Tip: Beware 3 for £5 at M&S

Spiritman_2

M&S have a 3-for-£5 offer on some deli items. However, if you take four such items to the till, then, regardless of which order they're scanned in, the till will always select the cheapest three when applying the discount. To get the best deal, pay for the dearest three separately. I imagine this applies at other stores, too.

DCFC79

Spiritman wrote: »

M&S have a 3-for-£5 offer on some deli items. However, if you take four such items to the till, then, regardless of which order they're scanned in, the till will always select the cheapest three when applying the discount. To get the best deal, pay for the dearest three separately. I imagine this applies at other stores, too.

maybe im confused but where does the 4th deli item come in if the offer is 3 for £5, also if its 3 for £5 then how does paying for the 3 dearest ones separately help

thriftymanc

DCFC79 wrote: »

maybe im confused but where does the 4th deli item come in if the offer is 3 for £5, also if its 3 for £5 then how does paying for the 3 dearest ones separately help

As the OP said: this tip applies if you're buying more than three. That's where the fourth item comes from in this scenario. If you're only buying three there's no problem!

Let's say you buy four items priced at £1, £2, £3 and £4. You take all four to the till and pay in one transaction. You will be charged £9, as the till will put the £1, £2 and £3 items through as the offer, plus you'll be paying for the left over full priced item.

Now let's say you buy the same four items but you pay for the £1 item on its own. Then you pay for the £2, £3 and £4 items in another transaction - the till will put them through as the offer at £5. You only pay £6 in total.

That's why you would want to pay for the most expensive items separately, to take advantage of the deal.

Spiritman_2

DCFC79 wrote: »

maybe im confused but where does the 4th deli item come in if the offer is 3 for £5, also if its 3 for £5 then how does paying for the 3 dearest ones separately help

Imagine you want 4 items which all happen to be part of the offer, e.g.:

• Cheese £1.80
• Sausage Rolls £2.49
• Ham £2.60
• Chicken Wings £2.85

If you buy all 4 together, the till takes the 3 cheapest (total £6.89) and gives you £1.89 discount. You pay full price for the dearest item (£2.85) so your total spend is £7.85.

If you buy the 3 dearest separately (total £7.94), you get £2.94 discount and, with the cheese, your total spend is only £6.80.

Hope that clears it up.

Spiritman_2

thriftymanc wrote: »

As the OP said: this tip applies if you're buying more than three. That's where the fourth item comes from in this scenario. If you're only buying three there's no problem!

Let's say you buy four items priced at £1, £2, £3 and £4. You take all four to the till and pay in one transaction. You will be charged £9, as the till will put the £1, £2 and £3 items through as the offer, plus you'll be paying for the left over full priced item.

Now let's say you buy the same four items but you pay for the £1 item on its own. Then you pay for the £2, £3 and £4 items in another transaction - the till will put them through as the offer at £5. You only pay £6 in total.

That's why you would want to pay for the most expensive items separately, to take advantage of the deal.

Ha, you beat me to it! :P

Lip_Stick

This happens with their 3 for 2 items too. I'd bought some risotto rice reduced to 20p from £2.99, which was with all their other rice. None of these rice items seemed to be on the Italian 3 for 2. Also it just had a reduced sign, nothing about the offer on the SEL.

I ended up buying 3 items from their Italian range all stated on the SEL that they were included in the offer.

Guess which items I got free... the 20p risotto rice, which incidently, had little brown live beetles in it. When I took the rice back because of the beetles I complained about the offer and she wouldn't help.

Ilona

Well I'm confused as to how anyone can afford to buy food at M & S because I can't.
Ilona

DCFC79

Spiritman wrote: »

Imagine you want 4 items which all happen to be part of the offer, e.g.:

• Cheese £1.80
• Sausage Rolls £2.49
• Ham £2.60
• Chicken Wings £2.85

If you buy all 4 together, the till takes the 3 cheapest (total £6.89) and gives you £1.89 discount. You pay full price for the dearest item (£2.85) so your total spend is £7.85.

If you buy the 3 dearest separately (total £7.94), you get £2.94 discount and, with the cheese, your total spend is only £6.80.

Hope that clears it up.

yep sorry, im with you now

thanks

Spiritman_2

DCFC79 wrote: »

yep sorry, im with you now

No probs.

ZenUK

Ilona wrote: »

Well I'm confused as to how anyone can afford to buy food at M & S because I can't.
Ilona

Go in the evening for reduced price food items.

jenniewb

I don't want to scare you: but their all at it! Most stores work like this, its how they keep themselves going. Its very rare they don't and infact during one Christmas it was so unusual for it to work in the customers interest (say if they were taking part in the 3-4-2 gift promotion) that Boots used it as a selling point.

With all stores, especially supermarkets or food deals it works the same as far as I am aware.