News Article

For:            February Issue

To:      Gulf Coast Womens News

By:     Linda K. Bowman, Ext. Agt. IV - Family & Consumer Sciences

Santa Rosa County Extension Service

Telephone: 850/623-3868 or 939-1259, ext. 1360

 

 

   Shopping Guidelines

 

Recent studies show that nine out of ten consumers occasionally buy items on impulse. Another study indicates that one out of five people in this country do not have the skills necessary to function effectively in the market place. There are many reasons for this. Some of the reasons are:

 

     1)    With advances in technology shopping is more complex today than at any time in our history.

 

     2)    We have more products and services from which to choose.

 

     3)    Consumers have increasing amounts of discretionary dollars to spend, that is money to spend on non-essential items.

 

Studies indicate that an average of 12 to15 percent of total potential buying power is lost due to careless shopping and even more is lost due to improper use and care of purchases. Charlotte Gorman in the Frugal Mind identifies over 1,000 ways to save as much as 50 percent on consumer goods and services. Shopping is a skill and one that it pays to develop. The skill is developed through experience and practice in the market place. There are many guides to use when shopping, listed below are seven.

 

     v  Plan your purchases. Before going shopping know what it is that you are going to purchase and why. Avoid impulse buying. Your planning strategy should include an evaluation of products that you plan to purchase. Take your ads, shopping list and cents off coupons with you when you shop.

 

     v          Determine the true cost of an item before you purchase it. This includes examining the product for unit price. We generally assume that a larger package of the product is cheaper per unit than a smaller package, but this is not always the case.  How much waste is there? How much are you paying for packaging?  Compare the merchandise with the unpackaged variety. Free offers are rarely free. Those gifts you receive in the packaged merchandise cost you.  If you use credit to pay for this bargain, be sure to include the cost of credit in the cost of the item.

 

     v  Know when to shop. There are best times to shop and best times to shop for certain items.  On food items buy those things in season. Avoid shopping when you are tired, preoccupied or hungry.

 

     v  There is a right place to buy. You will find that place by shopping around.

 

     v  Learn to read the ads. Delete all the emotional and empty words such as "special sale price," "unbelievable savings," and "too good to be true." Don't be in a hurry to buy, shop around and save big bucks.

 

     v  Learn to judge quality.  You cannot rely on price alone to dictate quality. Once you learn to recognize quality, you can determine when the best quality is desired and when a lesser quality will serve as well. Brand name is no guarantee of a better quality or value or price.

 

     v  Buy from reliable dealers. Almost everything you purchase has an implied warranty. It is a well-established fact that you have the right to expect reasonable service from any product that you buy. But if you cannot find the dealer when the product goes bad, the implied warranty or the written warranty for that matter will not be of much help.

 

In summary the seven guidelines for developing shopping skills are:  plan purchases, determine the true cost of the product, know when to shop, learn to read the ads, learn to judge quality, and buy from reliable dealers.  This will help you stretch your shopping dollars and have greater satisfaction from your purchases.

 

For further information contact:  Linda Bowman, Family and Consumer Sciences Extension Agent, The University of Florida--Santa Rosa County Cooperative Extension Service--IFAS, at  (850)623-3868 or (850)939-1259, Ext. 1360 for south county residents, between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays.  Hearing-impaired individuals may call Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Service at 983-5373 (TDD).

 

Extension Service programs are open to all people without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap or national origin.  The use of trade names in this article is solely for the purpose of providing specific information.  It is not a guarantee, warranty, or endorsement of the product name(s) and does not signify that they are approved to the

exclusion of others.