What's your biggest gripe about drugstore beauty sales?
I miss the days of BOGOFREE sales on drugstore makeup. We still see them occasionally (mostly on Physicians Formula) but I remember a time when BOGOFREE sales were as common as BOGO1/2OFF sales are now. I don't think BOGO1/2OFF sales are even an incentive for me to buy things at this point, because they're so frequent. I mean, if a brand isn't BOGO1/2OFF this week, chances are it will be next week. And often times I don't WANT to buy two products, so BOGO1/2OFF isn't always an enticement since you have to buy two products to enjoy the cost savings.
Just today I went into a local drugstore chain and they're having buy one get one 1/2 off on lip products. NYX is also on sale this week for 30% off. I wanted to pick up two NYX lip products but then read the fine print and saw that NYX is excluded. I ended up only buying one lip product.
ReplyDeleteBOGO half off would be the equivalent to 25% off, so 30% off would actually be a better deal, anyway.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteNot really a gripe about sales, but I hate that stores hide makeup in the most random places. I've found displays in the automotive section at Meijer, in the hunting section (no, not the duck dynasty ones either) at Walmart, and in the paper section at Walgreens.
ReplyDeleteHa yes! My cvs does that. I think it's because there is so much theft they can't stack new product displays on top of the shelves so they get placed in random spots.
DeleteMy gripe is that they don't go on sale at 40% off too often. Other than that I'm okay with the sales. :-)
ReplyDeleteBOGO1/2OFF isn't an incentive for me either. Usually the drugstore shelf prices are so marked up that you can get BOGO1/2OFF items for even less at Walmart's regular prices.
ReplyDeleteOh yes, how i miss those BOGOFREE sales. When that sale use to happen at Longs Drugstore, I use to get my old favorite liquid foundation (Revlon ColorStay) and powder (Revlon ColorStay powder) to go with it. That powder feels like silk, havent bought in a while though. Wish they would bring that back around.
ReplyDeleteI miss bogo free but my biggest gripe is Walgreens! Every time Sinful Colors goes on sale they take away the New displays. At least the 2 were I live. I.E. the Simmer Down and Chill out mysteriously disappeared since Sunday
ReplyDeleteWow that's obnoxious
DeleteWrite the main company and complain to them about it.
DeleteI too am not a big fan of the bogo1/2off sales unless I also have coupons for the products.
ReplyDeleteI miss BOGOFree sales in all areas of retail, but yes, especially in drugstore beauty sales.
ReplyDeleteI hate when only certain colors are on sale! Especially if the display is messy and the colors that are on sale aren't in the right place or missing. It's so annoying!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of, I hate when I have to hunt around the entire store to find the clearance section! Just put all of the clearance beauty products in the same darn place!
Proper labeling. I hate when a sign shows clearence items and it doesn't ring up.
ReplyDeleteI wish the CVS sale was uniform across all stores.
totally agree with you!
ReplyDeletewell where I live we the most convenient drug store is Duane Reade and while cosmetics are ALWAYS on sale, paying 12.99 for a lipstick that is 6.99 somewhere else just makes me angry. The markup is RIDICULOUS! So I end up waiting until the weekend when I can go to a Walgreens or CVS.
ReplyDeleteWhen it says select products so unless you go to the store you don't know if the product you want is included in the sale or not.
ReplyDeleteI could not agree more about the BOGO 1/2 thing. Up until somewhere around 2005-2006ish BOGO FREE used to be pretty standard and I bought so much more because it was incentive to buy something I wanted but get a chance to try something else as well. And the BOGO Frees weren't every week for every brand. I miss them and wonder if cosmetics companies were really losing that much revenue that they had to do away with them or if they just got greedier. They rarely inspire me to buy like the BOGO Free sales did.
ReplyDeleteBOGO 50% off is almost constant. Walgreens has pretty much their entire cosmetics department BOGO 50% off constantly, except for the cheaper brands like Rimmel and Wet N Wild and nail polishes.
BOGO 50% sales that exclude certain products in the line are annoying if I am buying. Make it all or nothing.
I also miss 40% off and 50% sales. 50% sales almost never happen. 40% sales happen but only once in a great while and it seems only on certain brands. Revlon and Rimmel are the most popular 40% off sale brands here.
Other gripes:
During a Rimmel sale last week I bought a bunch of the new textured finished polishes at Walgreens, I had extra incentive because they were supposed to be BOGO 50% off only they weren't ringing up that way. The cashier insisted it was because they weren't listed as part of the cosmetics. I have no idea now if she was incorrect or not but if there is a sign that says BOGO 50% off ALL [insert brand] that should include everything... nail polish, tools...whatever, otherwise do not advertise it as ALL.
Meijer is notorious for not putting out new products when the line is on sale or about to be on sale. As soon as the sale is over? Out they go.
Walgreens is notorious for taking away new products when the line goes on sale. Saw new display last week? Line on sale this week? Good luck finding that display again. Sorry not sorry but that is SO WRONG and I would loooooooove to know Walgreens explanation of this... if it is their store policy or if this is the policy of the brands???
