I don't do a lot of bloggish type posts and I've been thinking about doing more bloggy stuff. That's like, stuff that's commentary about everyday things, the type of stuff that bloggers blog about. I want to start doing that.

Today I was at Walmart and one of the things on my shopping list was clothespins, wooden spring-loaded clothespins. They were for my son who was going to make a project with them from the book, Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction: Build Implements of Spitball Warfare, a book that shows how to make toy weapons out of everyday things like clothespins.

When I was looking for clothespins, I went straight to where I saw them another time at Walmart when I was looking for something else. I went to the hardware section by the rope and by the chain. I think it was also the section that had fasteners.

Anyway, I found a pack of 50 clothespins that was $2.27. I know that's not a whole lot to pay. 

I thought to myself that there had to be some clothespins by where the ironing boards were. So I went to where the ironing boards were, and where the clothes hangers were, and clotheslines and clothes hampers. And there was a package of 50 clothespins there, a pack of 50, that was only $0.97. They even looked nicer. The wood had less grain. 

I was thinking to myself, you know, it's strange that they'll have two items that are basically the same, but if you buy them in the hardware section they cost over twice as much as if you buy them in the laundry section. The packaging was different on both packs. And as I said, the more expensive ones even looked like they used poor quality wood.

Who comes up with this - the idea that one brand of clothespins will be stocked in hardware and another brand will be stocked by laundry supplies? 

Then, I remembered that I thought I saw clothespins in the craft section once. Over by where you'll find dowel rods, popsicle sticks, and glue. So I went over to the craft supplies section and they had a package of clothespins, a pack of 24, for $1.97.

It's kind of amazing that you can find three packages of clothespins, that are just about the same, but depending on where they are found in the store you pay a different price. 

 

Location in StoreRelative PricePricePrice each
By the ironing boardsCheapest$0.97/50$0.02
In the hardware sectionOver twice as expensive as the cheapest$2.27/50$0.05
By the craft suppliesMost expensive$1.97/24$0.08 

But it pays to shop around, I guess, even within one store.

It's interesting to me that someone decides that a Walmart store will stock 3 brands of clothespins at three different prices. That these different priced clothespins will be stocked in different areas of the store. 

With a lot of things, if an item is essentially the same, it will be stocked near other items like it. Like tomatoes or men's underwear. Clothespins, in my example, were stocked in three different aisles in different parts of the Walmart store.

It just interests me. Retail reasoning, that is.