Back-to-school shopping time for Christine!
This week, OfficeMax has their 15%-off-everything-you-can-stuff-in-a-paper-bag promotion going on.
It’s a standard sized brown paper grocery bag, and on my shopping safari yesterday I came nowhere near filling it. It can hold a deceivingly large volume of small pricey impulsive things, which is the nefarious plot that lies below the surface of the promotion.
In fact, I only bought about $10.15 worth of various things– a package of highlighters, some index cards, two three-ring binders (good price on the Avery “Durable” ones), a pencil pouch (so I can easily find my stuff, instead of digging around in my backpack for my eraser or pencil leads), and who knows what else. Restraint was used, anyway.
I pay for my loot, and check the receipt before I leave.
And do the math in my head, just to be sure.
There’s no sign of my 15% discount!
The whole ritual of putting-things-in-a-paper-bag-and-get-a-discount was the point of my visit!
Still overpriced, even at 15% off… but oh well.
I went back to the cashier and (sweetly as can be) pointed out the error.
She apologized and gave me my one dollar and fifty-two cents.
I felt a little silly, but I lived up to my end of the contract– I put things into a bag as they required!
Besides, that $1.52 could buy me several ounces of gasoline.
MORAL OF THE STORY:
Always, always, always check to make sure you get any discount you’ve been promised!
Think about the big picture: If 100 people per store, times 1000 stores in the country, don’t get their $1.52 discount, that’s $152,000 that Office Max has stolen from the people of America.
Good for you. I’ve walked out without checking my receipt a couple of times but now I definitely check. It wasn’t about the $1.52 but about the principle of the thing. More people need to hold companies accountable like you did.
I give them the benefit of the doubt that it was an honest mistake. Still, we need to speak up when these things happen.
My kids pick on me for always getting my discounts. I told them every penny counts. Like you said, we can always use the saved funds for a few ounces of gas. (very few)