If you walk around a big box like Home Depot, you will see identical items priced miles apart because of which department they are placed in.
If you don’t need 5 you can just buy one LH pencil and sharpen the other end. It works just as a right handed one then.
But then you can’t read the text.
Yes you can. You just need a mirror, like Leonardo da Vinci did
A sharpened eraser would be pretty hard to write with ngl
Yes, but these look like carpenter pencil, no eraser, shaped so they won’t roll.
Brilliant.
My very first customer as a grocery cashier only bought 1 of a “2 for 1” item. My trainer was standing behind me, and had literally taught me nothing except how to unlock the register. It rang up at full price and the guy was instantly irate. “This is supposed to be half price!” As if I had any way to even know there was a sale. He pointed at the item so I walked over and looked and saw the 2 for 1 sticker. I glanced at my trainer and he just looked on dispassionately, so I told the guy “Uh, I think you have to buy two for the ‘2 for 1’ deal.”
Immediately started screaming at the top of his lungs. My trainer comes up and starts apologizing to the man “I’m so sorry this cashier is stupid. I’m not sure where he got the idea that he shouldn’t discount you. I trained them better than this. It’s so hard to find competent workers.” Then he swiped his badge (which I couldn’t have done without him), and changed the price manually.
After the guy walked away happy having saved 50 cents on his kinder egg, the trainer turned to me and said “Don’t waste my time again. You should know this all already, you fucking moron.” and walked off. We had spent exactly two minutes total together since training had started, and he spent most of that insulting me for not somehow knowing how to cashier already.
I had to call him back over two minutes later to show me how to process a check, and he was so angry.
I did so poorly at Wal-Mart that they will not rehire me (I tried out of desperation), though I mostly blame them for hiring me right before a holiday and never giving me any training.
I don’t consider myself stupid at all but being at a new job with poor training was discombobulating and really hurt my feelings. I was supposed to call someone to let them know something they should have known themselves and then they got irate about not being told and left a review the higher-ups got upset about and I was like damn, am I actually dumb? Because a lot of people are criticizing me right now. In retrospect it was silly but at the time…
Clearly you weren’t ready for the lifetime career of being a Walmart cashier.
This sounds like ragebait fiction. Your trainer would be fired for talking to people like that. Unprofessional. And also you were right. “Two for one” does not mean one of them should be half off.
Absolutely.
When I was a retail manager any manager like that would have been out the door. Their job is to make it possible for the floor people to do their jobs, and part of that is protecting their staff from asshole customers.
Even when our people screwed up, we didn’t tolerate abuse of our staff. If the customer has a legitimate complaint they can be civil about it. Otherwise they’re welcome to leave. Even from a pure business perspective, you can’t tolerate abuse. New staff costs more than assholes spend.
Every customer service job I have worked has had managers like that. This was before smart phones so maybe they just weren’t worried about getting caught.
Yep same here. Some of the most miserable assholes you’ll ever have the displeasure of knowing work as retail managers.
One time I was the only one of four people scheduled to show up on Thanksgiving, and there were at least twenty people at my register while the manager just stood off to the side and watched me. One of the customers yelled at me to “Stop smiling!” when I politely greeted the customers as I scanned like hell, and the other people in line just nodded along. I’ll always regret not quitting on the spot.
Sounds like retail to me, that industry is a breeding ground for abusive environments.
At my last job the store manager got away with smacking the assistant manager on camera in front of people. Multiple reports sent up the chain. But the assistant manager had already put in two weeks notice a week before this happened, so head office just brushed it under the rug. I had watched the security video of it happening myself so I know it’s not for lack of evidence.
The running theory was that that manager gets transfered to stores as the company’s wrecking ball when they want to clean house. She would get transfered to a store, then all of the staff would end up quitting or getting fired for bullshit reasons. We weren’t the first store it had happened to. I ended up quitting to go work at a warehouse for more money with a fraction of the responsibility.
This is state law dependent iirc.
the only thing wrong with this is that they should have reversed the signs
fuck, took me long enough to get this.
