The major supermarket chain with whom I have been doing business for many years sent me a flyer in today's mail to announce a wonderful new feature they are offering:
FREE Delivery!
It turns out, though, that there's one teensy-weensy little catch, a fly in the ointment, as it were.
It's not free.
The devil, as always, is in the details. Farther down in the flyer we learn that for "Next-Day Delivery" the cost is $59/year
I learned even more when I checked the fine print at the bottom of the flyer:
As people have been saying since at least as long ago as the days of the Roman Empire, caveat emptor (let the buyer beware).
The French say (in French, of course), "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
Perhaps P.T. Barnum said it best: "There's one born every minute."
I have no doubt whatever that a lot of people will rush to avail themselves of FREE Delivery, many of them millennials who have a college degree.
I will not be among them.
I know you didn't fall off that turnip truck but I'm sure there are many that never got on! This seems to be the new style of advertising, using the word "free" to pull you in knowing many don't read the fine print!
ReplyDeleteBonnie, anything to separate people from their money.
DeleteI was buying my fruit & veg from a delivery service. Delivery was free with a $69 minimum purchase. I was ok with that but I wasn't ok when a $10 delivery fee was added to my bill without notice. I understand they need to put prices up at times but the lack of prior notice encouraged me to go elsewhere.
ReplyDelete$59 a year sounds like a prety good deal for delivery
kylie, my point was not whether it might be a pretty good deal, my point was that anything that says it's free but costs money is not free.
DeleteYes, sorry, I did get the point and got distracted. How are they even allowed to call it free when there's a price?
Deletekylie, my theory is that they are liars and deceivers intent on perpetrating their skulduggery on the widest possible audience. Allowed? What do you mean, allowed? It must be an Australian concept.
DeleteIs delivery free if it's not next day or within as little as 2 hours?
ReplyDeleteGraham, no. the deal is not "we meet our criteria or all bets are off", it's "you pays your moeny and you takes your chances"....
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