We’ve all been to the local store before where they ask for your personal information or ask if you’d like to sign up for a store credit card to save a lousy 10%?  Is all of this really worth it?  Let’s face it.  In today’s fast paced world, we really just want to run into the store, grab what we want, and pay for it.  We don’t want to sit at the register listening to a bunch of garbage.

The reason these tricks keep continuing is because it makes the corporations money and people buy into them.  If they weren’t successful, they wouldn’t continue.  In order to avoid these pesky tactics, we’ve made ways you can dance around them.

Signing up for a store card to save money

Many retail stores offer you to save money if you sign up for a card.  We’d highly recommend that you stay away from these stores.  Not only do they rip you off if you don’t have a card, they want every single piece of personal information you have.  Find an alternate and not shop at the store all together.  If you do decide to shop at this type of store, tell the clerk at the register that you left your card at home.  Most of the times they will use their own store card and give you the savings.

Asking for your phone number

Many retail stores will ask for your phone number at the register for who knows what kind of reason.  The easiest way out of this is to either provide them with a fake number or simply say “your number is unlisted” With this type of response, there is nothing they can do about it.  If they give you a hard time (which they shouldn’t), simply walk out.

Signing up for a store credit card

A lot of stores today definitely go through this route asking if you want to sign up for a store credit card. A lot of the times you’ll save 10% or something on your purchase.  What you don’t’ find out is that it takes 15-20 minutes of your time to complete the stupid application.  If a clerk asks if you have your store credit card, simply tell them you left it at home.  99% of the time, they won’t continue with their spiel.

Magazine subscriptions

This one has been a big one as of late, especially at the big blue store.  This is probably one of the worst techniques, asking if you want to sign up for a stupid magazine subscription for free.  What they don’t tell you is that the first three are free but you’re paying a hefty amount after this.  If they ask, just simply say no before they even speak. 

Shady sale techniques

We’ve all seen it before, stores making it look like they have a great sale going on but in the end, and they are just marking up the regular price to make it look like the sale price is a great deal.  A good example of this was a popular clothing store that had every piece of clothing 50% off over the black Friday deal.  They had marked up every piece of clothing to make it sound like an excellent deal.  In the long run, you weren’t saving that much money at all.

These are just some of the worst techniques out there.  The best route in the end is to shop online where you can avoid salesmen altogether.  No matter how hard you avoid it, you’re going to get attack at the register; this is how the corporations make the money.  If you want to put a slow stop to it, stop buying and signing up