They did it again. Shame on you, Wal*Mart. Shame, shame, shame. (finger waggle)
Well, looking back on the whole thing – shame on me. I know that they are not completely forthright with their ‘deals’. Lloyd said he was almost out of soap, so I stopped in to buy some. We usually buy the 8-bar pack for $4-something, but right beside it was a 7-bar pack for $3-something! I got out my phone, spent three minutes trying to find the calculator function, then another three trying to remember which number to divide into the other one (math is hard), and then triumphantly deduced that I would be paying 42 cents a bar for the 7-pack, but a whopping 55 cents for the 8-pack. Pleased with my real-life word problem success, I took it home.
Um, I am an idiot.
These are tiny little bars!!!! 3.2 ounces as opposed to the 4.5 ounces in the 8-pack!! Grrrrrrrr….. I spent more on my ‘deal’. (14 cents an ounce as opposed to 11.)
Drat those evil masterminds at Wal*Mart and their unethical math wizardry. I’ll be returning my soap.
girr!!! that’s so evil!
I think it’s odd that I haven’t heard about this anywhere else. Have other people not noticed this trickery?
Do you think we have enough examples for a local news program to do a feature? You know, something that goes by some name like, “Channel 5 on your side”?
“Channel 6, pick up sticks. Channel 7, on our way to heaven.”
Sorry. Thought we were playing a game.
Absolutely!! Call Channel 5! It’s time for Walmart to be accountable.
And when this makes it to CNN…I want to be able to say, ‘Hey, I know that guy that exposed the Walmart scandal!’
Seconded. You must!
Doesn’t the shelf label give you price per unit/oz/etc? So that you can look at the overall cost and the individual cost and compare? I am no good at math and I even rely on Sam to remind me to look at the little tag thing.
They do it for food, but they didn’t for the soap. (I look at the tag, too.)
Is this Walmart’s weird way of following the “reduce” portion of “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”?
We learned about this kind of profit strategy in my MBA program. Wal*Mart is the largest MNC in the world. They are SO big they can pressure companies into special production runs (like this 7-pack soap deal with its slightly different packaging) just for sale at Wal*Mart stores. I doubt you’ll ever see a 7-pack at your local grocery store or a Target.
I think there ought to be a special blog or web site that exposes this kind of practice from Wal*Mart. You have enough evidence already to start a site, and could ask people to send in their own stories with photos. An educated consumer is a smart consumer. Lauren did the right thing (price per bar), but Wal*Mart knew she’d do it this way (hence the “7-bar Value Pack” claim) and not calculate price per weight.
Other companies do it to. Take the time to read this article about Coke’s marvelous invention – the Coke mini can, and note what Wal*Mart did when stocking it:
http://consumerist.com/2009/12/shrink-ray-renders-mini-coke-cans-even-more-mini.html
Stupid Wal*Mart. I wish uncontrollable diarrhea on them.
“Other companies do it TOO.” Sorry ’bout that.
To, two, too…potato, po-tah-toe…lose, loose…there, their… What’s the difference?
Did Lloyd shower with soap this morning?
I actually hate Wal-Mart. I don’t shop there anymore. If there was a hybrid between a pirana and a pirate, that could be their corporate logo.
Sorry to sound so bitter there. Wal Mart is actually lovely. Really. Good prices. I know that being deprived of sunlight actually makes one kind of crazy and socially inept…
Oh, I was in agreement with you, and didn’t think you sounded bitter at all! It actually bugs me quite a lot that we do most of our grocery shopping there, and not our local stores, yet I do it anyway.
I wish you had sunlight! The lack of it is doing a number on a lot of people, I know.
Love you! 🙂
To the girl who left 3 strands of hair at the laundromat, I found them. They’re on my sock and shirt.