|
cash crab posted:pet stuff I'm reminded how recently it became news that Blue Buffalo, after a lawsuit from I want to say Purina (I'd look it up, but  ) revealed that for several years, despite being the brand that advertised that they were completely honest about their ingredients list unlike the competitors (emphasis theirs) they in fact often were lying about their own ingredients and had lots of corn and gluten in their products as primary ingredients. This is the same thing they accused competitors of doing explicitly in their ads. This is a big deal if you have a dog or cat that's sensitive, and in this day and age, especially with small dogs, that's not so crazy.
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 09:02
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 18:52 |
|
|
1000 Brown M and Ms posted:I just found out about a scummy thing that some shops do, but I'm not sure how common it is. Basically, they have two normal retail prices. There's the normal one, then a higher regular price for sales. That way, they can advertise a larger discount during sales or even have something on sale for a higher price than normal. I would classify this as more of a psychological quirk on the part of customers that businesses have to indulge in order to stay competitive and drum up business. JC Penny('s new CEO) did an experiment a few years ago; they decided that their customers were adults who would appreciate just being given a normal price all the time instead of being jerked around by constant sales and high base retail prices that are always mysteriously marked down by 50% or whatever. Sounds like a nice, open, honest way of doing business, doesn't it? Refreshing even. http://business.time.com/2012/05/17/why-jcpenneys-no-more-coupons-experiment-is-failing/ That's just one article, there are dozens, but the bottom line is, it almost ruined the company. Turns out people like feeling like they saved money, even though a part of them probably knows it's all a game. Hell, I bought a couple shirts today for like 40 bucks and they told me at the register that I saved 65 dollars today  , and my automatic mental reaction was, "wow, that's a good deal." I mean, I immediately thought that no, it was just a normal shirt price for a non-designer shirt made out of an inexpensive material in a basic design. I'm a very rational person, by and large, and I still had that automatic reaction.That mental reaction is a very real and powerful thing, especially for people who aren't as aware of the game as much as I am. And at this point, it's basically inertia - if every other store is having sales all the time with big red signs saying Everything Must Go and Today Only and You Save THIS MUCH, and your store doesn't, your store isn't competing. It's a fascinating story. (There were other big, subversive changes that the new CEO made that probably helped JCPenny tank, but that was the one that stands out).
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 09:23
|
|
|
It's the Goldilocks effect. A pair of shoes for $40 will seem like a better deal than the exact same pair for $60, but the same pair of shoes for $20 will seem like a worse deal. It's why sales seem like such a bargain, even if the item itself (or the actual price you're paying) does not change.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 10:18
|
|
|
Oh yeah, I know why companies do that kind of thing, but I still think it's a bit scummy. However, I'm not talking about companies that seem to permanently have sales. That's been covered here. I'm talking about companies that have competitive normal retail prices for most of the year, but when Christmas or whatever comes along, they bump up the price of everything so the sales look better. That's a little different and more scummy to me.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 13:23
|
|
|
Aphrodite posted:Amazon's retail price on all their listings is total bullshit too, to make it look like everything is discounted. The higher prices aren't so much fake as they are only available in one tiny store that they don't really advertise, usually at some corporate site. Although that's not to say companies don't try to cheat the rules as much as they can but legally if they state a price that is being discounted from it is supposed to be available at that price somewhere.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 15:45
|
|
|
Have you ever seen a bunch of sellers on sites like Amazon with glowing reviews that all happen to have an old book in stock, but the ship date on all of them is ridiculously long? Surprise: they're robots! The listings are all marked up higher than the actual value of the book to make it seem that it's worth more. The accounts don't actually have the books; they're set up to scrape a ton of book-selling sites and automatically buy the book whenever it becomes available for a low enough price.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 16:07
|
|
|
1000 Brown M and Ms posted:Oh yeah, I know why companies do that kind of thing, but I still think it's a bit scummy. Depending on how close they cut it this is technically false advertising and every once in a while a retailer will get a slap on the wrist for it.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 17:09
