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Shopping the Sale
Aug. 23rd, 2021 09:27 amI like to "shop the sale". Who doesn't? 30% off! Money back! Buy one, get one free! It's fun and gratifying to buy things knowing that you're getting a good deal on them. But are you really getting a good deal? Companies put together these promotions to shift your buying behavior. They do it for their profit, not yours. It helps to understand how the deals work to ensure you're benefiting, not being played.
One place I watch for deals is on my American Express card.
Amex has offered lots of little promotions over the past two years. Get $5 back on this, $10 back on that, etc. At any one time there are around 100 of these offers. I've been saving $30-40 each month with them.
Obviously at a rate of $30-40/month I'm not using all 100 offers. And that's the point. One of the things companies use sales for is to catch your attention and draw your business to them instead of a competitor. Insofar as that goes it's fine by me as a consumer. If I'm going to buy a widget anyway, I'm happy to buy a comparable widget from Company B instead of Company A if it's less expensive. But the purpose of offering deals goes beyond that. Companies don't make fat profits by undercutting the competition on similar products. They do make fat profits when they capture your interest with a deal and sell you more than you originally planned to buy, particular if "more" includes items at fatter profit margins.
I don't begrudge companies their profit margins. Making profits is why they're in business. But when I buy things I'm engaging in a business transaction. It's my prerogative as an equal party to that transaction to make sure I'm getting a fair deal or better, and not getting taken. Thus I'm selective about which of those 100 deals I pursue.
The next cut is things I legitimately might buy but the sale is still no bargain. Slight savings on the latest meal-prep delivery service? Those are way overpriced to begin with. I'm fine buying groceries. 10% cash back on mail-order designer sunglasses? Yes, I always own at least one pair of sunglasses, but saving 10% on something priced at 10x or more what I usually spend is scarcely a bargain.
What this deal is really about is Amex trying to switch customer habits toward using Amex cards more frequently and other cards (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) less frequently. I don't have huge stake in that competition... though I will note that my 2% cash back credit cards, which are a Visa and Mastercard, pay a better regular bonus on grocery shopping than my Amex. (I rate the Hilton Honors points I earn on grocery chopping at about 1.3%.) So after charging $75 of groceries to Amex I switch back to using other cards.
Another offer I hit recently was $10 cash back on an Amazon purchase of $50 or more. That one was easy because Amazon sells practically everything. But still I was careful not to buy stuff I don't need just because it was on sale. That's where companies lure you in with small sales to get you to buy big things at full price you otherwise wouldn't have bought. Instead I looked at the lists Hawk and I keep of things we need soon or want to try anyway, and picked 4 items off the top that added up to just over $50. They were all mundane things like a tube of sun tan lotion and a box of ink cartridges for my printer, but that didn't matter. Bam! Credit received.
One place I watch for deals is on my American Express card.
Amex has offered lots of little promotions over the past two years. Get $5 back on this, $10 back on that, etc. At any one time there are around 100 of these offers. I've been saving $30-40 each month with them.Obviously at a rate of $30-40/month I'm not using all 100 offers. And that's the point. One of the things companies use sales for is to catch your attention and draw your business to them instead of a competitor. Insofar as that goes it's fine by me as a consumer. If I'm going to buy a widget anyway, I'm happy to buy a comparable widget from Company B instead of Company A if it's less expensive. But the purpose of offering deals goes beyond that. Companies don't make fat profits by undercutting the competition on similar products. They do make fat profits when they capture your interest with a deal and sell you more than you originally planned to buy, particular if "more" includes items at fatter profit margins.
I don't begrudge companies their profit margins. Making profits is why they're in business. But when I buy things I'm engaging in a business transaction. It's my prerogative as an equal party to that transaction to make sure I'm getting a fair deal or better, and not getting taken. Thus I'm selective about which of those 100 deals I pursue.
Easy "No"
The first cut in whittling down that list of 100 is easy. Most of them are for things I just don't care about. $20 off a purchase of $200 or more for pet care products? Easy no; I don't have a pet.The next cut is things I legitimately might buy but the sale is still no bargain. Slight savings on the latest meal-prep delivery service? Those are way overpriced to begin with. I'm fine buying groceries. 10% cash back on mail-order designer sunglasses? Yes, I always own at least one pair of sunglasses, but saving 10% on something priced at 10x or more what I usually spend is scarcely a bargain.
Close, but no Cigar
Evaluating some of these deals requires a bit of math. (Math is not hard!) For example, there's an offer for $5 back on a gasoline purchase of $30 at Chevron and Texaco stations. Do the math. (Actually it's arithmetic.) $5 off of $30 is a 1/6 discount. The cheapest Chevron station in my town... *quick Internet search*... sells regular grade gas at $4.58/gallon. 1/6 off of that yields an effective price of $3.82. And that's only on the first $30 purchased. I can buy gas at other stations in town for about that unit cost at regular rate, no game playing required. So I'm not pursuing that "deal". I did add the offer to my card, though, in case I'm traveling and a Chevron or Texaco is the most reasonable place to buy gas.Where I Say "Yes"
One of the offers I've hit recently is $5 off $75 or more of groceries. I'm buying groceries anyway, and this offer isn't specific about which store I have to shop. If it required shopping at a store with, say, 10% higher prices I wouldn't do it because the deal's max value is below 7%.What this deal is really about is Amex trying to switch customer habits toward using Amex cards more frequently and other cards (Visa, Mastercard, etc.) less frequently. I don't have huge stake in that competition... though I will note that my 2% cash back credit cards, which are a Visa and Mastercard, pay a better regular bonus on grocery shopping than my Amex. (I rate the Hilton Honors points I earn on grocery chopping at about 1.3%.) So after charging $75 of groceries to Amex I switch back to using other cards.
Another offer I hit recently was $10 cash back on an Amazon purchase of $50 or more. That one was easy because Amazon sells practically everything. But still I was careful not to buy stuff I don't need just because it was on sale. That's where companies lure you in with small sales to get you to buy big things at full price you otherwise wouldn't have bought. Instead I looked at the lists Hawk and I keep of things we need soon or want to try anyway, and picked 4 items off the top that added up to just over $50. They were all mundane things like a tube of sun tan lotion and a box of ink cartridges for my printer, but that didn't matter. Bam! Credit received.
