The Madness of Special Offers

I was in WH Smiths at Charing Cross Station yesterday evening after a great evening out at the theatre with Mat, a good friend of mine. We got to the station and decided to buy a couple of bottles of water - the theatre had been very hot and we were both spitting feathers by the time we left the place.

So we chose two small bottles at £1.50 each. Mat then decided on the jumbo size. I approached the till and was told that a large bottle and a small bottle would cost £3.86, so I started counting the small change out. The man behind the till then said it would be far better if I bought two jumbo-sized bottles, since they would cost just £3.00 in their special offer range. I said I only wanted a small bottle since it would fit better in my bag and suggested paying the £3.00, but taking the lesser amount. This was greeted with frowns and a 'not my rules, mate' look. So we went for the two jumbo-sized bottles. I suddenly thought that if I had then quickly swapped the large one for the small one when no one was looking, I could have been nabbed for shoplifting a cheaper bottle. How crazy is that?

But this is the world of special offers and bad mathematics! Of course, there are other factors at stake here. Maybe, WH Smiths wanted to shift stock nearing expiry dates etc. Who knows? Who cares? We seem to be living in a society where less is more and... more is less!

Mat then told me a story of a friend of his who was faced with an even more ludicrous special offer, again concerning water. Just look at the photo. It says it all. Probably just bad mathematics this time round. At least I hope so.