|
|
|
1000 Brown M and Ms posted:Oh yeah, I know why companies do that kind of thing, but I still think it's a bit scummy. Several companies have actually gotten sued and force to pay for it when they've done poo poo like "MASSIVE GOING OUT OF BUSINESS SALE! EVERYTHING MUST GO!" while having most of the stuff in the store actually be a higher price than it should be. The other scummy thing is "everything in the store up to 90% off!" So long as at least one thing is in fact 90% off they aren't lying. I'm sure we can all think of a local company that has been going out of business for the past decade.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 17:26
|
|
|
1000 Brown M and Ms posted:I just found out about a scummy thing that some shops do, but I'm not sure how common it is. Basically, they have two normal retail prices. There's the normal one, then a higher regular price for sales. That way, they can advertise a larger discount during sales or even have something on sale for a higher price than normal. To those liquidation companies that are in no way affiliated with a business when they go out of business, this is the norm. I still don't know how people fall for this poo poo in 2015, but it's always psychologically inviting to get "80% OFF!!!" of something that's already waaay marked up from the original price, I guess. Also, I think it's that people love to brag loudly about how, "I GOT THIS FOR 80% OFF AT BILL'S DISCOUNT DILDO EMPORIUM! WHAT A STEAL!!" even though Bill's Discount Dildo Emporium doesn't exist anymore, and it's just the liquidators operating out of Bill's former space.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 17:35
|
|
|
Not so much "advertising" but just flat-out "lying to customers", but second-hand stores that lie to you about what percentage of selling price they'll give you when they buy your old poo poo. Why yes, I totally believe that you give "up to 65%" of your selling price when I bring in a bag full of stuff that totals around $400 by your shelf prices, and you offer me $145 for it - including the this-weekend-only "extra 25% store credit" (so $116 otherwise) - or a grand total of $60 in cash. You sell one item I brought in for $160, and one of the other items in there would go for $50 due to its condition alone (a rare-ish art book in near mint). Your own employees have complained about having to lie to the customers about percentages, and one says they were fired for not doing so. I mean, GameStop will offer me less but they don't try to tell me "yeah, we pay a lot for used stuff and all of this will sell immediately" then tell you "well, some of this stuff we're having a hard time moving so we had to offer less" when the total comes up. eBay, here I come.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 17:47
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:I'm reminded how recently it became news that Blue Buffalo, after a lawsuit from I want to say Purina (I'd look it up, but They did. Purina sued them. The first couple of ingredients in Alpo (owned by Nestle/Purina): Ground yellow corn, corn germ meal, beef and bone meal, soybean meal, animal fat preserved with mixed-tocopherols; most of their other brands and foods contain similar ingredients. I just love the idea that a company that also produces chocolate milk is going to pretend like this lawsuit was to protect animals, not start a smear campaign. Purina's other major competitor is Mars foods, which makes Nutro, Eukanuba, and Whiskas. And Mars bars, obviously. Like, I know the purpose of all business is to extract money from consumers, but like Dove being owned by Unilever, it makes it more obvious that the advertising is insincere. It's like that kid in elementary school who would just say their favourite colour was whatever yours was in order to gain your approval, except more sinister. Moving from petchat: I also hate cosmetics companies that invent an issue for me to be insecure about in order to get me to buy a product. I'm much more likely to buy something if the copy is like "THIS EYESHADOW IS PURPLE ISN'T THAT NEAT" rather than "Your lips are horrible and tiny, your boyfriend finds you repugnant in reality, what's wrong with you... what were we talking about? Oh, right. Lip gloss. Buy some."
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 19:23
|
|
|
muscles like this? posted:The higher prices aren't so much fake as they are only available in one tiny store that they don't really advertise, usually at some corporate site. Maybe for Bestbuy, but Amazon has been known to put fake list prices for years. It really got people noticing when they launched the groceries section because they had crazy things like claiming spaghetti was marked down from $50 and things like that. Just for an easy to find example, the Bluray of Interstellar. $22.99 on Amazon, from a supposed list price of $39.99. When's the last time you saw a Bluray listed for $39.99? I don't think they were even that high at release. Walmart meanwhile says the list price is $29.99. So you know it's bullshit on one side since the list price is supposed to be the manufacturer's MSRP.
