If You Don’t Pay Attention, You’ll Pay More

I wanted a quick bite for lunch, so I drove down the street to go through the drive through at the local Taco Bell. As I was waiting for my order to be taken, I noticed this "brilliant" piece of advertising and pricing.

Now, the quality isn't very good because I only had my phone camera with me.

They have the traditional combo menu and now the "New, Why Pay More!" menu.

(I noticed it wasn't a question - type-o or intentional?   
         That should have been my first clue there was something afoot.)

You can get a soft taco or a crunchy taco for $.89. Great.

You can get a large drink for $1.69. Sounds reasonable.

You can get a hard taco combo for $4.59 or a soft taco combo for $4.89.

I sat there puzzled for a moment. Why is the soft taco combo more money by $.10 per taco when you can buy them individually for the same price?

A little math and here is what you get.

Buy them separate and you get 3 tacos (soft or crunchy) + a large Pepsi

        $4.36.

So, you buy the combo and you pay an additional $.20 for crunchy tacos and an additional $.50 for soft tacos.

So, people pay more because of the stupid pricing structure... or because they just don't pay attention to a business trying to take them for a ride.

How many people do you think actually take the time to note that if they buy the combo they are actually paying more? I bet it is the same people that buy the big can of soup because they think it is a better value when if they would just do the math, two smaller cans actually cost less.

Of course, I spent $2.23 in gas to get there and back, so what's another $.50! (notice I didn't use a question mark... Seinfeld would be proud!!)