Kohl’s is the land of never-ending sales: nearly everything in the store is on perpetual markdown, and no list price is what it seems to be. But reader Mike was annoyed recently when he earned some Kohl’s Cash from a purchase and brought it back the following week. He couldn’t find anything on sale that he actually wanted to buy, and was especially annoyed to see an item for which the price had increased by exactly the amount of his Kohl’s Cash voucher.

Kohl’s is well known for their markdowns that stack with ubiquitous 15% to 30% discounts. They often also run a promotion in which, for every $50 you spend, you earn $10 “Kohls Cash” valid the following week.

My wife and I had $20 in Kohl’s Cash from the most recent promotion and when we returned the following week, there was nothing on sale, not even the items that I thought were permanently discounted. Luckily, I had not held off on buying something I needed in anticipation of using my Kohl’s Cash, because the prices were in some cases significantly higher.

And then I found a FoodSaver in the kitchen electrics department that had been marked UP, and took a photo for you. As abhorrent as I find it, I can understand not running sales when people are coming in with Kohl’s Cash. But to cancel sales and further increase prices (and do a poor job covering your tracks) is just disgusting.

Could it be that the FoodSaver had just come off sale, or the digital price thingie has an error? Sure. It still doesn’t look good when most customers don’t take the time to get items they’re curious about scanned at the customer service desk, or ask questions.

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