El Cheapo Does Blu-Ray

The hidden cost of buying the PS3 is buying stuff to actually play/watch on the thing.  Being a new format, blu-ray as a medium is still fairly expensive.  But not to be beaten, El Cheapo is still on the hunt to get the best deals possible.

This weekend, Barnes & Noble emailed out coupons with major discounting power.  The range: 10% (meh) all the way up to 50% (wow!).  Of course, El Cheapo managed to snag the 50% one.  To further sweeten the pot, they also had a "Buy Two, Get One Free" promo for DVDs and BDs.  Unable to resist, off i went to B&N.  

In total, i picked up a mix of box sets and individual BDs:  

1. The Matrix Ultimate Collection (actually also had an additional 10% off!) 

2. Batman Begins Limited Edition Giftset 

3. The Dark Knight.  

Yes, i know this says a lot about my taste in movies. 

List price (including tax, but minus the 10% Matrix discount): $114.97. 

For comparison, Amazon price (no tax, natch): $78.47.

The El Cheapo price (including tax): $57.48.

Booyah!  

Cashier: "Congratulations!  You got 50% off!"
El Cheapo (with evil grin): Muhahahahahaha! 

El Cheapo Chronicles, 2

I've been hemming and hawing about purchasing a Playstation 3 since it came out, but could never justify the expense.  Despite the ad campaign maintaining that it "does everything," i never felt that it did enough to justify the $299 price tag.  Plus, we already had a Wii - which we had bought at a premium of $249 + tax when it first hit the shelves (we have friend who used to work at Meijer who helped us snag one) that we don't use all that much.   

The "magic" price point to me was somewhere in the vicinity of $200 - which, for a sweet Blu-ray player, media streamer (albeit hobbled), and HD Netflix box that also happens to play God of War and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would be a fair price to pay. 

Not wanting any particular "bundles," i let the Black Friday deals pass me by.  But when Amazon threw in a $75 credit with the PS3 Slim 160GB this past week (effectively a price of $224), i knew i couldn't let it pass.  And so i pulled the trigger and at last became the proud owner of a PS3. 

However i was hit with a severe case of Buyer's Remorse.  Should i keep it or sell it for around $270 - a $46 dollar profit? 

Well today, one of the deal sites i peruse, Slickdeals (Fatwallet being the other) had a flurry of activity in the afternoon when Amazon upped the ante by offering a $100 credit.  This had the effect of exacerbating my Buyer's Remorse - if only i had waited another two days, i would have saved another $25!  Fortunately, after the initial paralysis that comes with major disappointment, i followed the message boards' advice and called Amazon to see if they would credit me the difference.  In the end, although the guy on the phone couldn't give me $25, he did agree to "refund" $20 (better than what most people were able to do, from what i gather). 

So now i am the proud owner of a PS3 that cost $204 (tax-free, courtesy of Amazon).  YEAH! 

But should i sell it for around $270 - a $66 dollar profit?  AAARRRRGGGHHH! 

...it only makes the Chong boys crazy.

El Cheapo Strikes Again

Yesterday there was a deal going on at Meijer where a body could get $5 off a gift card worth $50 or more.

Since our family does most of our grocery shopping at Meijer anyway, i decided to purchase ten gift cards, all worth $50, essentially pre-paying our groceries for the next few weeks at a 10% discount.   

All well and good, except for the fact that the coupon used is only good for one transaction.  So i had to stand at the counter for a number of minutes while the guy at the cash register:

1. Swiped the gift card, 
2. Inputted the amount ($50),
3. Scanned the coupon,
4. Waited for me to swipe my credit card,
5. Waited for me to sign on the electronic keypad and click "done."

A process taking no more than a minute, but rinse and repeat nine more times, and it gets old fast.  The woman waiting in line behind me actually covered her face with her palm and shook her head at around card number six.  I certainly didn't mean to inconvenience anyone.  I mean, how was i to know that she'd be doing her weekly grocery shopping at 11:30 at night?  I thought i'd be alone in the store doing my shady transactions that close to midnight. 

What was equal parts funny and slightly intimidating was that the Asian cash register guy was visibly annoyed at my money-saving tactics.  Each time he swiped the card through the machine, he did it with so much force that i thought he'd rip the device off its stand.  When i asked him if he needed a separate coupon for each transaction and showed him the stack that i had grabbed when i walked in, he said "No, don't do that," roughly pulled them from my hand, and threw them on the unmanned counter behind him.  I don't know what ticked him off so much...  Hadn't i just spent a chunk of money in his store?  What terrible customer service.  Maybe it was my choice of gift card? 

For some reason, i grabbed a wedding card. 

At least i saved a bunch of money on groceries...