Christmas shopping in tough economic times means lots of sales, and creative retailers try to find ways to encourage their customers to spend more in order to get a deal. That’s the rationale for BOGO – a short-form I first encountered at Payless Shoe Source. BOGO is Buy-One-Get-One (free or half price or whatever).
Going shopping with my Christmas spirit in full bloom – and by Christmas spirit I mean willingness to spend in a holiday way and enjoy Christmas music and sparkling lights everywhere – is just what I need to joyously add to my wardrobe, music collection and kitchen and bedroom toys. Despite the crappy economy, I have resolved to steadfastly ignore whatever economic misery has befallen me until January. So, off I BOGO!
Don’t mean to complain, but there is one big problem with BOGO, and that is returns. The original sale is also a problem, but a smaller one. The systems are not equipped to deal with it and the sales people… well, let’s just say it seems to me a lot like when one of those robots from 1960s television was overloaded with information – circuits seizing, smoke coming out everywhere…
Let’s say you buy 12 items on a Buy One Get One free deal. So, you’ve only paid for 6, right? And each item had to be matched with one of equal or lesser value, but as close as possible. It would really be much easier for the computer to figure this out, and the lineups resulting as each customer tries to coach the clerk into matching things most advantageously would be avoided. But that’s the easy part.
If you think about it, returning, say, 3 of those items pretty means running the whole transaction again unless 2 of them had been 
matched with each other. It gets quite complicated. And, if by the time you return the stuff the BOGO deal is off, they won’t let you return and re-buy, so someone has to figure out how much you should get back. My last clerk decided to refund whatever I had paid for the actual item being returned, with the happy result that since almost every item I returned was a BO(bought at full price), I got most of my money back and kept the GO(freebies)!
I consider it a nice act of Christmas charity on the part of the retailers.
And to give back, I’m modeling some of my booty for you at no extra charge. Call it my GOGO sale!
Happy Holidays, y’all!
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What can be fun about BOGO is catching a hastily-trained seasonal cashier at the register. During the promotion, the registers are sometimes set to automatically apply the discount to every second item that’s entered. At Payless a couple of years ago, I bought a pair of $35 boots and a pair of marked-down pumps for $15. I should have paid about $43 before taxes (35 for the boots + 7.50 for the pumps). Instead, I paid $33 (15 for the pumps and 17.50 for the boots). I should have felt guilty, but I saved a bunch of money.
Wow!… Just looking at those pics I’d say we all made out well… Y’all.