My wife has been shopping Ocean State Job Lot for years. It’s a cool store, but it doesn’t have the same stuff all the time – at least in the hardware section, so I tend to skip it.
The draw for many is the treasure-hunt aspect – you never know what they’ll have. Reminiscent of Spags or Building 19.
Deals
Over the summer, my wife dragged me to Job Lot because they had a special deal that only applied to seniors. I’m 62, and she’s not quite there yet. Nice to be needed.
We bought a cart-load of stuff. Pool supplies (on end-of-year clearance), staples like flour and coffee, some snacks…The prices are amazingly good. And it’s not the cheap stuff you see at the dollar store. It’s often quality brands that somehow the folks at Job Lot offer at steep discounts.
So we took the cart to the register and I had to pay. The cashier asked if I was an insider. I am not. Turns out the process is easy. Give them your name, phone, email and you’re done. No grumbling from the people in line behind me.
As a senior citizen and insider, I got an extra 40% off that week. $200 worth of stuff (probably worth twice that at other stores) and an $80 gift card.
And Job Lot is up on automation. Once your an insider, no more receipts required for returns, gift cards online and attached to your phone so you don’t need to carry around the card…
Tony
I had breakfast with Tony and his son a while back and my wife texted me and asked me to stop at Job Lot on the way home. Tony and his son Anthony joined me and I couldn’t get them to leave. They each bought a few items and saved a bundle.
It’s Back
Now that I’m an insider, I get the emails with all the deals.
Today I see:
The 40% back deal is on. And now for everyone, not just old folks.
And maybe you can’t get everything here, but flour, snacks, rakes, a tarp, grass seed, fertilizer, sun screen, bug repellent, furniture…there is quite a selection.
And all 40% off. For 6 days. Go as many times as you like.
Crazy Deals
As cool as the other stuff is, this is the home run. I went online and there are 57 pages of crazy deals. I’ll show you one (maybe 2).
It looks pretty nice. And comfy.
$1,899 ain’t cheap.
But as soon as I buy, I’ll get an $1,899 crazy deal card added to my account. I can’t use it on another crazy deal, but over the next 6 months all of my flour, snacks, rakes, tarps, grass seed, fertilizer, sun screen, bug repellent, furniture are essentially free.
How’s the Quality?
Here’s the Gazebo my wife bought about 5 years ago.
The roof and side posts are metal. It came in 3 boxes and weighed over 800 lbs in total. Mike is still angry at me for making him help me bring it home.
It took me several days to put it together. My wife and I had to assemble half the frame, lean it against the tree, balance the other half on a ladder while I installed the crossbeam.
5 years later, it still looks great. It ain’t going anywhere.
This cost $2,499 and of course it was a crazy deal so we got $2,499 in a crazy deal gift card.
One More
This is nuts. Troy-Bilt is a name brand. $1,569 is a reasonable price, and you get a $1,300 crazy deal gift card.
Home Depot has it for the same price and it has 4.5 stars out of 5.
Wrap Up
No one likes the idea of saving. It’s like a New Year’s resolution where we are either going to deprive ourselves or settle for a second rate experience.
But to me, the beauty of saving is getting the same or better but saving a bundle in the process.
If you’re in New England, Job Lot offers some great saving opportunities. If you’re not, get hunting. My wife and I spent 2 weeks in Bradenton, FL a few years back. My wife discovered several thrift stores with great bargains. We had driven down, and we almost had to leave the dog behind in order to pack all of her bargains into the car.
And if you really want to have fun, open up a brokerage account and every time you save a few bucks, put that into the account and buy shares of a low-cost S&P 500 fund.
You’ll be dollar-cost averaging and you’ll be amazed at what you have 20 years from now.
And if you’re in New England, become an insider today!