these comments people really take things too seriously.

@justagigilo85:

Well mind you the images have been cropped from the originals, but there is nothing indicating any special deal. They are just regular run of the mill Lysol wipes - both are citris scent, but one has 80 and one has 110.

Does that help?

Consumerist posts these stories about Target on a slow day about once every 1-2 weeks. What's the point?

How about getting hold of some PR flack at Target, figuring out why they do this, POST THAT and maybe repost it every 6-8 weeks.

@pecan 3.14159265: This one looks like a price mistake...but I've done the math on a lot of these products (qty 60 vs. 90 for example) and the qty 90 is grossly overpriced vs. the 60. It'll catch people who assume buying in bulk is cheaper.

Good thing I know basic math?

Besides, the fact that Consumerist posts something EVERY WEEK about Target is lame in and of itself. Yes. We get it: Target's thousands of stores have some inept people. Got it. Let's all move-the-fuck-on already.

Plus, it's not like Target's intentionally screwing customers (that we know of). Besides, how many people who read Consumerist have gone to Target just to see if there are any pricing screw-ups? And if those that did actually bought something, then Target ends up on top anyway.

These threads are getting old and worn out. Pick something new, Consumerist!

@Costner: Well, I don't think it's you so much as it is Consumerist constantly posting this quasi-anti Target BS. Target has a lot of stores. It has a lot of people working in those stores. This may be intentional due to logistics/ordering processes, or it could be an inept person because *gasp* people make mistakes. But the common sense approach doesn't seem to stop these posts from getting attention. It's a worn-out topic that needs to get put to pasture. You're just getting the brunt of the displeasure.

@Costner: Yup.

These price difference post are terrible. Yes, make sure when you visit a store the items ring up correctly. But for stores like Target and your local grocery store, the thousands of signs and tags are changed by employees all the time. The computer system automatically updates individual UPS with the correct price set by corporate/whoever does it. If it rings up wrong it means the tag is wrong, and it is HUMAN error. Thousands of tags in a store and some are sure to be missed if a price changes for a product overnight.

I work in a retail store, which will remain unnamed, but I noticed a similar thing the other day. We sell Rubbermaid food storage containers. For one kind, you can either buy a single container for $1.99 - or - the VALUE PACK, which gives you 2 containers for $3.99.

You'd actually save a penny buy buying the two of the single ones. Doesn't make sense, does it?

@Costner: Most people are too busy or occupied with other things to really care about pricing on a shelf or the count of things in a plastic dispenser at a Target store...

@VagrantRadio: Well I'm not one of those people, and if you have time to post comments on this site... you must not be one of them either.

Does the bottom picture have "Micro-Lock Technology?" I think not. Are they, "4-in-1?" I think not.

Okay, wait. I'm making this point for them.