Buy One Get One Free My Pillow

[displayfireworks1]

How do fireworks stores in United States run constant BOGO??????
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uutjNX5o07E
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https://www.truthinadvertising.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/MyPillow-BUSTED-Featured-Img.png
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https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1089/5986/collections/IMG-20161005-WA0005_341_medium.jpg?v=1475680627

[Bazerk]

Because they are selling 1 500g cake for $150-$220 each. So when you get two for that price you feel like your winning.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Because these companies bank (literally) on the fact that the average American consumer has the IQ of a turnip. That's why we have to have our state legislatures get involved in this nonsense, so they can save the consumers from themselves.

IMHO the states (and the feds!) have no business telling business owners how often they can have a "BOGO" sale. I understand the need for laws about deceptive advertising and such. We need to make sure companies aren't using truly deceptive practices to entice people into buying "cheap" items that get financed for long periods of time with huge interest rates, etc. and so on. Got it. But if John Q. Public is too ignorant to calculate the average price of two cakes bought at a BOGO sale, then he shouldn't be playing with fireworks in the first place.

[displayfireworks1]

As far as financing items with high interest rates. Buying money is what I often call it. Many of the regulations start at around the $2600.00 and up range. Borrowing under $2600.00 is where you often see very high rates because of the decrease regulations. This is the world the payday loan people live in.
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Back to our Buy One Get One Free. The Federal Trade Commission regulates the word "Free" in advertising. I found this paragraph that summarizes some of it.
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BOGO, the now-ubiquitous anagram for a “buy-one-get-one” sales promotion, is one of many types of discount offers used by U.S. retailers. Payless Shoes practically built their brand around BOGO offers. But they only promote BOGO once or twice a year. The FTC requires that such offers expire after a reasonable time period. This is because if the offer runs for an extended period, the cost of the “get one free” merchandise will be absorbed into the basic product cost—making the offer false advertising, since it is in fact not “free.”

The use of “free” in promotions is heavily regulated under any label, BOGO being just one approach. The FTC expects “free” items to be free to the consumer, and not actually covered in some concealed way— the advertiser or seller must bear the cost of that free item, or they cannot advertise it as free. Advertisers also must not reduce regular services or inclusions when they offer a product as free—for instance, if they routinely include a free windshield scraper with a bottle of de-icer, they should include that scraper with a free bottle, too. Otherwise, they are covering the cost of the de-icer with the cost of the scraper… making the de-icer not free. Retailers can make it worse still by advertising services as part of a discount offer (i.e., no fee for cancelling if not completely satisfied) and then failing to honor that extra service
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Here is another way they often sell fireworks.
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Advertisers must also be careful about “dollars- or cents-off” promotions. The FTC requires that retailer advertising clearly state the terms of any promotion, whether it be “BOGO,” “half-price,” “2 for 1,” “1¢ sale, “ or whatever. Retailers may not raise the regular price of discounted items to cover promotional offers; nor attach additional “strings” to the offer without clearly stating terms in their ads (only good on certain items, or offering the sale on cheaper quality products rather than their regular merchandise, etc.). And if there is a minimum spending limit before a customer may take advantage of a discount (e.g., a minimum purchase of $20 before discount may be applied), that must be clearly stated in any advertising as well.

[displayfireworks1]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPwGupwKM9M
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOI2Qbhy9bk
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Would you like me to post a third video. I can, its free, just pay separate shipping and handling on the third video. LOL

[Rick_In_Tampa]

This is because if the offer runs for an extended period, the cost of the “get one free” merchandise will be absorbed into the basic product cost—making the offer false advertising, since it is in fact not “free.”

Dave - I know you are quoting the governments documents here, but this is exactly the BS I'm talking about. The government trying to protect us from ourselves. There is no such thing as free! Period. Dot. End of discussion. If anyone is "not smart enough" to understand that they are not getting something for "free" then they should probably still be home living in their parents basement.

The government doesn't have enough people to police up the entire business community to figure out how they're playing shell games with their accounting. Bottom line is, if I pay $1 for two of anything, I didn't get anything for free. It cost me $1. If I can get 2 pairs of crap shoes from Payless for $50 or one pair of good shoes from Macy's for $50, I'm still out $50. I didn't get anything free. It's not real complicated.

