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In the spirit of Follow Friday, a little impromptu post inspired by a tweet I saw today from @kn0thing, where he’d linked to a photo he called the “Worst. ‘Sale.’ Ever.” Guess what? Turns out, there are a bunch more floating around online.
1. Worst. “Sale.” Ever.
The photo that inspired the post: Yep, this XBox Guitar Hero World Tour was originally £144.99, until this store had the bright idea to mark it down to £144.98. Typo? Here’s hoping some blokes weren’t taken in by the false advertising hype.
2. Wal-Mart Cares
From Reid Kerr, we get this great find from his local Wal-Mart. Here he is, in his own words:
“Wal-Mart Cares. That’s the only way I can describe this sale, featuring blank CDs for a jaw-dropping fraction of the cost. I mean, anytime I can buy something and save one-one-thousand, three-hundred and forty-eighth of the cost, I jump all over that deal.”
3. 0% Off
Okay, so this one doesn’t really count, right? Clearly the gigantic 1 (or 2, or even 5) is that other huge sign laying on the ground, right? Boy do I hope so.
4. Worst Sale Ever?
Scott Sherman gives us this lulu from Toys R Us. In his own words: “I took my kids to the toy store today – in a struggling economy, it’s nice to see Toys R Us slashing prices like this.”
5. Lamest sale sign ever
Skorskimus over at Flickr.com posted this one. It clearly rubbed him/her the wrong way… understandable.
6. Save $-10
These just in from some of our readers (thanks Daybringer and James Gibson)! Another Toys R Us, and another Wal-Mart… keep ‘em coming!
7. Less = More
8. Ikea Failvkstbord
The hits keep coming! Thanks Steven, for the next 3…
9. Three-of-a-Kind = a Special Kind of Find
Okay, so this is another joke… but you already knew that.
10. Prices Slashed! (the wrong way)
The Best Sale Ever!
From a reader named Jason, we get this, er, priceless sale pic, which he describes for us on his Flickr page: “This sign was hanging in a Goody’s (a regional clothing store in the South Eastern US). Well, it was a regional clothing store, as they folded in early ‘09. You’d think that by offering $10 for $1 it’s no wonder, but I think they were planning on making up the difference in volume. ”
Have your own Worst Sale Ever story/pic? Hit us back and tell the world. We’ll include them and keep the list going… Yeah, go ahead, be our bloggers.
Comments (26)
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Haha, i actually went to toysrus last year and saw a sign for some little pet shop thing that said Save -12.XX. It actually cost MORE on sale! Let me see if i can find that picture on my phone
posted by Daybringer on 9-12-2009 at 12:28 am
Well, I couldn’t find it, but here’s another one just like it!
http://consumerist.com/assets/resources/2007/11/thebestthingever-thumb.jpg
posted by Daybringer on 9-12-2009 at 12:45 am
Check out Wal Mart’s math: old price was $9.37, new lower price is $9.47!!!
http://tinypic.com/r/349cmtv/3
posted by James Gibson on 9-12-2009 at 12:56 am
I saw this page at 1.02am. It is now 1.15am and I JUST stopped laughing. Please, oh please, tell me there’s more!
posted by Kat on 9-12-2009 at 1:16 am
Walmart is famous for errors in their computer system, so the price tag has one price and at the register you get a different (often higher) price. Hey the low prices have to be made up for somewhere!
posted by Lisa on 9-12-2009 at 3:02 am
I saw this deal: (http://www.flickr.com/photos/brainthought/3323657255/) at a regional clothing store’s going out of business sale, and you can really see why they were going out of business with deals like these. $10 for $1 on the old clothes hangers…
posted by Jason on 9-12-2009 at 8:34 am
Here are a few I just found via Google…
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3272/2819438673_d268f93599.jpg?v=0
http://reziztanceisfutile.files.wordpress.com/2009/06/salefail.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3632/3379773566_2d8a9357f3.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3647/3684803847_9cf55be873_m.jpg
posted by Steven on 9-12-2009 at 1:11 pm
The sign that says “Buy 3 for the price of 3″ is intentionally a bad sale. It was made for the Simpsons Movie promotion at 7-11s, when they turned them into Kwik-E-Marts.
