S&R Pampanga sale 2012 part 2

< Back to Part 1

OK here is a list of some interesting items. I did not list any not worth it too expensive items except for a few. For most of these, I give a per piece or per liter or per kilogram price. Some items may actually be non-sale items but I include them anyway because it's a good deal. Items with a x2 are buy one take one items. Also some prices are rounded off, i.e. php 39.95 becomes 40 but I did not round off the per gram values

Tissue paper rolls

Kirkland embossed bath - 1150/36 =Php41/roll

Scott 1000 - 1200/36 = Php33/roll

Charmin ultra strong - 900/24 = Php37.5/roll

Member's selection - 500/20 = Php25/roll

S&r - 450/20 = Php22.5/roll

Velvety soft - 489.95/48 =Php10.2/roll. 220 sheets/roll = 0.0464/sheet

Velvety soft - 250/24 =Php10.4/roll

Extra - 399.95/24 = Php16.67/roll, 600 sheets/300 pulls/roll = 0.0555/pull

Pure - 399.95/12 = Php33.33

note: deciding which to buy is difficult. First of all, I am ignoring the quality. Second, each roll is a different size so I did eventually realize that a per roll computation might be inaccurate. Ideally I would like to weigh individual rolls but that is not possible here. So as a compromise, I looked at the number of sheets/pulls per roll. Unfortunately, some brands interchange the terms sheets and rolls. A single square of tissue paper is a pull. If it is 2 ply then 1 pull is made up of 2 sheets. 

Due to lack of time I was not able to write down all the per sheet data. On a per roll basis the 2 cheapest are Velvety soft and Extra. On a per pull basis, I had a little problem because Extra did not say how many pulls it had, only sheets. Judging from a quick visual estimate, the rolls of Velvety soft are slightly smaller in diameter so if velvety soft made a mistake and reported sheets instead of pulls, a value of 220 pulls per roll seems accurate. So on a per pull basis, velvety soft is the cheapest.

Cereal

Frosted mini wheats - 679/1.98 = Php342.93

grape nuts - 400/1.81kg = Php221

Koko crunch - 185/0.5 = Php370

Raisin bran crunch - 700/1.6kg = Php437.5

Raisin bran - 370/1.98kg =  186.87

Kellogs special k red berries - 480/1.05kg =  Php457.1

Post cranberry almond - 170/0.368 = Php462

Kashi go lean crunch - 700/1.27 = Php551

Nestle clusters almond = 100/0.240 = Php416

Nature's path pumkin flax granola - 550/1 = Php550

Quaker granola - 150/0.2 = Php750

Quaker oatmeal - x 52 = Php550

note: raisin bran is the clear winner, but it doesn't taste too good alone.

Cereal bars

Nature valley oat & honey - 144/6 = Php24/pouch

Nature valley sweet salty peanut - 900/48 = Php18.75/pouch

Kirkland variety - 900/20 = Php45/pouch

Planters - 630/25 = Php25.2/pouch

Frozen food

Southern valley mixed veg 1kg  = Php100

Nonpareillis frozen broccoli 0.907kg = Php165

Sunny select leaf spinach 10oz/283.5g = Php60

Parklane hash brown - 200/1.27kg = Php157.48/kg

White river cobbler fish fillet = Php160/kg

Fast fixin chicken burger - 250/1.02kg = Php245/kg

toiletries

antabax soap - 85g  x 5 x 2 = 140/10 = Php14/bar or Php 0.16470/g

Safeguard with aloe 113g x 8 x 2 = 350/16 = Php21.875/bar or Php 0.19358/g

Colgate total whitening 170g = Php100

Miscellaneous

Kirkland fish oil 400cap = 500/400 = Php1.25/cap

Kirkland daily multi vitamins 500 caps- 700/500 = Php1.4/cap

Tramontina saute pan teflon platinum 8 &10 inch bundle = Php1200

Tramontina fry pan 20cm x 2 eclipse coating = Php1000

Tramontina fry pan 30cm - Php1200

S&r deluxe mixed nuts = Php700

splenda 1000 packets = Php1140

Member's selection canola oil 5L = Php550

S&r palm oil 5L = 430 = Php86/L
olive pomace oil 5L = 1000/5 = 200/liter * did not get the brand

