Yesterday, I went to Union Square in San Francisco to go Black Friday shopping (I meant to post this yesterday but fell asleep). I went to a store that was having a buy one get your second item half off, and I overheard an employee telling another customer that if you bought four items they would make the cheapest item half off and the most expensive item half off. So, I chose one sweatshirt, thinking it would be half off, a pair of pants, and two pairs of socks. When I went to check out, they took half off of the pants and a pair of socks. I walked the prank! I had to pay full price for the sweatshirt, which I chose so it would be half off, and when I asked if it was the person at the register was like "well... like... our computer chooses which ones to be half off so..." and I was like "ok". But in my head I was fuming. So that day, I realized that you can never trust a sale sign, especially buy one get one half off (example to the right). You don't know which item will be half off, and it's only a way for companies to make money. We assume that the item that's half off is the more expensive one, however, companies rarely take half off of the highest price. Sales are just a company's way to make more money, even though it seems like we're saving money. In the ad I included, they made the 50% the biggest thing on the ad. My eyes immediately go to the 50% off, and without thinking, it makes me want to buy 2 things there. However, what I don't know is that they normally take the cheaper items off. My dad, who enjoys saving money, told me to choose two items that are similar in price, because you save more money than if you buy one thing that's more expensive than the other, because when he sees an ad, he really thinks about how he can save the most money.
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