The little woman and I will celebrate our 50th Wedding Anniversary in June. We have booked a 10-day cruise to Alaska, the last of 50 states she has never visited. I locked in #50 three years ago (Oregon). The last time I was in Alaska (Fairbanks) was 1968 in February for 3 weeks, and when I arrived it was minus 40 degrees, so I’m not sure that miserably cold 3-week stay counts.
S-o-o-o-o-o, to further celebrate our “vacation from our vacation” (retirement), as Admin so aptly describes it, we decided to buy new luggage. Off we go this afternoon to Kohl’s. I found this Samsonite behemoth that could transport a baby whale originally priced at $360 marked down to $109. Wow. It had some scuff marks on the exterior, but so what – otherwise it was in excellent condition. One or two flights with the luggage will just triple the scuff marks anyway. My wife had a $20 off coupon to make it what we thought would be $89 plus tax. Smoking bargain!!!!
Wrong. We go to the cash register. The clerk scanned the bar code, and it came up $29!!!! She called the manager and told him the URL on the tag matched what came up on the register screen. He okayed the sale. She then accepted the $20 off card, and we were down to $9. Story not over. We got a FURTHER 20% discount because my wife has some sort of Kohl’s discount shit. With tax included, we ended up paying $7.63 for a $360 piece of luggage. That’s exactly 2% of the original retail price plus tax. To put it in more dramatic terms, just the sales TAX alone on the original price was almost 4 times what we paid.
What’s your best shopping bargain?
Congratulations SSS and Missus SSS
I think 50 years with you qualifies her for sainthood. 🙂
Congrats SSS .50 years is wonderful testament to commitment .
Best deal….a pair of Bose 901 speakers from an auction….got’em for 5 bucks . I’ve been using them for 20 plus years .
Nothing could match that bargain, but Avalon and I went to Kohl’s this past Sunday and I was flabbergasted at the dozens of 85% off racks. They already announced that their sales and earnings would be a disaster for the 4th quarter. The store was a mess. Nothing was where it should be. They are failing.
So we took advantage of their inventory problems. They sent us a 30% off coupon and gave us $20 of Kohl’s cash. We ended up getting 5 nice shirts, a pair of dress pants for work, slippers, and a pair of nice skeechers sneakers for $90. The regular price for that stuff was $360. 75% discount isn’t bad, but not as good as SSS.
Kohls is another dead retailer walking.
Congrats on 50 SSS …here’s wishing you and the missus many more happy and healthy years.
I stopped at a yard sale back in ’97. I spotted an old Kennedy cantilevered tool box under the card table where the woman conducting the sale sat. It had a brass lock on it and I asked her if there was a key. “Nope” was the response. I asked he what she wanted for it (it felt like it was loaded with tools) and she said $20. I looked though my pockets and came up with $15 and she took it. The box alone was worth $200-$300 back then.
When I got home I took bolt cutters to the lock and when I opened it it was filled with rolls of pre-1965 silver coins- half dollars, quarters, dimes. Probably thirty pounds in total. Our first child was about a year old at the time and we were living hand to mouth. My wife thought I should return it because it was obvious the woman didn’t know what was inside it, but I held out. That cache of coins bought a lot of diapers and groceries. I still own the tool box.
That was a good buy.
Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. SSS. I agree, the Mrs. deserves a medal for putting up with you! My wife and I are sneaking up on 28 years.
Nice deal on the luggage. Helps explain why retailers are in such fine shape huh?
old story, but good days work here:
Kids` $10 Loan Buys Dad $2.28 Million Star Sapphire
Whetstine said he has no qualms about paying just $10 for the sapphire.
“When a man places a price on something he sells, that`s what it`s worth to him,“ he said. “When it does get sold, it will break my heart. But it`s worth so much, we just can`t afford to keep it. It`s true, it`s only a rock, but that`s all a diamond is before it`s cut, too.“
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1986-11-13/news/8603250287_1_longview-jeweler-jim-griffin-rock-and-gemstone-show-gemstone-broker
The best recent deal I got was the purchase of one of those colorized Silver Eagle coins from my LCS. It came in a blue velvet clam shell box. These sell for spot with no premium because nobody wants them. I put them on a piece of soft nylon mesh in my ultrasonic cleaner with some dishsoap and in about an hour they look like pristine Silver Eagles. When removing the colorized version from its case to clean it, the insert popped out revealing two uncolored Silver Eagles in the bottom of the clam shell box. Three for the price of one.
50 years – holy smoke! Congrats to the two of you. You are a rare bird in this day and age. Hope Mrs. Marion and I can do the same eventually….
You will enjoy the Alaska cruise no doubt. We have done it and the scenery is spectacular. A great way to spend your 50th.
Best deal ever? I picked up a pile of meat – pork, beef and poultry – from my local butcher the other day expecting to pay triple what I did. I am a regular and he is a customer of mine as well. I complained that the price was WAY too low for what I took. He smiled at me and said have a nice day. Reciprocity and having a horseshoe lodged in you butt helped I suppose. That’s about the extent of what I generally find for great deals since I’m not too much of a shopper.
Enjoy your cruise and your 50th!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVK-PlfvGR0
SSS
Many sincere congratulations to you and Mrs. SSS!! (I hope you live long enough to go on that cruise.)
