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rsmith6621 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:27 PM
Original message
The Price Of Toilet Paper....... Read


Are you folks pricewatchers when you shop for your weekly supplys???

I have noticed somthing recently that is interesting while picking out my supply of Toilet Paper......

Product.......Charmin

4 Pack........ .73cents
12 Pack........$3.25.......Marked ValuePack
24 Pack........$7.59........Marked SuperValue pack.

Are my math skills not up to date or are people being ROBBED without thinking about it.....

At the 4 Pack price each roll is .18.5 cents

X 12 = $2.19.....actual .27ct
X 24 = $4.38......actual .31ct


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movie_girl99 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:30 PM
Response to Original message
1. we have noticed the same thing
but couldnt figure out why tp has gone up in price
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Heddi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:31 PM
Response to Original message
2. it's not just toilet paper
it's alot of things in bulk---I can't think of anything off the top of my head, and I may be incorrect but let me just use the example of, say, napkins.

We buy napkins at the dollar store---$1.00 for 250 napkins. At costco, you can buy a billion napkins for $7.00. But you're still paying more per napkin than you would if you just bought a billion napkins at the dollar store at $1.00/250 napkins.

Buying in bulk (either at costco, or in the 'value packs' at the store) CAN save money IN SOME CASES---but not in all.

That's why we take a calculator to the store with us---not to tally up our shopping total as we go along---but rather to see if the "value packs" really are the value that they claim to be
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Hello_Kitty Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:33 PM
Response to Reply #2
7. I do too. Always compare the unit price. n/t
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arwalden Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:48 PM
Response to Reply #7
23. Some Stores Aren't Consistent With That
For example:

The shelf tag for the national brand of some product will will have $7.99 (.50 per ounce) --- The comparable product next to it will say $4.99 ($4.99 per pound). Grrrr.
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Heddi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:55 PM
Response to Reply #23
26. Yeah. They try to screw you that way
Luckily because of my previous schooling in Culinary Arts, as well as my current schooling in nursing, I have to know conversions btwn Metric & American. But most people don't.

Or Package One will be listed as X oz, and package Two will be listed as X grams, so it's hard to convert between the two.

And not all tags have the per-unit price on them...and it's hard to see the tags if you're getting something off the bottom shelf (you'd have to lay down on the floor and squint reeeely hard).

They certainly don't make it easy to compare prices!
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oneold1-4u Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:56 PM
Response to Reply #2
14. Costco and quantity
Finding the food line at Costco being of better quality (especially fresh meats and vegs) I make room in freezer and cupboards for buying in quantity when I can get to a store. Not one in my town. Costco is the best for reimbursing for anything faulty or unuseable.
Since it seems that a lot of people will believe "anything" without considering any fact, it is no wonder that consumer products take every advantage. If someone thinks we really have a president of the US today they are likely open to buying silk TP at $20 a roll!
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Heddi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 05:00 PM
Response to Reply #14
27. I found we saved SO much $$ thru costco by buying things like
Ziploc Bags, Plastic Wrap, and Aluminum Foil---those were things that we would nearly go to Target every week to buy.

At target, we were spending $2.00 for 100 off-brand "Ziploc" bags. We spend $7 for 1500 "name brand Ziploc Bags" at Costco, and they last FOREVER.

we were also going through alot of plastic wrap (we, too, buy meat & veggies in bulk and cook in bulk and use alot in freezing items) Again, we were going to Target weekly or bi-monthly to replace the few-hundred-square feet of Saran Wrap at $3.00 or so a box.

BUT--we went to Costco TWO YEARS AGO (not exaggerating in the least!) and bought a few hundred thousand feet roll of Restaurant-quality plastic wrap for about $7, and we use it just as much as we ever did, and we're not even 1/4 of the way through the roll. I imagine that roll will be around when kingdom comes!

We do the same with dish detergetnt and aluminum foil---buying those kinds of "always going to use them" products in bulk may cost a bit upfront if you buy them all at once, but it not only saves you $$ that you would spend buying shorter-quantity at the store, but it saves us TRIPS to the store as well.
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bobweaver Donating Member (953 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:31 PM
Response to Original message
3. Are there little scraps that say "Ohio" "provisional" "Kerry" & "Edwards"?
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bobbobbins Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:32 PM
Response to Original message
4. I buy mine used, for additional discounts
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sui generis Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:39 PM
Response to Reply #4
9. "slightly pre-owned" or recycled?
slung or unslung?
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greyfox Donating Member (692 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:00 PM
Response to Reply #4
16. Not sure I wanna use the bathroom
at your house... used toilet paper????
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bobbobbins Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:13 PM
Response to Reply #16
19. mildly used...just one side...the others perfectly useable
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greyfox Donating Member (692 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 05:40 PM
Response to Reply #19
28. OOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo
I should have realized! Okay, I'll come over and use your bathroom. Thanks for clearing that up! How silly of me.
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shoelace414 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:32 PM
Response to Original message
5. simpler showing
4 rolls = $1.00
6 rolls = $2.00
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NoSheep Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:33 PM
Response to Original message
6. Lots of items in our stores priced this way. n/t
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Canadian Socialist Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:36 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. Here in Canada
unit prices must be marked. e.g. $.40/100 gm (for food) or $.40/roll etc. I just made the $ amounts up. Makes it easy to compare prices vs sizes.
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FlaGranny Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:43 PM
Response to Reply #8
22. Here in the U.S., they also mark the unit price.
You just have to look at the small print on the shelf tags. Many people don't realize the unit price is even there, but it is.
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Buns_of_Fire Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:42 PM
Response to Original message
10. 25 cents each --OR-- three for $1.00!
Ah, the wonders of modern marketing! ::gazing around in awe:: :-)
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MsTryska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:44 PM
Response to Original message
11. a 4-pack is 73 cents?
is this red charmin or blue charmin? I got a 4-pack of blue charmin ultra jsut this past weekend and my roommate said that it came to $3.14 (seemed expensive for a 4pack to me)
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RebelOne Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:51 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. A 4-pack in my neck of the woods is $1.00 to $1.25.
I don't know anywhere you could get a 4-pack of even generic TP for less than $1.00
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K-W Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:47 PM
Response to Original message
12. Wow, Ive definately fallen for this for years
and never noticed.

