With a shortened work week, we're just making do for lunches for this week. So I thought maybe we could discuss something that's been a question of ethics in my mind for years.
When there's a limit placed on a sale item, what do you think is ethical to do?
I've seen limits worded in a couple of different ways, which I do, in turn, interpret differently.
"Limit 1"
"Limit 1 per customer"
"Limit 1 per household"
"Limit 1 per transaction"
"Limit 1 per transaction" definitely implies that you may go through the check-out line numerous times, IMO., and multiple family members may make the same purchase.
"Limit 1 per household" states that you may NOT have multiple family members go through the check-out line, to purchase more of the limited item. (I've only seen this limit a couple of times. It was on turkeys at a special low price, a couple of years in a row, at one particular store.) And I also interpret their intention to mean "limit 1 per household, per sale per period". If a special price runs in 2 separate ads, one week following another, with this limitation, then I figure I am entitled to make the special purchase in the second week, as well, as the sale ads usually have a calendar at the bottom of the front page, indicating the sale period for which they are advertising. So, I feel I am may make the sale purchase once per sale period.
But the "Limit 1" and "Limit 1 per customer" have more ambiguity built in. One per what? Per transaction? Per family? Per day? What constitutes a customer? Am I a new and separate customer each time I enter the store?
I did some calling around and discovered that policies do vary from one store to the next. Some stores will allow you to go through the check-out line and buy the "limit" several times per car trip to the store, but with a stated limit, like 4 times. Other stores discourage this with wording in their ads, such as, "we reserve the right to enforce limits". Mostly, I was given the same basic explanation, along the lines of "we wish to provide enough stock of any sale item, so that all customers will have the opportunity to make this purchase." And there is some basic kindness and courtesy, here. It seems selfish to clear a shelf of all of the advertised items.
So, where do you fall on this issue? When a store imposes limits to a sale-priced purchase, what do you feel most comfortable doing?
For our family, here's how we interpret, and act on "Limit 1" or "Limit 1 per customer":
When our children became adults (age 18), they also began contributing to our household finances. I consider them all as paying rent, here. This became the age when I felt most comfortable giving them the cash to make a purchase, for our family to acquire more of a limited item. They could just as easily be renters in their own apartments, doing all of their own grocery shopping. We don't hide this in any way, but follow each other one right after the other in the check-out line. (And with identical twins, it would be pretty hard to try and "fool" the checker!) With 5 of us in the household, we can acquire 5 of a "Limit 1" item.
I figure that each time I drive into the parking lot that I am a new customer, as grocery stores encourage and hope for customers to make repeat visits throughout the week. So, in 1 week, I may go to the same grocery store multiple times, to purchase as many of an item as I need, at the special price. If they wished to only sell me the item at the special price once, then I would expect the limit to read "Limit 1 per person", and I would abide by that, one per person in my family.
So, this week, potatoes are on sale at Albertson's, 10-lb bag for 99cents, "limit 1". On several days this past week, myself, and any family members I had with me in the car, stopped at Albertson's and each bought our 1 bag of potatoes. Yesterday, I picked up our last bag of potatoes for our winter supply. We now have 100 lbs of potatoes to get through the winter months. And I feel we worked within the rules imposed by the store.
What are your thoughts on store limits?
