Over the weekend, left the house early to check out a “one-day sale” that was taking place at one of the local supermarkets. Flyers had been distributed about a week in advance, presenting a multitude of sale items, including a reasonably-priced cookware set; they actually had two sets on sale for around the same price, thought it would be a good prospect and decided to check them out and compare the two in person.

Upon arriving at the store around 8:30 a.m., the parking lot was overflowing with customers. For as many people entering the establishment, just as many were leaving, with shopping carts full of merchandise. Entering the story, it was a mad house, people crowding, wandering in all directions – there was even a line curling around the story to apply for a shoppers’ card.

Every cart and every basket was taken. That ended any possibility of making a large purchase considering the only option left was carrying everything by hand.

The mere sight of the crowds was an immediate turn-off.

Even when the store is at its regular volume of customers – scant – there are still individuals who stand in the middle of the aisle while looking for item, ignoring anybody that needs to pass (even when saying “Excuse me”); the folks that seem to be in a race and rush to get into an aisle first, then proceed to slowly browse the shelves, seemingly unaware of anybody else in the vicinity; among other impolite occurrences. Multiply the number of customers exponentially and (it is a given) the experience will be a nightmarish one.

Made a beeline towards the cookware section and saw everything but what was advertised in the flyer – even other featured items weren’t there; it really was just their regular merchandise at their regular prices.

Asked a nearby sales associate and they replied, “Sold out.” It was akin to previous visit to a burger shop located in the same shopping area and, literally minutes after they opened, nearly everything ordered, the casher replied, “Sold out.”

Sure, the supermarket was crowded that day, but cookware was not a major component in any of the carts seen leaving the premises. The displays on the sides of the aisle, where special items are usually placed, had different merchandise – there wasn’t even a price tag marking where the cookware sets would have been.

Between claims cookware sets were sold out after an hour or thinking they were never there to begin with and it was all just a ploy to get people into the store; leaning heavily towards the latter.

In addition, with the concept of a “raincheck” seeming all too foreign, it makes the argument that there was no cookware set on sale at all even more compelling.

Last year, penned a column about false advertising and cited Republic Act No. 7394, or the Consumer Act of the Philippines, which outlines subjects such as “False, Deceptive and Misleading Advertisement” and “Protection against deceptive, unfair and unconscionable sales acts and practices;” however, as has been evident for the years, laws don’t matter. Policies are only intended for politician to pad their “list of accomplishments.” Enforcement of the law is almost always left by the wayside (or when elected officials need a good photo opportunity).

Even before entering the store, had parked near the loading dock and walked by workers loading fresh chickens from a truck. With the large volume of costumers that day, it can only be assumed sales were expected to increase in all departments, regardless if there was a particular item on sale.

After the disappointment with the “sold out” cookware, kept wandering through the store, pushing away carts left in the middle of the aisle by customers; and getting delayed when others were so engrossed in their own bubble, they completely forgot about the existence of other people on the planet; getting bumped into; stuck behind somebody staring at their mobile phone; and sometimes surprising people who had no idea they weren’t the only customer in the store that morning.

Happened upon the poultry section and was surprised to find it filled with freezer-burned, sloppily-chopped chicken pieces. What happened to the fresh chicken outside? Was the store intending to get rid of their old stock by taking advantage of the upswing of customers that day? Perhaps the chickens that came in over the weekend will be seeing the store display for the first time today, or maybe later this week.

Another disturbing act witnessed was store associates requesting tips from customers.

It is a common practice in Bacolod City for store associates to help customers with large purchases to their cars – it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Yet, during the sale, as soon as items were loaded into cars, the uniformed associate would put their hand out waiting for a tip. Sometimes it wasn’t even a matter of bringing the item to the car because a family driver often drove right up to the door, it was just moving bags less than one meter from the cart into the truck – and they still demanded a tip.

Many times they weren’t even asked to help, the employee took it upon themselves to offer assistance; and then they demanded some kind of compensation for a job they were not even asked to perform.

Walking into the supermarket that morning, it was a clear effort to copy the annual “Black Friday” sales conducted in the United States, which takes place immediately after Thanksgiving Day.

However, with the story lacking amenities for customers to shop conveniently, without enough space for the volume of people entering the establishment, the multitude of “sold out” merchandise within an hour of opening (talking about a cookware set and not some video game console), and staff unprepared for the type of commotion; it was equivalent to a lot of the merchandise being sold in the store, a cheap knockoff.

However, there are also enough locals who are either gullible enough to think, as long as the store says it’s on sale, it’s a good deal.

A 2015 NBC News report looked at a study that showed major US retailers, including Sears, Kohl’s, and Macy’s, advertised items as being on sale, when, in fact, the prices were their regular prices. Why would it be any different in the Philippines? Retailers place ridiculous mark-ups on a multitude of items; it would not be a far cry to also manipulate sales.

In past, noticed at other supermarkets, sometimes the old price is left next to the “sale price,” and the “discount” was higher than the original price.

Something prevalent at all major supermarkets in the city are items that ring up at a higher price at the register. Another trick the local populace often overlooks, assumed to be based on hubris (a visibly common cultural trait) and an unusual humiliation people seem to have in arguing for a lower price – stores exploit that. This runs parallel to another segment of the population that just likes having an audience when they make a large purchase (made evident with the way they watch other customers look-on as the cashier is ringing them up) – maybe that’s why credit card machines are so slow, to appeal to the purchasing customer’s desire for others to see them using a credit card (an antiquated view of perceived wealth – in case they weren’t aware, it’s pretty easy to acquire a credit card nowadays).

For the record, after standing in a checkout line that literally was not moving, watching cashiers dawdle as they rung up customers, seeing those ahead in line continue keep adding to their collection as they waited, and calculating the overall savings to find it amounted to very little, left the store empty-handed that morning./WDJ