Sales are commonly worded “2 for $x.xx” or “buy 10 or more and pay $x.xx”. Your first though may be “I don’t need ten of those” and you end up buying one. I am often guilty of not looking at the big picture, but have improved on this as of lately.
In December I had a credit at the online store where I purchased my personalized photo holiday cards. If I bought 1-9 cards the price was $1.87 per card. If I bought 10 or more cards the price went down to $1.64. I only needed 9 cards and put 9 in my cart, for a total of $16.83. Just for fun I added a tenth card to my cart to see what would happen to my total. It went down to $16.40! 43 cents savings may not seem like much to brag about, but keep in mind that I got an additional card too.
Another example is my recent trip to Walgreens. I went in and found kids cough medicine 2/$5. I just needed one bottle so that’s all I took up to the register. My one bottle rang up for $4.83. Adding a second bottle double what I took home and only cast a few cents more. Always read the small print to see if you are required to buy a second (or in some cases third) item to qualify for the sale price.
I am noticing volume discounts a lot more often now. If you end up spending less out of pocket why not take advantage of the extra items? Some people may argue that they don’t need the extra items and don’t have anywhere to put extra stuff. My reply is that if it saves you money, there is always room somewhere for what you will use in the near future. Even if you have to store your excessively purchased craft supplies under your bed. Also, just because you don’t want an extra doesn’t mean you can’t give that second bottle of .17 cough medicine to your neighbor.
Next time you buy and are offered a volume discount do the math. Use the calculator on your phone or figure it up in your head. The savings may surprise you! Please feel free to leave any comments you may have.
