Usually, buying in bulk saves you money. Buying a larger container or multi-pack boosts sales numbers and lowers prices for consumers. This makes perfect sense…until it doesn’t. Just ask these readers, who had to give a few seconds of serious thought to the pricing of their personal care items while shopping recently. [More]
fuzzy math
Walmart Fancy Feast Pricing Is Off Because Cats Can’t Do Math
By 3.19.14
Can cats do math? Maybe they can do math, and simply choose not to. Whatever the case, reader LukeBaby noticed some pricing shenanigans in the pet food department at Walmart. [More]
Why Is Anyone Buying The 10-Pack Of Fruit Snacks At Target?
By 3.17.14
Carly was shopping at Target and captured this example of the confusing math for which the retailer is known around here. Here, you can get two small boxes or one large box of the same snack food item for the same price. That’s where it stops making sense. [More]
We’ll Have Six Single Bagels, Please
By 2.4.14
Brian noticed something interesting on the menu at his local Dunkin’ Donuts. While customers can buy a single bagel for 99 cents, they’re slightly more expensive by the half dozen. [More]
Walmart Is Serious About Keeping Its Customers Hydrated
By 1.31.14
The good news is that Walmart has set their prices to encourage customers to buy larger quantities of water. The bad news is that they’re also giving us price incentives to drink more Dr Pepper. Mmm, sugar water. [More]
Single Bodywash Bottle Trying Not To Be Jealous Of Bottle Couples Selling For Less On Same Shelf
By 1.27.14
Hear those woebegone sighs? They’re the lonely exhalations of a row of “Man-Sized” Old Spice bodywash bottles on the shelf at a Maryland Walmart. See, they’re sad because they know the discerning consumer will skip all 946ml of “Fiji” wash for $7.47 and head straight for the two-bottle value pack with the same amount of product for only $6.97. [More]
Target Still Doesn’t Understand Bulk Pricing, Or Maybe Charges For Boxes Now
By 1.13.14
Target is one of my favorite stores. It’s where you can find all of life’s essentials at deeply confusing prices. You might as well just ignore the price tags, since unit prices are really the only thing that matters. [More]
Walmart Rollbacks: Rolling Forward, Standing Still
By 1.6.14
What is a “rollback?” Walmart shoppers know that it’s when an item has decreased in price recently, and it’s something that the chain brags about on signs throughout the store. They even brag about rollbacks when prices stay the same…or go up. [More]
Egg Pricing At Target Doesn’t Even Pretend To Make Sense
By 12.12.13
Reader Daniel sent us what looked like a straightforward case of fuzzy math. At his local Target, a half-dozen eggs cost 99¢, while a dozen of the same exact eggs cost $2.09. Or do they? [More]
Fuzzy Math At Work: Dog Food, Towels, Bagels, Muffins
By 12.3.13
Fuzzy math: it’s not cuddly numbers, but what happens when you add up bulk pricing at a major retailer and things just don’t add up. Buying things in bulk is supposed to make things cheaper. Putting things on sale is supposed to make them cheaper, too. In the real world, that isn’t always the case. [More]
This Walgreens Math Is So Fuzzy, Maybe Someone’s Messing With Customers
By 11.27.13
Kenny noticed this bit of fuzzy math while shopping at Walgreens. We know that buying in bulk can save you money, but this looks like some kind of experiment designed to test customers’ powers of observation, or possibly their desire not to buy extra drugs they won’t need and waste them. [More]
How Stupid Does Bed Bath & Beyond Think We Are?
By 11.26.13
“How dumb does Bed Bath & Beyond think we are?” writes reader Kristina. Well…maybe they’re just working from assumptions about the average American consumer’s math skills. This coupon offers $25 off a $125 purchase, which is great if and only if you want to spend exactly $125 at the store. [More]
Buttery Math At Kroger: Double The Biscuits For 10 Cents More
By 9.5.13
Every day, as we go through our regular errands, we are being tested. A math test, that is. Reader Denis was amused when he noticed that a sale made canned biscuits the same price for five biscuits as for ten of them. [More]
Fuzzy Math At The Amusement Park And The Grocery Store
By 8.28.13
Look, Six Flags, it’s summer vacation. We’re here to eat terrible food and be hurled around at high speeds on rides. We’re not here to do math, and we’re really not here to figure out why your “family meal deal” for 4 costs a few cents more than four chicken dinners purchased separately. [More]
Consumer Reports Learns All About Target’s Fuzzy Unit Pricing Math
By 8.21.13
I don’t know how we could have been so naive, but we thought that we could trust the unit prices on shelf tags in stores, including Target. If this site has taught us anything, it’s that labels can be inaccurate, and that Target may not even be part of our present reality at all. [More]
Target’s Battery Prices Prove That Buying In Bulk Isn’t Always Cheaper
By 8.20.13
One might think that there would be some end to Target’s fuzzy, crazy or just nonsensical math. But then who would we poke fun at? Just so long as you remember to read all the labels before you buy, it’s an amusing experience for customers and whatever the opposite of a learning experience is for Target. [More]
QFC Applies Target Math, Rewards Customers For Buying Less Sour Cream
By 8.20.13
Sarah tried. Really, she did. She wanted to save money and packaging by purchasing a larger quantity of her preferred brand of sour cream, Alpenrose but her local grocer and their Target math stood in her way. What’s Target math? That’s when it costs you more per unit to buy something when you buy a larger quantity, despite the normal rules of commerce. [More]
Hey, Target: Good Luck Selling 2-Packs For $9.99 When Single Shampoos Cost $4.49 Each
By 8.9.13
There comes a time in life when you just can’t muster the strength or willpower to get your hair wet, slather it in shampoo, and then rinse it out. I know, it’s exhausting to even think about. But because cleanliness is next to studliness/loveliness, there’s a little product called dry shampoo that takes most of that effort out of the equation. Speaking of equations, Target might want to do some of those when pricing its dry shampoo offerings. [More]
