Shop hacks

[Kit-Ginevra]

http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_1...s-restaurants/

So do any of these actually work? Or got any of your own to share?

[taxguykarl]

#7 works nicely. The downside is that the models are usually 'as is' unless the store is holding a sale of floor models.

#14 most of the time.

#19 we've gotten even better deals than that especially during floor model liquidations--yes they were 'as is', but still...

[EricKei]

Well, there's always the "Be nice" trick. Not everyone seems to know how to pull that one off ^_^ We need to make sure it spreads!

The Mickey D's thing with the fries thing never occurred to me o_O They hardly seem to put salt on them anyway...

#15/Fragile labels -- Depends on the individuals who handle your breakable items. Best bet: Assume that your package will get stompled by a rhino. If you're shipping something not easily-replaceable, or valuable in some way, spend $10-15 on a cheap plastic cooler, old lunchbox, etc; pack the items securely in THAT, with plenty of padding, then pack the cooler in a box. It will add weight and size to the overall package, so weigh the extra costs against "How much trouble, time, and money will it cost to replace this if it gets smashed?" -- and act accordingly.

#14/Farmer's Market - I can vouch for this; it works -- but, like any other "last minute deals" experience, you'll be looking at the stuff that nobody wanted to buy the other 2-3 days of the market session. Those things are often still unsold for a reason.

#11/Meats - Angus beef is very hard to get - it's a specific breed like Wagyu (non-Japanese Kobe, more or less); if you want it, order directly from a meat supplier, after doing your research on them. Also, while those grades of beef are accurate, the overwhelming majority of retail meat is classified as "Choice or Better" (read: it may be Choice, it may be Prime, and most stores won't take the time to examine the food quite that closely) -- most "This is guaranteed to be Prime" Prime beef is sold directly to restaurants. sauce: Brother used to work the butcher department

#9/___ of the day : Yeah, sometimes; this doesn't mean that the food is about to go bad, though. It can also mean they got a great deal on a specific ingredient. If it's pre-planned/the same every week (e.g., potato soup on Wednesdays), that's different.

#7/Floor models: Oh hell yes. Especially if it's the last one in stock. Be cool with the salesman and work it out calmly. Note that these may or may not have boxes, all the paperwork, etc -- and TV's, in particular, will be set to unusually high brightness and volume levels. If a little bit of wear/cosmetic dings don't bother you, you can save a nice chunk of change on the things.

#6/Costco - I've heard that this was debunked. Ditto the Target thing. Not sure.

#2/Hotel - Maybe a bit scummy, but it probably works

#1/Discounts - Depends on company, but yeah -- same caveat as the Farmer's Market, tho. Selection may be poor by that point.

[Seanette]

The Mickey D's thing with the fries thing never occurred to me o_O They hardly seem to put salt on them anyway...

Which McD's do YOU go to? In my area, they get a bit carried away with the salt.

[fireheart]

#10 I really wish they wouldn't publish...prime SC territory.

#7: I believe that hardly normal and a couple of other electronic/whitegoods companies will have "clearance" centres that sell the floor models. There's also appliances online which does the same thing (and are one of the few who will deliver on a Saturday and accept COD)

#1 I can vouch for somewhat...Boxing Day is usually the best time for those sales, but depending on where you are, closer to Christmas you might score some deals.

[Jetfire]

For the Salt, if I think of it, I'll order no-salt fries, usually at Wendy's. Awhile back they changed their salt and I found the salted fries were way too salty, so I went unsalted on purpose. (Wendy's will do a fresh batch and even scoop direct out of the basket with tongs instead of dumping into the fry bin.)

McD's I often find too salty too but for whatever reason I'll just skip the fries instead of trying to get no salt versions.

Canada has known the Boxing Day discount for years (I assume the UK and other commonwealth nations). Boxing Day is traditionally our big discount time, not Black Friday, matching their last entry at least.

[gremcint]

prices can mean something though, at my store if it ends in 7 it's clearance or about to be. I've seen items that ended in 6 go up a penny when they go clearance. There's a trick with the price tags for these, usually shows what the previous price is when on the clearance tag but if it doesn't show it it means that the current price is higher than what it was.

Also if it ends in 8 that means it's a temporary item that we don't normally carry, usually just a seasonal thing.

[Gilhelmi]

Number 15

That is why I always label my packages as "Semen"

[MoonCat]

Angus beef is hard to get? Maybe in some areas. I've bought it here, unless what's marked as "angus" isn't, really.

[depechemodefan]

When I was selling my mom's car I found a buyer who didn't have a mechanic but wanted to go to one. WE were trying to find one at a mid point from our respective cities. We were calling around, and some mechanics didn't check cars at any price(they just want to repair cars). We finally found a place that was on the other side of a used car dealership (they got a lot of business from that car lot).

[Javarod]

prices can mean something though, at my store if it ends in 7 it's clearance or about to be. I've seen items that ended in 6 go up a penny when they go clearance. There's a trick with the price tags for these, usually shows what the previous price is when on the clearance tag but if it doesn't show it it means that the current price is higher than what it was.

Also if it ends in 8 that means it's a temporary item that we don't normally carry, usually just a seasonal thing.

Same kind of thing over here at WallyWorld which means things can get funny, like a special flavor being 1¢ higher or lower than the regular flavor of the same product. Drives me nuts trying to set up displays since we're not supposed to mix prices, and if we must, we post the highest price.

[gremcint]

I've seen things go up in price by like 10 dollars and be put on clearance at the same time.

[fireheart]

For Aussies, I know that Kmart has 2 main ones off the top of my head (I may be wrong about the rest):

-Soiled and damaged items have prices that end in .X1c.
-End of line items end in .X3c.
-I do believe there is also a miscellaneous code somewhere for basically "part-items."
That is, for example, if a customer finds a 3-pack of socks with 1 pair missing, but otherwise wants to buy it. When that happens, I believe we would divide the price by the number of items present (ie the 3-pack of socks was $6), add together the individual amounts and take off enough to bring it down for it to end in .X4c. (So in this case, an individual pair of socks would be $2 each, 2 pairs are left, so $4, take off 6c to make it $3.94)

I don't believe that's a thing anymore though.

[EricKei]

Angus beef is hard to get? Maybe in some areas. I've bought it here, unless what's marked as "angus" isn't, really.

I don't know of any way to be 100% sure that it's purebred Angus (or as close as it gets here in the US, though it's technically the most common breed here -- most cattle here have at least some Angus in their bloodline, according to the wiki), short of buying from a meat packer/etc. The USDA does not regulate the breed names given. The American Angus Association, apparently, provides guidelines for what can be labeled as "Certified Angus." Kinda like how actual Kobe Beef has to have been born, raised, and processed in a certain area of Japan, among other requirements; if the critter came from anywhere else, it's either Wagyu (the name of the actual group of breeds), or just plain intentionally mislabeled. A common example of the former (wikipedia again, here ) used in the US is Wagyu/Angus crossbreed, which is similar, but has darker meat and a stronger flavor than actual Kobe.

[wolfie]

The American Angus Association, apparently, provides guidelines for what can be labeled as "Certified Angus."

My understanding is that when the USDA did away with "super premium" grades of beef, the AAA (not the one that deals with cars) wanted to maintain a "super-premium" grade, so they created the label "Certified Angus" and created the guidelines to maintain it as a grade higher than anything the USDA certifies. Of course, all it takes is one typographical error and your "super premium" beef will taste like ass.