So why do we buy things we DON'T NEED?? :)

[deletetacount123]

I was shopping today at Staples. Just needed ONE thing.

Came out with 5 items lol

1 could be useful and be in handy... 2 are accessories to it,
1 is the item I needed
1 item was something I totally DID NOT need lol Just bought it cause I was assumed how neat it looked :)

It occured to me I do this all the time... I can't just go in and get what I need and leave. WHY?!?! lol

Who else here has this habit too??
And FORMER peopel of this habit, how did you STOP?? lol :tong: :tong: :tong:

Maybe its time to collect all these useless stuff and SELL them at the garage sale on..... *checks calender* why, this SATURDAY!!! (June 9th) perfect lol

But the thing I bought today that I didn't need Im gonna keep. lol Could be handy :) I'll use it lol

Tasha

[Solomon]

lol it's not really a habit on your part Tasha.... it's the fact that when you walk into a store you really are walking into a gauntlet that's be designed to entice you

'bout the only way through it is make a list, head down, blinders on, sheilds on max! lol

these guantlets are designed by people that go to college for years to study your shopping habits, so they've got your number and know how to play on any emotion you have to entice you to buy their product because otherwise you'll be unsexy, or unloved, or negligent of your loved ones, or just plain not a good person, etc... etc...

i challenge anyone to walk into a good store, honestly look at everything, and walk out buying nothing, and not feel discouraged in some small measure

[tallkerri]

How 'bout, "Theres a sucker born every minute". I work retail, and we see your types coming down mainstreet. We love ya dearly...more $$$$$ in my pocket, less in yours.....Yippee!!!!.... :2cents: <- I'll take those too...

[PolyLoveTriad]

I always make a list before I go in somewhere and I almost always never get anything thats not on the list. Most of the time its something small like batteries or gum that I didnt have on the list. If I see something I want I put it on the next list :)

[Solomon]

oh and the head down, blinders on, sheilds on max, isn't going to spare you from the convenience of getting INTO the parking lot, and the frustration of actually parking and getting back out, nor will it do anything for the gas you've already spent to get there..... so this trip better damn well be worth it!

LOL! and don't question the false prices on the teller, 'cuz then it'll take FOREVER for the price check..... never mind the advertisements at the checkout..... or the BIG poster ads ABOVE your head so it's much more subliminal, and it goes on an on right to running out of the product that you absolutely must have for dinner that night, instilling the competiveness that someone else got to it first, so now the Jones' are going to be eating well.... LOL!

and it's amazing that most people think they've got a chance! heheheheee!!!

[s_shunpike]

lol it's not really a habit on your part Tasha.... it's the fact that when you walk into a store you really are walking into a gauntlet that's be designed to entice you

Oh, and this is so very true! More than any of us really know, or care to admit. My wife and I used to joke that we could not go into WalMart without spending $100. And it was oh so true! I learned from a guy that worked in marketing for WalMart, that there are some very interesting practices that take place.

You know those $14.97 new release dvd's that everyone else sells for $19.95? WalMart purposefully plans to lose money on each and every one of those. Why? Well, we humans are curiously predictable creatures :bigrin: When we see a bargain, we can't help but search for more. They know that we will spend much more than that!

When I managed a hardware store, I learned many of the practices of staging. First and foremost - always, and I mean always, place at least two of your best sale items up front (usually something in a flyer), next you place the remaining of your items strategically through the store heading toward the rear of the store (draw them in!). Sol was right - there is a science involved in all of this! This is why milk and bread are at the back of the store, and not the front!

So, Tasha - don't feel too bad! We are not victims of anything but plain old human nature - and very very careful scientific marketing!

[flexuality]

This thread has me laughing....cuz it's soooo true what Sol and s_shunpike are saying! :tong:

Walmart is such a PRIME exapmle of this! And I admit I am caught by it too! lol!

They had DVDs on sale a while back for $5 each. Immediate thought...WOW that's a GREAT deal! I bought about 15 of them.....lol!! That's $75 plus tax where there's no way I would have spent $75 on DVDs that were $20 each. I might have bought ONE at $20.....LOL!! It's amazing!

Sols' right....we don't have a chance! LOL!

