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Rant: I bet on the 15% off trim saw over the 30% off one and the receipt math still bugs me
I stood in the tool aisle at the hardware place on 5th Street for way too long comparing two saws, a $120 trim saw with 15% off and a $150 one with 30% off, and my brain just went 15 is less than 30 so the cheap one must be the deal. I picked wrong. The $150 saw came out to $105 with the discount, five bucks cheaper than my $102 "bargain," and I only caught it when the cashier read the total out loud and I froze. Then I did it again the next morning with two bags of grass seed, same trap, same feeling in my gut. Percentages only mean something next to the starting number, and I keep forgetting that when I am standing there holding two boxes. I even said out loud in the aisle "but 30 is the bigger number" like that proved anything. Has anyone else here ever bought the wrong thing just because a bigger percent looked like a better deal?
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thomasgonzalez7d ago
Wait, you actually said "but 30 is the bigger number" out loud in the aisle? That is killing me right now. I am not even joking, I have done the exact same thing with laundry soap, grabbed the one that said 40% more free because 40 sounded huge, and it was a tiny bottle next to a giant one that was way cheaper per ounce. The kicker is my wife did the math in her head in like two seconds while I was still standing there holding both bottles like a statue. That thing you said about percentages only mattering next to the starting number is the whole ballgame and nobody teaches it that way. The grass seed part got me too, same trap two days in a row is rough.
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richard_young807d ago
Percentages only mattering next to the starting number" is the line that should be printed on a t shirt because I clearly needed it stamped on my forehead. My wife does the same thing with unit prices and I just stand there nodding like a guy who understood any of it. Twice in two days though? That is not bad luck, that is a skill.
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