Curiosity about the meaning of the word 'SALE'

Z

z108

Guest
Its' just occurred to me that 'Holland and Barrett' seem to be in a permanent state of being on sale. Either that or I'm cracking up.
I like the store and some of the healthy products they supply which would be cheaper than I have found in the healthy section of Dunnes Stores or Tesco for example and their range is wider. They sell some nice food for the health conscious and some of it is cheaper than elsewhere. Hence about 2 or 3 items in my cupboard would come from their stores.

However its kind of bothering me that in the year or so I have been shopping there theres never not been a sale on.
Is this a strange coincidence occurring every time I visit or are they permanently on sale ?
For example I've never not seen a big jar of cod liver oil reduced from about 24 euro to 6.95(roughly). In my view its always been sold for the lower price.
This makes the cod liver oil look like a fantastic offer but if they are constantly selling it for 6.95 then surely thats the real value?

Does 'sale' have any meaning any longer?
Doesnt an item being on sale mean something is normally sold for the higher price with the exception of a small period ?
 
Another permanent "sale" I have seen is in Dunnes where some products are always on offer, for example a certain brand of bacon always appears to have 50% offer, I also saw strawberries earlier this year with 50% free and they had come in from Spain, I got the feeling that they had the 50% free stickers on them when they were packaged the first day.

In the UK AFAIK, if something is on sale you must also label what the full price was, how long it was available at the full price and where it was available at the full price.
 
Maybe ask ConsumerConnect what are the rules governing having "Sale" signs up. For specific items, as far as I know, it means that the item must have been on sale at the stated higher price for a particular period of time prior to the sale. But I can't remember the ins and outs and can't see anythiing obvious on the ConsumerConnect website.
 
I found CD's in Xtravision which were marked sale with the sale price, but the presale sticker underneath has the same price.
 
MrKeane said:
Another permanent "sale" I have seen is in Dunnes where some products are always on offer, for example a certain brand of bacon always appears to have 50% offer,
Click to expand...

I have noticed that too. It makes shopping for bacon more complicated than it should be when comparing brands and weights/quantities etc. Bacon is almost permanently on "sale" in Dunnes.
 
Chances are your local butcher will offer lower prices, better quality, more choice and less packaging than any supermarket.
 
I think the item has to have been on sale at the higher retail price for 28 consecutive days (it might be 30)
However this only has to be in one branch and can usually be circumvented by saying RRP x, now y.
Some stores certainly do use the term "sale" quite cynically.
 
The last time I went in there I came away empty handed because I thought that they were so expensive.
The main item that I made a comparison on was organic golden linseeds (which are a staple in my house) and I found the price to be much higher than in my regular place (here's health).
 
I only buy a few things there as its a specialist shop and I havent compared them to other health stores but only to the main supermarkets. I havent really gotten into organic stuff myself as I remain to be convinced as to how much of the organic story is psychological.
I've bought sunflower seeds and non organic linseed at Holland and Barrett but the linseed which isnt organic is frequently on "sale" (less often than the cod liver oil which I ve always seen on sale) and is at that time significantly cheaper than Dunnes Stores linseed for example.
It seems to me their strategy is that the 'sale' price is the regular price and the non sale price is the 'stupid people' price which supposedly makes you feel good about purchasing when the sale price is available (which it confusingly usually is) but if you bought at the non sale price I think the previous sale prices which are almost always available would lead to a feeling of being ripped off IMO.
 
Debenhams had a recent sale, up to 50% off!

There was 20%, 30% 50% reductions, and sale signs under all the items on sale.

We purchased a number of items from this shelf which had a 30% discount in the centre - and a sale sign all along the shelf SALE SALE SALE.

Anyway, there was a very long queue, which we joined.... which took at least 20 minutes before we were served, as we were going to a movie at 9.00, we paid for the goods, took the receipt and ran to get our popcorn.

When we got home, noticed NONE of the items had been marked down. I duly returned the next day.

The lady assisting me, clicked on the items - and said, it appears they haven't been brought down. I showed her the shelf where I got them. She told me that it was only the items at the far end of the shelf. As I explained earlier, the shelf had sale splattered from one end to the other, and "30% off " in the middle of the shelf. She told me she wasn't giving me the discount. She asked her collegue beside her, who also said they weren't in the sale.

I said, I'll have a refund thanks, and they duly gave it to me.

ANother day I would have asked to see the manager - this day however, I was hungover!... I was raging. I went over to the shelf, and sure enough, it was covered in SALE signage and 30% off markings.... I noticed another customer, and duly advised him of my situation, as he like me expected 30% off!

Moral of the story, a SALE should be a SALE, items not on sale, should be clearly seperated from sale items. Misleading the consumer!!!

Rant over !!
 
They really need to clamp down on the use of "Sale". If has no meaning these days. Should be along the lines of the following.

Everything in store should be reduced min 10% and on sale previously for at least 2 weeks for the 100% price. Otherwise is not a sale.
 
Why cant stores just give us honest and fair good value all year around.
I 'd much prefer that to the constant mind games
 
Well this caught my imagination so I checked out the new consumer website - www.consumerconnect.ie & got the following text from the statuate book:

http://www.irishstatutebook.ie/1978/en/act/pub/0001/sec0007.html

"( a ) an indication that goods, services or accommodation were or was previously offered at a different price or charge or at a particular price or charge shall be treated, unless the contrary is expressed, as an indication that they were so offered openly at the same place within the preceding 3 months for not less than 28 successive days;"

Clear as mud
 
That's pretty much what I said earlier...problem is there are get outs
 
There's a clothes hope on Liffy St, Dublin that's been having a closing down sale for the last two years.

They must have a lot of stock to get rid of!
 

This drives my wife nuts. They always seem to have a sale on in mahon point in cork. They only pop cards loosely on shelves or hang card on racks which can easily be moved around accidentally(or on purpose) so you are never quite sure what price you are going to pay when you get to the register.

It's like lucky dip shopping.
 
A lot of the high st retailers avoid using the word "sale" in their POS material, precisely because of the 28 day ruling.

An offering like the one mentioned by the OP simply says a reduction on the RRP, not that there is a sale. Same perception, ie money off, but no rule broken. (Question you should be asking is whether I ever would have paid the original RRP in the first place.)

Emaol
 
In my opinion sale means nothing - well
January Sale means - I am now selling you stuff I couldn't get rid of all year - hence massive reductions as new stock is waiting to take over the shelves and we need to dump it and see what sucker will buy it, when they never would have 2 months previous..

I know because I work in advertising and do the ads. So if a fridge freezer is marked RRP 1700 euro,

sale price (be it june sale, autumn, summer, xmas) it's marked as
1200euros! - 500 euros OFF!!!) In reality cost price was always 400 quid or whatever to the company and you would be well advised to google the product if it's a chain store involved, because different outlets, different franchises - decide when they market it down or up judging by sales figures, or one franchise can market a product in eg Monaghan at 60% above cost price but at the discretion of the manager, same product 40% in Cork. Can't mention companies but if you do call stores under the same chain you will be amazed. That won't count for certain stores (ie Major British chain stores generally aren't franchised - yet) but no there is no such thing as a sale unless you are buying xmas decorations in June.

Complete mind game.
 
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