posted by Keone on 9-12-2009 at 2:08 pm
that 3 for the cost of three looks like it’s from a kwik e mart like the simpsons promo thing with 7/11, i think that’s intentional
posted by denise on 9-12-2009 at 6:57 pm
Was the number 9 sign put in as a joke. Anyway number 9 aside the rest was funny and sad at the same time.
posted by Kari on 9-12-2009 at 9:10 pm
I hate the clearance area at Target (it’s generally on the end of the aisles) because their clearance is like 5% off. Yipeee!!!!!!
posted by Sarah in CA on 9-12-2009 at 9:51 pm
Um, guess what. Number 2 (from Wal*Mart) was photoshopped.
It’s a little obvious when three of the four numbers on the card are in focus while the first one (the 1 in this case) is blurry.
Makes me wonder about the rest of them.
posted by Drew on 9-13-2009 at 12:36 am
I once saw a sign in Sainsbury’s in Bath (UK) advertising a 2 for the price of 3 offer ^-^ Obviously the employee had just put the signs up in the wrong order (they come in 3 or 4 separate bits) but it was quite funny nonetheless.
posted by Lynn on 9-13-2009 at 5:07 am
I don’t see what the problem with number 5 is. If you look at the text (which is small but not illegible) it says that prices for certain items are $1, $5, or $10.
posted by Seriously on 9-13-2009 at 9:33 am
Currently, on the Asda website, you can buy Asda own pizza for 1 for £1 or 3 for £4!
posted by elynorah on 9-13-2009 at 10:52 am
Great signs. I always love the “Buy One – Get One” signs. I should HOPE so.
Presumably they intended ‘buy one get one free’ but that’s not what they said.
posted by David on 9-13-2009 at 7:43 pm
What am I missing in number 5?
posted by Mike on 9-14-2009 at 5:19 am
Number 5 is just plain redundant. Select items start at $1, $5, and $10. Of course they do!
How about this…I have a yard sale, in which I advertise that I have items as low as a quarter for sale! But of the hundreds of items I pulled out of storage, only two of them were at such a price. I honored the ad, but tricked the customers.
I hope that helps some people with the confusion.
posted by Steven on 9-14-2009 at 9:30 am
me and my wife were looking at cars the other night and we came across an interesting sale at one of the toyota lots. We found a nice one or two year old prius with low miles. There was a sale sticker hanging from the rear-view mirror which said “SALE! Monday Only! $23,500!” we then went to take a look at the original price listed on the window sticker….$18,995
posted by Jon on 9-14-2009 at 9:57 am
I work in the cell phone section of a department store, and a few months ago we had one of our regular weekend sales. We received a note from marketing that one of the Blackberry phones we were selling for 18.88 was to be changed to 48.88 to match the flyer. We all thought it was hilarious when people would come in to look at the phone and remark how cheap it was.
posted by heather on 9-14-2009 at 6:54 pm
A sale for blonds.
http://www.misscellania.com/miss-cellania/2009/9/14/perpetuating-a-stereotype.html
posted by Miss Cellania on 9-14-2009 at 8:58 pm
#9 is intentional. Look at the “Kwik -E-Mart at the bottom right. It’s from the 7-11 promotion for The Simpsons Movie a few years ago.
posted by zark on 9-15-2009 at 2:36 am
My favorite came from Best Products when I worked for them. I still have the sign at home.
Regular Price: $269.99
Best Product Discount: $30.00
Your price: $329.99
In no possible way does that math add up….in any direction.
posted by Reska on 9-15-2009 at 10:38 am
Jon,
Just to let you know, Prius is about the only car I know of that actually appreciates when you leave the lot. A used Prius costs more than a new one, go figure.
posted by bryan on 10-6-2009 at 1:34 am
A sale of -2% at Maplins (UK)
http://jonspriggs.posterous.com/maplins-shelf-of-fail
posted by Paul on 10-14-2009 at 4:36 pm
Just found the site, thanks for the plug! For the record, the number 2 sign from Wal-Mart was NOT Photoshopped. It’s actually the second time my local Wal-Mart has posted a one-cent discount, this time I had my phone with me.
posted by Reid on 10-25-2009 at 4:07 pm