Outwitting Sneaky Traders and Signs
Yossarian Smythe
We know how hard it is to come up with monthly budget. That’s why we’re more interested in teaching you ways on how to maximize this budget without sacrificing the stuff you need to buy. Let’s face it; we need not only food but cosmetics, clothes, shoes, etc.
The maximal utility of your finances lies not with the store per se, but with your choices when buying. Frugal spending can only be accomplished if you know how to outwit the traders themselves. There are many commodities that traders cannot overprice; that’s why they engage in advertising activities and ‘shelf tactics’ to boost sales of overpriced goods.
Flyers and other advertisements
It has been found out that many people rely on flyers to find out which items are for sale. Because of the nature of the flyers themselves, people tend to buy what’s on the list. But you know what we’ve discovered?
These flyers list products that don’t even have price reduction. The traders just listed the products so that the sales would shoot up. This is a very profitable tactic. It has been determined that products that are placed on special “sale” flyers are bout 500% more than products that are not.
It’s simple to outwit the traders in this manner. Take the flyer with you and find the product that you like from the shelf. Compare the price of the product on “sale” with similar product from other manufacturers.
Chances are the products on sale are still more expensive than those that are not on sale. The same applies for stuff that are sold through special mini-shops. Swedish cheese with bonus cards for example, are more expensive than Swedish cheese of the same brand and quantity sold elsewhere in the supermarket.
How about stock rotation
We’re all aware that stores rotate their stocks so that the older commodities are bought alongside the fresh stocks from the manufacturers and distributors. So how do you find out which products are fresher and would have longer shelf life? Elementary, dear consumer. The products that are almost hidden from view are the freshest. Go to the last shelves and scan the bottom rungs. Chances are, you would find commodities that have been produced very recently.
Forget the glitz of the commodities that are placed on the first shelves. The owners of the shops placed these products on the front shelves because they’re about to expire, and they would be stuck with useless, expired goods if the buyers don’t find these goods attractive. While only a few unscrupulous traders still sell expired goods just for the heck of it, who would want to buy goods that are about to expire in a month, or this month?
Cheap breads & pastries
Do you like breads and pastry products? You can get them cheaper at supermarkets than actual bakeries. This is because the supermarkets are having them bulk-produced because the niche has already been dominated by older bakery chains. Just how much you would be saving? At ShopRite, you would only have to spend $1.99 for 6 bread rolls. At Freihofer, you need to shell out $3.19 for the same product.
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