We have reached Labor Day weekend in the US. I don't even know why Labor Day is observed. I'm too lazy to ask ChatGPT or go to Wikipedia and then copy/paste those results here. Even if I wasn't paying attention to the calendar, the flood of "Labor Day sales and discounts" has already filled my inbox. It's the perfect time to revisit my stance on discounts.
Please don’t insult me with a 5% discount. A 5% discount is not even worth the extra processing my brain does to determine if it’s worth it. On a large purchase like a car or a house, 5% makes a big difference. For the rest of your piddly wares, 5% is insignificant and an insult.
The next category (probably the most common) is a 10% discount. While this figure is easier to calculate, it’s still a paltry discount. I mean, five dollars off a $50 item? If it’s something I’m already planning to buy anyway, sure, I’ll take the discount. Otherwise, I don’t even get out of bed in the morning for 10%.
What about 15%? Didn’t that use to be the standard for tipping? Now I hear the barista wants a 20-25% tip. For doing what, exactly? You tip a bartender, and you might get a heavy pour or better service at the bar for a couple of hours. What’s the barista going to do? Give you extra whipped cream? I appreciate service workers and tip well (but I don’t go to Starbucks.)
Finally, we reached a discount that I will pay attention to--20%. This one is probably the second most common after 10%. I’d say $20 off a $100 purchase is a decent discount. It’s not a guarantee that I will be nudged into a purchase I wasn’t planning to make, but you had my curiosity, and now you have my attention.
The sweet spot for discounts is between 25-50%. These are the discounts that get my attention, although you have to be careful to avoid trickery. I’ll get an email stating “up to 50% off,” and then I see that I must buy six or more items or some threshold of dollars to get the total discount. Legit discounts of 25-50% may nudge me into a purchase I would not otherwise have made.
I am immediately suspicious of any discount above 50%. These discounts are typical for digital products such as software and courses. Buy this lifetime subscription to the Excel Power User bundle, a $999 value, yours for only a one-time price of $19.99. The retail price and supposed value of the product(s) are often made up. How overpriced was a product to begin with if it’s now discounted by 90%?
I’m also suspicious when there’s only a dollar figure instead of a percentage discount. One time I saw an ad for $500 off, which is more than I was expecting to pay for the product!
This brings me to the ultimate discount of 100%, otherwise known as “free.” Some retailers love playing fast and loose with the word “free,” while others don’t even use the word at all. Take the buy-one, get-one promotion abbreviated as BOGO. You buy one item and get a second one (for free). You’re not really getting anything for free because you still have to buy that first item. This promotion is just a disguised 50% discount. I’m not quibbling with the deal but rather the deception.
Let’s talk about a genuine abuse of the word “free.” I’ve received multiple emails informing me that I won a drawing I never entered, and my gift is a “free” book. All I have to do is pay $9.95 for “shipping and handling.” I understand the shipping charge, but what’s this handling? Isn’t that the cost of doing business? That should be built into the price of a product. But wait, it’s FREE. A “free” book where you have to pay $9.95 is a book for $9.95. That’s not free.
Let’s talk about a genuine abuse of the word “free.” I’ve received multiple emails informing me that I won a drawing I never entered, and my gift is a “free” book. All I have to do is pay $9.95 for “shipping and handling.” I understand the shipping charge, but what’s this handling? Isn’t that the cost of doing business? That should be built into the price of a product. But wait, it’s FREE. A “free” book where you have to pay $9.95 is a book for $9.95. That’s not free.
