A while ago I had a whinge when I went to Harvey Norman (an Australian furniture/electrical retailer) to buy some ink cartridges. If you recall I was pissy because they charged 10 cents extra for a double ‘value pack’.
Today I returned there for yet more ink. I saw that I could buy my one blue ink for $17:95. Hmm, not bad. Then I wondered, ‘The others are BOUND to run out soon, do I buy more?’
Perchance what did I spy next? A value pack containing all required colours for $99. As per usual I had to do some laborious mental calculations to figure out that why, yes, that was a saving. Point number one to retail superstore. I was walking away from the wall of ink when I thought ‘Wait, let me just check if these inks do the same amount of pages.’ Meh. Maybe 50 less. Still a goer.
By this stage the cute foreign (Spanish perhaps?) salesdude came over and asked if I needed help. Before I could even open my mouth he told me he could do me a good deal. Dude – huh? It was pretty clear I was already buying the stuff. Are you new at this? Then he proceeded to show me that I could in fact get the same value pack PLUS 120 pages of photo paper. For the same price.
Wait, no – NOT even the same price, because he took $10 off before I could blink. No mouth-opening or eye-blinking was to be taking place in front of this gentleman obviously.
I thanked him and walked away quickly and bemusedly. Was that another point for Harvey Norman, or minus 2 for having lovely but soft-nosed salespeople?
Maybe they heard about your hard hitting journalism and knew that your blog would change the buying habbits of thousands. Therefore they HAD to give you a good deal… lol
Eeek, so my cover here is blown?
Maybe they thought you were Gerry Harvey incognito again (yes I watch Today Tonight, yes I am sad). All the sales people are so scared now they are bending over backwards to give good deals. Or maybe think you sexy lady and think if he give you a good deal on some paper sheets he can get you between some sheets
Did you know that Gerry Harvey incognito looks like my dad? Very amusing. Well, yes, I am a rather sexy lady……lol!
In the world of sales and profit maximization, that is indeed HARDLY normal, so in other words, a big win!
And let us also pretend I also got a discount cos I am just THAT sexy
A deal is always good, especially when it comes this easy!;-)
Exactly! But it always makes you wonder how much they actually buy it for….
You could get $$$ knocked off any item nowadays. I once negotiated an iPhone cover that I felt was over-priced & managed to get $10 off a $40 case. The way I see it, companies like that make a killing, and to them making a sale is their priority. Went with a friend last weekend looking for a PC. Walked into Harvey Norman, got it discounted from $1450 down to $1200 (apparently cost price). Walked over to JB’s, asked us the best price we had so we lied and said $1100. They matched it, threw in anti-virus for free. Seconds later, sales guy (who we weren’t noticing as much as you Bee) hops on the phone and says he needs the manager to authorize the sale of the pc below cost price. Moral of the story, don’t be afraid to haggle on anything, at any cost.
I dunno…I like your style Mr H but I am just so bloody gutless when it comes to those sorts of things!
I’d say you don’t have to try too hard. Just approach male species and the rest will fall into place :-p
Enjoyed this, but it still doesn’t make me any more likely to enter such emporia.
Do you get your minions to do it for you?