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Showing posts from December, 2007

This is what your big discount means.

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Here is how it is done ladies and gentlemen. This is a holiday ad for JC Penney that appeared in the December 16th, 2007 issue of Parade magazine. It was 4 pages and had discounts ranging from 40% for the Moissonite jewelry above to 60% off all gold. Here is the kicker. I have included a big white arrow to draw your attention to one part of the ad. The DISCLAIMER stuff. I quoted this part: "Percentages off regular prices as shown. 'Regular' prices reflect offering prices which may not have resulted in actual sales. Regular prices may not have been in effect during the past 90 days or in all trade areas." Okay - By JC Penney's own admission in writing the listed "regular" price are prices "which may not have resulted in actual sales" - what that means is that no one has paid $1,000 for the ring they are selling at 40% off for only $600. Then they go on to admit that "regular prices may not have been in effect during the past 90 days".

Riding in the snow makes me happy!

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Who says motorcycles have to stay in the garage all winter? When the weather gets nasty, Newt, my 1982 Yamaha XT550 comes out to play. Here is a shot Julie took of me n Newt arriving for work the other day. Temp was around 24 degrees and it was snowing. Me? I like to ride ALL Year.

Seventy Percent Off What?

Our business is a couple miles east of a big box chain store. They have a jewelry counter in all of their stores and if you observe them you will see that they always have a "sale" on their "fine jewelry" which ranges anywhere from 30% to 70% off. Such discounts beg the question: 70% off of what? Is the customer really "saving" 70% of his or her shopping dollar or is it just another example of boderline deceptive advertising? This company has a chain of stores in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana. In the year 2006 the chain sold over 170 MILLION dollars of jewelry and watches. Do you really think that a company selling that kind of volume can stay in business by discounting their jewelry 70%? You do not need a degree in accounting to realize that the only way a business can consistently sell things with massive "discounts" is to put grossly inflated price tags on the items to begin with. A huge corporation is not going to be able to meet their overhea