Christmas Trinkets
I mentioned in a post on Sunday that I’d come across some baby MagLite flashlights that fit in your pocket. The whole thing is about .4” in circumference and maybe 3.5” long. It runs on one AAA battery. I bought a few to give to friends and one for myself.
Last night, I stopped at the neighborhood bar. The bartender each year gives some of us customers scratch off lottery tickets as a present. She handed me mine with a quarter with which to scratch. I couldn’t see the results so I pulled out my new little toy. She oohed and ahhed about how cute it is.
So, this morning on the way to work, I made my way towards Radio Shack with the intent to buy a few more for gifts, including her’s. Wal-Mart is right across the parking lot from Radio Shack, so I thought I’d see if I could find the thing there.
Yes I could, to the tune of $2.00 less each; and, instead of having to buy a AAA battery for each, Wal-Mart’s version came with one as part of the package. So, Wal-Mart saved me a total of 38% on my new purchases.
Wal-Mart may subsidize its operations by using public money for its employees’ health care, but it’s hard to resist its pricing.
As usual, I didn’t winning anything on my scratch off ticket.
6 comments:
*sigh* I am glad that you saved money but... Walmart...? I don't even know where to begin with all that I am thinking...
I've had the same thought, though I'm not much for sighing. I'm not sure how much of the difference in price is economy of scale, Radio Shack's markup policy and/or the result Wal-Mart being the other Evil Empire.
Unrelated, thanks for putting me on your blog list.
Boy, thanks for mentioning the scratch off tickets - I have one here that my neighbor gave me back in October for my birthday and I won a big $4 on it and still haven't remembered to turn it in!
It's kind of hard to constantly beat Wal-mart into the ground when you can get some decent savings on some items there at times especially when your own economics are taking a bruising from a lower income but higher than others interest rates simply because of the low income status too. And here, where I live, unfortunately, Wal-Mart and some other discount retailers are the only businesses left unless you want to empty your gas tank to make an 80 mile round-trip to find a few high-scale stores. You deal sometimes where you have to deal out of necessity.
It's hard for me to criticize Wal-Mart.
If you're willing to put up with a bare-bones facility, you get low prices.
If you manufacture a commodity item, Wal-Mart will screw your price down every day if you want to sell it there.
If you can't find a job except in a fast-food restaurant, you might also be able to work at Wal-Mart if you hustle every day.
Some say that Wal-Mart is responsible for the greatest productivity improvement and standard-of-living improvement in our country's history.
I say, if you can stand the bargain basement facility, buy your commodity items there and save some money. And if you don't want your kids to be forced to shop there, make sure they get a good education.
Where I grew up, the only store around was Wal-mart. Like Jeni - it was all we had unles we wanted to drive miles.
That said, I am not a fan of their policies or how they run their business. I love Target! ;)
Wal-mart, schmal-mart. I can walk to the Target around the corner, and they carry just about everything I need. K_Mart's a little further, but every time I go in there I come out frustrated. Next is Sam's Club. That's the one I could never give up. But I'm feeding a family of five, including two boys, one of whom is just entering adolescence.
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