The Great Pepto Caper
Tonight marked the end of an era. I just finished my last bottle of Pepto-Bismol. Why is this a momentous occasion? Well, I'm glad you asked.
Since I moved back into New York in 2003, I've done almost all my big grocery shopping online. It's just easier that way since I don't like carrying 7 or 8 bags of groceries 5 or 6 blocks. For small stuff, I'll walk to the store, but when I want to buy a lot, I'll just get it online. You can order pretty much whatever you want, the prices are good, and they'll generally deliver it within 24 hours. And delivery only costs $4.95, so how can you beat that deal? So three years ago, I'm online buying my groceries and I'm looking for some kind of antacid. I was hoping for Pepcid, but the store I was using only had things like Maalox or Tums. And Pepto-Bismol.
I was never a huge fan of the pink stuff, only because I believed that pills worked better. But as I was looking over the options, I realized that the Pepto was on sale. For 25 cents. Yes, that's right, a normal sized bottle of Pepto was on sale of 25 cents. Normally that kind of size would sell for about $5. So I looked closer to make sure that I was looking at a regular sized bottle, and not some kind of promotional size where you'd get one sip and that was it. No, it was the regular size. I added one to my cart, figuring, OK, there's some kind of typo, but once it's in my cart, the right price will show up. I thought it was probably meant to be $2.50, which is still a good price. When I added it to the cart though, it was still 25 cents. So, I added 3 more. 4 bottles for a buck. Not a bad deal. I then continued shopping.
When I was done with everything, the total price wasn't all that high. And I kept thinking about the price of the Pepto. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I went back and added 15 more bottles. I now had 20 bottles of Pepto in my cart, all for a total of $5. Again, I didn't really believe I'd get 20 bottles of Pepto for $5. I presumed that once the transaction went through and someone on the other end looked at it, they'd realize the mistake and call me and tell me there was a pricing error. Or worst case, they'd just charge me normal price, and I'd have to argue with them on the phone. But, the next day as part of my order, I got an entire box of nothing but Pepto-Bismol.
It was rather glorious to look at. 20 bottles of pink liquid staring up at me from a cardboard box. I get the feeling that with this online shopping, a computer handles the money part of the order, and then prints out a slip that gets handed to one of the human workers, who then picks out the order, not really caring about prices. I can only imagine what my guy must have been thinking... 'Hmm, OK let's see here... a gallon of milk, some Frosted Flakes, 20 bottles of Pepto... Damn! This guy must choke down hot sauce like it's going out of season! 20 bottles of Pepto? I hope his heart doesn't get set on fire.' I took a quick look at the receipt I got and yes, it was still only 25 cents a bottle.
My first thought was, I should go out on the street and sell this for $5 a pop. I'll break even after the first bottle, and make pure profit on the rest. That idea lasted about 30 seconds because who in their right mind would buy Pepto from some guy on the street. Right? So I decided to keep all of them. And anytime someone would come over, I'd offer them a bottle. It was sort of like a parting gift. Thanks for stopping by, here's a bottle of Pepto for the road. Not everyone would take one of course, but I had one friend who took a couple of bottles just because he liked the taste. All in all, I think I gave out about 7-8 bottles. Which left 12-13 for me.
And tonight, 3 years later, I polished off the last of the bottles. It's actually a little sad. When I first saw that box of Pepto, I thought I'd never have to buy some ever again. Foolish dreams of a young man I suppose. Nothing lasts forever. However, tomorrow I am planning on buying some more groceries, so of course, I'm going to have to take a look and see if by random chance, they have something on sale at a ridiculous price, so I can once again cheat the system. And if I do, I'll make sure to let you all know, so you can stop by and pick some up for yourselves.
Since I moved back into New York in 2003, I've done almost all my big grocery shopping online. It's just easier that way since I don't like carrying 7 or 8 bags of groceries 5 or 6 blocks. For small stuff, I'll walk to the store, but when I want to buy a lot, I'll just get it online. You can order pretty much whatever you want, the prices are good, and they'll generally deliver it within 24 hours. And delivery only costs $4.95, so how can you beat that deal? So three years ago, I'm online buying my groceries and I'm looking for some kind of antacid. I was hoping for Pepcid, but the store I was using only had things like Maalox or Tums. And Pepto-Bismol. I was never a huge fan of the pink stuff, only because I believed that pills worked better. But as I was looking over the options, I realized that the Pepto was on sale. For 25 cents. Yes, that's right, a normal sized bottle of Pepto was on sale of 25 cents. Normally that kind of size would sell for about $5. So I looked closer to make sure that I was looking at a regular sized bottle, and not some kind of promotional size where you'd get one sip and that was it. No, it was the regular size. I added one to my cart, figuring, OK, there's some kind of typo, but once it's in my cart, the right price will show up. I thought it was probably meant to be $2.50, which is still a good price. When I added it to the cart though, it was still 25 cents. So, I added 3 more. 4 bottles for a buck. Not a bad deal. I then continued shopping.
When I was done with everything, the total price wasn't all that high. And I kept thinking about the price of the Pepto. So I did what any reasonable person would do. I went back and added 15 more bottles. I now had 20 bottles of Pepto in my cart, all for a total of $5. Again, I didn't really believe I'd get 20 bottles of Pepto for $5. I presumed that once the transaction went through and someone on the other end looked at it, they'd realize the mistake and call me and tell me there was a pricing error. Or worst case, they'd just charge me normal price, and I'd have to argue with them on the phone. But, the next day as part of my order, I got an entire box of nothing but Pepto-Bismol.
It was rather glorious to look at. 20 bottles of pink liquid staring up at me from a cardboard box. I get the feeling that with this online shopping, a computer handles the money part of the order, and then prints out a slip that gets handed to one of the human workers, who then picks out the order, not really caring about prices. I can only imagine what my guy must have been thinking... 'Hmm, OK let's see here... a gallon of milk, some Frosted Flakes, 20 bottles of Pepto... Damn! This guy must choke down hot sauce like it's going out of season! 20 bottles of Pepto? I hope his heart doesn't get set on fire.' I took a quick look at the receipt I got and yes, it was still only 25 cents a bottle.
My first thought was, I should go out on the street and sell this for $5 a pop. I'll break even after the first bottle, and make pure profit on the rest. That idea lasted about 30 seconds because who in their right mind would buy Pepto from some guy on the street. Right? So I decided to keep all of them. And anytime someone would come over, I'd offer them a bottle. It was sort of like a parting gift. Thanks for stopping by, here's a bottle of Pepto for the road. Not everyone would take one of course, but I had one friend who took a couple of bottles just because he liked the taste. All in all, I think I gave out about 7-8 bottles. Which left 12-13 for me.
And tonight, 3 years later, I polished off the last of the bottles. It's actually a little sad. When I first saw that box of Pepto, I thought I'd never have to buy some ever again. Foolish dreams of a young man I suppose. Nothing lasts forever. However, tomorrow I am planning on buying some more groceries, so of course, I'm going to have to take a look and see if by random chance, they have something on sale at a ridiculous price, so I can once again cheat the system. And if I do, I'll make sure to let you all know, so you can stop by and pick some up for yourselves.
posted by SC | 10:53 PM
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