How price-conscious are you?

Most of us talk about being price-conscious but truthfully not that many people follow through.  Living in a country that brags of being the epitome of capitalism – where market forces rule, who really is in the driver's seat..  Living alone I can afford to stagger my grocery shopping in such a way that I only buy when something is on sale.  Being a creature of habit my product selection remains virtually the same over a period of time and as such I am aware of the price of most items in at least three grocery chains.

Now with this in mind I have to disclosure there are a few items that I hold dear, where I close my eyes and pay whatever the going rate is.  When purchasing these items I walk into the store for that particular item only and nothing else. This week I did make such a trip to the store to make a purchase but while I was waiting for my purchase to prepared I realized that I was hungry and would not be able to eat for a while.  Now retailers bank on such situations occurring because right in front to me was an array of things I can eat on the go.  I looked for a familiar product which I am confident is sold nationwide but to my surprise it was not available. 

In its place was similar product - nutritional content pretty much the same too.  I picked one out, pulled the five dollar bill out my purse, as I had already paid for my other purchases.  I put the two things on the counter for the cashier to ring me up.  Now remember I am working on assumptions here because I picked a similar product and taking for granted the pricing would be similar I was looking for $2.00 change or slightly less.  The cashier rang me up and then in an extremely pleasant voice said “Since this a new product I will give you a coupon for $1.00 for today’s purchase and another your next purchase.  Your total today is $5.62”.  I swallowed hard, putting special effort not to show my shock.  With extremely controlled facial expression I handed her the additional money. 

I cannot say for sure whether I developed an utter dislike for the product because I thought it was overpriced or not.  All I can say for sure is that I am disappointed that I did not just state that the price was above what I was prepared to pay and asked to have the transaction cancelled.  I admit that it was a form of “peer pressure” – I have my usual mantra ringing in my head “every penny counts” over and over again but here I was in a situation where I clearly crossed that line and made a purchase that is above my income bracket and could not even pretend that I did so because I have a long standing relationship with said product.  That it was under $6.00 and I had the ability to pay it is irrelevant to my need for price sensitivity.

Needless to say one of the reasons why I bought the product without a moment's hesitation in the first place was because I had seen a friend drink it.  When I saw her next I handed the coupon to her and told her that I did not realize she had such expensive taste. 

Wealth accumulation 101 – being a great saver means being price-conscious across the board.  But I hasten to add it is also important to ensure you are buying quality, while all the necessary nutrients were there the taste definitely needs working on but none of it matters I will stick to just buying the one product that I have been buying from this particular retailer over the years.