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I tend to buy the same grocery items over and over, so remembering the prices is not too hard. Inevitably the price creeps upward and I wish my memory wasn't so good! I have to "renegotiate" in my mind: is this worth that extra amount, or should I look elsewhere because they've pushed it out of my preferred price range? For example, there's a frozen food item I love that I can find in several supermarkets, but each of the three markets sells it for a different price. It's worth what I pay at WalMart, and in a pinch at Winn-Dixie (a dollar more), but I refuse to pay Publix's price (which is $1.25 more than WalMart). It might sound silly to balk over quarters, but this is the (pleasant) result of having so many shopping choices. Time once spent simply finding food of any sort is now spent obsessing over what we're willing to pay, the ingredients lists, the calorie counts, "is it gluten free?" and such.
The pet food I buy from Amazon is the same price or cheaper than my local store..
I have Amazon prime so I get free shipping.
BUT I found out that you've got to check prices within the Amazon site itself. Prime items may have different sellers and they'll all be different prices. Some of the prices are outrageous.
It's also helpful to use their price tracking feature to see the range and trend of prices over time - also you can set alerts so if the price falls to the price you specify you'll be notified.
$99 does not = free. It never has, and it never will.
I have been buying from Amazon for about five years now. Even without Prime, almost anything can be had with free shipping. I can think of one instance where I had to pay for shipping, and it wasn't that much. Prime, on the other hand, would have cost me almost $500 by now, with absolutely no benefit to me.
I do. Use it in stews, pastas, an occasional salad. The catch (no puns intended) was I use to be able to buy the whole fish, minus head and guts, at $2.97/lb. I would buy a couple of fish, cut them into steaks, baggie them into the freezer. I haven't been able to buy them, at that price or that "format" for years. Now, everything is fillet and boneless and at a much higher price.
So at least with the canned stuff, I am at the same price before everything became so specialized.
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Originally Posted by harry chickpea
This all goes back to the balance of cost, ethics, quality, availability.
I have to chuckle at people who try to play the ethics card with music or film. Having seen the inner workings, I can assure you that those industries are the most UNethical, manipulative, and downright despicable of any you can find. Playing "ethics" at the tail end is in some cases colluding. It was only recently that claiming copyright to "Happy Birthday" was determined to be fraudulent. I could go into a rant on other abuses, but I'll spare you.
Then let's not say ethics but tactics. They are the ones with the big money. To keep myself safe from any blackmail by a family member that I have pirated materials, I have properly bought consumer copies of my A/V stuff. While the likelihood of someone coming after me is low, following such a procedure keeps my BP down.
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......... Someone who buys a high priced scotch to make a whiskey sour is just wasting money......
More expensive "whiskey" makes one's hangovers easier.
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Originally Posted by AlaskaErik
I have been buying from Amazon for about five years now. Even without Prime, almost anything can be had with free shipping. I can think of one instance where I had to pay for shipping, and it wasn't that much. Prime, on the other hand, would have cost me almost $500 by now, with absolutely no benefit to me.
Tell us how you do it because if I don't use Prime, I am paying $3.99 s&h per item, even when it is coming from the same location (Zoverstocks does well by me).
When things are the same or near the same cost, then it doesn't make sense to skimp and try to save. Yesterday at Hastings, for instance, the DVD of "Fifty Shades of Gray" was $16.99....which was the same cost as the Blu Ray in a different section of the store. With no difference, I went back to the Blu Ray section and got that one.
If the used DVD is $.01 plus $3.99 s&h and the Prime is new and $5.19, I'll probably get the latter. If in anything else, might as well use the service I am paying for.
Last edited by TamaraSavannah; 07-24-2016 at 03:30 PM..
Yuk! Not me. If I eat salmon, it's something that was caught in the wild. No farmed or genetically engineered Frankenfish for me.
Any canned salmon I've seen is wild caught Alaskan, and from my research is processed in the USA, unlike the bulk of Alaskan salmon that's shipped overseas for processing.
I have never seen farmed salmon on cans.
That said, I've never bought canned salmon at a dollar store or WalMart.
Generally make a grocery etc shopping list for 3-4 stores stopping at Walmart first and then going towards home.
Items on list are duplicated. With Walmart, they have some things packaged not available at the other stores so will pick accordingly price not important. Have paid a few cents more which would be cheaper then the gas spent for 2-3 items at another store.
Eventually will cross off stopping at 1-2 places on my list. My list will consist of a few things I am getting low on and will check MUST BUY from the list with price a minor factor if I'm low.
Most of the time I only buy 2/3 of the items on my list......some things I can pass on.
Have posted many times in the past where I was in the Grocery trade for 23 yrs so know what is what and why.
Store prices can vary depending on original COST along with some items being LOSS LEADERS sold at COST or close to COST......profit margin being made up on other items sold at the register.
Yesterday at Hastings, for instance, the DVD of "Fifty Shades of Gray" was $16.99....which was the same cost as the Blu Ray in a different section of the store. With no difference, I went back to the Blu Ray section and got that one.
You buy food at Dollar General, but you'll throw away $17 on THAT movie? It has a 25% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Penny-wise, pound foolish.
Edited to add that the DVD is $9.99 on Amazon Prime...
With all the kids I have, I shop ALOT. I pretty much know what is a good deal, or not, for stuff in the stores in my area.
I don't shop online much AT ALL.
I'd have to disagree about the Victorias Secret / Walmart issue.
VS is much higher quality.
WalMart stuff looks great on a hanger, not so much ON. It does not withstand wearing & washing the way that VS does.
Now a pound of butter at WalMart for $3 vs a pound of butter elsewhere for $5? Yes, of course I'm going to get it at WalMart.
A bar of soap from the dollar store? Sure.
Razors from the dollar store? Oh h*ll no; unless you enjoy slicing yourself to shreds!
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