Today's paper has the headline,"Stores Offer Steep Discounts To Lure Skittish Shoppers." I can attest to that after my husband's trip to buy a new winter jacket yesterday. Trying to get him to buy any new clothes in the first place calls for a major campaign, but the fact that he failed to find an acceptable replacement for his old jacket last year gave me some added ammunition in getting him to shop early for one this year.
So I had cut out the big full page Macy's ad for 50% off all men's winter jackets and taped it to our kitchen phone last Sunday. When he picked me up from work yesterday, he gleefully told me how he had bought a new jacket for one-third the original price! I was immediately suspicious that, being a clueless shopper, he had been suckered into buying a total reject jacket. But when we got home and he showed me a what appeared to be a stunning Calvin Klein black leather jacket, I was speechless!
In addition to the 50% off from the original price of $240 (which I thought was low for Calvin Klein and leather, but I postponed my skeptical comments), the sales clerk told him that there was an additional one-day $100 promotion on that jacket. On top of that, my husband had noticed signs in the store saying that Macy's cardholders could get an additional 20% off any purchase during the sale. He didn't have his old card with him, but asked if he could still get that discount too. Well, I had cancelled our credit card account there when Marshall Field's changed to Macy's some years ago - but that didn't matter! The clerk checked to see if they had records of our account, pronounced it still available, and gave him another $20 off. So the final bill was $80 plus tax!
An additional happy surprise was that, after he tried it on for me and duly accepted my compliments on his choice, we looked at the fabric label and discovered it is NOT leather! That explains the original low price, but not how they can make polyester look just exactly like weathered black leather. I was really fooled! This jacket is completely washable - do not dry clean - ha ha ha ha ha!
So, I have new repect for my husband's shopping abilities and bargaining smarts - and a realization that if you need to buy ANYTHING, do it now! Forget waiting until the after Christmas sales at 75% off - the stores are doing that now. Doesn't that make you wonder what their profit margin is on a $240 jacket - like $200!!! Sigh.
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our dear friend debbie once told me that whenever a store sells ANYTHING for 75% off, they are losing money. 50% off about breaks even, but 75% off is desperation.
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