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  • #16
    Quoth EricKei View Post
    I've seen this phenomenon before. People see that something is "ON SALE!!" and their minds simply shut down.

    LOL I used to joke a long time ago that I was going to open a store called 'Everything is a discount'. For example, I would sell a candy bar for $5 but tell the customer that the candy bar is normally priced $8 so they're getting a discount!!

    But you're right, there's just something about on sale or featured that causes people to just go nuts. My mom used to be bad about that, if she had a coupon or something was on sale, she HAD to buy it even if we had no use for it, BUT IT WAS ON SALE!!

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    • #17
      Several years back, I was in a supermarket that had bottles of barbecue sauce on sale for 10 cents each. I bought something like 20 bottles.
      Skilled programmers aren't cheap. Cheap programmers aren't skilled.

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      • #18
        Quoth drjonah View Post
        LOL I used to joke a long time ago that I was going to open a store called 'Everything is a discount'. For example, I would sell a candy bar for $5 but tell the customer that the candy bar is normally priced $8 so they're getting a discount!!
        That would be illegal in Britain, for precisely this reason. If you advertise a sale or a discount, then the item in question must actually have been on sale at the higher price being compared to, both recently and for a significant period of time.

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        • #19
          Quoth drjonah View Post
          LOL I used to joke a long time ago that I was going to open a store called 'Everything is a discount'.
          I know you were joking...but, unfortunately, that's how department stores in general work, at least in the US. When a new CEO (or whatever) at one major chain decided to change that, a million and a half customers rewarded the company for their newfound honesty by not shopping there anymore.

          In other words, The JC Penney Effect.

          (The first three minutes or so of the vid are the relevant part)
          Last edited by EricKei; 02-17-2014, 03:59 PM.
          "For a musician, the SNES sound engine is like using Crayola Crayons. Nobuo Uematsu used Crayola Crayons to paint the Sistine Chapel." - Jeremy Jahns (re: "Dancing Mad")
          "The difference between an amateur and a master is that the master has failed way more times." - JoCat
          "Thinking is difficult, therefore let the herd pronounce judgment!" ~ Carl Jung
          "There's burning bridges, and then there's the lake just to fill it with gasoline." - Wiccy, reddit
          "Retail is a cruel master, and could very well be the most educational time of many people's lives, in its own twisted way." - me
          "Love keeps her in the air when she oughta fall down...tell you she's hurtin' 'fore she keens...makes her a home." - Capt. Malcolm Reynolds, "Serenity" (2005)
          Acts of Gord – Read it, Learn it, Love it!
          "Our psychic powers only work if the customer has a mind to read." - me

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          • #20
            Currently, we have $5 toilet paper with $1 coupon. Four bucks is still a good deal. At least twice now we've had it on sale for $4.99 with the dollar coupon. Yeah, it goes flying out the door for the savings of one penny.

            And here's a big savings that I got myself! I was looking to buy a new computer last year and checked out the deals I can get through my employer. Some of the savings were good but just out of reach for my budget. I found one that looked good and kept an eye on it. Finally it went on sale...it was something I could afford on top of the savings from my employee discount...of 3 cents.
            I would have a nice day, but I have other things to do.

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            • #21
              The JC Penney effect is, I suspect, a large part of the reason for European consumer-protection laws that cover retail practices. Aggressive sales and marketing tactics are after all, expressly designed to distort the rational thought processes that Adam Smith famously assumed.

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