Wow. It doesnt matter what you want to call us, consumers, workers, whatever, we still get screwed over at every pass.
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oneold1-4u Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:02 PM
Response to Reply #12
17. Once coupon-ed
They are often as bad as "specials". Now I check them against last week or last months prices. They have to save enough for the gas to the store or they get tossed!
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necso Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 03:58 PM
Response to Original message
15. This is a widespread technique,
taking advantage of the fact that many people think that buying in larger quantities always results in lower unit cost.

With different sheet sizes (of paper products generally), number per roll and quality, making an informed decision is non-trivial. Of course, the suppliers wish only to make maximum profits and rigging the game in this way is part and parcel of this process.

Myself, I have noticed the disappearance of "seconds" labels from the grocery outlet stores that I shop, even when the products clearly seem to be so... once they have been purchased.
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msgadget Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:06 PM
Response to Reply #15
18. I noticed something similar when diaper prices
differed according to brand. Without notice a pack would suddenly be short a couple for the same price.

I have a problem with the huge packages of paper towels that aren't a bargain. Most are single ply, skinny little rolls that don't save any money because they're used so quickly.
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necso Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:26 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. My favorite "short-sheeting" is
what has happened to cans of condensed soup (because it is so obvious). These have gotten steadily smaller for years.

And to think that people are making good money for thinking up all these deceptions.

This is the real face of the modern American economy... along with all the high-powered marketing trying to make the consumer purchase stuff based on advertising alone -- and without even considering alternatives.

Oh well.
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SoCalDem Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:32 PM
Response to Original message
21. Order up some "Shit Be Gone" paper.. they are liberal, and they deliver
Edited on Mon Jan-10-05 04:41 PM by SoCalDem
This is NOT a joke item.. It's real, shipping cost is included in price....but...

Red State Embargo Continues
Exceptions available.

Economic embargo on Red States continues

Because of their support for war, terrorism, and backwards social and human rights policies, ShitBegone.com no longer recognizes those U.S. States which voted to re-elect George W. Bush. Our Economic Embargo on the Red States will continue until further notice.

Individual Red State customers, who are actively engaged in resisting the Iraq war or other specific Bush administration policies, are invited to apply for exceptions via email. Applications will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. If an exception is granted, you will be given instructions on how to order off-line by check or credit card.


www.shitbegone.com




Link to pricing

http://www.shitbegone.com/catalog/index.php?cPath=22?osCsid=0942a09ab0aa3aca0cb021247dc2f6ee
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Lorien Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:51 PM
Response to Original message
24. This is a good topic for the "economic activism and
progressive living" forum in DU groups.

:hi:
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Heddi Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 04:52 PM
Response to Original message
25. Another way not to get scammed at the grocery store re: coupons
Don't use coupons the first 2 weeks that they come out of the newspaper (you know the coupon packs in the SUnday Paper)---

A friend of mine was a buyer for grocery stores in the southeast for a number of years, and the stores would know what items were going to be "couponed" in that week's paper---so they would hold off on "sale" or "discount" prices for those items for one, and generally two weeks after that item appeared in the paper.

So clip your coupons on Sunday, but don't use them for at least three weeks. Generally (not always), you'll see that the first two weeks after the coupons are printed, the prices are the same, if not HIGHER, than they were the week or so before. However, after that 2-week period, the price goes down and you can get the product cheaper

Ex: Let's say you have a coupon for $.75 off of a box of detergent. Pre-coupon days (the weeks and months before that coupon comes out), the detergent is reguarly priced for $3.00 a bottle. However, during the 'coupon period', magically, the price of THAT degertent will go up by .25 or .50 a bottle....so you're getting money off, but not as MUCH as you would if you wait. They do that on purpose so they don't 'lose' so much on the retail price vs wholesale price. But, if you wait a few weeks, you'll see that the detergent (generally) will go back down to $3.00 or even lower.

That was her little spheil to me, as much as that's worth.

Oh! And another thing: For people who are "brand name junkies" and CANNOT do without a "Brand Name" because store brand or generic "just isn't the same"---IT *IS* the same as the brand name.

I think my friend said that somewhere between 75-80% of store brand products are actuall MADE by the 'name brand' companies, and is the exact same recipe as used in the name brand version. I know that in the SOuth, Harris-Teeter brand ketchup and Food Lion Ketchup were both made by Heinz and were the total same exact product as Heinz Ketchup, only $2 cheaper a bottle!

So don't get hung up on name brands! Buy the store brand and chances are quite high that you're getting a name brand but with a different label.
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onecent Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Jan-10-05 05:42 PM
Response to Original message
29. Eggs at Walmart - Check the prices of 18 eggs vs a dozen eggs
Also the Macademia nuts I buy...the can size changed. Same price, smaller can.
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