CONSUMER QUIZ… I recently started shaving with an old-fashioned safety razor to save money, so when I stopped at CVS pharmacy yesterday to pick up a prescription for someone I checked their selection of razor blades. The standard price on the shelf label for their store brand was $6.99 for a package of 10 or two packages for $12.00. In every way, a huge bargain compared to those “Gillette Mach 5” multi-blade cartridges that require me to advance my home equity line of credit when I buy the 20-pack at Costco.
Even better: A special yellow tag on the shelf indicated that they were temporarily on sale. Buy one at the regular price and get the second for 50% off. I thought that was an irresistable deal, so I bought two packages.
Before you go on, what do you think they charged me?
OK, now keep reading.
I expected to pay $9.00 because the “regular price” for two packages was $12.00, or $6.00 each.
They charged me $6.99 for the first package and $3.49 for the second, for a total of $10.48 for the two packages. I wasn’t going to quibble and it was still a pretty good deal, but I found their pricing scheme a bit misleading. What annoyed me most was when I checked my receipt later and noticed that it included the printed claim that I had saved $3.50.
Huh? At the regular price I would have paid $12.00 for two packages, meaning I only “saved” $1.52. Even if they had charged me the $9.00, I would have saved only $3.00, not $3.50.
It sorta felt like their receipt was mocking me. “Hey sucker, you just saved $3.50…..NOT!!!! No, wait…you just saved ONE MILLION DOLLARS!!! Hahahahahaha!!!”
CVS is a big company, over 7,600 stores in the U.S. If they misled 5 razor-blade-buyers per store at $1.48 per person that would be more than $56,000 in additional revenue.
I tried one of the new blades this morning. They work great. Bastards.