Michael's "Play Food" ONE PENNY-- YMMV (alot)

[Seitvonzu]

so, i was at my local michaels today to pick up green paint to convert an egg carton into a "very hungry catapillar." while doing a browsing circuit, i noticed that some of the "fake" food was on sale-- you know the foam/cloth/etc stuff that's with the fake birds and willow wreathes and such? mostly fruit/veggies but some random fake bread or whatever? yeah that stuff. so they had some cabbages that i'd been literally looking into getting for THREE YEARS (since before lucy was born, i wanted to do a martha stewart craft but didn't want to spend a bajillion dollors on it-- so i wasn't going to buy some cabbage leaves for 4 bucks!) marked down to 1.49 -- so i carefully selected 6 and put them in the cart... i thought "what the heck" and then picked up some blackberries and raspberries that were also marked "1.49." lucy threw in some "grapes for my birdies" (we were getting $1 wire bird cages & fake birds too) which were marked 99 cents or something. i thought we were doing pretty good.

so we go up to the cash register with our splurges, and the girl is ringing up the cabbage and it's A PENNY. i asked her if she could scan a few extra times and she says "we are not allowed to do that." i thought she just had to physically scan each thing so i said "i'll just get out of line then and get some more... that's fine!" and she gets this serious look on her face and says "we're not allowed to let you get out of line once something has rang up a penny. i can't sell you any more at a penny." i thought htis was a little weird, and i was pretty diappointed because i actually wanted more cabbages (at least 2 more), but i was trying to be "good" and not spend too too much.

anyhow- the grapes and the berries also rang up a penny. we were really pushing lunch time so i didn't go back in and get everything they had, even though i reallyreally wanted too. the cashier told me in the end that she didn' tknow why they coudln't let me out of line, but that all her managers were in, so she really couldn't let me. i totally got that she was just following a weird corporate policy that i didnt' understand, so i didn't really push her at all about it. and i didn't want to push my luck with my toddler being sweet. so i left thinking i'd come back after my husband got home 4 hours later.

well, i did. and they had CLEARED EVERYTHING OUT. apparently when something rings up a penny they TOSS IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (at least this is what someone behind me in line was told) why would a store do that???!?!?!?!

but the main point of posting this was to encourage play food addicts to RUN to their nearest michaels and see if they can find this food-- it's practically being given away :) it's not for children who still chew things alot or are too rough...but for a penny they have lots of fruits/veggies and some other random things. you could outfit a whole product stand for less than a dollar if you hit it right!

i DID end up finding more at another store (but i hit 2 stores and one had nothing!)-- it wasn't in the same spot -- it was mixed in with the other "summer clearance"-- i sorta had to search for it-- they had more cabbage (YEAH!), asparagus, artichokes, strawberries, apples on a branch, pomegranates, a plum, some chilies, tangerines, pineapples, abd i'm sure some stuff i can't remember. my store had tons of peppers and tons and tons of grapes, berries,a loaf of bread (another one i wish i'd caved on), pears/apples/etc.. i wish i'd let my child have the HUGE bunch that she wanted instead of "limiting" her ;) oh well...who knew?


could be worth the search if you find yourself near a michaels.you have to be a little brave- it's NOT marked a penny. hope someone else can find some of this stuff!

[xmasbabycomin]

HOw weird and funny! So she said she wasn't allowed to sell you any more after it rang up at a penny? That's when I'd start getting POd...way to go, with the store hopping. I can hear DH now, arguing my gas money cancels out my savings. Some people just don't understand, do they?

[Seitvonzu]

i wasn't really POed until i got home and thought about it some more... then i thought "i really did want more cabbages"-- at that point i was pretty sure i could run back at 4:30 and get more-- it was only 4 hours! NO-- they were completely cleared out.

DH thought it was a "stupid business practice" (it's not like michaels hasn't gotten lots of my money in the past, so keeping me happy is probably good business) but reminded me that it was their right to not sell me things if they didn't want to, for basically any (but a few) reasons. hrmph. thanks DH! he DOES no better than to question my bargain hopping and really, who can argue with a penny? all told i spent probably less than 50 cents on my penny bargains, so i'm sure i'm pretty far ahead (despite gas!) plus i got the thrill of the hunt, right?

the lady at the the 3rd store seemed a little irritated too looking at my cart half full of penny fake food ;)...of course, she seemed to be irritated in general (the ladies at my store are all really friendly, so maybe i'm just not used to the "normal" michaels worker? i don't know).

so the upshot is- if you want this deal, be brave and take as much of the stuff as you want to the register (you can't go back for more!) i did end up spending "full clearance" for some peppers-- they were cute, didn' thave barcodes, and i wasn't up for asking for favors.

[xmasbabycomin]

It almost sounds like-if it's in your basket, you have to buy it. No, we can't scan it/tell you how much it costs first. Will they let you return clearance stuff? I can just picture myself returning some stuff that rings up .20 i/o .01 :) i/o saying something

[Melaine]

At Kmart if things ring up a penny it means they weren't ever supposed to wind up back on the floor for sale. They won't sell it to you for any price when that happens (at least that is supposedly the policy).

