An Offer You Can’t Refuse

Feb 25, 2010 by winjaw

You gotta love a deal.

The Little Black Dress loves deals, also known as “sales.”  She can find a deal/sale that blows your mind.  She’s the one that finds the half off of half off sale plus the secret coupon for another 10 percent off.  And she’ll proudly come up with four new pairs of jeans for the Sons of Thunder and talk about how much she saved.

The fact said jeans are plaid is not the point.  The fact she also bought four pairs, thus actually spending as much as if there was no sale, is not relevant.

My idea of saving on purchases is to not purchase. So we differ a little there.

Anyway … now I’ve got a deal, and from Time magazine no less. The “deal” is so good you just have to sit back and think about it for a while.  

Time is offering me 56 weeks of their magazine for the incredible price of $20.  By subscribing, I will save $232.45.  That is not a misprint. The “cover price” is $252.45. I can’t even begin to do the math on what percent off that is.

But wait, there’s more. (Shades of the old bamboo steamer with the free Ginsu knives are rolling through my head).

If I act now – apparently like right now – I will get an additional six months FREE.  If my math is right, the regular price for 56 weeks works out to about $4.50 an issue.  Their offer for 56 weeks works out to about 35 cents per issue.  Adding the additional 26 weeks gives me a total of 82 issues, which works out to about 24 cents per copy.

So, the deal goes from $4.50 an issue down to 24 cents per issue by subscribing.  I have no idea how anything can drop that much.

But again, “wait, there’s more.”

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Um. Basically, Time is telling me they will include everything in the issue that’s included in every issue anyway. Sort of like if you buy this pair of jeans for price “X” they will include the legs. And the pockets. And the buttons/zipper.

One more “but wait, there’s more.”

Time also is giving me the “ULTRONIC Laser Level.”  This device apparently projects a straight level line up to 20 feet; includes a 10-foot self-retracting measuring tape; includes laser technology (if it’s a laser, wouldn’t it have “laser technology?”); and has a handy suction cup.

So there.  The suction cup sold me.

I’m not picking on Time, but rather pointing out the absurd marketing ploys companies are trying to get you to buy their product.  If you want the product and think it’s worth whatever they are offering, then buy it.  But to throw in extra gimmicks and tell me your going to include stuff that’s already included is almost insulting.

Create a great product. Sell it at a competitive price. Move on.

I always kid the Little Black Dress on sales.  I try to remind her the 40 percent off that $75 shirt isn’t really 40 percent off. Because what happens is the store shuts down the night before to prepare for the REALLY BIG SALE.  What they are actually doing is marking everything up first – so that $75 shirt somehow becomes a $100 shirt just like that.  Then they mark it down 40 percent.

So you’re getting the $75 – now $100 – shirt for $60. What a deal.

Especially when you consider it cost about $1.63 to make.