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
cash crab posted:2) Vets commonly explain to clients that certain foods are lovely, i.e.: Friskies, Pedigree, etc. They are, don't get me wrong. But the vet food you buy for $60 a bag? It's exactly the same ingredients as the lovely brands, except that they can pin their proteins a little better. For example, a can of Fancy Feast boasts "meat by-product meal" (meaning it could be anything and they're not sure) and Royal Canin boasts "chicken by-product", which means they're charging you an extra $1.50 a can (I'm talking the little 3oz cans of cat food) for bones, heads and feet. There's no giblets, no meat. I know this because Royal Canin sent our store a letter once explaining how they were switching to by-product exclusively in order to depress their environmental impact, and blamed human meat consumption. Meanwhile, brands that cost half as much (Nutro, Natural Balance, etc) can and will tell you where they're sourcing their meat, and use real meat at that. Seriously. Call them. They're happy to prove it. My dog has been on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal (Wellness before that) since he had a pretty bad acute pancreatitis case (had to stay at the vet for 2 or 3 days on IV). Is it the same with the prescription type stuff like the gastro food?
|
|
#
?
May 24, 2015 23:49
|
|
|
1000 Brown M and Ms posted:Oh yeah, I know why companies do that kind of thing, but I still think it's a bit scummy. A few weeks ago our Albertson's ran a "buy one, get two free" sale on fresh boneless skinless chicken breast. The week before the sale, boneless skinless chicken breast was $5.99 a pound. The week after the sale, it was $5.99 a pound. The week of the sale, it was $9.99 a pound. It was still a good deal, but they could've just done "buy one get one" without artificially inflating the price and it all would've worked out the same and still seemed like a great deal
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 00:19
|
|
|
Gringo Heisenberg posted:My dog has been on Royal Canin Gastrointestinal (Wellness before that) since he had a pretty bad acute pancreatitis case (had to stay at the vet for 2 or 3 days on IV). Is it the same with the prescription type stuff like the gastro food? Yep. Royal Canin has, typically, a very high corn content, which is mostly used for bulk and to up the protein content. Unless your dog is suffering from chronic pancreatic (which my old one did) there is no need to keep it on a prescription food. The fact that every time an animal comes in with an acute condition and they are indefinitely placed on a prescription diet, often for the rest of their lives, is absurd. Most vets know very little about animal nutrition. For gastro issues, low-fat diets will be more than sufficient to prevent recurrence. Personally, I find Wellness to be wildly overpriced, but the food is fairly good. However, if your dog is prone to gastro issues, even their senior diets are a little fatty. Aim for anything with 10% or less crude fat. For this reason, foods designed for senior animals work best, as they're usually the lowest fat. As much as I hate the Mars label, Nutro's lamb diet and senior foods are very low fat (although they are packed with rice) and they're pretty cheap, often half the price of Wellness. ETA: I cannot, for the loving life of me, remember the other major vet food brand. Prescription... Pup... chow... gently caress. I should know this, I spent years making fun of their rep. EDIT: SCIENCE DIET. Science Diet is the worst. I cannot believe how much loving salt is in those foods. They put salt in the UTI formula, so that cats would get dehydrated and drink more. gently caress. And their "dental formula" was just giant pieces of kibble, in the hopes that "the food brushes their teeth!" cash crab has a new favorite as of 00:43 on May 25, 2015 |
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 00:40
|
|
|
InediblePenguin posted:A few weeks ago our Albertson's ran a "buy one, get two free" sale on fresh boneless skinless chicken breast. The week before the sale, boneless skinless chicken breast was $5.99 a pound. The week after the sale, it was $5.99 a pound. The week of the sale, it was $9.99 a pound. It was still a good deal, but they could've just done "buy one get one" without artificially inflating the price and it all would've worked out the same and still seemed like a great deal Some stores used to do stuff like that but raise the price in the process. I remember back in the 80's my grandmother complaining about a store putting up a big display of canned stuff that was normally a quarter for 3 for 99 cents. They made it out like it was this big, massive promotional sale and people were flocking to it going "wow such a good deal!" Some people managed to remember that the stuff was a quarter before and the store literally marked it up eight cents a can and made it out like it was put on discount.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 01:05
|
|
|
InediblePenguin posted:A few weeks ago our Albertson's ran a "buy one, get two free" sale on fresh boneless skinless chicken breast. The week before the sale, boneless skinless chicken breast was $5.99 a pound. The week after the sale, it was $5.99 a pound. The week of the sale, it was $9.99 a pound. It was still a good deal, but they could've just done "buy one get one" without artificially inflating the price and it all would've worked out the same and still seemed like a great deal