I’ve been watching a lot of “gen alpha can’t do basic maths, spelling etc) and I have no doubt they’d buy the right handed pencils because it’s a “much better deal”
Be like me and use the calculator in your phone.
Look at how many more uave been taken from the right, and entire container is empty.
What a sad sad world we live in :/
It’s not just new generations, these are basic marketing strategies that have existed forever. It’s manipulative, people see a smaller number and think it’s better, without even considering the value for a moment. Preying on the spur of the moment decision.
Walmart has been crazy about this over the years. Things like a big box of 45 ziplock bags cost $3.50, but 15 packs are $1.00.
People just assume that pricing will make sense and bulk purchasing is a better value, but sometimes Walmart is like “nah”.
The first time I noticed the bigger box of the same cereal at the grocery store was twice as much per weight, I felt so betrayed and pissed off. I thought we had a deal, buy bulk get discount. The prices all fluctuate, and now I have to read the prices and do the math every time I shop forever? This is bullshit.
It’s not always a purposeful grift when that happens.
When dealing with an actual different sku like that, they don’t necessarily get the products at the same time, and they don’t sell through them at the same rate. It could be that the smaller boxes have been sitting around longer and the price was lowered to sell through before their expiry dates.
They don’t always put sales tags on everything that’s discounted a small amount, especially if it’s expected to be longer than a few days.
Especially if it’s a large company that likely has automated basic things like that to update pricing for stagnant inventory in a specified way.
They also do price tags to account for weight vs price in an inconsistent way, so one will be x ounces for y price, but the next will be z units per other price, and I’m always in a hurry so it’s impossible to stand there and compare. Only retirees can do that.
Just don’t take it extreme like my ex roommate. He would buy bread by picking every brand and type in the bread aisle, count how many slices were in the loaf, cheapest bread in price per slice he would buy.
Should move to a country where the price per gram/mL/unit is displayed on the price tag. Makes this trivial.
I live in Texas and this is already standard here, do other states not put unit prices?
I’ve lived in a few states now and it’s been standard in all of them I’ve lived in. Though it’s mostly been Kroger owned stores
Dunno, I don’t live in a (US) state
Idk about Walmart, haven’t been there in awhile, but grocery/retail stores around here have per-unit prices beneath the advertised price. Of course they’re tiny and hard to find, but still super helpful when comparison shopping.
Wal Mart has it, but I saw it with incorrect info once, so I always math it out in my head to verify.
My state mandated that shops must include unit pricing. It’s so much better. I use it every time I shop
Kroger typically has a price per unit on the shelf tags. Sometimes the larger bulk item is higher. I think they do this to clear inventory on the smaller item. Of course you still see packages redesigned to sell less at the same price over time.
I wish i was rich enough to fall for shit like this.
I understand it doesn’t make you rich, but still. Seems like exactly the level of wealth I could be trusted with
It’s manipulative, but if any of them stop doing it their customers punish them for it.
It’s 5 for whatever as well. That’s a sure ”great value deal” indicator
Ok story time from the Fireworks stores.
First some background: My wife’s dad owns a couple fireworks stores. One sells items individually, the other sells everything as buy one get one free because it is right next to a competitor that uses that model. Fun fact about stores that sell everything as BOGO all the time… the prices are just double. You’re just paying for two. That’s the whole model. My father in law hates it too and wishes we didnt need to do it to compete with the other store. It’s not only not a deal, it’s arguably worse because you have* to buy two of the same visual display, meaning you’re just watching the same thing twice for no good reason.
*We don’t actually make anyone buy two of anything. We also tell them they can mix-and-match, i.e. buy one item and get a different item with the same price free. And we don’t really advertise it, because it actually pisses some people off, but if you just want one of the item, you can get it for “half price”. No problem at all. It makes no difference at all to me. I don’t even have to do anything fancy with the registers. We just ring up every item individually. They’re all priced exactly the same as they are at the other store. It’s all an illusion.
