Quirky Pricing

[sdsioux]

The other day I went to Walmart and bought the basic black three ring binder at a cost of 92 cents. A package of dividers for the binder was 99 cents.

The ink for my Canon printer costs more than the printer with ink and I was assured the cartridges that came with it were full ones. As far as I could tell they lasted as long as the replacement cartridges. Solution? When you need ink don't buy it just get another printer and through away the old one and accumulate power cords and usb cables.

I'm sure all of you can come up with some good ones.

 

[TE999]

Don't ever buy a printer from Dell. I bought a 'bundled' 'puter, monitor, printer and software from Dell a couple three years back and it all worked fine...then I needed printer ink cartridges...you can only buy them from Dell and they're expensive. You pay the cost of the printer if you order 5 cartridges...granted, they last a long time and Dell ships fast, but still...when the printer started acting up this spring I donated it to a thrift store and bought a new HP printer...it's faster, the ink is wayyy cheaper and the cartridges are sold everywhere.

 

[starrkers]

There was a time when you replaced the element in your jug when it burned out. Now it is far cheaper to buy another kettle than replace the element (if you can find one).
But I'm set for a few years - when we cleaned out dad's place recently we found three new still-in-the-packet spare elements for the jug and one for a toaster. That toaster is long since been retired, but the jug is still a goer!

 

[sdsioux]

I certainly can't complain about the printer and the cost. For $30.00 Walmart must have gotten a good price for one that has a scanner, copier, and photo quality printer. I think enough of the ecology to just replace the ink cartridges.

Another one was the time I needed to replace the battery for my wireless telephone. It turned out to be cheaper to buy another phone of lesser quality remove the battery and throw the phone away. The battery cost $4.00 more at Radio Shack.

 

[R. Richard]

The last time I needed to replace my Norelco razor because the shaving head was getting a bit dull, I noticed that I could just buy a new shaving head instead of the entire razor. Not only that, the cost of just a shaving head was $1 less than the cost of a new razor with a new shaving head.

 

[sdsioux]

The cost of a 15oz can of veggies is less than the 8 ounce can.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There are all kinds of factors that determine price.

Thomas Sowell talks about this in his economics primer. In China the government uses 1000 people with shovels rather than one person operating a tractor. The Chinese reason that 1000 coolies with shovels are cheaper than one operator and a $75,000 machine. And Sowell never got the government to understand that it was losing the productivity of 999 people.

 

[sdsioux]

I understand with the cost on the veggies. The 15 ounce outsells the 8 ounce by 20 to 1 thus the lower price.

 

[Weird Harold]

I understand with the cost on the veggies. The 15 ounce outsells the 8 ounce by 20 to 1 thus the lower price.

It is also cheaper to can 15oz of veggies in one can than it is in two cans; the production cost of sealing the veggies in the can is about the same per can, no matter how big or small the can is.

One quirky pricing practice that irritates me is the local Food4less' pricing of sugar in ten-pound bags vs five-pound bags:

One week you can check the unit price info on the shelf tags and buy the ten-pound bag because it's a penny-an-ounce cheaper. The next week, you'd think you can just continue with the "save money by buying in bulk" theory and grab a ten-pound bag, but...

The next week, or sometime even the next day, the five-pound bags are as much as a full cent or two cheaper per ounce.

Sugar is just the most blatant example of regular changes in unit-price tinkering to the disadvantage of bulk-buyers who aren't paying attention, but it is the easiest to demonstrate -- used to be canned/bottled goods could be compared much the same way, but the cans aren't 8oz, 16oz, and 32oz multiple as they were in my youth and there has almost always been a packaging-scale penalty for smaller sizes in canned and bottled goods anyway.

 

[sdsioux]

It is also cheaper to can 15oz of veggies in one can than it is in two cans; the production cost of sealing the veggies in the can is about the same per can, no matter how big or small the can is.

One quirky pricing practice that irritates me is the local Food4less' pricing of sugar in ten-pound bags vs five-pound bags:

One week you can check the unit price info on the shelf tags and buy the ten-pound bag because it's a penny-an-ounce cheaper. The next week, you'd think you can just continue with the "save money by buying in bulk" theory and grab a ten-pound bag, but...

The next week, or sometime even the next day, the five-pound bags are as much as a full cent or two cheaper per ounce.

Sugar is just the most blatant example of regular changes in unit-price tinkering to the disadvantage of bulk-buyers who aren't paying attention, but it is the easiest to demonstrate -- used to be canned/bottled goods could be compared much the same way, but the cans aren't 8oz, 16oz, and 32oz multiple as they were in my youth and there has almost always been a packaging-scale penalty for smaller sizes in canned and bottled goods anyway.

The pricing tags should show you the difference in the cost per ounce and I agree you have to be very careful. I saw it on the larger black ink cartridge for my Canon printer. It actually cost more to buy the larger size. However, speaking up will sometimes work as I saw the price drop from $25.97 to $21.00 making it an acceptable choice.

 

[Weird Harold]

The pricing tags should show you the difference in the cost per ounce and I agree you have to be very careful. I saw it on the larger black ink cartridge for my Canon printer. It actually cost more to buy the larger size. However, speaking up will sometimes work as I saw the price drop from $25.97 to $21.00 making it an acceptable choice.

Unit Pricing on shelf tags aren't always in ounces, but they are supposed to make price comparisons between different size packages quick and easy.

 

[Xiara_Bellafeast]

I started using the Venus Embrace, the one that uses the replacement blades. I was outraged when I had to buy replacement blades. A pack of 5 blades if I remember correctly was about 20 dollars whereas I bought the razor itself with three replacement blades for less than 10.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

The pricing isn't quirky at all. The idea was developed by the Gillette razor company back at the turn of the century: give the blade holder away for next to nothing and make your money on the blades. And don't make the blades so good that they last forever. Planned obsolescence.

The same idea led Kodak to market a bunch of dirt-cheap disposable cameras in the pre-digital age and make their money on the developing and printing costs.

A few years ago there was a rumor that some big pet food manufacturer was looking into the idea of giving away puppies and kittens for free, but the legal liabilities of the plan stopped them.