Krklnd tomato Basil bisque 530g = Php65

Healthy choice chicken with rice x 2 = Php100

Amy's organic soup x2 = Php170

Soyfresh soymilk 1L = Php40

Carnation bfast essentials x 22 = 550/22 = Php25

Act 2 butter lover's popcorn x 28 =400/28 = Php14.29

Orville redenbacher butter popcorn - 500/28 = Php17.86

Kirkland weight loss shake - 325ml = Php45

S&R Pampanga sale 2012 part 1

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Disclaimer: I am in no way connected to S&R or any of its subsidiaries. I have not been paid by anyone to write this. Like all entries in this blog, its is an honest record of what I have experienced. Mostly this blog is about computer or tech related stuff so this is one of the few non-tech related posts.


So, from the picture above, you know that S&R's sale is going on. I am going to explain what S&R is, why shopping in S&R is worth it and how you can save money in S&R. In part 2, you will see an list of some interesting good buys that I saw during this sale. I wrote them down on my smartphone as I was perusing the merchandise.

This is S&R's website. This is their Facebook page.



OK, S&R, unlike other supermarkets is not open to the general public. You need to apply for membership before you can buy anything. Membership usually costs < 1000 pesos a year. If you apply within the store, you immediately get a temporary card so you can immediately go shopping. You pick up your official card after a few days.

Why does S&R require membership? Well one reason is psychologically, you feel that you have sunk several hundred pesos into the membership, you might as well shop there to make it worth it. Another reason is, presumably, the cards are used to statistically analyze shopping behavior. I have no proof as to whether or not this is done but all the big retailers do it. It might sound like a creepy invasion of privacy but AFAIK its not illegal and you have the choice to shop somewhere else. Also, I heard somewhere before that due to a loophole in taxes, if you sell to the public, you are taxed so and so but if you sell to only members, they are not considered the "public", i.e., its not a retail store. So you get taxed less. I have no idea if this is true or not or whether it applies to Philippine laws or not.

So, what makes S&R potentially cheaper? First of all, its not an ordinary supermarket, it's a warehouse club.

A warehouse club is a retail store, usually selling a wide variety of merchandise, in which customers are required to buy large, wholesale quantities of the store's products, which makes these clubs attractive to both bargain hunters and small business owners. The clubs are able to keep prices low due to the no-frills format of the stores. In addition, customers may be required to pay annual membership fees in order to shop.

wiki

You can see it in the way the building is laid out. In S&R a large number of items are available in large quantities like 50 items or more per bundle. So you do save sometimes due to buying in bulk. Warehouse clubs save money by not having 2 buildings, a warehouse and a retail store. They just have one big warehouse. The shelves may be 2-4 stories high and the bottom shelves are the retail store. The top shelves are where the items are stored. So they don't have to pay for 2 buildings. And they pass the savings on to you.


I read one article once in the inquirer where a financial analyst gave advice on what to invest in if you had some extra money. One minimal risk investment is to buy in bulk stuff that doesn't fluctuate in price much (or only goes up in price) and can be stored for a long time. Its hoarding essentially and yes it usually works.You buy stuff at a discount, how can you lose?

These are all theoretical but do I see them in practice? Well, sometimes. Personally, yes there are a few items that are cheaper than in other supermarkets because they are in bulk, specially during sales. But I decided to get an S&R membership for other reasons. The main reason is S&R stocks a lot of brands and items not found anywhere else. Another reason is their great reasonably priced pizza which can be bought from their in house cafeteria style restauraunt. I figure that by shopping a few times specially during sales and carefully choosing what I buy, I can recoup the cost of the yearly membership fee. Unfortunately, sometimes I find myself buying more expensive bu tastier brands, lolz.


OK, end of part 1. Go to part 2 for a list of interesting items that I found during the sale.


the end

Opening PWI files

.PWI files are files created by the notes application in windows mobile cellphones.

You can open them on a desktop PC by using MS word. I tried word 2010 only though so i'm not sure if older versions would work.

First, prepare word 2010. Open it. Go to file > options > advanced. Now scroll the right pane down to the bottom and check confirm file format conversion on open.

Now open the .pwi file with ms word 2010. In the convert file dialog box, choose Recover text from every file.

Its not perfect, there may be a few stray formatting marks like line breaks but at least the text is there.