I worked at Walgreens and we would never remove the new displays when the brand we t in sale. If your Walgreens does that, it's because they have an asshole as a manager and they know that people will buy the new products at full price. Which is so stupid. Walgreens is really a greedy company in general though...I hated working there.
DeleteWow then we have a lot of asshole managers around the Walgreens here lol... there are about 4 Walgreens I look for new things at regularly (what can I say, bigger town with Walgreens on every block it seems like!) and it seems that 3 of those 4 regularly do this =/
DeleteNot sure if this concerns sales, but I miss finding "gems" in the drug stores. The original Harmons store used to sell rare and high end brands you dont see at any local stores. Before Genovese drugs went out of business in the 90's, you would find cool beauty products and perfumes like Alyssa Ashley floral perfumes for $2 that are discontinued and sell on sites for a fortune. I still have a couple of bottles. Today's drug stores sell the same boring stuff. I how ever found Calgon perfum at rite aid last week. Maybe drugstore gems could be a topic.
ReplyDeleteI agree. I won't even bother with bogo1/2off. 40% and up is where it's enticing to me!
ReplyDeleteI miss BOGO free too! And I hate when even the BOGO 1/2 Off is limited to just lip or just face products, etc. Sometimes I don't want two eye products I want shadow and a lippie! At least my Wags is good about having new and limited collections and keeping them out during sales.
ReplyDeleteUgh! I remember the BOGO free sales. I miss them so much. I don't buy things on buy one, get on 1/2 off sales. If the BOGO free sales are over, then give us a break and just let us just buy 1 item @ 25%. I agree that we see the biggest sales on Physicians Formula, but they also have the highest price tag...
ReplyDeleteYES! I don't want to buy two somethings, I want one thing, on sale!
DeleteAgreed. A straight 25% off single items would be so much easier than BOGO1/2OFF. Sigh....
DeleteAmen...very often times I just do not want to to buy 2 things... why can't I just buy the one I want and get a sale on it?
DeleteTotally agree on the BOGO50% off sales. Those are constant. I don't even bother registering those anymore; instead I wait for a 30 or 40 percent off sale. Most drugstores charge more for their products than what Target or Wal-Mart would charge, too, so it's not really much of a savings most of the time. The main draw is they get new displays all the time and it's close to home; that and they'll put good stuff on clearance frequently.
ReplyDeleteI hate how you can't use the percent off coupons with sale items at CVS. I used to get a lot of $x/$xx, but now I mostly get percent off coupons that are difficult to use, since things are constantly on sale.
ReplyDeleteI too miss the Buy One Get One Free sales. I don't mind the buy one at 50% off when there's a new limited edition collection, since LE collections aren't usually found at Target or Walmart & I usually will buy 2 items. I don't like when the 50% off only applies to certain items, like eye makeup or face makeup only. Maybe I want a blush and a mascara.
ReplyDeleteI remember BOGO-free being a common sale event. Now you only see it with PF, NYC and Wet N Wild. I even remember when I first realized that sort of sale was history for the most part. That was a sad day.
ReplyDelete- The bogo 1/2 gripe was the first thing that came to my mind. That's only 25% off and not worth it to me, I never even look twice at those "deals." The only sales I care about are 40% off or even better, bogo free.
ReplyDelete- The lack of shades in most drugstore foundations.
- Blushes and eyeshadows usually aren't that pigmented,
Yeah so true. I don't go for bobo 25% any more. RiteAid has a good deal on Revlon this week . 40% of everything including nail polishes PLUS $5 cash back when you spend 15. you can do this twice or maybe more times. Also the video value coupons in the "NEW" section, you have to go to see all coupon deals to find them have 3 very good coupons for up to $10 of Revlon skin. nail and lip products. I scored there. All you have to do is watch 3 videos. With all that you can pick up some great deals.
ReplyDeleteI also miss the bogo free offers. I really wish the cvs by my job had more colors. They only have 4 or 5 colors of the Silk Finish lipsticks.
ReplyDeleteMy local stores are bad about refusing to put any of the new things out until AFTER the sale is over.
ReplyDeleteThe stores watch you tube also. They were on to us waiting for b1g1free. We used to skip b1g1 50% off. The only x I buy the b1g1 50% off is for ltd edition product. The taking away of b1g1 free made me stop buying drugstore mu all together unless it is on clearance or a must have. They pushed me to invest in high end mu b/c it isn't worth it to me to buy drugstore items that cost so much.
ReplyDeleteIt irritates me when ltd edition products are not on display @a rite aid, cvs, rite aid. @a least @a target if you have the barcodes they can enter info & pull from stockroom. The chase is not appealing. Lol
My gripe is about when products go out and which stores get them. I do public transit and it's not feasible to get to some of the stores to get the le stuff. The cvs two blocks away gets no colections (but I'm convinced I'm the only one who regularly goes in to purchase makeup there).
ReplyDelete