Price Matching

Yesterday I went to Walmart Market to try my hand at price matching. I was a little uncertain what the rules were, so I talked to the customer service manager before I began. I laid out my ads and pointed to the ones I wanted to use to make sure I would get the deal, and also so I wouldn't fill up my basket with "deals" and later be rejected.

I learned a few things.

1. Go in the morning when the cashier and managers still have a sense of humor.

2. You have to read the fine print. Smith's was having a case lot sale. When I've shopped there in the past, even if I didn't buy a whole case, I still got the individual price per item. But Walmart can only honor the price if you buy 24. LUCKILY- they had compassion on my plight as I stared at my 12 and 10 of each item trying to decide if I wanted them bad enough to pay the regular WM price or go put them back. The cashier convinced the manager to let them match it since it was my first time as long as I read the fine print in times to come. My past experiences of Walmart not being so kind slipped out the window!

3. Look nice and smile -- a lot! This just comes from previous experiences. I've been treated better by the same people who were pretty rude when I looked grubby. SIDENOTE: same thing with babies. It seems like people can tolerate a cute looking crying baby more than they do a baby with a horrible runny nose, matted hair and stained clothes. I'm just saying. It worked on all my 15-20 hour flights when I traveled with Monica.

So did it work?

You bet it did!

Unfortunately, Walmart does not tell you how much you saved when you pricematch like other stores do. BUT- I have a theory, and it works 90% of the time. Usually, when I shop for groceries, I take the number of items I am buying and multiply by 2 and that's how much I expect to pay. I'm never off by more than $5-$10. So, since I didn't buy anything I don't normally buy, using my system I should have paid around $180.

I paid $97!

Savings? I think so!