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 02:42
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:$5.99 a pound for chicken breast? I'm pretty sure even Whole Foods doesn't charge that much around here. That's Albertson's for you.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 02:55
|
|
|
Urgh. Canada (Calgary in particular) has incredibly high food prices. A pound of boneless skinless chicken breast here can be as much as $10 (CDN) depending where you shop.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 06:02
|
|
|
Grraarrgghh posted:Urgh. It also doesn't help that their transit is poo poo and if you're not right next to a Co-op or Safeway, you're lucky if you can get to a grocery store anyway. Signed, a person who can't drive and lived in Calgary and ate at the Bridgeland 7-11 for eight months.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 06:05
|
|
|
cash crab posted:It also doesn't help that their transit is poo poo and if you're not right next to a Co-op or Safeway, you're lucky if you can get to a grocery store anyway. Signed, a person who can't drive and lived in Calgary and ate at the Bridgeland 7-11 for eight months. Well at least you were near all the overrated hip restaurants on Edmonton Trail
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 06:13
|
|
|
Speaking of Amazon, when did they get rid of the 'preorder' button for kindle books? Every book I look at that was on preorder last month is now 'buy it now!' but actually surprise it's a preorder, you'll get your book when the publishers get around to releasing it in a year.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2015 06:27
|
|
|
Korgan posted:Speaking of Amazon, when did they get rid of the 'preorder' button for kindle books? Every book I look at that was on preorder last month is now 'buy it now!' but actually surprise it's a preorder, you'll get your book when the publishers get around to releasing it in a year. I noticed that, too. I was actually surprised that a book I was looking for was out for Kindle, but after I clicked Buy It Now I was told that it won't be released for two more months. I suppose that's why they do it; so you purchase it thinking you're getting the book but instead are preordering. I don't think too many people opted to preorder e-books.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 16:17
|
|
|
GWBBQ posted:$5.99 a pound for chicken breast? I'm pretty sure even Whole Foods doesn't charge that much around here. I used to work at a Whole Foods and the chicken breast was $7.99 a pound regularly. One day the meat guys had the bright idea to place a sign in the meat case that looked like a sale sign but was really just displaying the list price. All of a sudden they couldn't keep chicken breast in stock. Our braindead store manager let it slide because they were posting good numbers and "It's not technically false advertising."  So glad I got out of that place.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 17:15
|
|
|
Side Effects posted:I used to work at a Whole Foods and the chicken breast was $7.99 a pound regularly. One day the meat guys had the bright idea to place a sign in the meat case that looked like a sale sign but was really just displaying the list price. All of a sudden they couldn't keep chicken breast in stock. Our braindead store manager let it slide because they were posting good numbers and "It's not technically false advertising." That's scummy but also very, very common. When I worked in a restaurant we'd very regularly list something at the menu price on a white board by the front as "TODAY'S SPECIAL!" and people would call each other to talk about the day's special.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 17:29
|
|
|
Heard a jeep ad on the radio, the ad was pretty loud, and at the end they lowered the volume by a lot and sped up a recording of the disclaimer at the end Also the stuff on TV with insanely hard text to read at the bottom and near impossible to read because of the content
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 17:39
|
|
|
ToxicSlurpee posted:That's scummy but also very, very common. When I worked in a restaurant we'd very regularly list something at the menu price on a white board by the front as "TODAY'S SPECIAL!" and people would call each other to talk about the day's special. I usually assume the special isn't a sale, but rather something either the cook wants to make a lot of that day, or something that's not an everyday menu item. In either case, I'm aware of my naivete in gut-thinking it's going to be automatically one of the better dishes in the place.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 17:49
|
|
|
Yeah, the "looks like a sale but isn't" is nasty but "today's special" strikes me more as "something we don't usually have on the menu, come check it out." As much as I'd like the local place here to do biscuits and gravy every day, it's not on their regular menu and they almost never run it, but I'll go there when they do if I see it.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 19:53
|
|
|
I always assumed that's what it meant. Isn't that how restaurants use the word?
