2013 Cedar Fair Season pass question

I would like to see the list of purchased goods in that study (I don't have time so I figure one of the overachievers on here will find it for me). That is certainly not the case for what I buy. I have spot checked prices in the stores and even in Target's ad. When Target's sale price on something is higher than Walmarts every day price I don't see how Target is cheaper than Walmart.

Lord Gonchar said:

As an aside, it's the perfect example of how you and I look at two things completely differently.

But, I understand why. I'm basically a deal-hunting enthusiast; I do it for a living. So, in my deal-hunting world, Walmart is actually convenience at the expense of price. When discussions about deals, promotions, rewards, prices, and value come up, it's hard for me to resist jumping in. I won't buy an inferior product, and my shopping experience is rarely inferior as a result of saving money...I'm usually happier.

I guess for a GP (joking!) consumer, using Walmart as an example of convenience could be confusing, but it's such a great example in my deal-hunting world. When I'm going for the lowest possible prices, Walmart is a chain that is mostly void of hoops to jump through. If strictly comparing prices without promos, coupons, and rewards, Walmart's are generally pretty decent. But when you include the hoops that other grocers/retailers offer, it's easy to crush Walmart. As a result, I rarely shop there.

I could give you examples all day long, but I'll restrict myself to 2: a grocery example and an electronics example. Since the stores are similar in concept, I'll compare Walmart to Meijer, a chain with plenty of opportunity (or hoops to jump through to you).

Grocery: I was seeking cereal and milk. I quickly scanned ads (*prices not remembered exactly but estimated).

Meijer had Kellogg's cereal on sale 4 for $10 (Regularly *$3.50+), and if you bought 4, you got a free gallon of milk. I used 4 manufacturer 0.50 cent off coupons, which Meijer doubles (so $4 off). I entered my mperks loyalty number and had a $2 off electronic store coupon that applied. So, the final cost for 4 boxes of cereal and a gallon of milk was $4.

Walmart doesn't do any of this type stuff. They just have their Kellogg's cereals at a fair low price of say *$3.50 and the milk at *$3. They don't double manufacturer coupons, so it's just 50 cents off per box. So, the final cost at Walmart would be $15.

Electronics:

A few years ago, I was seeking an XBOX 360, which was $399.99 MSRP at the time. For President's Day, Meijer had a coupon in the paper for 20% off any general merchandise item. Coincidentally, they were running one of their common sales of 15% off your total general merchandise purchase when using a Meijer Credit Card that same day. Pre-tax price at Meijer was $271.99.

Pre-tax price at Walmart was $399.96. You will never see coupons or credit card discounts like this at Walmart.

TL:DR? ;-)

Shades said:

I would like to see the list of purchased goods in that study (I don't have time so I figure one of the overachievers on here will find it for me). That is certainly not the case for what I buy. I have spot checked prices in the stores and even in Target's ad. When Target's sale price on something is higher than Walmarts every day price I don't see how Target is cheaper than Walmart.

The article points out that Target isn't necessarily cheaper, but instead that there is virtually no difference in pricing - the two stores were found to have prices within 0.46% of one another. And that has absolutely been my experience as well.

Sure, if you're buying certain particularly low cost items - like Rustler jeans - your mileage may vary. But for everyday items - like cleaning supplies - there is no advantage to choosing one over the other, especially if you're driving past one to get to the other in order to save money.

Personally, I prefer Target simply because the overall experience doesn't make me want to move to another planet.

I've walked out of both Walmart and Kmart due to how terrible their checkout experience is. It
s a joke compared to Target and Costco.

^^Again though, Target is the clear winner of the two because they have plenty of available ways to save more. Use your Target Red Card and save 5% on everything in the store, all the time. Use the constant-stream of in-store coupons and combine them with manufacturer coupons to get items free or near-free. Take advantage of plenty of excellent sales and BOGO offers around the store, tons of temporary price cuts, excellent clearance cycles.