But there is a certain percentage of shoppers that absolutely, positively, will not buy a product unless they are “getting a deal”, and those people are univerally bad at math. We sell a select set of items as BOGO or mix and match at the other store too and those people will only buy those items. My father in law will even tell them that no one needs to watch the same thing twice. We actually use the stupidity of the BOGO model as a selling point at the other store. But that’s all that some people want. The people that shop at the BOGO store will come in saying they went to our other store (not knowing they’re related) and everything was so expensive compared to them and they didnt have any good deals, then buy a cart full of shit at THE EXACT SAME PRICE PER PIECE. It’s absurd.
So anyway, back to the fun story. I had to cover as a salesman and cashier at the BOGO store once. A couple came in, he wanted a bunch of fire crackers, bottle rockets, Roman candles, etc. The typical play stuff. His wife wasnt into all that, she just wanted to see something inexpensive and pretty. I showed her videos of a few smaller items that I thought she’d like and she really liked one in particular. It was the only one I had left on the shelf though. I tried to look around and see if there was a good mix and match to go with it, but it was at a less common price point, and I couldn’t find anything. So I told her that since I couldn’t find her another or a mix and match, I’d give it to her for half of the tag price (again, that’s also just… the normal price). She was very happy with that. She just wanted the one pretty thing anyway.
So we get up to the register and I started to scan out their cart… two rolls of firecrackers, 8 roman candles, 2 packs of bottle rockets, etc. Then I scanned her item. He asked where the second one was. I explained that that was the last one and we couldn’t find a mix and match so I was just going to charge her half of the tag price for it. He said, dead serious, “if I don’t get anything free with it, I’m not buying it.” He told me just to set it aside and put it back. They only thing she wanted. Becuase half price wasnt as good as buy one get one free… I ended up just handing it to her and telling her to take it. She has an ass for a husband, a stupid one at that. She deserved to see something pretty.
About 15 years ago JCPenney’s new CEO had a radical idea: pricing transparency. They were going to do right by their customers by reducing the sticker price to the “sale” price. The company lost billions of dollars because consumers valued the feeling of getting a deal over being charged a fair price.
Looking back, this may have been the point when I realized that I no longer had confidence in the average American.
I would buy the right-handed pencils, because I’m right handed. You shouldn’t buy mismatched pencils, below is a story showing what happens.
the story
My friend Paul bought a pencil at this exact store. He’s left-handed, but the store had somehow ran out of left-handed pencils. So, being the smart-ass he is, Paul thought:
— Golly! I’ll just buy a right-handed one. It’s a great deal, even! 5 whole pencils, all for one dollar!
That was his gravest mistake.
He picked up the pencil with his left hand, as usual. It beeped thrice, rang a bit, then exploded. He lost his left arm, and only survived because he received immediate medical attention.
This is what happens when you use a mismatched pencil. It may not look like it at first, but which hand you use them with matters. Spread this message.
People in general, but Americans specifically, can’t do basic math. Hence the infamous 1/3 pound burger: https://www.snopes.com/news/2022/06/17/third-pound-burger-fractions/
I love how your defense of over generalizing one group instantly devolved into over generalizing a different group.
Yeah. People on Lemmy always do that
Fuckin’ Lemmers…
If that group is Americans, it’s pretty on brand for Lemmy.
Fair point, but Americans score lower than several comparable countries, despite a higher GDP which one would hope would correlate to education. There are several reasons for this, but as an American, I’m just mentioning that it’s not a generational thing as much as a countrywide thing. https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=1
I think it’s nice to realize that people aren’t hardwired to understand math. There’s been no evolutionary selection for an understanding of the distributive property or knowledge of a dot product. Math can be difficult and we need to devote more resources to teaching it. Gen Alpha isn’t inherently less intelligent. Math is just hard and this person is probably seeing American Gen Alphas that have grown up in a society that does not value or invest in education the way it should. I don’t think that’s over generalizing as much as it’s drawing conclusions from available data.
Gdp is stupid metric. If I give you 100 usd the gdp is now 100 usd but if you give it back now thr gdp is 200 usd even though no services were exchanged. It is what bubbles are made of.
you say that, but i always see europeans whine so much whenever imperial units are used anywhere because they can’t figure out how to multiply by .3048
The other side to this line of logic is that Americans can’t divide by 10
that’s not how you convert from metric to imperial though. again the europeans failing at mathematics (then you divide by .3048)
edit also someone please tell me i got it wrong here i hadn’t had coffee yet and i don’t want to check that would be so funny
You got it wrong there.
