One thing I hate more than running out of something and having to shell out top dollar for it is to then see the same item on sale shortly after, especially at half price.
After buying around 8 months supply late last year at half price, I was on my second last Schick Hydro 5 blades and watching for another great special .
Coles came to the party yesterday with 6 packs at half price for $13 each so I bought 3 packs so I am sorted until next year.
Whilst the Schick blades are an infrequent half price special, there are many other expensive items which are more frequently on sale at great special prices.
Dynamo 1.8 L for $10 instead of $20.
Fluffy fabric softener for $3.50 instead of $7.00.
Colgate Max Fresh toothpaste for $2.40 instead of $4.80.
Viva paper towels for $1.75 instead of $3.50.
Kleenex 9 packs of toilet rolls for $4.00 instead of $8.00.
And so on.
Of course, consumers need to be able to manage their own personal finances but with some careful planning to get the best possible specials, they could get a better outcome even if paying on credit cards.
I am not endorsing or promoting any of the above products but simply using them as an example of my regulat experiences.
24hrs can change everything when it comes to Covid.
Are some of the example product discounts really loss leading discounts?
Or is the regular price excessively high for the product compared to others of equal quality?
We only buy tea bags when they are discounted. It seems a less frequent special, and no longer half price?
The regular prices are high but similar to comparable products.
My wife drinks Twinnings English Breakfast Tea and I buy 100 packs when on special for half price.
I drink Moccona Indulgence coffee and the normal price for a 200gm jar is $16. I always buy them on special but have not seen them at less than $11 a jar.
There are multiple products I regularly buy and stock up when 1/2 price. One in particular was $8 half price only a month ago and over a fair time. Now it is $10.50 at half price. The ‘half price’ advert banner hasn’t changed, just the price. I wonder how many people focus on the ‘half price special’ not that the full price increased from $16 to $21.
Another thing to be aware of is the quality of what is being offered for similar items at different price points.
A few days ago, I saw sealed packs of lamb cutlets in our local Woolies priced at $42/kg and one had a strip of fat around 10mm wide up the side of the bone and the rest were not much better.
I assumed that that they were the premium extra trimmed cutlets at that price but Woolies had ratcheted up their prices to $42/kg for the standard cutlets and to $50/kg for the premium product.
Yesterday, I bought 2 packs of the premium Woolies cutlets marked down by almost 50% and the photo above shows the packs beside a pack of the standard cutlets which are not as bad as the ones I saw the other day but still have a lot of excessive fat for a mere $42/kg.
I then went to Coles and took this photo of their standard and premium cutlets.
I went to the fish retailer I use a few days ago to buy some sashimi tuna, swordfish fillets and pet food but they had none as the weather had been too rough for their boats to go out fishing so I ended up buying some nice barramundi fillet for $37.50/kg.
When I went to our local Woolies, they had their barramundi fillets marked down from $33/kg to a mere $13.20/kg along with Tasmanian salmon fillets for the same price and some other fish fillets also marked down by 60%.
I asked what the use by date was and teh person went out to the coldroom and returned to say that the barra was 13.09.2021 and the mangrove jack was 12.09.2021.
She said that they are not allowed to keep in the display for more than 2 days even though it has not reached its use by date.
I grabbed some barra fillets to freeze as well as all the barra and mangrove jack fillets for my wife’s sister who we were going to see that afternoon.
That’s why we buy our meat from the local butcher. They need to provide consistent quality to keep you co of no back. Most importantly each order can be matched exactly to preference, with no need to over buy or sort through a dozen or more prepackaged items in the hope one might be just the right quantity and cut/trim.
The luxury of living close to so many choices of supply, where shopping can be such a rewarding adventure.
While it can pay to shop around for others, @zackarii often shares relevant observations, it is a challenge to obtain the quantity and quality required at a fair price without driving many miles/kms at great expense to the car and time. We’ve lived in similar localalities and empathise.
Our current local situation is dominated by the Woolies in the next town with Aldi and a Fresh & Save to offer some competition. For the single working mums with 3 kids, we suspect it’s which option offers the greatest one stop convenience and speed of service. Price likely decides which of the product lines win. We’ve shopped at all 3 in the previous months. One stands out as meeting all needs under one roof.
Appreciate the commentary will only be relatable to a small percentage of the Choice Community.