I have this weird ability to track prices in my head....I have no idea how I do it, I just do. I have seen a box of cereal in Walmart on for $1.88 for 3 weeks....a great price....then overnight it went up to $4.17 for the SAME cereal.....by then it was habit to throw it in the buggy....unless one was good at tracking prices, so I didn't get caught in that one! lol!! That happens a LOT at Walmart.

Or they'll have coffee way cheaper than anyone else...so you go to Walmart for the coffee...and end up buying way more than you planned....or they MOVE the coffee and you have to search for it, and in the meantime see everything else on the shelves and of course throw this and that into the cart as you continue looking for the coffee....only to find out they're out of it! lol!! And again, once you're in the habit of buying it, the price goes up drastically.

And one of the reasons we go to Walmart is cuz we believe that they are NOT trying to "sell us" anything....but what they're doing is playing on our LOVE to buy vs. our HATE to be sold and it works big time!

They'll do things like put a limit on say, milk....4 per household and ya think "wow...must be a good price if they're limiting it".....and at the grocery store it's actually cheaper, but unless you can track prices...who's to know?

It's amazing the tactics they use....and funny sometimes too! lol!

They have one practice that I kind of frown on though.....being a price tracker, I watch the prices as they go through the checkout...and I would estimate that about 30% of my trips to Walmart, there is at least one incorrect price rung up and it's ALWAYS high and it's always on necessities, like toilet paper or food items like bread, jam and cereal.

Yeah, we may end up "saving", but we turn around a spend the money we "saved" on something else..and quite often in the same place we "saved" it to begin with! lol! :tong:

[Solomon]

oh, an i'm not saying that the business practices of say Wal-Mart, or Safeway or any other retailer is right or wrong... there's no big bad boogey man to it

it's just good business, 'cuz if the store doesn't make a profit it goes belly-up, and the biggest thing to understand is that they are going to use these techniques, to continue to run a business that they believe, provides a good service of offering products to people that want them and need them

and that there's absolutely no need to beat oneself up over being a human consumer, as we all are :cool:

[Pensive]

Wow, I am totally the opposite of that. I hate spending money and sometimes go for long periods without buying things I absolutely need because I think I can do without them. Except when it comes to computer stuff. I've got a soft spot for anything hardware/software related that won't go away. Still, as weaknesses go, it's not a terrible one to have. Way better than, say, kryptonite. :tong:

[onewhocares]

Flex,

Oh my gosh I was laughing hysterically. Walmart is the prime example. We live less than a half a mile from the super Walmart, they are now in litigation with our town , hello a town of 11,000 people, to add a second store. As if traffic was not bad enough.

Time and time again I vow never to go back. Hubby Bill refuses to go in there ever again. Last fall when the new Tour of Duty game came out and our pen pal from Iraq, Steven also a member here wanted it. I have been sending him packages all year. Well this time Bill came with me. We waited for 45 mins to get to the register, then 20 more.to check out. Not only did we get the game, but about 200.00 worth of thing to send to our troops. Well in that case I did not mind, but it seems that I go in for a few things and bam...money.

I know part of my problem. For so many years we struggled with money. I remember trying to save money. I would save enough to have a twenty, then the twenty lead to a fifty. Still I would not spend it. Then it went to a hundred. Time came when we made it thru, but I recalled when times were tough I vowed never to be with out again. Now I am of the habit of buying what I need and a spare so that I will never lack again. That is how I know I am hooked.

But then again, I am fierce shopper, getting the most value for my money. Taking advantage of all means to get a bargain.

Now that you come to think of it Tasha.....Staples does that too. I buy packets of pens and rolls of tape.....never one around when I need it.


Belle

[Solomon]

lol belle,

i can totally understand that your hubby would be very frustrated with the shopping there..... that's also by design

we guys do our best to fulfill our women's emotional needs..... which is counterproductive seeing as how the store is looking to capitalize on fulfilling those needs with their products

and no business is in business very long (unless they are selling a product geared towards guys specifically) without understanding that predominantly the women are the primary purchasing agents for the household

for example.... the layout of Sears usually places the tools right next to electronics, and then appliances, and then on the same level is usually stuff for kids, women's clothes etc... conveniently separating the two from each other and reminding the women of family at the same time

and yep.... they'll capitalize on the snarled traffic... what better way to get away from the frustrations of driving than to enter the matrix of emotional fullfillment

it's total dog eat dog lol!

