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Fredrik Eriksson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2009 13:31:26 +0200, Invisible <voi### [at] dev null> wrote:
>>
>> Did you hear the story about the guy who sent back an envelope full of
>> dimes, just heavy enough to put it into the next postage class, so the
>> advertiser had to pay extra duty on it? And when they complained that
>> he sent a bunch of dimes rather than a form, he said he did it by
>> mistake, and demanded that they *return* the money to him, so they
>> sent him a cheque for $0.18 or whatever it was.
>
> http://bash.org/?127039
>
> Follow-up:
> http://bash.org/?743595
Right. So *definitely* 100% balony then! ;-)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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On 26-5-2009 20:54, Fredrik Eriksson wrote:
> On Tue, 26 May 2009 13:31:26 +0200, Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>
>> Did you hear the story about the guy who sent back an envelope full of
>> dimes, just heavy enough to put it into the next postage class, so the
>> advertiser had to pay extra duty on it? And when they complained that
>> he sent a bunch of dimes rather than a form, he said he did it by
>> mistake, and demanded that they *return* the money to him, so they
>> sent him a cheque for $0.18 or whatever it was.
>
> http://bash.org/?127039
>
> Follow-up:
> http://bash.org/?743595
Can't be a follow up. This is within a day from when it happened (where
were you earlier? at work) whereas the guy in the first one already has
the check in hand. So either check was by e-mail or he did the same
stunt twice with GTE Visa or the order of the events is impossible.
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Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
> That's *great*. I actually have a cheque around here somewhere that's a
> refund from a pay phone. I was making a local call ($0.25 at the time),
> used my last quarter, and the damned phone ate it. I called the operator
> and asked for credit, and they asked for an address to mail me a cheque -
> and then I had to place my call *collect*.
Talking about mentally small cheques: Did you hear about the peple who got mail
that they owed a company $0,00 - and every attempt to settle that debt failed,
because... well, how'd you pay $0,00 :P
Some guy finally wrote them a letter claiming to have enclosed the $0,00 in cash
;)
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clipka wrote:
> Talking about mentally small cheques: Did you hear about the peple who got mail
> that they owed a company $0,00 - and every attempt to settle that debt failed,
> because... well, how'd you pay $0,00 :P
>
> Some guy finally wrote them a letter claiming to have enclosed the $0,00 in cash
> ;)
I don't know about that, but I did see a *verified* report about a
some interesting looks from the people at the bank. And when he
explained why, they weren't sure if their computer systems could
actually process the cheque.)
It was on a special about electricity providers doing dumb things. Like
the women who had just moved house. Opened her first bill, and saw it
much electricity in just 6 months, the wires to her house would have to
be molten copper due to the extreme current involved...
(The electricity company suddenly stopped chasing her once it was
mentioned on TV. Funny, that.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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>> There's some interesting psychology in there. I mean, like, "buy 1,
>> get one free". Sounds great, right?
>>
>> So how about "buy 1, pay for 2 even though you only bought 1".
>> Suddenly it doesn't sound so great, does it? :-P All they're really
>> doing is doubling the marked price of the individual item.
>
> Uh..."buy 1, get 1 free" doesn't mean "buy 1, pay for 2". it means buy
> one, pay 1/2. at least, that's how it works at the local grocery store.
I don't follow.
>> Apparently it's a well-known fact that whether something is presented
>> as a cost or a discount has a large effect on consumer behaviour. If
>> you say "buy 10 and get a 10% discount", people think that's great. If
>> you say "buy less than 10 and get a 10% surcharge" it's not so great.
>
> Except that's not the same thing at all. Things *cost more* in small
> amounts. When you buy in bulk, you can get a reduced price because the
> cost of production *really is* less.
Sure. But your local Tesco is going to buy (and transport) 12,000 tins
of beans (or whatever) no matter what, so how many of them *you* buy is
irrelevant. And yet, if you buy 10 of them, they give you 10% off the
price. (Or, more accurately, if you buy less than 10 they charge you extra.)
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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Darren New wrote:
> Or "we'll forego some of our profit to get rid of this stock we're
> paying rental space to hold, so we can put something more popular there."
That's slightly different. If something isn't selling too well, or if
it's last season's product or something, they'll maybe do a "clearance".
But plain tins of baked beans, they always have those in stock. The 10%
off isn't to help them get the shelf space back; it's to make you buy
more of them.
Random fact: Last time my sister came to stay at our house, she
discovered *sixty eight* packs of tea in the building. I'm talking about
the big packs that last half a year. Basically when they're on sale, my
mum buys as many as will fit in the trolly (or maybe takes two trollies
- I am *not* kidding!) and stockpiles them. When they're not on special
offer, she doesn't buy any.