[displayfireworks1]

Rick, did you buy a "My Pillow"? LOL . I personally wish buy one get one free in fireworks would disappear, my guess is that it will not. I guess if we expect a discount on fireworks that means someone somewhere has to pay the full retail price. A fireworks distributor once told me something along the lines of , I"m not selling all of my fireworks shipment at wholesale and only making $10,000. I have to agree with him to some degree.
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I just received an update from the fireworks industry, they are no longer using Buy One Get One Free. This is their new marketing plan.
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http://jackodile.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/fireworks-sign.jpg

[Rick_In_Tampa]

That pillow guy makes my skin crawl!! I actually mute the TV when his commercial comes on. He can keep his pillows in Minnesota for all I care.

It's interesting that they now have a buy one get 5 free sale. One of the guys in my pyro club runs a fireworks tent twice a year. Once for Halloween, and once for the 4th of July. He told us he makes about $80K a year working 5-6 months out of the year. He said the reason he can make that kind of money is because there's about a 500%-600% markup on fireworks. The "sale" sign above seems to bear that out.

[Wholesale Fireworks]

My knee jerk reaction to this was to take it VERY personal and to say if you don't like the way we have been doing business for the past 37 yrs ......then go somewhere else where you don't feel like you are being treated like a "turnip" !

However, we understand that everyone has an opinion and we value that. I can say that we do not run a BOGO "sale" Our EVERYDAY policy is buy one retail item get a second free. If you don't want two of the same item then we cut the price in half. We do not limit the items that are included. All retail items are included. We are in a unique situation because we offer wholesale prices as well as retail. Many times the average "turnip," ...sorry I mean customer, does not have a need for 25 gross of bottle rockets. We then can offer them a single gross at an affordable price compared to our competitors by offering BOGO pricing.

I have also read the concerns regarding profit margins. We are a "For Profit" business so we would not be in this business very long if we were to break even or to lose money. I would really like to be in business with the guy who gets a 500% - 600% markup on his product because I could retire in a few more years. AND...if he does actually do that, then God bless him. This is America and when I last checked it was free enterprise and if a person is willing to pay that much for an item, then they are free to do so.

So let me just end it here and say I look forward to reading others thoughts on the subject and I look forward to everyone's feedback. We have some great new product arriving in the next few months. As many of you already know, in addition to Shogun we will now be carrying some Pyro Planet items. We thank you for your patience and the new 2017 price list will be available very soon.

[RalphieJ]

When I was dealing in "seasonal toys" in the mid '80's to late '90's my biggest seller was the "New Yorker" assortment. I paid $100 wholesale for each case (4/1) and would sell each individual assortment for $75. Do the math, that's 200% profit. (The wholesaler told me he was making 100% profit, paying only $50 per case.) Needless to say, at the end of my run, I was selling nothing but the large assortments. If he chose to sell retail (which he wanted NO part of) he would have made a nice 500% profit. However, NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani's Joint Fireworks Task Force formed in 1995 and by the end of the '90's I was out of business. BTW, you can only fit 3 cases of New Yorkers in a Chevy Celebrity wagon, necessitating a lot of after dark runs.

[Rocketshooter]

However, we understand that everyone has an opinion and we value that. I can say that we do not run a BOGO "sale" Our EVERYDAY policy is buy one retail item get a second free. If you don't want two of the same item then we cut the price in half. We do not limit the items that are included. All retail items are included. We are in a unique situation because we offer wholesale prices as well as retail. Many times the average "turnip," ...sorry I mean customer, does not have a need for 25 gross of bottle rockets. We then can offer them a single gross at an affordable price compared to our competitors by offering BOGO pricing.

Then why not just cut your price in half and sell that as your discount price. Buy one get one free is simply a marketing tool to make people think they are getting something they aren't.

[Wholesale Fireworks]

Why fix it if it isnt broken, This has worked very well for us and we have staff in place that explain how it works so everyone is informed when they purchase. There are no surprises and our customers like it. This is the first time in the ten yrs I have been here that this has even been an issue. We have outstanding customer service, great prices and great product.

[ilovecrackle]

Why fix it if it isnt broken, This has worked very well for us and we have staff in place that explain how it works so everyone is informed when they purchase. There are no surprises and our customers like it. This is the first time in the ten yrs I have been here that this has even been an issue. We have outstanding customer service, great prices and great product.

