Image courtesy of sheelamohan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
The end of May is in sight, the temps are getting warmer, and Summer is on everyone’s mind. There are great sales popping up everywhere for outdoor home improvement projects, and garden centers are opening up with huge selection of plants, yard care products and grills. Speaking of grills, this time of year I keep my eyes for sales on charcoal. Between my smoker and my grill, I use a lot of charcoal. If I see a great sale, I load up the van and pile it up in a corner of my garage to be used throughout the summer.
Last week, I saw that Walmart had started their annual sale, a twin pack of 15 pound bags for $7.84, normally priced at just over $15 for a savings of almost 50%! I drive right by Walmart almost every day, so I’ve been stopping frequently to pick up two twin packs at a time.
My charcoal pile has been growing steadily.
Over the weekend as I strolled through Home Depot, I noticed a charcoal display in the middle of the main isle. The sign advertised 50% savings, a twin back of 18.6 pound bags for $9.88. My mind quickly did some rounding and math, with the following logic:
- 3.6 pounds more charcoal per bag, means 7.2 pounds more per twin pack
- The Walmart twin pack cost about $8, and this pack was $9.
- Seemingly quite a bit more charcoal for only a dollar more.
I threw a twin pack in my cart, went through the checkout lane, and loaded my purchases into my van. As I did so I recognized the flaw in my logic. I rounded the Walmart price up, but the Home Depot price down. I used the calculator on my cell phone to figure out which sale was the better deal.
- Walmart: $7.84 for 30 pounds of charcoal is $0.261 per pound
- Home Depot: $9.88 for 37.2 pounds of charcoal is $0.265 per pound
The Walmart sale is actually the better deal.
Admittedly, it’s less than half a cent per pound so it’s only marginally better. The point here is that my perception (and some flawed logic) was the bigger bags of charcoal for a little bit more money would certainly be a better deal, but it wasn’t.
Our mind plays tricks on us, and sometimes flawed perception drives our choices.
I encountered another example of this over the weekend during our annual party we have during Memorial Weekend. We had purchased the aluminum bottles of both Bud Light and Coors Light to provide a variety of beer. They are almost identically priced and to me, and equal in quality. In fact, I had one of each and really couldn’t tell much of a difference.
We had my wife’s coworkers from her job at an elementary school over for a happy hour on Friday, then we had our big party on Saturday. The Coors Light beer was more popular by far. In fact, we ran out of it, and had people asking if there was any more. When they found out there wasn’t, they decided to make a mixed drink even though there was the similarly priced, similar in quality Bud Light in plain view.
I was very interested as to why this would be, so I asked my wife for her thoughts. She had also noticed the phenomenon and had actually talked to one of our guests about it. They stated that Coors Light had become very popular lately.
Could it be that Coors Light was chosen by more people simply because it was perceived to be more popular?
Our choices in life are driven by many different factors, including price, perception of a great sale, and even social popularity. These two stories are great examples of why we need to just slow down, think about our choices, and make decisions based upon what’s best for us – not what others tell us is good for us.
Have you ever been swayed by social pressures, or a flashy sign to make a choice with your money?
Very interesting about the beer!! I spent many years being swayed by popular opinion, but now I’m either too old to care or else I’ve wised up. 🙂 Good lesson about the charcoal too. I always carry a calculator in my purse now when those types of deals pop up, just to make sure. 🙂
In my opinion, Laurie, the best beer is cold beer. YEAH! Of course, I haven’t tasted it in months…….we’ll see if I really even care after my marathon is over. I use the cell phone ap on my phone all the time to do price comparisons – it definitely comes in handy!
That was weird about the beer, I honestly don’t think there’s much of a difference between Coors Light and Bud Light and would easily just substitute between the two!
I’m sure there are people that get paid a lot of money to play with the numbers on sales to make you think you are getting the better deal, but really they are getting 20 cents extra per item. Same reason things get priced at $3.99, etc to make you think it’s not really $4. They even do that with car prices.
I always stock up on those twin packs of charcoal around Memorial Day, and Labor Day has even better sales sometimes!
I love a good Charcoal sale, Debt Hater….I think I picked up enough for the rest of the summer. 🙂 There’s huge money in marketing, and you’re right about the .99 – people look at that and don’t think “Oh, it’s almost $4″ they think ‘Oh, it’s $3.” Weird!
It’s definitely important to look at the cost per unit when you’re price shopping. I try to remember to do that. Sometimes the item on sale isn’t a better deal at all.
I saw a sign recently for a computer on sale for $1 off the regular price. Whooooooohooooo – big sale! LOL.
Well I would have chose neither but brought my own, better quality beer. lol! I think there is a perception that something might be better quality based on what other people are talking about or drinking. It’s maybe a bit of the herd mentality. 🙂
BEER SNOB! LOL…just kidding. A great example about beer being popular because people talking about it is Pabst Blue Ribbon. When I was growing up, my dad bought it because it was inexpensive. It was a second tier beer (maybe)….but now it’s all popular. Why? did they change their formula? Nope….a couple of celebrities were seen drinking it, and all of a sudden it’s a fad!
That’s a strange phenomenon. To me, those sorts of beers all taste the same. Perhaps it’s because I’m not a fan of beer…
As for mental math, it’s always tricky. I try to rely on the store breakdown whenever possible to help avoid mistakes I make when I’m in a rush. In the end, at least your mistake cost you (literally) mere pennies. That’s something, right?
Many times stores will have the price per unit price listed on the sign……but then the question becomes, what’s the unit? And do different stores use the same unit? Always best to have your own calculator to do the math! Thanks for reading, Abigail!