For tea it works. For, say, icecream... not so much. But she hasn't
worked that part out yet.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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andrel wrote:
> Can't be a follow up. This is within a day from when it happened (where
> were you earlier? at work) whereas the guy in the first one already has
> the check in hand. So either check was by e-mail or he did the same
> stunt twice with GTE Visa or the order of the events is impossible.
Or they weren't reported/entered in the db in real-time. Neither
specifies an exact date.
--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.freesitespace.net
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>>> There's some interesting psychology in there. I mean, like, "buy 1,
>>> get one free". Sounds great, right?
>>>
>>> So how about "buy 1, pay for 2 even though you only bought 1".
>>> Suddenly it doesn't sound so great, does it? :-P All they're really
>>> doing is doubling the marked price of the individual item.
>>
>> Uh..."buy 1, get 1 free" doesn't mean "buy 1, pay for 2". it means
>> buy one, pay 1/2. at least, that's how it works at the local grocery
>> store.
>
> I don't follow.
It means if it says "Buy one for $10, get one free", then you can buy one
for $5.
Altho I think that's more like "Two for $10" being "One for $5", now that I
think of it. I'm not sure "buy one get one free" always means you can get
one for half price.
>> Except that's not the same thing at all. Things *cost more* in small
>> amounts. When you buy in bulk, you can get a reduced price because
>> the cost of production *really is* less.
>
> Sure. But your local Tesco is going to buy (and transport) 12,000 tins
> of beans (or whatever) no matter what, so how many of them *you* buy is
> irrelevant.
Not true.
> And yet, if you buy 10 of them, they give you 10% off the
> price. (Or, more accurately, if you buy less than 10 they charge you
> extra.)
If you buy fewer (meaning more people buy the same number), they pay more
rent for storing them, they pay more in credit card transaction fees, they
pay more interest on the money used to buy them in the first place, etc.
--
Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
There's no CD like OCD, there's no CD I knoooow!
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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
>> Uh..."buy 1, get 1 free" doesn't mean "buy 1, pay for 2". it means
>> buy one, pay 1/2. at least, that's how it works at the local grocery
>> store.
>
> I don't follow.
Items marked "buy one, get one free" are, in practise, "half off". You
aren't required to take the free item, but since the advertised price
works out to getting X for the normal price of one, they divide the
total price evenly among the items.
> Sure. But your local Tesco is going to buy (and transport) 12,000 tins
> of beans (or whatever) no matter what, so how many of them *you* buy is
> irrelevant. And yet, if you buy 10 of them, they give you 10% off the
> price. (Or, more accurately, if you buy less than 10 they charge you
> extra.)
>
Not quite. Supermarkets do vary how much product X they carry based on
demand. They are required by law to discard anything expired, so if
they consistently have too much, they're losing a *lot* more money.
As for 10% less vs. extra, let's see if I can come up with a useful
thought experiment...
Suppose you start out selling pencils for two cents each. As time goes
by, you find that there are two sorts of customers: one habitually buys
one or two, and another in large batches that are always even multiples
of ten. Now, when *you* order them from the factory, it's in batches of
a thousand. It's more paperwork, hence expense, for you to service the
single-item buyer. The guy who buys in bulk costs you less money. You
decide to encourage him to buy more from you by giving his purchase
habit a discount. Are you charging the singles-buyer are more than
before? No.
--
Tim Cook
http://empyrean.freesitespace.net
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>> I don't follow.
>
> It means if it says "Buy one for $10, get one free", then you can buy
> one for $5.
>
> Altho I think that's more like "Two for $10" being "One for $5", now
> that I think of it. I'm not sure "buy one get one free" always means you
> can get one for half price.
Round there, the deal is like this:
The item is priced at £10. If you buy one, it costs you £10. If you
buy two, it costs you £10. If you buy three, it costs £20, if you buy
four, it costs £20. And so on.
In other words, the item's "real" sale price is actually £5, but if you
only buy one, there's a 100% surcharge. But they like to phrase it as
"if you buy two, you get the second one absolutely free". (Which,
clearly, is untrue.)
Similar offers include "3 for 2", "buy 9 get 1 free", and so on.
> If you buy fewer (meaning more people buy the same number), they pay
> more rent for storing them, they pay more in credit card transaction
> fees, they pay more interest on the money used to buy them in the first
> place, etc.
Well, I'm not in retail. I very much doubt the things you're talking
about are financially significant, but I don't know. However, I would
strongly suspect that the true reason is simply to convince people to
buy more than they otherwise would (possibly more than they actually
need). Some people (like my mother) mistakenly believe that buying an
item at a lower price per item necessarily equals saving money.
--
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*
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