That's my weakness in shopping - the tempting deals particularly the buy 1, take 1 scheme. I had been to the hospital for routine check up this morning and a grocery selling imported items is just nearby so I went to that when I got of the hospital. There was that buy1, take 1 deal on rhum cake. So would I pass? I bought just 1 to sample it. When eaten at home, everyone exclaimed it was good and asked why I only bought 2 pieces. Huh.
Nothing tempting about Supermarket so called deals. These offers have been outed as a ploy to mislead customers. Consumer campaign group Which? investigated the deals on offer at the supermarkets and found Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury's all guilty of discounting products and leaving them at a lower price for a far longer period than they were at the original price. Read article http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...6643/Supermarket-fake-offers-in-pictures.html
Yes, that's what I always do. I guess that it's a good deal to buy one product for the price of getting one product free, and then you have bought one product and got one for free.
We have a grocery chain here called HEB. It's based in Texas, and advertises that it has the best prices, and it does seem to in some cases. Unfortunately, it's not nearby, and doesn't carry some of what I need, and I tend to prefer one-stop-shopping. However, they do have one thing that I think is a good deal, especially for those who are in a hurry to put together a meal on a weeknight. What they do is have you buy the main dish (it's usually a rotisserie chicken when I'm there for some reason, but they have others, also), which is sitting in a headed display, and side dishes are arranged all around it. You pay for the main dish, and get one each of the side dishes free. It usually comes with a can of vegetables, such as green beans, a package of rolls, a container or cole slaw or potato salad, and I believe a dessert, although I could be wrong about the dessert. Even without the dessert, the price is a bargain. I think it's usually around $6.99, and to buy each item separately would cost much more. I believe the idea is to draw people into the store, and they will buy other things while they're there. People will go there specifically for that deal, so if the combination wasn't offered, perhaps they would get takeout food or delivery from somewhere else.
I was happy when most of the local big chain stores and small supermarkets used to offer such a deal, buy-one, take one free, but this was until 10 years ago if not more. Actually, and for several past years, they offer "deals" such as buy-two, and take the third free, which is not really any deal most of the times because, firstly, they are forcing you to buy 2 items to get the deal, and secondly, the two-package also cost more than the items alone, so in reality you are paying for the third too, whether the whole price or a fraction of it. Even though result is the same, you may not need 3 items that you get fresher if bought as you need them, unless you really need to buy large amounts of something. One more thing to keep in mind, is that many times those deals are made to take out of stock items close to the expiration date, so not much shelf life at home really. However, I like to compare prices when such deals come up, because in counted times, one of those deals could really save money and serve for longer.
@Ken Anderson Yes, that's where I first became acquainted with HEB. I loved the Brownsville HEB I used to shop at when I was down there. The ones here are nice, but I also preferred the one I used to shop at in San Antonio, although the parking lot was somewhat of a labyrinth. HEB used to have a smaller shop in my town, called HEB Pantry, and I would shop there, but since the stock was limited, I'd then supplement what I bought there with items from Kroger or the local IGA affiliated store. I had really hoped they would expand that shop to a full grocery store, but instead, they closed it .
I like this deal too. Locally in supermarkets vitamins & herbs have this deal at sales weekly. So far that's all I notice for buy 1 get one free. I hope they have this deal more for more things too. There are some things that I like that I hope will get this deal offering!
I've noticed a lot of specials lately that require buying 3 or 5 of an item. Sometimes you can mix and match within the brand or family of brands, but I usually don't have enough money to invest in things like 3 or 5 bottles of shampoo. If it's food items I might consider it, but it would be unusual for me to buy 3 or 5 boxes of cereal (or some deals require 10 items purchased), since I don't eat that much of it, and it's just me here. Also, the cereal brands that are often on sale tend to be the expensive ones. I always try to calculate out in my head which is the better deal, to pay full price for store brand/generic, or what the cost would be per unit if I went with the deal, and purchased the others in bulk. Sometimes the savings is negligible, so unless I really want or need the extra products, I stick with my generic/store brands.
Diane Lane: When I was growing up in San Antonio there was an HEB near my home and I remember shopping in there often. In fact, there were several in San Antonio. My first boyfriend worked at the HEB near the house. I shop in Publix for their buy one get one offers. It is the only thing I buy there because prices on the groceries are usually so high. I get some good deals on olive oil, cereal, ect when they are on their sales.