There are things in this world that make no sense to me, and I don’t think it’s just because I’m a philosopher. Listen to this. On the way home from school yesterday, I stopped at Kroger for groceries. I saw that both Clif Mojo bars and Clif Builder’s bars were on sale (for customers with a Kroger card) for $1.25 per bar. The regular prices are $1.39 and $1.99, respectively. I put one full box of each type of bar in my cart, and then took most of a second box of each as well. At the checkout counter, I noticed that the Builder’s bars were ringing up at $1.99 per bar. I told the clerk that they should be $1.25 apiece. She paused. “Will the difference be taken off at the end?” I asked. She didn’t know, so I let her proceed.
You guessed it. I was charged the full price for all the bars. I wouldn’t have purchased the bars at the regular price, so I called the manager over. We walked back to the energy-bar section to investigate. When I pointed to the yellow sale tag that said “4/$5,” she said, “The sale expired on 6 April.” As she said it, she ripped the sale tag off. When we got back up front, she talked to the person in charge of energy bars. They decided to sell me the loose bars, but not the full boxes, at the sale price. I didn’t complain. She acted as though I might want to buy the bars at the full price. I told her I did not. It took her 15 minutes to get things in order, and seemed perturbed at having to do it.
Can you believe this? Is there a principled reason to sell me some bars, but not all I wanted, at the sale price? Why was Kroger willing to sell the bars at $1.25 apiece until 6 April, but not on 8 April? Did keeping a customer happy enter into it, and if not, why not? I asked her whether I’m supposed to notice expiration dates on sale tags. She said no. I had done nothing wrong. Someone in the store should have taken the sale tags off when they expired. It was a bizarre experience. As I say, I didn’t complain, but that doesn’t mean it makes sense to me.
