Is Shopping at Wal-Mart Frugal?by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 24 Apr 2008 07:08 AM
Low Prices When They Want Sure, Wal-Mart does advertise some low prices on hot items. But you need to shop smart. There are two things that can go wrong. The first is the fact Wal-mart may be misleading when it comes to these hot prices. They may only be available online or in certain stores, although the advertising for that price is broadly marketed. The second is the fact that the majority of products at Wal-mart can usually be had less expensively elsewhere. Here is the first point. Take for example the recent Disney DVD movie, Enchanted. If you go to the Walmart.com site, it will tell you that the price for this move is only $14.96, a very good deal. Imputing your zip code, it will even give you a list of local stores and tell you that these stores have the movie in stock. However, when you actually drive to the store to make your purchase, the movie rings up at $19.95, an approximately 25 percent increase. (Yes, this is a true story, can you tell by my outrage at feeling duped? My kids, after seeing the movie through a library copy, wanted to save up for it. I'll be shopping at Amazon.com instead.) While Wal-Mart advertising and customer service makes a big deal of price matching, Wal-Mart will not price match against another local Wal-Mart store or against its website. My husband attributes this to the fact that they will get your sale one way or another. I could get around this weird pricing by ordering the DVD from the website and selecting the "ship to store" option. Then they would have shipped the DVD to the store at no extra charge to me, costing them administrative time and energy, but saving me that 25 percent. And, I wouldn't have to pay shipping. Check back for the next blog in this series, coming up later today. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: Reasons We Spend Today: Availability Reasons We Spend Today: Social and Economic Cues My Inner Child Almost Cost Me Money Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 24 Apr 2008 07:41 AMI don't shop at Walmart except for the rare 3am must have now purchase. They're definitely not the cheapest, though the products should be considering the quality. Just about every time I've bought from Walmart, it's ended badly. Target is a little better, but mostly in areas of style. They both had the same crappy DVD player, just rebranded -- but Target's was about $20 LESS! Not that it mattered because we ended up paying more for a DVD player elsewhere that actually worked. Mostly, I shop at Sams for paper products and some bulk foods, Publix and another local grocery store for other food items and sometimes toiletries, Walgreens sometimes for toiletries, Ross and T.J. Maxx for clothes, online for miscellaneous stuff, and a local kitchen store for kitchen supplies. And speaking of price, it turns out that the local "expensive, overpriced" kitchen store is cheaper than Bed Bath and Beyond on at least a few items we bought recently. My husband and I were very surprised!  Mary Ann Romans (26886) 24 Apr 2008 08:11 AMHave you been using those 20 percent off coupons for Bed Bath and Beyond? I found that with those coupons, the prices come down below others, but I'm definitely going to price compare again after what you just told me! BB&B even take expired coupons. You can check it out here: http://dealsblog.families.com/blog/bed-bath-amp-beyond-coupon-secrets MegfromAllAboutAppearances (330) 26 Apr 2008 09:38 AMSometimes I use the coupons at BB&B, like the other night when we went and got new bamboo sheets (heavenly!). However, most of the time I'm buying more than one thing, so it's still cheaper for me to go elsewhere instead of buying one thing there and then making separate trips back or elsewhere. And don't forget that they take competitor's coupons ;) salidadelsol (22) 02 May 2008 06:37 AMI just wanted to share my experience w/ Walmart and buying feminine products. You would think it would be cheaper to buy a box of 40 tampons than the smaller box of 20, but in doing a little math, I found that - at least in my brand - it cost me more to buy a large box than to buy two small boxes. From that point forward, I always always always check the unit price of practically everything I buy from Walmart. You'd be surprised how often they try to dupe you when buying the larger quantity. Mary Ann Romans (26886) 02 May 2008 07:33 AMGrocery stores do the same. It always helps to look at the unit price. Thanks for the reminder. Community Tags duped, frugal, prices, save money, thrifty, walmart Discuss this article
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