Back around 1983 in Ft Wayne some junk/hoarder/antique dealer … a guy in his 80s, was selling everything he had …. and he had a LOT of stuff. Most of it looked like garage sale crap. But, I bought one thing, a Singer sewing machine from 1863. It was in absolute pristine condition without even so much as a tint scratch. Had the original instruction booklet, with the date. It even had a tube for lubricating the moving parts … a jar of sperm whale oil! Bought it for $125. We finally had it appraised in 1990 for insurance purposes because we were moving to Michigan. $4,500! For a fucken sewing machine.
Remember when 50 was celebrated by really really old people? That is not necessarily so any more.
SSS , how did you get a woman that good? I lied. Congratulations.
As far as luggage goes – having your bags abused and pilfered – hardside luggage with *integrated locks* are the best. These are locks built into the suitcase siding.
No zippers ever, they’re just bad news. No outside pockets, no exterior geegaws. No locks that connect zipper tabs, those are for fools.
Enjoy your trip. That luggage was a deal for a reason.
Congrats and happy anniversary, SSS!
Knowing your penchant for proper grammar, spelling, etc. however, it’s a PLU on a price tag, not a URL.
🙂
Enjoy your trip!
50 years, that is awesome.
No way I can top that bargain, I side with Admin, brick and mortars are having fire sales and I haven’t been in a B&M store in months.
My most recent bargain was a sale, not a purchase. I had an extra used car that was just taking up space in the yard. I did a little research and decided that it was worth $800. I talked to my local (2 miles down the road) mechanic and he agreed to let me park it in his yard. It took him a little longer than he thought (a couple months) but he handled the sale completely, paperwork and everything, he sold the car for $1000 AND he did not want any money for all of his work! It took a little bit of persuasion, but I convinced him to take one of the $100 bills. I sold the car for more than I thought I could get, the mechanic got to take his girlfriend out for a nice dinner, and one of our other neighbors got a decent, running, car that passes inspection for $1000. I’d say that was a win all the way around.
And 50 years is a pretty awesome achievement SSS! Hubby and I will have been together for 20 years next month, that’s nothing compared to 50.
Congrats ! SSS, may you have many more. True love never dies, I know.
It is the only real thing we have. 🙂
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Flea market and yard sale junkies are treasure hunters and everyone has their favorite stories. One guy who has made his living for many years as a dealer told me about one of his best finds. He stopped at a garage sale and saw an old surveyor’s chain in a box of junk. He bought it for $7. He found the maker’s name and a date. It also had a complete set of brass tags, which are usually missing. He put it on e-Bay with a full description and it brought over $3000 from a collector.
I have not yet been that lucky but one morning when I was heading out, my sister-in-law asked me to look for a small wooden tilt top drawing table. Though I had never seen one at the flea or out yard saling, I promised I would look. I found a good one for $10. It had a nice parallel straight edge which she did not want and I could use, and one of those soft plastic drawing pads. I removed the bar and pad and underneath was an envelope with $81 and change.
I have two. I was on the way to a birthday party for a seven year old. Passed a yard sale, glanced in the rear view and saw a mounted hammerhead shark. Went back, asked the lady how much, she said fifteen. My mind couldn’t process, did she mean fifteen hundred, one fifty? No, she meant fifteen bucks. Want to thrill a seven year old? Bring him a ten foot hammerhead shark for his birthday. He still has it hung on the wall.
The other one is actually my dad’s. My mom collects some sort of dishes called fiestaware. She had been bugging dad to get her another China cabinet so she could display some of it. So dad found a huge display cabinet in an antique store, and called me to come help him make the deal and transport the thing. We ended up giving the guy six hundred bucks for the thing, great deal, it was really nice. It had a top half of empty glass cases, and a bottom half of locked drawers and no keys. The bottom part was really heavy, since we couldn’t pull the drawers. We got it home, dad cracked the locks, and all eight drawers were packed with blue green Fiesta ware, like eighty pieces, which is mom’s favorite color, and one of the most valuable. Dad was a hero.
I needed a downspout extension last summer so I went to home depot. There was a stand-alone display with exactly what I wanted: Black plastic, part that fits over the downspout, flexible elbow and the extension that would move the water out toward the alley behind our house. It was made in usa as well. there was no price listed on the display box and I figured it would be 10-12 bucks. It was what I wanted so I took it to the register and the price scanned was 1 penny. I paid the girl and left.
Was in a local store, (used and new stuff) and noticed a wrought iron candle chandelier on the floor under a wooden bench. Asked the owner what he wanted, he replied, “It has a broken arm, how about 25 dollars?” Bought it and had an artisan fix the broken arm for 45 dollars. Had it appraised for $1,700 – $3,00 at auction. It now hangs over our baby grand.
1995 Miami Valley Ducks Unlimeted dinner and auction. For the first time spouses we invited to the DU shindig.
Biggest
Mistake
Ever
None of these women had a clue how much the guys spent at these auctions. I have seen 4 BLOCK stamp sets with a lithograph of the original signed by the artist for that years Federal stamp go for 5,000 bucks.
Well not with the wife in the room
I got a gold engraved 1100 with gold trigger and the engraving matched the ohio duck stamp for that year.
I paid 260 bucks. An 1100 new from Kmart was about 450 bucks.
still have it never shot it.
That was a good bargain, SSS, but it seems to me like the best deal you and Mrs. SSS ever got was finding each other.
Congratulations on 50 years!!!
Two obvious return items, distribution amps at HD. Original price was ~$20. Knocked down to $5 something. Good deal, I thought, 2 for less than the price of one. I ask the lady at self-checkout for a veteran discount. She obliges and proceeds to run all my items through the checker. Each DA rings up at $.01. She does’t blink an eye and I decide it isn’t worth it to insist on a better price.