Ask For An Equal Or Better Item When What You Want Is Out Of Stock

When a sale item you’re looking for at a store is out of stock, you have two options: you can either walk away empty-handed, or you can ask the store to match the sale price on a comparable product. In many cases, they will, even if the other product is of equal or greater value than the one on sale.

Photo by I See Modern Britain.

Here’s how Consumer Reports explains it:

For instance, during a recent visit to my local supermarket, I found that the 12-ounce can of store-brand honey roasted peanuts, on sale for $2.50, was sold out. So I asked a store employee if I could substitute the Planters 12-ounce can on sale at $3.49. No problem, he said, arranging for me to buy the brand-name product at the lower price.

OK, so I saved just 99 cents on the brand name item, which may have been no better than the store brand one. But I did get the sweet-salty snack I was craving, which was my main goal, and in the same size and at the discounted price I wanted to pay. And who knows? Next time, instead of a low-cost food item, it could be a television or some other product for which the savings is more than, well, peanuts.

We suspect this trick will actually work better with higher-priced items such as TVs than in supermarkets in Australia, since few supermarket staff have the option to alter pricing. The important lesson, however, is that it never hurts to ask.

Save Money Even When a Sale Item Is Out of Stock [Consumer Reports]