Gun Stuff/Marketing Stuff

I bought an inexpensive laser sight on Amazon for a pistol of mine. It was around fifteen bucks, so I thought, "Why not give it a try?" Since then, I've seen the same laser sight offered in two different places. One offers to send it to me for "free" w/ $14.95 shipping & handling.
Wow! Such a deal! Today, I saw one even better. They advertised "41% off". You click over to the site and the price is $29.95.
I didn't hang around long enough to see if there was shipping on top of that.

Caveat emptor!

Speaking of marketing, my late, ex father-in-law was a salesman for Montgomery Ward. Since he is deceased and the company is defunct, I don't think I'm 'talking out of school' here. He told me that MW would advertise goods, refrigerators, stoves, etc, in their catalog for greatly inflated prices. The catalog price would establish the "retail price", and then, after so many months, required by law, they would advertise the same merchandise in their store at a substantial "discount", only it wasn't a real discount, it was a reduction to what the normal retail price would have been, but because it was "on sale" at a greatly reduced price, i.e. full price, sales would increase. And pity the poor slob who actually ordered one through the catalog!

It pays to know your prices before you shop for anything: groceries, shoes, clothing, guns, screwdrivers, etc. Don't trust "sale" or "reduced prices" unless you've done some comparison shopping.

An informed shopper is a wise shopper.