[JohnnyV]

It's funny, b/c I've always suspected that stores target people based on gender stereotypes. Men are supposed to be fast, impulse shoppers, so they put men's stuff in the front of the store, in ways that make us stop and stare like a baby looking at something shiny. Women are supposed to be procedural, thoughtful shoppers, so their stuff is usually organized in some kind of shopping "course" around the fringes of the shopfloor.

J

[flexuality]

Women are supposed to be procedural, thoughtful shoppers, so their stuff is usually organized in some kind of shopping "course" around the fringes of the shopfloor.

J

LOL!! Well, close.....but there's more to it!

Shopping for women is a social event of emotional bonding (thus shopping in "packs") that is far different from the man's experience with shopping.

Men go into the store, but one item (no looking or comparing and forget lunch) and leave. No wonder they need "shiny objects" to even have a remote possibility of causing a man to stay even a minute longer than necessary. lol!

Women, on the other hand, recognize the emotional fulfillment to be had from comparing items, especially clothes....the "deals" to be had and the excitement of finding a really great SALE! :bigrin:

And it's just a GIVEN that when women shop in groups that lunch is included...how else we gonna show off our wonderful finds?? :tong:

This of course is followed by an evening out wearing our newly found attire and can be made into a perfect evening if it is a COMPLETELY new attire...head to foot. It's exhilirating! :bigrin:

And men just go in, buy a shirt, and leave??? :eek: :bigrin: :tong: :bigrin: :eek:

[Solomon]

there's definately a gender stereotype to it, it's the women that do the shopping for 80% of the households in N.A., and businesses definately gear to that.... or not and die rather quickly

it's very little wonder guys don't have NEAR the choice of clothes that women do!

and guys also tend to get very tired and bored with shopping very fast as compared to women...

the moment that we walk into a store, all of our senses are being stimulated with advertising, and subliminal messaging, and psychological techniques designed to play on our emotions (which guys don't have)

for women this is an ideal environment to flourish because most of the messaging is emotional, and overall women tend to be external emotional expressers (as flex is alluding to in her post)

for guys this kinda forces us into our minds to think about what's going on with all the sensory input which is emotional and we'd just rather not let anyone know that we feel anything more than excited 'cuz the beer's in the fridge for later!, thanks lol

unless it comes to something for the guys.... take note the advertising messaging is VERY much different, and designed to play to our ego's! as guys we expect to be respected, and to look distinguished, and don't show us the woman model to sell us a pair of socks, give the facts damnit! is the product going to net a blowjob or not?? that's all we wanna know! lol!

[deletetacount123]

lol well, this walmart RARELY ever sees me... I don't shop there unless I HAVE to and its always to just get one items.
They made it perfectly clear they didn't want a deaf person working there.... didn't matter that I worked at a Walmart in Ontario!!!! lol
After the 8th try to apply, I just gave up. (theres more to the story that Im not gonna include) So this place doesn't deserve my money lol
And the moments I HAVE to go there, I usually do a perfect job of just getting that one item :)

Winners is another bad store :) Canadian store only I think.... You CANNOT leave with nonthing or 1 thing. I shop there to much lol

I have on and off momets.....
I can go through periods of spending NOTHING at all unless I really need something.
Then theres days Im like "oh I need this and that" (don't really need it) lol

I got a FREE DVD Diane Kenton's "Because I said so!" at Save On Foods a few weeks ago cause of my points. lol I saw the sign but I got the DVD cause I like Diane's work..... anyway, the girl at the check out was like "oooh you get this free with your points. Do you want to use them?"
I said "ok." :) lol

I have a NASTY HABIT of not always checking the price tags...... I'll go "Oh! I like that! I could soo use it for... (whatever)"
Pick it up and put in cart. Along with some other things. Go to check out
and the total comes up. 100 or 200.... Im like "WHAT?!?!" hehe
Go to the car, first thing I do is look at my recipt to see what the heck costed so much!! hehe OMG its the item I didn't check the price! hmph.
hehe

This habit is from my mother that I somehow picked up..... :) Usually Im good at checking out prices but sometimes, nope.
Maybe its a good thing my car is a small VW Beetle..... if I had a bigger car, I would be buying more things or bigger things and omg, my house CAN'T take any more large items!!! lol

Tasha