By: Revanche
March: It never hurts to ask
April 3, 2010
As always, every little bit counts! And as always, you’re welcome to share!
From me
Don’t leave home without your coupons: I already know this, but I still did it. Having promised myself a few additions to my rather-shabby wardrobe, I went into a Martin + Osa to poke around, certain I wouldn’t find anything. Sure enough, sale and regular priced items were equally out of my price range.
I tried a top anyway, and a sales associate attached herself to me. She kept bringing me more clothes to try on, trying to figure out what I was looking for in the “semi-business casual” sense. Normally this annoys me to no end, but she didn’t. We piled up an impressive array of clothes that didn’t fit, and a small stack of clothes that did fit. The only problem? She’d pulled clothes that weren’t even out on the sales floor and there’s no way I was going to buy without a sale AND without a coupon.
I explained that I’d left our (20% coupon) at home because I wasn’t expecting to shop, and that I’d love to buy that day but didn’t feel comfortable spending 20% more than I would have with the coupon. Was there anything in-store they had on hand?
She produced a Friends and Family coupon for the entire purchase which was actually better than mine by 5%. I ended up selecting enough to constitute a Major Purchase so I saved $65 after spending a whole lot more.
Another banking goof: During an internet blackout/packing frenzy, I missed topping up my checking account by just a few dollars. A stupid mistake was costing me $34, until I reached a Citi rep over the phone and explained that I’d been unable to get online to transfer money. The fee waiver was immediately credited to my account. Back to keeping a bigger cushion and closer eye on the checking account.
The missing link: Shopping for a belt at Kohl’s, I was again, unarmed with a coupon. At the register, I asked the cashier if there was a coupon out that I’d forgotten to clip and she said, “I’m sure there’s something out there, I’ll just give you 15% off!”
Wow, always makes me wish we had coupons here, but sadly we don’t!
The rules of bargaining can be strange 🙂 That’s what essentially is going on again. But you are only allowed to bargain if you can claim that someone else (with coupon) was given a discount.
Otherwise, it sounds like you settling in pretty fast in Northern CA. Sounds good!
We don’t have coupons in Australia either at least not on the scale of coupons in the US. I wonder whether there is any research on why that is?
Thanks for posting this, now I wouldn’t hesitate to ask. You’ll never know unless you ask.
Wow! Important reminder.
I’ve never had bad customer service at Kohls. A lady once gave me the senior citizen discount when it came to cutting coupons. Good job on the belt!
@frugaltrenches: I had no idea you didn’t have coupons! Not that all?
@mOOm: They are, aren’t they? I’m glad to see it’s less strange. That’s a curious fact that Australia doesn’t have a big couponing culture either, do you also see a difference between the shopping and advertising cultures as well?
@Ciawy, me in millions: Yes indeed!
@Serendipity: I’ve noticed the same thing, I wonder how they train their employees.
The supermarket and hardware store etc. business is controlled by two conglomerates across the country. Supermarkets are Woolworths and Coles and each has a bunch of other related business. David Jones and Myer dominate the upmarket department store business. There are independent grocers in the IGA network and Aldi has a lot of stores now but each only has a few percent of national sales. So maybe it doesn’t make sense to compete with coupons under a duopoly system. But all these firms have reduced items and deals often and the department stores always seem to be having “sales”.
What I have noticed here is how much the price of a given item can vary between stores even in the same neighborhood. People can’t be doing that much shopping around. I know people who never go to Aldi even though its prices are much lower on many items.
@mOOm: So Australia still has Woolworth’s! Hm, was that originally a British company?
I think it’s interesting that there’s that much of a price differential across the regions when they’re essentially owned by two major companies.
The history of the Woolworth’s name is complicated. The US company was the original. The UK one was a subsidiary which was then independent. Neither exist anymore.
The Australian one was only named after the American company and had no relation to it. It’s funny that this one still exists and is highly successful.
Oh I remember there is a South African one too, just checked and it was also just named after FW Woolworth. It also still exists. It sells clothes while the Australian one sells food.