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:45
|
|
|
The White Dragon posted:Yeah, the "looks like a sale but isn't" is nasty but "today's special" strikes me more as "something we don't usually have on the menu, come check it out." As much as I'd like the local place here to do biscuits and gravy every day, it's not on their regular menu and they almost never run it, but I'll go there when they do if I see it. In restaurant I used to work at, the 'Special" was either something the company was trying to get rid of (I.E switching to a new sausage supplier, so gotta try and use up the current stock) or a new recipe/dish that they wanted testing out. If it sold well or got good feedback it'd probably end up in the next menu revision.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 20:49
|
|
|
Choco1980 posted:I'm reminded how recently it became news that Blue Buffalo, after a lawsuit from I want to say Purina (I'd look it up, but This might explain the new labeling on their cans, which is now "salmon flavor" etc instead of "salmon". About the time the labels changed is also about the time my cats wouldn't eat their wetfood. They don't have any problem with Chicken Soup for the cat lovers soul, time to head on over to PI and find out if its made from raw sewage or missing persons.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:07
|
|
|
Side Effects posted:I used to work at a Whole Foods and the chicken breast was $7.99 a pound regularly. One day the meat guys had the bright idea to place a sign in the meat case that looked like a sale sign but was really just displaying the list price. All of a sudden they couldn't keep chicken breast in stock. Our braindead store manager let it slide because they were posting good numbers and "It's not technically false advertising." Tesco in the UK has trained its customers that yellow shelf edge labels are reduced price. Now they've started sneaking in yellow labels on things that are the normal price. It doesn't say reduced anywhere, but it still sells better while it has that yellow label. They rotate them to keep they effect fresh.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:24
|
|
|
Not really scummy advertising, but certainly misleading marketing. I got a free box of 60's/70's sci-fi paperbacks, and in it was this:  Having never seen the film, I thought I'd give it a go. By around page 45 I was very confused when nothing seemed to resemble the blurb on the back. (in case you can't read it in the pic): "In the near future, there will only be corporations, comfort, conformity and Rollerball. In the very near future, they will produce a war every week during prime time and televise it to the rest of the world. They will call it Rollerball. Within the eye of Jonathan E., the world's most gifted athlete performer, you can see the murderous game which has replaced war. Eighty thousand people are watching from the stands, two billion more are following the game on multivision. It's violence for all, by proxy. The winners survive and receive all the best that the world can offer. Lucky losers are only maimed. Unlucky losers die!" Turns out it's an anthology of short stories completely unrelated to the flick, with only one extremely brief story on which the movie was loosely based. I've seen plenty of books with misleading art on the cover, but this really looks like you're getting the novelization of the movie. Most of it isn't even sci-fi. If it wasn't free and I was some big Rollerball fan, I'd feel hella ripped-off.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:42
|
|
|
I have heard that if the "special" involves fish, you should never get it because the fish is probably almost bad. Restaurants as a concept are kind of gross when you think about it.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:48
|
|
|
Xibanya posted:I have heard that if the "special" involves fish, you should never get it because the fish is probably almost bad. if you're a humongous shut-in nerdbaby maybe
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:52
|
|
|
Alouicious posted:if you're a humongous shut-in nerdbaby maybe I worked in a restaurant for 5 years. Restaurants are loving awful and disgusting. Yes, I still eat at them anyway.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 21:55
|
|
|
all food is gross, what I 'm just gonna leave this plant in the dirt for month and put whatever it turns into in my mouth?? fuckkked up.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 22:15
|
|
|
Xibanya posted:I have heard that if the "special" involves fish, you should never get it because the fish is probably almost bad. Most of the restaurants I've been to with fish on special, it's a fish they don't normally carry on the menu. I just presume that it was cheap for them to get so they are doing something with it that day.
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 23:01
|
|
|
BumikiIsFreaky posted:Most of the restaurants I've been to with fish on special, it's a fish they don't normally carry on the menu. I just presume that it was cheap for them to get so they are doing something with it that day. quote:The researchers, from the conservation group Oceana, said that genetic analyses showed that 39 percent of nearly 150 samples of fresh seafood collected from 81 establishments in the city this summer were mislabeled. ... The findings are broadly similar to those of studies Oceana has conducted in Los Angeles, Boston and Miami, where 55, 48 and 31 percent of samples, respectively, were mislabeled
|
|
#
?
May 27, 2015 23:47
|
|
|
|
| # ? Jun 10, 2024 18:52 |
|
|
Stores and restaurants that say things are on sale when they aren't must really dislike having regular customers. The specials at my local pub are always either regular menu items at a discount or a dish they don't usually serve, always for a good price. If they started pulling poo poo like putting stuff on special for the same price they usually sell it for, I sure as hell would stop eating there. Same with my regular grocery store. I guess people might be able to get away with that stuff more in small towns where there are less choices.
|
|
#
?
May 28, 2015 00:25
|
|
