Unit Pricing

[Giant Communist Robot]

My wife buys this big tub 'o laundry detergent at Costco to save money. Its cheaper than an equivalent quantity of big brand name stuff, she says. I noticed when she measures the soap she fills the scoop. Halfway up the scoop is the line for a full load, so when she fills it she is using twice as much as needed. Effectively, the soap is twice as expensive as she thinks it is--she gets angry when I point this out to her.

Yesterday I bought malasadas ( a sort of Portugese doughnut) for my kids. They are .70 a piece, or 8.80 a dozen. I asked, and a dozen is twelve, not thirteen. I told the lady behind me who had just bought a dozen she could save money by asking for 12 individual malasadas instead of a dozen, and she laughed.

At Burger King is something called Chicken Tenders. Prominently on the menu is eight Tenders for 3.49. Hidden in the corner is four Tenders for 1.49.

[Shapley]

We used to sell raffle tickets at $1 each. My dad would tell people they were $1 each, or 3 for $5. Occasionally someone would hand him a $5 bill and ask for three of them...

We buy large bags of cat food for our animals. There are two types at Sam's, one name-brand and one store-brand. The name brand costs 9.86 for 22 lb. ($.45/lb), while the store brand costs 8.88 for 18 lb. ($.49/lb). Theoretically, it is cheaper to buy the name-brand, since you get more for your money. However, we fill the feeder every three days, regardless of consumption, so it makes more sense for us to buy the more expensive cat food ($2.96/day vs. $3.29/day), does it not?

BTW, all the animals eat the same food at our house. The dogs, the cats, the raccoons, the skunks, any animal that avails itself of the feeder. We've tried buying dog food and cat food, but they'll let the dog food rot as long as there is cat food around to eat, so we found the dog food to be a waste of money.

[barfle]

I noticed that about the Costco detergent myself. The cup is the same size as before, but the container is about half as big. Fine print time.

I'm always flabbergasted by a store display that shows one bottle of aspirin with a "per tablet" price, while the bottle next to it has a "per ounce" price. And the one next to that has a "per dose" price. It's enough to give a guy a screaming headache.

[piqaboo]

...when she measures the soap she fills the scoop. Halfway up the scoop is the line for a full load, so when she fills it she is using twice as much as needed. Effectively, the soap is twice as expensive as she thinks it is...

I noticed this when I first learned to do laundry. I think its one of the most effective manufacturer scams ever attempted.
Everyone sells concentrate, but gives you a normal sized scoop. Human nature being what it is....

[Schmeelkie]

my liquid detergent has three lines inside for small, med and large loads - in my not terribly well-lit basement, it's hard to see these. Same color as cap... should check with husband that he sees this...

our grocery stores generally do a good job of putting a consistent unit price, but when something is on sale, they don't always have the unit price. and since, just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's cheaper than another brand, it can be difficult to figure this out.

[Shapley]

our grocery stores generally do a good job of putting a consistent unit price, but when something is on sale, they don't always have the unit price. and since, just because it's on sale doesn't mean it's cheaper than another brand, it can be difficult to figure this out.

When our Wal-Mart Supercenter first opened, all of the shopping carts were equipped with calculators mounted on the handles, so you could tally your purchases, and make unit price calculations. They didn't last long, though. They were easily broken off, especially in cold weather. The slamming of carts together in the cart corrals usually was enough to dislodge them. Within the first few months of operation, the parking lot was littered with little blue calculator fragments.