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On a Bag Sale

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Occasionally, stores have a bag sale. A sale where the store gives a bag to each customer, then give a designated percentage off the price of everything fits in the bag. Not a bag as the above, but a large paper bag – one slightly larger than a large brown paper bag from a grocery store.

Besides the discounted percentage in large letters, phrases as “Even sale priced items” qualify” get the buyer’s attention. Although “No early discounts” apply because of the designated dates involved, nothing like a sale when lawyers get involved. After all, the fine print list is probably what has been tried by customers at past sales.

According to the fine print, In order to qualify for the discount,

  • All merchandise must fit inside the bag
  • All merchandise must fit inside the bag all at one time
  • No modifications to the bag
  • Products up to twice the height of the bag qualify as long as it fits inside the bag
  • If purchasing multiples of one item, all must fit inside the bag
  • No stacking beyond the height of the bag
  • All items inside the bag must remain in original packaging
  • Merchandise cannot be disassembled to fit in the bag
  • Not valid on Gift Cards, special orders, picking lists/invoices, rental agreements, self-service items, or the floozies in the backroom
  • No rainchecks
  • No price adjustments from previous sales
  • One bag per guest
  • In the spirit of the sale, please do not ask the cashier to split your purchase up across multiple bags held by family members.

Any morals to this story?

72 thoughts on “On a Bag Sale”

      • Sorry, I’ve never seen a football team have to put their helmets back on in order to leave the field at the end of the game. Or, throw stuff at an injured player. I personally, think the NFL should suspend the city for the first two Bengal games next year…. play in an empty stadium.

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        • Not to take up for the idiots in the stands here Saturday night, I’ve seen worse. Keep in mind, most people in the stands weren’t the problem. Then again, some responsibility lies with the NFL. Atmosphere at NFL games is already questionable, so what were they thinking of having a Saturday night game, thus giving fans an opportunity for an all-day tailgate. Oh … that’s right … it’s about TV revenue.

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        • I recall bottles being thrown in Cleveland … Issues in Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. Looking at the papers in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati offers two different perspectives. Local writers here accept responsibility while looking at a broad perspective. Pittsburgh writers I’ve seen simply point to the Bengal players and fans.

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        • So, I suppose it’s the NFL’s fault, the Steeler’s fault and Rothlensberger’s fault for getting hurt and making himself a target. Right. Close the stadium first two games of next season, make the city pay for lost revenue and that BS will get cleaned up right quick.

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  5. I can never detect any morals within our commercial enterprises. However, I do have a few questions:

    1) How would a backroom floozie not exceed twice the height of a [unmodified] bag?
    2) What precisely is meant by a ‘self-service item’? Or, am I better off not knowing?
    3) Isn’t the ‘spirit’ of a sale to get things for cheap, regardless of whether or not it fits in one family member’s bag?
    4) If the sale is, say, 10% discount per bag, what happens if I come to the counter with 10 bags stuffed inside one another, with one item in the innermost bag?

    In fact, after further consideration, the moral of the story may be that I am the reason the world has lawyers.

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    • Alisha,
      Thanks not only for the laughs, but the fact that you caught the floozie (that was my addition to an item). Self-service would be items as refilling your own containers as propane or water … but a floozie machine could be worked into that department.

      To me, I think the spirit of the sale is to receive a sale price for everything the customer can put in one bag. This store is like a Home Depot – so you realize there are many items in the store that are available … so many small to reasonably-sized items.

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  9. I’ve never heard of a bag sale! Well not this kind anyway. This is strange thing. I can just imagine some people trying to find extra things to fit into the corners of the bag even though they don’t need them. And other people coming two or three times into the store wearing different disguises.

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    • Vanessa,
      Picture a store with many small items, such as a hardware store … an office supply store … A good example would be shopping for school supplies for the kids. Nonetheless, I image the “rules” on the bag were based on what people have tried in the past. BTW – if one returns in disguise, don’t forget to use a different credit card or pay cash.

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    • Pauline,
      You don’t know what you are missing. Image going into a store with many small items as office supplies or hardware. Even a grocery store could do this. BTW – I should be announcing the next musical soon.

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  11. I remember one of the office supply stores having this type of sale in late August or September when students and teachers are buying supplies. The bag came with our Sunday paper. I guess if it’s stuff you’re going to buy anyway–and the store has not raised the price before the “sale”–then it might be worth it, as long as you’re not buying extra stuff just to fill the bag.

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  15. I hadn’t heard of this type of ‘Bag’ giving sale 🙂 Interesting.. 🙂 Here they no longer give ANY Bag away due to cutting back on Pollution.. we have to pay 5 pence for every one now.. the money is going to worthy causes though.. 🙂

    Today I went into town to the hairdressers, and the sales were on. I had some spare time and did buy two items for myself in the sale.. with 70% off each. 🙂 and bought a bag to put them in.. 🙂
    Happy Shopping! Frank and a Happy Week to you

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  24. I’ve never been to a bag sale! This is a new one for me. I wonder if anyone has to sign an agreement to those rules before they get started. I can envision a lot of elbowing and pushing taking place. Sounds very interesting!

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    • Debra,
      Interesting that you haven’t noticed these as I’ve seen these sales for many years. Maybe it is one of the unusual trends that move east to west. 😉

      The bags are usually part of the ads in the Sunday paper. Most often, it is for office supply and home improvement stores – stores that have many small-size items. I don’t know, but I also imagine bags are also provided on location.

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