(Just because you asked me to, I didn’t do the math)
i really couldn’t think of a more lemmyppropriate award to give you
I’ve never bean more flattered
Lol
they are in this very thread
Both are the same price guys!
5*0.20 = $1
Lemmy’s top mathematicians cracked it!
They did the monster mash.
Haven’t seen you in a while, but I’m glad to see you again.
How they give his own show to Tad Ghostal?
Any moment he could go mad postal.
Thanks Captain
Are you sure? Could you check again.
Is this a righty tax since they are forced to buy a higher minimum quantity?
I don’t know, down the road they have buy one get one free at $0.40.
Whether this is the same or not depends on the state.
In Mass I could grab 1 righty pencil for 20c, but in Colorado IIRC, I would still have to pay $1 for one. Pencils 2-5 would then not raise the price, #6 would raise it to $2, etc.
5 times 0.20 cents?
Pssh! Lefties always getting special treatment and righties always getting a handout, while us middles always miss out.
Meanwhile the ambidexterous get to buy 6 pencils for $21. What a steal!
I think that says 20 cents
So it does! Damn
I think all lefties are at least a little bit ambidextrous. At least those of us born in the previous century.
Um. Mouth?
Prehensile… something?
The left are 1/3rd pounders
As a lefty this is ludicrously unfair! I mean who the hell carries loose change anymore!?
This weighs heavily upon me.
heavier than 2 dimes?
This is outrageous discrimination, I’ve not seen such unfairness since they gave left handed screwdrivers the ability to go both ways. I used a left handed hammer once not nearly as powerful as my right handed one you’re being played for fools!
The screwdriver isn’t the only one who can go both ways eh?
I’d be the idiot to have two pencils in each hand and reading off the UPC while blocking the irresponsibly narrow aisle.
I gots to know!
I honestly hate this kind of “deals”. I only want one pencil, and don’t really want to hoard just because of a “good deal”, so I end up just buying below the deal amount and getting weird looks by the cashier. “But for an extra $5 you get two more products!” I know, I don’t care. I value more the peace of mind that comes form having an uncluttered space.
Well if it makes you feel any better, that’s precisely the point. Company gives you a deal but makes it condition on you buying more so they still make as much or more profit.
It’s also (part of) why large serving sizes are barely more expensive. As someone who doesn’t eat a lot, it is somewhat annoying every time I get the smallest size, knowing I could get like twice as much for 20% more, but also I would finish it.
This is how women’s boxers work.
Men’s. 5 for $20
Women’s. 1 for $20
Such b.s
I just buy mens boxers now.
This is how women’s boxers work.
They’re priced identically but sold in different sized packages?
Womens boxers are typically sold individually but sometimes you can find a sale for 3.
If women’s boxers worked like the pricing in the photo it’d be 5 women’s for $20 and 1 men’s for $4
I’m not sure I understand that logic.
Since boxers are more commonly worn by men. That would be more analogous to right hand.
I’m not sure I understand that logic.
That’s the “logic” in the post. They’re both the same price.
You said that’s “how women’s boxers are” and proceeded to explain that they’re a different price than men’s, which is not what the post is describing.
Yeah I totally misread and thought left 20 cents for 1 And right. 20 cents for 5.
Can I blame this on my cat waking me up like 5x last night or do I have to take full responsibility for not reading properly?
Then you have to live with Bob The Builder and Chase themed boxers 😔
Is that an issue though?
If a woman’s pants come off and she’s wearing bob the builder boxers, I instantly think of her more as a fun kind of person. You know, someone who doesn’t mind being silly.
And if nobody is seeing your boxers, there’s even less to worry about.
Kind of wild that pencils cost more than avocados but I guess you have to manufacture them instead if them just growing all over
Did you not have a pencil tree growing up?
It’s actually the fungi on the tree that grows pencils. It’s called penicillin.
