Couponing vs. Fair Pricing

Lately, as my wife has considered getting into this “couponing” fad, as it is called, it has come to my attention again just how silly some of the pricing schemes can be at most stores for most products.

Of course, this stems from what we've read and watched of “Extreme Couponing” online and on TV. Admittedly, we don't have subscription TV so mostly I'm referring to online reading, but that isn't necessarily the point.

First and foremost, I've heard of people reducing their store bills by as much as 98% on any one particular occasion, but I know that this isn't an actual “norm.” My reading suggests that avid couponers can regularly see savings of 50% or so with a reasonable investment of time and currency, and I am going to support it if my wife wants to get into it simply for that. Half off of anything is still half off. That said, I cannot understand the madness that leads to couponing in the first place.

No, I don't mean that the consumers are mad – that I do totally understand. The madness on the side of the stores and salespeople, however, I will never be able to understand or truly tolerate.

So some people are able to save money on goods and services by cutting small pieces of paper out of larger pieces of paper that magically make the value of the item their buying decrease?

I find intense anger with the entire concept that a simple, consistent, fair price cannot be established on items sold at the store. If it costs X to make, advertise, stock, distribute, and sell a particular item, why is the sale price not as simple as X + profit? Why does the profit variable change from day to day or week to week due to “sale pricing” and “reduced for quick sale” situations? Why can I go to one store and buy an item for $1.09 but at another store across the street the same thing is $2.29 or $1.89?

And – yes this all boils down to inconveniencing me – why the hell should I have to be bothered with all of the bullshit in order to find the actual fair price of the item I want?

All of this leads into discussion of the websites like Groupon. Yes, I know there are others, but they are the only one I can think of by title. I won't visit these sites anyway because they tend to require JavaScript to operate, which means the likelihood of annoying advertising being displayed increases ten-fold. That aside, these sites claim too-good-to-be-true offers can be had, like a $500 professional photo-shoot for $65 or a $300 boot camp program for $59, and I've always been taught that if it looks too-good-to-be-true, it probably is. Regardless, my anger again directs itself at the provider of these services: If you can truly afford to offer these things to consumers at these supposedly reduced prices, you are massively ripping off customers at the regular prices

In other words, if I see the coupons, I'm not more likely to buy the item, I'm LESS likely simply because I decide that their regular price is a huge rip-off.

Fact is, I'd love to see a wave of outraged consumers run amok at a Wal-Mart or Meijer store because of this sort of crap, because I think this is riot-worthy. If you can sell it to me fair and square at a lower price, but are CHOOSING to rip me off, yes, that makes me extremely angry. I believe this sort of thing should infuriate Americans across the country, but I know better.

So yeah, I write about how I feel about it on my blog, but I know better than to think I can change it...

...unless someone has a mob at their disposal that is ready for a random grocery store riot.  Ha!