To continue with haggling and discounts one of the easiest to do is to just watch the price scanner as your items are being put through. Now I say this is an easy tip as The Retail Council of Canada has already put a Scanner Price Accuracy Voluntary Code in Place. It states:
• If the correct price of the product is $10.00 or less the retailer will give the product to the customer free of charge or
• If the correct price of the product is higher than $10.00, the retailer will give the customer a discount of $10.00 off the correct price.
These errors occur not only on the regular price but also can be found even more so on the sale items.
The on sale price gets missed or gets entered incorrectly. So keep a close eye on that register when your items are being rung up.
Also do some comparison shopping online first.
A great rice could be found only a mouse click away. Look at online flyers from competitors stores. If you find a great coupon print it out, often a store will beat an advertised price from a competitor for the same item just to get your business.
While you are online you may also find the best pricing. Stores that have both an online store and a physical location will sometimes have totally different pricing for the same item.
Generally it is cheaper to buy online.
The price is better as they do not have the physical location to pay for.
It takes a lot of space to stock hundreds of items on a shelf for you to walk in and buy.
They will have more at the main warehouse witch does not have the same rental cost for the store as the nicer customer stores.
But be sure to check into all the costs before you buy. Shipping is one to look closely at.
While you are surfing around on the net, look for any secret online coupons.
These are also called promotional codes or coupon codes. All you have to do to find these is; launch your favorite web browser, then open the search engine you like to use and type in the retailers name and the words “coupon code”.
You can also sign up for a stores newsletters or emails from them prompting sales. The will send out alerts when an product goes on sale.
If you are out shopping the local mall take your iGadets The Android gadget, iPhones and ipads can be used while in the store to check for the best price.
If you share your findings with the sales staff they will often match or beat the price again. The sales people do not want to see a potential sale walk out the door by refusing to come down a few dollars.
Especially when they know you are going to go buy it at store B instead. They know if you leave you will be less likely to ever shop there again.
Sandra Nolan is a freelance writer from Rocky Mountain House. Her column appears regularly in the Advocate. Contact her at slnolan.