Plus, the Target customer experience is better. The cashiers, customer service, loss prevention, and managers have among the best communication with each other that I've witnessed in a major chain. You will see regular "team meetings" of Target employees throughout the day, which contributes to a more fluid, informed shopping experience for the customer. They have buttons around the store you can push, where you WILL get service within 60 seconds, or the employees get strikes against their record. Their return policy is better than Walmart's (90 days at Target for all electronics, just 15 days for many electronics at Walmart). The employees and customer service generally are friendlier and more pro-customer at Target. They have a cute dog. I can go on...

This conversation is yet another example of the "time/money" curve. Both are finite things you can spend, and the one that is most constrained dictates whether you do this sort of deal chasing or not. For some people, the time is just worth more. For others, the money is the more important thing to conserve.

Folks here at CBuzz span a fairly wide swath of the time/money curve, in a balanced way---probably more so than any of our "real life" communities.

When it comes to store choice, there's another angle---some people are willing to pay a little more for convenience. I often shop at a grocery with higher prices because the shopping experience generally doesn't suck. The aisles aren't too narrow, they work hard to keep the lines short, there is a bagger at the end of each lane, and they don't even give you the option of self checkout. That all costs money, and it is reflected in the prices, but it works for me.

Jeph said:

You will never see coupons or credit card discounts like this at Walmart.

You do know that Walmart will match any advertised price, right? I like shopping there because I can go through the Sunday ads, mark down what I want to buy that is on sale at the other stores, and then just show those ads, or just mention them in some instances, at the Walmart checkout.

So you might have been able to get you cereal and milk for the same price or close or it.

Sometimes, when doing ad matching at Walmart, I discover that Walmart's regular price is still cheaper than other stores' sale price.

I will agree with you about how many checkout's they have open though. Sometimes they don't have enough cashiers, and the lines are too long.

Edited to add: Plus you can't cash you check, pay bills or wire money at Target.

I do like that you can get help almost immediately at Target by pushing a button though.

Yes, I'm aware, but Walmart will not match coupons or percent discounts. They won't match BOGO offers like a free gallon of milk. You must show them an exact item for a clearly-established, individual lower price for them to match.

In the same breath, Target matches competitor prices as well. And they just 1-upped Walmart by matching online prices. So, you can show Target a popular online retailer like Amazon.com, and they'll actually match their price! This makes price-matching infinitely more valuable, as Amazon often has significantly lower prices.

Good point though, Travis. Price-matching can be a very simple way to save for those that don't want to mess with coupons and more complexity.

Better yet, Amazon.com has a team price matching every single lower price and sale they can find from all the major national retailers. After getting an Amazon Prime membership, and with the added perk that many states are still tax-free, isn't Amazon the go-to retailer for most here? Talk about convenience...

I was unaware that Target matched prices too. Wow.

I am way, way late on this one but: "The frogurt is also cursed."

For a while I bought into the "flexibility of a season pass argument." Once you have a season pass, you can go whenever for as long or as short as you want.

But you know what else has that kind of flexibility? Cash. If it's going to be close, just don't think too much about whether you'll come out a few bucks up or a few bucks down and cash is obviously the more flexible option. (No loyalty rewards though, at least that I know of).

All big box retailers match prices. And honestly, most department stores will do it even if they don't advertise it. As long as it is the exact same item.

As far as season passes go, I usually get a Six Flags pass becuase its never much more than the price of a one day admission. Even if I don't use it anywhere but one park, or even if I don't use it more than once, I'm not out any money. It doesn't even bother me to pay for parking because the pass is so cheap.

Two years ago, I got a gold Carowinds pass. Includes only Carowinds, parking, and SCarowinds. I went to the park over 10 times that year, but didn't do any other CF parks. I did do a couple SF parks though.

Last year I got a Platinum Pass because I was planning on going to at least Kings Dominion. I ended up going to KD twice, KI once, KBF once, and Carowinds a dozen or so times. Worth the price for me. It also got my nephew into Carowinds and Kings Island for cheaper. And I usually put it on the payment plan, $30 a month for a few months, and I'm good. No 'huge' upfront cost, and I still get my money's worth. I'm planning on CP, KI, and KD outside of Carowinds this year, so I'll be getting a Platinum Pass yet again. And of course I'll get my SF pass from oG.

In 2012, I had 3 seperate Season passess. The CF, SF, and even a BGW season pass. I got the BGW pass only because it was the price of a one day, with no intention of going more than once, but then with the pass, I ended up going back with my nephew for his first time. Again, worth the price for me.

