marketers think the public is stupid

jj20030

Seems to be a new trend in pricing at the grocery stores - both HEB and WalMart. All my life ,you'd get a better unit price on larger boxes, cartons, etc., but now you'd better check the price stickers closely. Fibre Plus bars: Box of 5 - $2.00, Box of 10 - $4.50 WTF? Eight O'clock coffee: 1 lb size - $.31/oz, new larger size - $.35/oz Milk: 1 gallon size more than double 1/2 gal size I'm sure there are many other examples, too. So, what is the new marketing theory? Are we all too stupid to notice, or do they think it's more "convenient" to grab a box of 10 versus 2 boxes of 5, and will pay 12.5% more, willingly? Are these marketing geniuses just taking advantage of our schools' failure to teach math? WTF is really behind it?

Laws4

I hadn't noticed this, but now that you say it, I'm definitely gonna have to start checking it out. I think the marketing departments have done the math, and found out that they're more profitable that way cause no one is astute enough to check. Thinking about it, it seems like a really good strategy to me as long as nobody calls them out on it en masse. That's a really weird marketing concept though.

jlmarta

Reminds me of a story of when I was a kid back in Detroit. I had a job as stockboy and delivery person at a neighborhood grocery store. The story has an ethnic twist but I won't go there because I don't want to offend anyone. Anyway, Lew, the owner always had a display of produce in the front windows of the store. The little old ladies would come into the store and ask Lew how much the bananas were.

He'd always say, "a nickel a pound, four pounds for a quarter" and the little old ladies almost always bought four pounds. Not much has changed since then, I guess.

docbp87

The public IS stupid...

cabinetmaker

I always buy from the price/unit rather than size alone.

skweekz

cabinetmaker:

I always buy from the price/unit rather than size alone.

+1. When we go grocery shopping, I don't buy anything without figuring out the best value.

kuzi16

for years ive been saying things like "three for a nickle, five for a dime"
i was saying it more or less as a joke. now, its even funnier that people are actually stupid enough to fall for it.

bip

sheep

The Sniper

bip:

sheep

+1.

Ken_Light

The Sniper:

bip:

sheep

+1.

I wouldn't say this is people being "sheep," this is people being creatures of habit. Many who fall for this have absolutely done the math before. Some, probably several times. It is expected that price increases influence each size commensurately, but some genius has discovered that if you violate this rule, people will continue to make today's purchases based on last year's math, probably especially when that package LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME. It looks like the same choice, so our brains assume it should have the same correct answer. I know I do it, I mean seriously who calculates milk per ounce every week, but I'm going to look more closely now.

JonathanE

I rarely go shopping so when I do I'm always looking at the prices! ...I'm going to have to talk to my wife about this, lol.

JDE

kuzi16

Ken Light:

I mean seriously who calculates milk per ounce every week, but I'm going to look more closely now.

my wife does.
but in all fairness, she is a freak. i mean, seriously, she married me....

Marker

I do most of the shopping because my wife does not look at the price per unit on items. Also she just buys whatever she wants instead of what is on sale. You want pork chops? Sure you do but blade steak is on sale. You want triscuits? Sure but wheat thins are on sale. As long as you don't need them for a specific purpose try something else and save some money.

skweekz

kuzi16:

Ken Light:

I mean seriously who calculates milk per ounce every week, but I'm going to look more closely now.

my wife does.
but in all fairness, she is a freak. i mean, seriously, she married me....

I do also. The price of our milk locally changes daily. I really don't buy much of anything without calculating price per ounce.

beatnic

skweekz:

kuzi16:

Ken Light:

I mean seriously who calculates milk per ounce every week, but I'm going to look more closely now.

my wife does.
but in all fairness, she is a freak. i mean, seriously, she married me....

I do also. The price of our milk locally changes daily. I really don't buy much of anything without calculating price per ounce.

Squeeks, you be givin up lots of cigars before you start cutting that cutie's milk. I'm just sayin. LOL

skweekz

beatnic:

skweekz:

kuzi16:

Ken Light:

I mean seriously who calculates milk per ounce every week, but I'm going to look more closely now.

my wife does.
but in all fairness, she is a freak. i mean, seriously, she married me....

I do also. The price of our milk locally changes daily. I really don't buy much of anything without calculating price per ounce.

Squeeks, you be givin up lots of cigars before you start cutting that cutie's milk. I'm just sayin. LOL

Haha yeah I'd get a second job before I'd give up either the stogies or her milk!

gmill880

Don't know why but reminds me of this story. When I was a kid ( a hel_l of a long time ago ) 3 brothers from Wisconsin that were dairy farmers moved to our county here in western N.C.. Now these guys bought a very large dairy farm and were going to show the locals how to make money . One of the brothers visited our much smaller farm to look at 6 cows my dad had for sale . My dad told him they were $600.00 a piece . Well , Mr. Bigshot reared back and put his foot up on the fence and begin to talk about what a pitiful lot they were . Then he says " I'll tell you what , I'll give you $ 4000.00 for the 6 of them pitiful lookin things and not a damn red cent more . " My dad kinda squinched up his face and looked at him sideways and said " you payin cash ? No checks or nothin ? The bigshot says yeah , cash , got it right here in my wallet !!! My dad says " well , ok I guess I could do that since you think there so pitiful lookin and all . " Just shows how people can out think themselves .

The guys made it about 10 years then went back north . We still laugh about it almost 40 years later ! I think of a lotta stories involving my dad now that he is so sick with cancer and not doing well . Those were better times !!!

JonathanE

gmill880:

Don't know why but reminds me of this story. When I was a kid ( a hel_l of a long time ago ) 3 brothers from Wisconsin that were dairy farmers moved to our county here in western N.C.. Now these guys bought a very large dairy farm and were going to show the locals how to make money . One of the brothers visited our much smaller farm to look at 6 cows my dad had for sale . My dad told him they were $600.00 a piece . Well , Mr. Bigshot reared back and put his foot up on the fence and begin to talk about what a pitiful lot they were . Then he says " I'll tell you what , I'll give you $ 4000.00 for the 6 of them pitiful lookin things and not a damn red cent more . " My dad kinda squinched up his face and looked at him sideways and said " you payin cash ? No checks or nothin ? The bigshot says yeah , cash , got it right here in my wallet !!! My dad says " well , ok I guess I could do that since you think there so pitiful lookin and all . " Just shows how people can out think themselves .

The guys made it about 10 years then went back north . We still laugh about it almost 40 years later ! I think of a lotta stories involving my dad now that he is so sick with cancer and not doing well . Those were better times !!!

That's a great story, hahaha! Love it! Sorry to hear about your dad though. Best wishes to him.

JDE

jlmarta

Ken Light:

Many who fall for this have absolutely done the math before. Some, probably several times. It is expected that price increases influence each size commensurately, but some genius has discovered that if you violate this rule, people will continue to make today's purchases based on last year's math, probably especially when that package LOOKS EXACTLY THE SAME.

A perfect example of this is what the Jack Daniels people did to the public some years back. When I started drinking it, JD was 90 proof. After a while, they watered it down to 86 proof but the bottle, label, and price stayed the same. Then, after another while, they did it again - this time down to 80 proof. That's when I quit drinking JD and found a better, cheaper 86 proof bourbon for my daily hooch. It p1ssed me off that they thought we were so stupid we'd never notice. Besides, JD isn't bourbon anyway.