Buy the second one at half price. Are you really saving money?

 

I wonder if you usually buy a cup of black coffee at a coffee shop before going to work? Sometimes, I encounter the store lady asking me: "Would you lie a second cup? The second cup is half price.” Usually, people rarely say No to this kind of discount. After all, think about it. If you are sure that you are going to drink it every day, of course it makes sense to buy the second cup. But do you really drink the second cup every day?

三和一善 

Besides coffee shops, general stores, drugstores, department stores, etc., very often offer this kind of “half price for second product” discounts.

 

Does the temptation of half price make you constrained?

Your "real demand" does not actually require the second cup, you just want to drink a cup of coffee that day, but because of the temptation of "half-priced second cup", you potentially convince yourself that you want to drink the second cup. This leads to a vicious circle of unlimited buying more.

 

The same principle can also be applied to other second discounts of 50% and 40%. In fact, you only need "one piece of the product" at the moment, but because of the second discount, you will buy it because you think "you will use it later anyway." Let’s put it this way, if it’s a consumable product, such as toilet paper, since it does get consumed very quickly, it might make sense to stock up the product at home. But if the product is a non-consumable product, then you have to make sure that will use the second product. Otherwise, it will just end up sitting in your shelf for the rest of its life. 

I once bought a can of hand sanitizer that was as huge as a bottle of shower gel. The second one is half-priced. I thought that they are consumables anyway, so I bought it, but when I have used half the bottle of the first one, I found it was not good. Then I fancy other better hand sanitizers, but I then forced myself to have patience to use up the second bottle just because I have paid for it. 

I also bought a second, more favorable lipstick at a duty-free shop before boarding the plane, and the saleslady will convince me saying there will be no discount after that day. I was thinking that the consumables would be painted out anyway, but to-date it’s in the third year now and I haven’t finished using that lipstick. The color is now out of season, and I foresee that soon it will go to trash.

Under what circumstances will a half-price purchase is really worth it? In my opinion, things you will use in your life for real and continuous use, such as daily disposable contact lenses and vitamin C.

In fact, as long as you think about it carefully, it is not difficult to understand the logic. Why will business men do business at a loss? They offer you half the price because they know you will buy more because you are offered half price. Next time before you purchase the second product at half price, stop for a moment and think about it. If you are not offered this discount, would you buy the second one? If not, it means that you may not need it at this moment.

（三和一善・Maruyama Osamu)