YouTube Uni - TED-ED - Dan Gilbert: Why we make bad decisions

[Nacasius]

No words needed, just watch.

 

[lonesome killer]

Working in retail, this is so true. We have "sales" all the time on items that "used" to be $1,500, but "now" it's $1,000, saving $500. Yet we've never had that TV before.

 

[VintagePC]

Working in retail, this is so true. We have "sales" all the time on items that "used" to be $1,500, but "now" it's $1,000, saving $500. Yet we've never had that TV before.

Hehe, any time I see an advertisement for a massive sale, e.g. "buy one get one" or "half off" I always jokingly think "yeah, and the regular price mysteriously doubled last night too " I get a kick hearing my suspicions confirmed on that sort of thing.

 

[lonesome killer]

We've never doubled the price on items for Buy One Get One sales (can't speak for other stores). However, I will say that 99% of sales are not store sales but vendor sales. As in the $349 Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 that's now $299 is not from the kindness of our hearts, but because Samsung is giving the store credit back for each one sold during the weekly sale.

 

[VintagePC]

Yes, I do say so in jest. In any case, the "sale=good deal" mentality is an interesting thing to observe.

 

[Nacasius]

There was a consumer awareness article about sale prices i read awhile back that showed some prices for items that are about to go on sale will go up in price the week before so that the following week a sale of 25% off is true.

The produce is regular price, but that doesn't change the claim.

This is one article i found but its not from the store i recall.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/jc-p...-order-customers-discounted/story?id=19323843

You can bet most stores do this until caught.


Side Point: This video is not meant to point at retail fixing but meant to show how our reasoning on everyday decisions can be skewed by bad habits.

 

[lonesome killer]

meant to show how our reasoning on everyday decisions can be skewed by bad habits.

I hate the word "save." When people buy stuff on sale they're like "ER MA GAWD I SAVED $50!!!!!!!" And I'm like "No, saving is taking money and putting it in the bank. You spent $50 less than you would have." In which case most of the time they reply "Well I had to buy it anyway, so I'd rather spend $50 less."

(I only use this to poke fun at co-workers, never customers)

Also, there is a furniture store down the street that has big ass highway billboard signs posted up saying "Going out of business sale" and "Warehouse closing sale" that have been up for about 7-8 years now.

 

[English]

While I was at Target. The only time we had things on sale was because we were about ready to remove it from our inventory for one reason or another. That or we had way too many of the item