节目资讯
刊物:空中英语教室
日期:2014-02-19
难易度:Low
关键字:bargain, resist, original, product, sell a bill of goods
Today we are talking about bargains and how to know a deal when you see one.
It's important to know when you should walk away from a tempting sale and to be
sure that you're getting a good deal.
So let's learn about one of the tricks, one of the oldest tricks in the book
that shopkeepers use - making prices end in 99,
and of course some of the other ways they convince customers to buy their goods.
Let's start reading.
Shopping for Bargains.
For example, if an item is US$11.99 instead of US$12.00, you'll feel like you're
spending less money.
Sellers sometimes reduce items by a certain amount.
But before the sale begins, workers might mark the prices higher.
That means that even with the discount, you may pay more than the original
price.
Shopkeepers clearly understand what makes you want to buy their products.
But with a little preparation, you can avoid being sold a bill of goods.
(Chinese).
And now let's go to our teachers.
Thank you, Michelle.
Wow! I didn't know that shopkeepers could be so tricky.
Well, not all shops are like this, but some of them are very tricky.
So it's good to know what to look for.
And let's talk about the first trick that they use: making prices end in 99.
Yes. They do this to make you feel like you're spending less, but you're really
not spending that much less.
Right. You just feel like it.
So it ends in 99, which means it's less than a dollar.
And that's what you look at first, so.
If you feel like something is happening, that means that it's not really
happening, but you're still having the same feeling.
Right.
For example, if there is an earthquake, you might feel like you are dizzy.
But really it's the ground moving, not you.
Oh, wow! That's a big earthquake.
Or if you buy a small bag of chips, you might feel like you're saving money
because the price is lower.
But actually, the larger bag is a better deal because while the price is a bit
higher, you get a lot more for the money you spend.
That's right.
Now another trick that sellers use sometimes is to have employees mark the
prices higher before the sale.
Then you end up paying more than the original price during the sale.
Whoa, that seems very dishonest to me.
Now let's look at that phrase: mark the prices higher.
What does this mean, Gabe?
Well, it means that they change the price on an item, so.
They mark the prices higher, which is why it's called a markup.
Ah. And they can also mark the prices lower like during a sale.
And this is called a markdown.
But if a store is marking up the prices before a sale and then marking them down
during the sale, customers aren't really saving any money.
Right. They could even end up paying more than what the original price was.
And this might sound strange, but it's actually happened at some major stores in
the United States.
A woman bought some things that were marked down on sale, but when she removed
the sale price tag, that little sticker, to reveal the original price...
The original price was lower.
So she ended up paying more.
This, of course, made a lot of the store's customers very angry.
And it should! No one wants to pay more than they need to or feel like they've
been cheated by the shopkeeper.
You're right about that.
Well, shopkeepers clearly understand how to make you buy their products.
And since they want to make money, too, sometimes they try to sell you a bill of
goods.
Oh, and that's not a good thing.
But they do clearly understand what they're doing, and we want to clearly
understand that phrase: to clearly understand something.
Yes. If you clearly understand something, that means that you have no questions
about it.
You know exactly what you are doing.
So if something is clear, that means that you can see through it, so there's
nothing blocking your understanding.
OK. Well, now that I think we clearly understand that phrase, well, we have more
to learn about this lesson.
And I think that it's very interesting the things that people do in order to get
people to shop at their store.
They do do a lot of very interesting things.
And right now we have some interesting things to review from our lesson today
with our editor, Linda.
So let's go join her for the Editor's Summary.
Do you know if you're getting a good deal when you shop at a sale?
Well, today we told you some tricks of the trade to help you know what to look
for.
Probably the most used and oldest trick is to mark something at $0.99 instead of
$1.00 so you feel like you aren't spending so much money.
Or some shops mark up prices before they mark them down.
So be sure you know what the original price is so you don't end up paying too
much in the end.
Thank you so much, Linda.
Well, today we've talked a little bit about buying things on sale and some of
the tricks that shopkeepers use to get customers to buy their products.
And they can be very tricky.
Now we've used that word several times in today's lesson, the word tricky.
And what does it mean if you play a trick on someone, Gabe?
Yeah, a great question.
When you play a trick on someone, that means you do something that maybe they
don't expect.
Maybe they're expecting it to result in one way, but really you have something
else in mind.
Do you ever... ever play tricks on people?
Well, a very common day for people to play tricks on other people is... you
guessed it?
April Fool's Day.
April 1 is a day where many people love to play tricks on their friends.
So if you trick someone, that means that you fool them into believing something,
so.
Shopkeepers are very tricky at times and try to fool their customers into
believing that they are getting a good deal when actually they aren't.
And I hope that you never have this type of experience.
Well, I think it's very common for people, especially shopkeepers, people in
advertising, marketing,
to learn the tricks of the trade, to learn what to do to convince people to buy
something.
This happens in any kind of area, not just in shops where you go in to buy
things.
It happened to me at the gym.
I wanted to go and see what the price was to join for one month and maybe what
the price was for 3 months or a year, I wanted to compare.
Before they told me the price, they had me come in to the gym to check it out,
look at everything, how nice everything was,
and they even took my measurements and everything for free.
They told me what kinds of things I needed to keep eating, what kinds of things
to stop eating.
I thought it was very nice service.
So Carolyn, guess what I did?
Did you get a gym membership there, Gabe?
I certainly did, Carolyn.
At that time I didn't even care what the price was.
I was like: OK! I like this.
That was one of the tricks of their trade, maybe the oldest trick in the book.
Maybe it was the oldest trick in their book.
There are lots of different tricks that can be used to convince customers to
purchase something or become a member.
I remember getting kind of tricked into buying a suit.
All I wanted to do was go in and talk to the shopkeeper and maybe look at some
designs and styles, get some ideas.
But by that time I walked out of the shop, I had purchased a five-piece suit.
No way.
That's not cheap, Carolyn.
No. No, it's not.
That's great. OK.
Well, of course I hope you enjoy your suit.
Do you enjoy your suit?
I do. It was a very nice suit and hand-tailored, so it was wonderful.
But it was very expensive, and I did not expect that.
That's right.
Well, friends, when you go shopping, watch out for some of these tricks that
shopkeepers know.
Of course you do want to shop for bargains and get a good deal.
That's right.
So we will talk about some tricks that you can use when you shop tomorrow right
here on Studio Classroom.
We'll see you then.