Price juggles

I made a lil quickie trip to Target to pick up some things and while there, I decided to get my son a Hot Wheels car to reward him for being so patient this week.  As I perused the toy aisle, I was happy to see some happy little yellow tags protruding out indicating a Temporary Price Cut.   Just in case you didn't know, I like savings. :)

I first saw a pack of 5 Hot Wheels cars for $4.49.  Not bad since they're typically $5+ a pack or .97 individually.  So I picked a pack out.  Then I saw something even better: a 10 pack for $8.99 instead of the usual $9.99.  Ok, savings of $1 instead of 50 cents.  I'll take that instead.  As I grabbed the 10 pack I noticed something else: the individually packaged ones were on sale for 79 cents each!  Ok, think quick, how much is that for 10?  Right, $7.90...um...that's an even bigger savings than $8.99.  It makes absolutely NO sense...well at least to the consumers that have been previously trained to think that buying more equals savings.  Apparently, that's just not the case anymore. Consumers practically need a degree in mathematics to figure out merchants' pricing tricks.

Needless to say, I picked out 10 of the individually wrapped ones not only for the savings, but I also got to pick specifically the ones I wanted instead of a pack of mixed in stuff that we might not want.  (Yes, I can hear my husband telling me that I didn't NEED to buy 10, but I did because now I can hide them and bring them out later as rewards. Plus they make great stocking stuffers.) The whole experience made no sense whatsoever, but it's taught me an important lesson: as a consumer, I need to be smart about the way I shop. Conventional trains of thoughts no longer applies anymore.  Merchants are coming up with new and different ways to make money off of unsuspecting shoppers.

Caveat emptor.