Special Offers Aren't Always Bargains.

I was browsing the de-luxe beers in Sainsbury’s today. I saw that a lot of them had a special offer shelf ticket covering the usual one – effectively hiding it. The ‘special offer’ label said ‘3 for £5.’ I removed one of them to see what the price of a single bottle was. £1.47. You work it out.

So I asked to see the manager and pointed out to him that this didn’t make any sense. I asked him what would happen if I bought three bottles. Would I get charged £4.41 for three individual bottles, or £5 according to this so-called special offer? He assured me with brisk confidence that the computerised system would charge me the lower price. I asked him why, in that case, did they put the 3 for £5 ticket there in the first place.

‘Because you can mix any of the brands covered by the offer.’

‘It doesn’t say so anywhere.’

‘Er, no, but you can.’

It was true that a few of the brands were over £1.66, and so a very small saving would have accrued if the selection was made from just those few. But I remained unhappy. I pointed out that they had still put a special offer label in a position where it hid the lower individual price of several brands, thus encouraging the false notion that there was a saving to be made. I offered the opinion that it amounted to fraudulent practice.

The manager looked embarrassed and said that they had no local control over such matters. They had to do what head office told them.

So there’s a lesson to be taken. Modern commercial practice doesn’t just manipulate the minds of the unwary, it comes disturbingly close to outright lying.