Now that I’ve been paying close attention to the price of items at the grocery store, I’m becoming aware of the games many grocery stores play with their customers.   For example, there was a large display of cereal on sale with a $1.00 off coupon with the purchase of two boxes.   The boxes were “family sized” and contained 17 oz of cereal priced at $2.99.

The “regular size” box of cereal (13 oz) was priced at $2.14 so which is the better deal?

Doing the math, (2 x $2.99) – $1.00 = $4.98;    $4.98 / (17 oz x 2) = $0.14/oz.   $2.14 / 13 oz = $0.16/oz

So from a purely mathematical standpoint, the “family size” deal is a slightly better deal if you plan on carrying inventory of over two pounds of cereal in your home BUT the prices of cereal continue to drop almost on a biweekly basis so the actual better deal is to buy the smaller size, wait for the price to drop and then  reassess a week or two later.

I think buying in bulk is a bad play during deflationary spirals but that’s just me.