Saturday, January 29, 2011

How to make things as complicated as possible

Girls, who among us has had a garage sale? I think it's safe to say that if we haven't hosted one, we have been to plenty. Otherwise, you wouldn't be reading a blog entitled "One Gal's Trash" now, would you? You'd be on the Pottery Barn site or Anthropologie or something. But I digress.

The point is this: When you have a sale, you have spent so much time getting ready; sorting, pricing, making signs, etc. that by the time the sale actually starts, you just want the whole thing to be over as quickly and painlessly as possible.

I went to a sale recently that had the most confusing pricing strategy I have ever seen. They must have wanted to make sure that people would have to stand in line 10 times longer than necessary in order to count nickels. Here are a few examples:

Microwave $31.25

Green clear glass dish $3.75

Set of 4 shot glasses $1.35

Crashing coastal waves oil painting $6.25

I was just about to stomp out of there in bemused frustration when I found a package of vintage wrapping paper. Price: 30 cents. I paid the cashier with a dime, 3 nickels and 5 pennies.

13 comments:

Sue (Vintage Rescue) said...

Maybe the 25¢ is for their time to actually price it. Ridiculous. And good for you for giving them 8 coins. Maybe next time they'll rethink it.

Linda @ A La Carte said...

That is the funniest pricing! Like they went to a thrift store and based their prices on that. Dumb!

Princess of Everything (and then some) said...

wow! That is just bizarre. What were they thinking?

Wanda @ Just Vintage said...

Derrrrn. How goofy is that? What could they have been thinking? I can kinda see the .25's, .50's and .75's, but really. After a couple o' bucks, just make it an even dollar amount and for all that is sane and right in the world, don't use a .30! Glad you got the paper, but a quarter, or better yet, a dime, would have been much more pleasant.

olygirl said...

lol I like yourr style. Get them at thei own game. :D

Into Vintage said...

O.M.G.! Whenever I have a yard sale, things are either an even dollar amount or a quarter. That way the only change I need to have on hand are quarters and dollars.

Maybe this seller had some science involved in their pricing strategy but it escapes me!

kluless said...

Good grief! I would have hated to be running THAT sale and trying to figure out how much change I needed to have on hand. Glad you found something for your effort! But it isn't like we can just walk away from the possiblilities - right?? LOL!

cottage garden farmer said...

I can just imagine how annoying that must have been, what were they thinking?

Sandy aka Doris the Great said...

That is bizzare! I would have spent the whole time asking "Would you accept $31?"

Signs and Salvage said...

FUNNY!!! Garage sales are an adventure...wether you are having one or going to one!!

Anonymous said...

OMG, it's like a child was in charge of pricing!
I'm a new follower BTW! Just read your post about your almost illegal activities at the shop that wasn't open yet. LOL

The Polka Dot Closet said...

Whats with that?? Someone must have worked in retail or something?? I am blonde and would have trouble adding that in my head! Thanks for stopping by your site is so trashy that I just have to follow you!LOL I don't want to miss another post, it appears we love the same things

Carol

Betsy@My Salvaged Treasures said...

This is hilarious, well I'm sure you can laugh about it now. Maybe they were really excited about "playing store" or they were working on fine tuning their math skills. Crazy!
I love reading about treasure hunting adventures, I'm a new follower.