Apparently they had some because mine have shipped. Free is good when you can get it.
Thanks Kitarkus
Ralph
Right.
And will you shop them for your next string purchase?
In my professional sales career, in both retail and wholesale in several industries, I've never seen B&S actually used in a place I worked at, but several of a national retailer's local stores were nailed a couple of years back for offering a sale price on bread that was never available.
I'd hazard the negative publicity associated with that being plastered in the newspapers probably cost 'em far more than they ever made on customers who showed up for bread that was never there for several weeks running.
The pitfalls outweigh short-term benefits these days, and as Frono mentioned, the real benefit is having somebody actually come in and look around even when the ad states limited quantities. They're not gonna be "pi--ed off", but they wanna see what other good deals might be available even if the one that drew 'em in
is sold out
Example of "win" for the retailer could be a situation where a courtesy discount is offered on an item that isn't on sale.
Yes it sounds awfully close to bait & switch, but they really have no legal obligation to offer it and the alternative is saying "No, we're not gonna try to do you a favor at all".
THEN you've just pushed a fresh prospect away forever.
Something that's often forgotten about retail:
A price tag is technically an "OFFER to TREAT".
You can walk up to a register and say "Will you take $9.00 for this $10.00 box of candy?"
While the register clerk may not have authority to accept the offer, I guarantee you a store manager does.
Our culture simply likes to streamline the retail purchasing process and do away with the "haggling" so prevalent in other cultures but in fact any smart retailer (and wholesaler too, for that matter) will accept reasonable offers if they make sense.
Bear in mind that's exactly what happens when you haggle over a car price.
For that size of purchase most people are willing to put up with the hassle even though most of 'em universally hate it.
The Consumer Fraud departments (frequently under Weights and Measures) in any city or county routinely check ads for bait &switch,
especially car dealers and big retailers, they don't wait for complaints.
It's one of the reasons rainchecks got popular for simple stock-outs on a sale item: for a retailer, a return visit is a good thing.
But yeah, for giving away free strings, I'm entirely sympathetic to limiting your loss and counting it as advertising dollars..