TV Shopping at Sams Club - WOW Inflation

[dadspet]

On Sat 1/25 I shopped at Sams for a 46" LCD TV. I was interested in a Sony 46" LCD priced at $1367 but wanted to do more research on it. I picked up the little 3x5 they have next to the set with the price on it. After doing some homework I went back to buy it on 1/28 and WOW inflation struck big time. The same set went up $300. When I tried to buy it at the $1367 price by showing the clerk the price tag I picked up they indicated the price had increased by $300 and there was nothing they could do. After some fuss they called in the store manager and he also said the price had gone up $300 but since I had the price slip from 3 day before the best they would do was meet me half way ! Bottom line was I was ticked and decided I didn't need to pay an additional $150 for a TV that would probably depreciate a lot more then the original price in the up coming months.

To make matters worst I then decided to buy an alternate set a Vizio 47" at $1378 that they had stacked high up on Saturday but some guy came in and bought 17 sets that morning and they were sold out. I guess the economy isn't as bad as you read in the paper and I'll be watching the Super Bowl on our 19" set since they won't be showing it at Old Mill Movie. Any predictions on TV prices after the Super Bowl?

[redwitch]

About $300 less than they are right now?

[aln]

Go back after the Super Bowl.
Chances are the price will be down $400

[gfmucci]

Like buying flowers on Valentine's day.

[Hyacinth Bucket]

I agree with gfmucci. That is some mark up in three days.

HB

[JohnN]

I've read in Dec 07 that prices would drop quite a bit after the super bowl

[billethkid]

Hey Dadspet you really don't believe what you read in the papers do you? Especially something as politically driven as their commentary on recession. It is a numbers game....has NOTHING to do with reality. I know you know this, but I am always looking for a soap box when ANY of the media are involved.

BTK

[Hancle704]

They were probably emulating the airlines. Look what they did on fares to and from Phoenix last week and what they always do around holidays. Of course airlines learned this from oil companies. Look at gas prices before, during and after peak driving weekends, season.

Deregulation and a free market economy, ain't it great. :barf:

[l2ridehd]

It's called a free market system. Every year since TV and the super bowl were invented, the price has gone up in the weeks prior to the game. I think there is also a big sale the day after Christmas and Thanksgiving. And flowers have always cost more on Febuary 14th.

If you want socialism and fixed prices go to someplace that already has it. There are lots of people who want to come here to get away from it. Prices will always very based on supply and demand in a free market system.

Want to see the price of gas go down? Start a national movement to have everyone stop driving one day a week. If you get them to do it the price of gas will fall back to $2 a gallon within 2 weeks.

So plan your major purchases when demand drops. Right now buy real estate and stocks.

[Muncle]

Yeah, I like that regulated, government-controlled economy. Then you needn't worry about the fluctuation of television prices. There would be one model, with a 15 inch screen, weighing 75 kilos, and costing on 29 Euros. Unfortunately, there would be none in stock because the plant couldn't supply any because there were no raw materials and half the workers were on Kur. When you think of a non-free market system, think Trabant. On the negative side, this paragon of socialist industry was truly one of the worst car ever. On the positive side, production policies in the East were so skewed (cleaned that up, didn't I) that it took years to get a Trabi once you were allowed to order it. Now that's :barf:

[l2ridehd]

Yes, I remember that wonderful automobile. You had to take the tires off and carry them and the battery inside at night or people would steal them because parts were impossible to get. But the price never changed. You could put your name along with everyone else on a list and you all paid the same thing. even if you bought it just before superbowl.

[TVQueen]

Hey hey, I resemble that remark 040

[Muncle]

You could put your name along with everyone else on a list and you all paid the same thing. even if you bought it just before superbowl.

Of course, you ordered it during the Packers-Chiefs superbowl ('67)and got your car right after the Skins-Broncos game ('88).

For English and others who are unfamiliar with this beast:
http://i266.photobucket.com/albums/ii253/billfl/RTEmagicC_1trabi_photocase_smeyli.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trabant

But the East German people had a sense of humor:

How do you double the value of a Trabant? Fill up the tank!

How do you turn a Trabant into a sports car? Put sneakers in the trunk!

During a visit to the Leipzig Trade Fair a filthy rich oil sheikh heard that there is a car with a delivery time of over ten years. Since Rolls Royce usually delivers more quickly than that, it must be quite an exceptional car, which he would certainly have to have in his collection.
Sight unseen, he made a request to order this Trabant. In Zwickau they're aware of this great honor, so they immediately change the running Five-Year Plan and bring forward a specimen. In the container, the car reaches the emirate in a handful of weeks. The happy oil sheikh immediately called his friends together, opened the container, and surprisedly exclaimed: "Gosh, they have incredibly long delivery times, but at least they send you a cardboard model in advance - and the best, you can even drive it!"

Sachsenring AG brought out a new Eco-Trabi: Immediately available for delivery, extremely cheap, extremely quiet, extremely environmentally friendly - with electric power train. Problem: The extension cord is only 20 meters long and not in stock!

[l2ridehd]

Great question and a great example of a socialist East Germany economy and a West German free market economy. The Trablant vs the Mercedes. And the amazing thing is that is real dollars or marks I guess it would be, the Mercedes actually cost a little less then the Trablant when taken as a % of average income from each country.

And yet with example after example and there are thousands like this we still have people in this country who actually in their hearts believe that more government is better. And yet there is not one single example where that is true. Amazing.

[noleguy]

And yet with example after example and there are thousands like this we still have people in this country who actually in their hearts believe that more government is better. And yet there is not one single example where that is true. Amazing.


:agree:

[Muncle]

An aside --- I was in Nuernberg during the collapse of the Warsaw Pact. Before the wall came down, East Germans would do down thru Czech and into Austria and Germany. Much easier borders with less chance of getting shot. During the rush, we'd go out to the autobahn and watch Trabis and Wartburgs tootling up the highway piled high with all these people's belongings. Inspiring and tragic at the same time. Soon the roads of West Germany were littered with deserted broken down DDR cars. Then the wall came down and West Germany was littered with East Germans expecting the new state to care for them as had the old one they hated so much. That was tragic.