The problem with cash is not so much that it is not flexible, it is that all of the other admission media are not, and have to be bought in day-sized chunks. With a pass, you don't need to think in terms of "days". And, to get deals on those days, you often have to buy ahead anyway, limiting the ability to change your mind later.

A pass also allows you to much more easily say: "Sure, why not?" Need to get home after spending the night near a park? Want to go in for just one ride? Sure, why not?

Edited to add: and, really, the pass is just another form of not having to think about how to maximize value out of days here and there. I know what it will cost for a season's worth of visits. That's good enough for me.

But here's the thing Brian: If I'm going to spend 3 visits worth on a pass and visit three times in which one of those visits is a single ride stop, am I really that much better off than just holding the cash and paying 3 full price admissions including one for a single ride stop?

Of course, in this case, and the whole point of the "pays for itself in two visits" is that nobody ever pays full price for a regular admission. The "3 visits worth" probably includes twilight admission for that single ride visit and discounts on the regular admissions. But that's kind of tangential.

Jeph said:
TL:DR?;-)

Oh, not at all.

And now I understand...

...you're insane. ;)

Seriously though, Your electronics example makes perfect sense. I've certainly been known to take a few minutes to dig up a deal on a bigger ticket items. Small effort/big savings.

But the grocery example? Pfft. Screw that. That's where the effort/savings curve breaks down for me. Too much involved for a few dollars in my pocket.

So yeah, we're just on totally different pages in that sense.

LostKause said:

Jeph said:

You will never see coupons or credit card discounts like this at Walmart.

I will agree with you about how many checkout's they have open though. Sometimes they don't have enough cashiers, and the lines are too long.

So get a Flash Pass.

The one year I had a platinum pass, I found myself trying to plan extra trips to other parks just to get my money's worth on the pass...but in reality, I was losing a lot more money on travel/hotel.

Was considering flying to SFMM last year, just to get a little more use out of my Six Flags pass...but I would've been spending hundreds of dollars just to squeeze more value out of my $70 pass. Not worth it.

"If I'm going to spend 3 visits worth on a pass and visit three times in which one of those visits is a single ride stop"

No, that doesn't help. But you can pop in on the *fourth* morning when you have to leave town to make it back for <random kid event>. Or when you show up earlier than you expected the night before. Or you think it might be fun to drive down to the water park for a few hours.

Edited to add: the more I think about it, the more I'm coming down on the side of: "I just don't want to have to think about it." A summer's worth of park admission and parking for the family is $700. Done. That's a little different than "The pass is the cheapest way to do what I want to do." Instead it's "I don't want to have to plan what I'm going to do, and this is a fine price for that."

That makes a lot of sense, Brian.

But now you're coming in too far on the other side of the effort/cost ratio for me.

$720 is enough money that I want to make sure I'm not throwing much of it away. It's still worth the planning effort to preserve the ROI at the $720 price point.

Which, now that I'm talking it out, leads to the early pricing ($656 for four passes) and I guess what I'm saying is that it's still not enough of a discount to convince me to forgo the ROI check.

But the cold hard numbers only apply in this situation based on CF's pricing structure. $720 or $656 isn't some magical number on my end, it's relevant only because of how the company prices for single and multiple-day visits.

Totally different numbers would apply if we were talking something like SF passes instead.

SFGAdv lover said:

The one year I had a platinum pass, I found myself trying to plan extra trips to other parks just to get my money's worth on the pass...but in reality, I was losing a lot more money on travel/hotel.

No offense, but if you think it's losing money for the cost of the travel & hotel, that kind of defeats the purpose.

Was considering flying to SFMM last year, just to get a little more use out of my Six Flags pass...but I would've been spending hundreds of dollars just to squeeze more value out of my $70 pass. Not worth it.

No, going to the extreme is definitely not worth it. When I went to SFMM & Knotts back in December, I looked at it as I was already going to be out west with a rental car, and the cost of gas for a tiny Chevy for a day trip to the parks, while only have to pay for gas, food, and parking at one of the parks for the day, far outweighed not going. But I wouldn't fly out west just for one park cause I had a pass.