Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Bigger Does Not Always Mean Cheaper.

I may have told this story before, but I need to use it before I get to the main subject. One of the jobs I had during my time at Kmart was electronics manager. One day I was talking to a customer who was telling me exactly what was wrong with Kmart and why Wal-Mart was so great. His main point was that the cost of certain items was different in individual Kmart stores. He claimed that he could walk into any Wal-Mart between Atlanta and Chattanooga and would pay the exact same price for any item. I tried to tell him he was wrong but according to him I didn't know what I was talking about. Of course I really wanted to ask him that if he loved Wal-Mart so much why was he in Kmart, but I kept my mouth shut. There are 6 Wal-Marts in a thirty mile radius of Calhoun. For the most part the prices are identical, but not all.

A lot of people automatically assume that if you buy a larger container of any product you are getting a better buy. That is not always true and if you don't watch what you do, it will cost you some money. I got to thinking about this last night while I was stocking frozen foods. I put out a case of 16 ounce Cool Whip. The cost of it is $2.48. An 8 ounce container is on sale for $1.00, yet people still buy the 16 ounce container. A couple other examples that I noticed was Banquet Brown And Serve Sausage. A bag of 39 sausage links sells for $3.98. A 10 count box sells for 98 cents. For six cents less you get one more link. I also noticed an example in out dairy department where you can buy a 3 pound box of Kraft Singles for $9.58, or three one pound packages for $7.50. Most stores have a breakdown on the shelf label of cost per ounce. If you keep a watch on that you will find sometimes it is better buying the smaller package. In case you haven't caught on to why I used the story, the prices that I listed at the Calhoun Wal-Mart. The prices may be a little different at the Wal-Mart near you.

On a personal note, I want to welcome Al Penwasser back. I would leave you comment on your blog Al, but for some reason I am not able to. there are a couple of blogs that I can't get access to. I just wanted you to know that I am reading and enjoying it.

2 comments:

Al Penwasser said...

Thanks, Howard, it's good to be back. I won't be posting as much as I did (probably about once a week). I also don't plan on delving into deep philosophical discussions, either (except maybe the heartbreak of psoriasis). In today's day and age, I want to take a break from all the doom and gloom and just laugh.
By the way, I like K-Mart just as much as any other store (Walmart, Target, Piggly Wiggly, etc).

Caron said...

I imagine some people can't o the math and some people can't be bothered. I love the details about your work. Nice blog!