Weirdest Sam’s Club Free Sample Ever
Posted on 18 May 2008, at 6:00 pm, by Wayne Schulz
Notice anything interesting about this Sam’s Club free sample cart? While I was shopping at my local Sam’s Club in Manchester CT today I had to rub my eyes twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things. If you aren’t sure what’s a little offbeat in the picture, click on through and let me show you what it was — and the two things that make it so wrong.
The nice lady in the aisle next to the soda was pleasant enough as she manned her free samples cart. If you have kids, you know that it’s possible to feed them lunch or dinner as you walk from aisle to aisle and they sample the free food Sam’s seems to always be providing.
Something about this lady and her cart seemed a little bit - shall we say — off?
It was only when I doubled back to ask her just how many people had taken advantage of her free sample (which she had nicely laid out on a paper plate) that she looked at me as if I were a visitor from another galaxy.
The sample that was on her cart? Purina Beneful Prepared Meals … AKA … DOG FOOD.
And the two things that make it seem wrong?
1. Dogs aren’t allowed in the store (Guide dogs excepted).
2. At $11.68 per case of 8 “meals” you are paying over $1.46 per meal (and that’s before you top it off with IAMS savory sauce).
The worker failed to see the humor in the fact that Sam’s Club had setup a cart to apparently hand out free samples (notice the wet dog food on the plate in my picture) in an environment where all but guide dogs were prohibited from entering.
And furthermore, at $ 11.68 per case of 8 meals, each dog food meal cost $1.46 - meaning it is almost cheaper to feed your dog a Lean Cuisine frozen meal (which are often on sale in my Stop & Shop for under $2 each)!
Just in case you’re wondering - the Sam’s worker was wearing a hair net. And, yeah, the absence of any napkins or forks leads me to believe (hopefully) that they didn’t want you taste it - but were instead, well…. umm, I’m not sure what they were doing with it.
The last time I walked by the cart the worker was making cat noises.
100% true story.
Link: Purina Beneful
May 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Why is it that I see this as a bad omen regarding our economy and the current recession that no one wants to acknowledge?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04.....le_popular
“Burt Flickinger, a longtime retail consultant, said the last time he saw such significant changes in consumer buying patterns was the late 1970s, when runaway inflation prompted Americans to “switch from red meat to pork to poultry to pasta — then to peanut butter and jelly.”
“It hasn’t gotten to human food mixed with pet food yet,” he said, “but it is certainly headed in that direction.”
Retail sales figures and consumer surveys confirm that Americans are strategically cutting corners, whether it is at the coffee house or the airport. (In: brewing coffee at home and flying coach. Out: Starbucks and first class.)”
:-/
May 18th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
That just further reinforces my decision to shop at Costco.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:27 pm
Did you use a Bali calculator?
“$ 11.68 per case of 8 meals, each dog food meal cost $3.89″
I make that $1.46 each….unless you are adding in the stainless steel knife and fork or a pair of chopsticks for your dog to use …!
May 18th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
You know not only did I compute the per meal cost of this twice - but I computed it wrong each time — thanks for catching it! I updated for the correct amount.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:57 am
Perhaps you were supposed to examine the consistency of the food? My parents’ cat only likes the gravy in its meals, not the lumps, so will eat around them. Fussy little furball. I never had this trouble with Yume Neko - he’d take whatever batteries I threw at him, name-brand or store’s-own.