Yeah, I completely agree with you Ray. I'm a firm believer of "if its not broke, don't fix it" as well.
If this didn't work then 90+% of the retail stores you see across the country wouldn't be doing it. lol

Someone that I know that runs a store that is one of the few that does not run the BOGO thing has told me they have had people pop their head in the door, ask if they have BOGO, when they tell them no and explain to them that their every day prices are lower than those doing the BOGO, people just can't wrap their heads around it and do simple math and they won't even come in the store. They just leave. lol

Love it or hate it but BOGO in any flavor you come up with works. lol

[Rick_In_Tampa]

My knee jerk reaction to this was to take it VERY personal and to say if you don't like the way we have been doing business for the past 37 yrs ......then go somewhere else where you don't feel like you are being treated like a "turnip" !

Ray - It wasn't my intention to insult you or your business practices. If you interpreted my comments that way then I sincerely apologize. Please re-read my post. I stated that the government regulators are trying to save us (the consumers) from ourselves by regulating what you (business owners) can and can do with your advertising. That's a problem I have with the government, not your business. The rest of your post actually supports my position!

It's incumbent on me, the consumer, to run the numbers and determine where I can get the best bang for my bucks. If I allow myself to get taken in by advertising and wind up getting less for my money then it's bad on me, not you. As you point out, you're in business to make money. I made no statement that should have led you to believe I have any concern for your profit margin. I was simply restating information I was given in the context of the sign being discussed. Don't read anything into that.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

when they tell them no and explain to them that their every day prices are lower than those doing the BOGO, people just can't wrap their heads around it and do simple math and they won't even come in the store. They just leave. lol

Bingo! My point exactly. Hence the "turnip" comment.

Ray - I re-read my own post. I could have stated that better. My apologies.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

This is the first time in the ten yrs I have been here that this has even been an issue.

It's still not an issue Ray.


We have outstanding customer service, great prices and great product.

I agree completely!!

[displayfireworks1]

Buy One Get One Free is apparently controversial. LOL It is however a very effective way to market a product. Remember Consumer Fireworks are a consumer item first before it becomes a product for advanced enthusiast. Rick I think your tent friend may have exaggerated his profit margin a little. In case you have not noticed people in the fireworks trade exaggerate a lot. The BOGO has now become an almost universal way to sell fireworks at the retail end. If you look at it from a business perspective it works. Mr. Lindall with his My Pillow and all the fireworks stores across the country use it very effectively. Also people in business do not have to justify making an honest profit. Thanks Ray for the comments.
From the look of the My Pillow website , it looks like the BOGO is no longer, now he is using special discount codes and changed the price structure. I hope we all still love our fireworks distributors after this discussion. LOL Next up I'll post a video about how 1.3 or professional fireworks are sold and marketed. That one will not be as much fun.

[Rick_In_Tampa]

Buy One Get One Free is apparently controversial. LOL

Yeah Dave... You threw out the bait and I swallowed it hook line and sinker! Lol. That's okay. Lesson learned!

As I (very inartfully) said to my BFF from WF Boom, they rely on their advertising to bring in the customers and entice them to buy their products. It's our job as the consumer to look beyond the advertising gimmicks to ensure we get the best bang for our bucks.

[Chris23]

That pillow guy makes my skin crawl!! I actually mute the TV when his commercial comes on. He can keep his pillows in Minnesota for all I care.

It's interesting that they now have a buy one get 5 free sale. One of the guys in my pyro club runs a fireworks tent twice a year. Once for Halloween, and once for the 4th of July. He told us he makes about $80K a year working 5-6 months out of the year. He said the reason he can make that kind of money is because there's about a 500%-600% markup on fireworks. The "sale" sign above seems to bear that out.

When I come across someone who brags about how much $$ they make, I usually take that with a grain of salt. It's like a guy bragging about there tool lol

500-600% is insane and I'd be surprised with all the competition here in FL if people are actually paying that especially only running one tent. The big boys like Phantom and TNT who import massive amounts and sell direct to the end user, I can see it happening.

As for BOGO I'm not a fan as a buyer but as a seller it works and the government should have no say as its not deceptive. Price is deemed by what the consumer is willing to pay.