I will be checking this out tonight though, worth a check for sure!

[Seitvonzu]

melaine-- i said to dh last night "when it rang up a penny the cashier seemed to get an "oh shoot!" look on her face..." but i thought maybe i was just making it up because i was trying to figure out what the weird deal was at michaels... like maybe the store gets in big troulbe or something when that happens?

thing is , i've bought stuff at michaels before for 1 cent and was able to buy more DAYS later... so i feel like this is a new deal.

i overheard that they throw the stuff away-- but i really hope that was a mistake. i just can't imagine-- they had SO MUCH good usable stuff.. i'm hoping they at least sell it to tuesday morning type places or SOMETHING. the idea of it out back in the dumpster had me reallyreally curious ....(AND PRETTY MAD!!!)

[Binkandabee]

My cynical side thinks that they were indeed cleared out by the employees...but not thrown away.

That's awesome that you got a deal on something you'd had your eye on! A lot of times when I find a bargain...it's something that I wouldn't have bought EXCEPT for the fact that it was on sale...so it's really not a deal, KWIM? Although, at a penny...how can you go wrong!

[Seitvonzu]

i don't know about them buying it... at least in this case (i think that's more likely on good stuff at target). i kept wondering what the cashier at the 3rd micheals thought as she rang up my artichokes and asparagus (these two veggies were in great abundance!) the pineapples weren't even particularly attractive (they are not quite ripe), but for a penny... i thought we'd tell our child we were a pineapple plantation ;) or pretend we're in hawaii!

i have a play food PROBLEM...so the variety is welcome in our house. if we decide that we reallyreally don't need so many full sized artichokes-- we'll give away. or crafts! we get really experimental when things are so cheap. my husband is usually tolerant because he knows eventually i'll use the stuff somehow or come around to pass it on. i bought a TON of flowers 90% several summers ago and was able to use them to decorate for lucy's first birthday. it took a while, but i was SO GLAD to have a stash to pull from as the party got more and more elaborate.

[corrie23]

I'm green with envy. I always use tons of these "play" foods of the grape, pom, pear, etc. variety to decorate our sukkah each fall. (I try to save them from year to year, but after hanging outside for a week we always lose some to weather)...I happened to have an appointment this afternoon near our Michael's so I stopped in. They had the food in the clearance aisle and I'm sure it was the same food (peppers, cherries, bread, ugly pineapple, tons of grapes, fancy cabbage, etc.) I piled my basket high with things we'd use-mostly grapes, apples, poms, some peppers, asparagus, onion bunches, cherries, etc. although we left a ton behind. When the cashier went to ring them up she scanned the price tag and then started keying in the clearance price listed on the tag for each one (.79-2.99 ea.,) which led me to believe that they were ringing up low but she was overriding each one. I stopped her and asked if they were ringing up at that price because I'd been told by someone that the clearance fruit was on an additional amount off. She said she'd have to ask the mgr. Her exact words were, "There's a woman with a big basket full of clearance fruit and someone told her they were on sale for more off." Then the mgr must have said a big no in her ear because the cashier said that it was the price listed and maybe they were on sale at different locations, but not there. I said that I didn't want it all at those prices and with my 3 kids in tow I'd come back another time to pick & choose. Sigh...I guess it just wasn't meant to be for me. A shame, the sukkah would have looked so pretty dripping in grapes and such. Oh well.

[Seitvonzu]

i'm sorry corrie :( i'm guessing my cashier was to lazy to override the prices. the michaels around me all have these new HUGE screens that flash the prices as they are ringing up...so i say the .01 and would have argued for it if they'd said anything :(

i wish someone else could benifit from this deal :(

[Corie]

the idea of it out back in the dumpster had me reallyreally curious ....(AND PRETTY MAD!!!)


Sounds like it's time for you to go dumpster-diving! :)

[Seitvonzu]

i should have last night! i could have reported back on the "underside of michaels"

now it's been over 24 hours...so i don't think so :)

[June Mommy2]

At Kmart if things ring up a penny it means they weren't ever supposed to wind up back on the floor for sale. They won't sell it to you for any price when that happens (at least that is supposedly the policy).

I will be checking this out tonight though, worth a check for sure!

I wish I had a Michael's to check out the play food, but just wanted to comment that I bought 2 things at Kmart this week that had rung up for a penny at 90% off. Actually, when I scanned them the scanner said "check shelf label for pricing" and the cashier had to get the worker from toys to come scan it with their handheld scanner. They told me it was coming up for a penny and that meant 90% off. YMMV I guess!

[peanut520]

went to my Michael's tonight and couldnt find any, but happen to walk by the grab bags and saw some of the veggies sticking out. the grab bags were 2.00 so i had to pass.