My husband does the grocery shopping. He found some chickens mis-marked at 19 cents a pound instead of $1.19. He tore through the freezer case and grabbed all he could. Hey, 45 cents for a whole chicken ain't bad. He also found Cascade Dishwasher Powder at the 99-cent-store (which sells for over $4 in the regular grocery next to the 99 cent store) It wasn't a knock-off. It was the real deal. He brought home only four boxes. I told him to go back and get more but he wouldn't.

Sometimes that "brand name" item that is in stores is counterfeit. Just like there are counterfeit handbags, watches and bluejeans, there are also counterfeit shampoo, canned soup, and everything else. It's easy for a company to print up red and white labels that say "Campbells" on them and sell them as the trusted brand to the unsuspecting. Google will give lots of articles on this.

Hi bud wi,

Does pretty well everyone, or you folks in WI especially, have a love affair with three dollar words?

That word that you used regarding some of the stuff in the cheap stores, what wAs it?

Count-er-feit, was it?

Let's see, "count-" ... that's 5 letters, ...

... "-er-" adds a couple more, ...

... and after the feat of adding, "-feit", four more.

Holy cow! That's nearly a dozen, isn't it? (And is "holy cow!" a fairly common saying in WI?).

Quite a few people seem to have a dislike, or prejudice (now, there's another three dollar word), or something ...

... against "four letter" words.

But I can think of one that seems to me to fill the bill quite adequately, and faultlessly, in this situation.

How about, "F-A-K-E"?

In a lot of the emails that I get offering those watches etc. that look more or less like the real (expensive) thing, they like the word, "replica". Sounds quite a bit the same, it seems to me.

Hope you're enjoying your week.

ole joyful

There certainly are a lot of imitations and fakes out there, but it's not unusual to see name brands in the dollar stores, especially on the discontinued lines and sizes. On the Cascade, I would expect that it's genuine. They essentially would have to rebox the soap and they're not likely to do that. I know places like Family Dollar and the like get the original (non-"ultra") formulas of Dawn and Joy dish soap and it's real and sells for $1 for 22 oz. I personally question the concentration of many of the "ultra" formulas but that's beside the point.

FWIW, now that P&G is "compacting" it's major brands, I'd expect to see a lot of the 1x versions show up at the super-discount places.

Also, don't forget that many of the cheapo stores buy from liquidators when the big guys unload stuff so it's not a good idea to assume it's fake. Just be careful that it's real. You have to go by the credibility of the store.

That said, even a thought-to-be reputable store can pull stunts. Cub Foods, owned by SuperValu is a big dog in the grocery business in my state, especially the metro area. They started the warehouse grocery store concept in this area, or I should say were the first in this area to start it (I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't an original concept). Anyway, they got caught selling Choice beef as being Angus beef. Essentially a slap on the wrist, I guess they did get a fine and ordered not to do it anymore, but of course they never admitted wrongdoing and never even said they'd do something to make sure it didn't happen again! Guess it goes to show there's crooks all over the place.

I got a bargain, but not a true one. To me, something mismarked is not a bargain. I have a problem with it, having been a store owner before. But I was at a pet food store and recently got a second rescue cat. I feed my animals good quality foods, not the corn-based junk that sells so cheap. It's bad for the animal. But I needed to get some food and what is normally a 9# bag for anywhere from $21-$29, often is on sale for $17-$19. They had it on sale for $13.99. That was a very good deal and I was happy. Plus I was happy because I had some $4.00 coupons that could be used for it. I decided to get two bags, then thought that since I now have "double" the cats (and about two and a half times the appetite now!) I should get more. They had four bags left so I took all four. That should last a long time. I also bought a laser pointer toy for $6, and a few other things. The previous owner bought me a bag of cheapo cat food that he was feeding him and gave it to me. I asked if they'd exchange it for credit-they would. So, (whew, this is getting long!) when I checked out, I also received a $5 off a $15 purchase coupon which had to be used that day so I knew with all the coupons and credit, I'd be saving a lot. The total was $9.95, including tax! Wow. OK so I paid for it, and left. The next day I was looking over the receipt and it didn't look right. Well they rang in only one bag of cat food, apparently when she entered the 4x it didn't take. That was a bargain, but I felt guilty about it. Not so guilty that I'll drive all the way back at my expense, especially since I was overcharged there a couple times, but nonetheless I felt a little guilty.

There's been a number of times I've gotten too much change back from a cashier and when I see it I always give it back since I know that the cashier is responsible for any shortages in the till.

But I still got some good deals but none that approached the penny markdown! I did get a power inverter that was marked down to $32, rang up at the register (and it showed it was the right model so the markdown was correct) at $19 and they had a $10 rebate that I received in two weeks. $9 for a 400 watt inverter that the 70 watt costs twice that! Came in handy during a 5 day power outage. What else, a couple other good deals but can't recall them offhand.

Sorry this got so windy! Happy bargain hunting all!

Here is a word HIJACKED

I've never gotten a bargain for a penny ... I'd be on Cloud 9 if I did ! As for the Cascade ... it's probably real. I always buy my dogs JUMBONES . I had a few left from the pet store and I bought some from the dollar store. Exact same wrapper - exact same information - exact same phone number --- it's definately not a knock off. I do believe that now and then the dollar stores get mdse from brand name mfgs for a number of reasons. It's usually a one time buy,too. ------- AND -------- Joyful guy ....... I'm from WI ,too ! Only I can't afford $3 words. My important words only go up to 50 cents. SO there. Signed, Kathy .......who has a sense of humor and ain't afraid to use it. Excuse me now while I go Cow Tipping ........