Thursday, June 12, 2014

Sam's Club $3,000 in online savings

Sam's Club sent me an email message today advertising a sale with $3,000 worth of savings. Just what do you have to buy to save $3,000? Here are the items, ranked first by savings, high to low; then sale price, low to high [or highest percentage savings high to low]:

ItemSavingsSale Price
Sectional Sofa
$500
$1,997
Treadmill
300
1,199
Sonoma Gazebo
300
1,399
Storage Shed
300
1,599
Mattress & Box Spring — Queen
200
499
Sectional Sofa
200
999
Asus Laptop
150
349
Sanyo 58" TV
150
648
Mattress & Box Spring — Queen
100
296
Dual-Monitor Workstation Stand
100
398
Mattress & Box Spring — King
100
418
Reclining Lift Chair
100
489
Sectional Sofa
100
898
Sectional Sofa
100
898
Heavy-Duty Shelf
90
149.98
Vision 48" TV
80
646.88
Snap & Grow Greenhouse
75
574
TCL 50" TV
70
428
KitchenAid Mixer
60
239.98
Vitamix Kitchen Set
60
539
Vertical Gas Smoker
50
279
Sno Cone Machine
40
436

At this point, in my opinion, there is no reason to include any further items in the sale. I am not going to make a trip to Sam's Club to save $10 on Kleenex. If it is on sale when I'm at the store, sure, I might buy it. But I would buy it whether or not it was on sale.

ItemSavingsSale Price
Asus Tablet
30
168.86
Video Baby Monitor
30
189.88
Electric Pencil Sharpener
27.50
112.48
Monster Tablet
25
99.86
Baby Monitor
20
119.88
Bonded Leather Massage Chair
20
159.98
Newport Air Purifier
20
164.88
Portable Charger
12
28.88
Kleenex Tissues, 36 boxes
10
39.98
Elephant Pendant
10
49
Dragonfly Pendant
10
59
Butterfly Pendant
10
59
Bluetooth Headphones
10
89.88
Double-Window Envelopes
7.50
26.48
Double-Window Envelopes
7.50
28.78
Clorox Wipes — Fresh Scent
6.25
25.33
Clorox Wipes — Lemon Scent
6.25
25.33
Mattress Protector — Twin XL
5
19.98
Mattress Protector — Twin
5
22.98
Memory Foam Pillow
5
23.98
Memory Foam Pillow
5
23.98
Mattress Protector — Full
5
24.98
Memory Foam Pillow
5
27.88
Mattress Protector — Queen
5
29.98
Mattress Protector — King
5
34.98
Mattress Protector — Cal. King
5
34.98
Gevalia Kaffe, 84 count
5
34.98
30-Day Food Storage
0
78.98
Food Storage, 4 Pails
0
174.98
Hearing Aid, Pair
0
718
Totals
$3,537
$18,076.98

Notes:
• There are indeed $3,000 in savings but you almost have to buy four sectional sofas, three mattress and box spring sets, three televisions and something for the outside (a gazebo, a storage shed, a greenhouse or a gas smoker) to achieve those savings.
• I'm not sure what the point of this sales flyer is. Sure, I might buy online when I see the flyer and I'm in the market for a big-ticket item. But how many electric pencil sharpeners am I going to buy in my lifetime (just one so far and it still works)?
• I did comparison shop one item, the KitchenAid mixer, and found it at about $450 other places. So the sale price on this item is legitimate.
• Yes, I did mask the specific products sold. The pricing compared to other stores is not the point of this post. The point is that I think these sales flyers, even if just sent by email, have no value and the money Sam's Club spends on them is wasted.

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