Rule number one of comparison shopping

Comparison shopping isn't that difficult most of the time. Stores make it pretty easy. Some of the simplest things can get you, though …

Comparison shopping has gotten much easier to do with search engines and other price alert services.  Retailers have to be more competitive now that pricing information is everywhere.

A friend I've had some online interactions with posted a picture of what he thought was a mistake on the unit pricing tag on a supermarket shelf.

He claimed something to the effect of:  “It's a 13-ounce box of Wheat Thins, but they calculated the unit price based on 15 ounces, so the unit price is lower than it should be.”

Then he made some snarky comments (in good fun) and continued on with life.  The picture he uploaded is below.

As I was focusing on the price first, my first thought was that there was a grocery shrink ray that hit the box recently, and the store hadn't caught the change yet.  No such luck.

Then, I saw what was directly in front of my eyes the whole time.  (You may have seen it more quickly than I did!)

I commented on his picture.  “Um … dude?  That's a box of Triscuits.”

His wall post came down within an hour of that comment.

Fortunately, I had the foresight to save off the picture to my hard drive prior to that.***

Grocery stores sometimes get disorganized

To be very fair … I could have done exactly the same thing on a different day.  I wouldn't put it past myself for a second!

Had the box of Triscuits been in the proper place, this wouldn't have happened.  Of course, though, it's impossible for store employees to keep things in order for everyone, every time, for every product they might want to check out!  They'd have to shadow every shopper, and clean up behind them instantly.

There aren't enough hours in the day, even if the store does keep things in reasonable order.  Some let things get really bad, which makes paying attention even more important.

So, a reminder to make sure that the price tag on the shelf matches the product you're looking at, and not some other product.

Rule number one of comparison shopping:  Compare Wheat Thins to Wheat Thins, not Triscuits.

***I did ask if I could write a post on it.  He was a very good sport and said yes.