Interesting Price Comparisons at Target
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I love shopping at Target, and it isn’t only for clothing and items for my home. I buy a large portion of my food there, despite the fact that our store isn’t technically a Super Target. We do have a very large food section however and many of the every day prices beat what I can get at our grocery store. I comparison shop all of favorite items so I purchase them at the lowest price possible.
Sometimes while doing this I noticed oddities, like this example.
Ortega Taco Seasoning is $.59 for a single packet of seasoning mix while a 3-pack package of the same seasoning mix is $2.14. Notice anything?
If you purchased 3 single packs it would cost you $1.77. That is a $.37 savings by NOT purchasing what you would think would be a cheaper pack because you are buying in bulk.
I noticed it again when my husband wanted to pick up some ramen. A single pack is $.19 a package.
A 6 pack of the exact same product costs $1.29. If you purchased 6 of the single packs it would cost you only $1.14 versus $1.29. That is a savings of $.15. Almost enough to buy you another package of ramen!
I’m actually not trying to single out Target. I notice this everywhere. I rarely buy a big container of peanut butter because I can almost always pay less per ounce for a smaller one because the bigger size rarely goes on sale. And it is actually more convenient because of my lack of cupboard space.
So why is this?
I think consumers have the impression that buying a larger quantity or larger size of something will be cheaper than buying a smaller size, unless perhaps that product is on sale. But in these examples they are not. And while you may be using more packaging to bundle these products together, it is still surprising to me that they have significant price differences.
Perhaps Target was able to lower prices on the singles and that didn’t happen with the multi-packs. It probably wasn’t intentional but I have to ask myself how many people who are simply not paying close enough attention realize they are actually paying more, not less for buying in bulk?
Have you noticed this trend where you shop as well?
Oh my word. Thank you for drawing my attention to this!
Thanks for the post! I’ll pay more attention next time. I’m sure I have bought the larger size of something thinking it would be cheaper when it wasn’t!
I’ve noticed that happens a lot at Target, especially with the toilet paper. Sometimes they’ll put the larger packs on “SALE” and I’ll whip out the calculator to find that the sale price per roll in a larger pack is the same price as the smaller packs with no sale. Sneaky Sneaky!
good looking out!
What a coinkydink! My fsth and I were just talking about this yesterday while shopping! Definitely noticed this happening at several different stores!
I’ve noticed this myself a few times lately. I was just at the grocery store the other day and noticed it was cheaper to buy 2 smaller packages of deli meat vs the larger ‘family size.’ It pays to watch your prices!
In MA and RI, stores are required to put a Price Per Quantity (ie per oz, per lb, per 100) as well as the Unit Price. You must solve this injustice by writing to your State Congressmen. Demand that they make stores post this information so you will no longer have to do math! But there are many places were those that thought that math was a waste of their time are taken advantage of. Once you have taken down the Grocery Store Cartel, you must start a petition to have the lottery outlawed so that the government will stop stealing from people who don’t understand that 1 in 80 million is statistically the same as zero.
Oh Jim you are too funny! 🙂 But you are right, I do like the price per ounce posted on the tag. I believe Wal-mart does that here but I wish Target would too since that is where I do most of my shopping.
You KNOW I hate math.
I really appreciate it when stores put price per ounce or serving on the prices underneath. It allows me to shop quickly as I can buy the cheapest per ounce. Very strange that it was more expensive to buy something in bulk.
I try to price compare. I love shopping at SuperTarget. Overall the prices are lower than most grocery stores around me. I will pay more attention next time, though! You bring up an awesome point!
I have also notice this at our local store, but usually only when certain items are on sale. I wonder if this is something that is always a fixed price. So strange. They do post the price per ounce too at our local grocer, so it’s nice to compare.
Just a note to check the ounces on the products themSELVES while out there. I noticed changes lately on a few items…for instance a frosting I bought was not nearly filled up and noticed about an INCH from product to top of container. I looked for the ounce of product and I am sure had been reduced but used the same packaging. Other brands had not yet done this so you might want to check brands carefully…container size CAN lie I found. And what bugs me is they think consumers dont notice those “subtle” changes in price or product size. Peanut butter did the same change a while back. grrr…