Proposal: Standardized Deals String

[itsjustmebub]

So the following sample would be better accepted?

► Policy ◄

Royale Bathroom Tissue 24 Roll 1/$4.97 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $3.97
Royale Facial Tissue 6pk 1/$4.97 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $3.97

► Policy ◄

Aquafina + 1/$0.99 - $0.00 WUB2G1 ( ) = $0.66
Black Diamond Cheese Bars 500g 1/$4.44 - $0.75 WUB1G0 ( tear pad ) = $3.69
Black Diamond Cheese Slices 1/$2.99 - $0.75 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.24
Christie Cookies 1/$1.88 - $0.75 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.13
Eggo Waffles 1/$1.99 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.49
Gay Lea Real Whipped Cream 1/$2.49 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.49
Johnsonville Brats 1/$3.49 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.49
Kraft Salad Dressing 1/$1.99 - $0.75 WUB1G0 ( save.ca ) = $1.24
Maple Leaf Top Dogs 1/$2.49 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.99
Marc Angelo Butterflied Pork/Souvlaki 1/$7.99 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $6.99
Minute Maid Concentrated Punch 1/$0.59 - $0.00 WUB4G1 ( ) = $0.47
Miracle Whip 1/$2.99 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.49
Peek Freans Cookies 1/$1.88 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.38
Philadelphia Cream Cheese 1/$2.49 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $1.49
Ruffles/Tostitos 1/$2.49 - -$2.49 WUB2G1 ( ) = $2.49
Schneider's Juicy Jumbos or Grill Ems 1/$3.99 - $1.00 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.99
V8 Vegetable Cocktail 1/$2.99 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.49

► Policy ◄

Piller's Deli Meat 1/$2.57 - $0.50 WUB1G0 ( ) = $2.07

linking to the store's "policy" is fine, but otherwise I don't really see anything that makes this any more useful than the list we already have

[AmberLab]

Thank you for your interesting suggestions, somerandomcheese. But unless Boo Radley decides to change the format of how deals are presented, the weekly deals thread that Anne runs won't change anytime soon - especially with the short time limit capacity each week. It's that short time limit on both a flyers calender sales bracket and on Anne's personal time that prevents us from complicating the deals list.

[somerandomcheese]

Thank you for your interesting suggestions, somerandomcheese. But unless Boo Radley decides to change the format of how deals are presented, the weekly deals thread that Anne runs won't change anytime soon - especially with the short time limit capacity each week. It's that short time limit on both a flyers calender sales bracket and on Anne's personal time that prevents us from complicating the deals list.

I look forward to further discussion,

My intent for creating the spreadsheet, 9 weeks ago, was to substantially shorten the time time takes to generate this official thread. It would be a simple matter to duplicate the present format, ( as per the above sample, it is not exactly the same as some of my suggestions are still present ).

I surmised the majority of time is spent on formatting, as my original proposal (another thread) included format highlighting to identify sections of the proposed content. This effort, within the limitations of the wiki tags, took me well over 5 hours.

Removing the burden of formatting the "deal" was one area that I thought I could help with.

In attempting to create a local list of deals ( for my personal use) I found that the current "layout", does not lead itself to "description" sort order because the stores where the deal can be found is lost once it is removed from the original order ( Store - description ). This makes such a list useless.

I began to experiment with addition elements that would allow for such sorting and retain such information and most importantly, be machine readable so that others need not have to re-enter the information manually for it to be made sense of.

The result of this effort was this proposal, adding such additional elements allows for such alternate sort order lists.

The Alpha deals thread that I share suffers from not being usable in areas that do not have the same store availability. User in BC for example, don't have access to RCSS-Atlantic, and I don't have and LD store near by. Adding all the stores to such a list simply pollutes any such presentation with irrelevant content.

Having an standardized "deal", would allow for users to select only those stores of interest ( from the Official thread) , import the data, and generate such personal lists, even sharing them if they like, with other regional users.

Other data then become available as users create specific , regional "Databases". (information such as averages and minimums). Again these values being local in nature, every user may have different average due to store availability.

Buy providing, and establishing a "standardized" content, which includes fixed areas where such addition information is placed. Allows for such sharing and provides additional opportunity for this site to provide valuable information.

I know my "Description" sorted list helps me to determine if an in-store special is a good buy or not. Simply scanning the descriptions and I can quickly see if the product is on sale elsewhere, at what price, and use the statistical data to have avg and minimums right there on the same line.

If Boo Radley makes the ultimate decision that's fine, There is no need to change unless there is dialog and requirement for change. This thread was an effort to create such dialog to spark such change.

[somerandomcheese]

Perhaps someone could come up with a formula that would add an additional 12 hours to the 24 the already exist in your average Thursday, so that I might have time to "comply" with what you would like? Or perhaps I should just not sleep?

What you do not understand, is that what you are asking is not going to happen. The thread has to be, for the most part, complete by Thursday at 5pm for the upcoming week, so that Sally may post it on the blog. Anne gets up at 5:30 am on Thursday and Anne furiously types until 5:30 pm, as 50% of the flyers do not become available until Thursday.

If you have concerns please pm Boo, and Anne would appreciate it if you would stop talking about Anne. And using the phrase "nice Sc'ers" isn't exactly "polite" either when it implies that others aren't "nice Sc'ers."

Please, I meant no offence, I expressly appreciate your hard work. You are performing a HEROIC effort.

I was being lazy and did not want to reference the users to whom I was referring to as "nice Sc'ers.", to clarify,

I was referring to lecale's post in Thread,

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/220205-...mables-canada/

And to blessedmommy's

http://forum.smartcanucks.ca/205994-...ne-2-a-canada/

Who, along with others, are kind enough to post flyer deals in type, supporting my scenario.

[Patty Smyth]

I would just like to throw my 2 cents in here as we seem to be beating a dead horse.

As my very wise friend said "all i need to know is this; what's the price, how much am I saving, do I have the coupon. DONE."

There is no further thought needed.

[itsjustmebub]

I would just like to throw my 2 cents in here as we seem to be beating a dead horse.

As my very wise friend said "all i need to know is this; what's the price, how much am I saving, do I have the coupon. DONE."

There is no further thought needed.

[Patty Smyth]

^^^ wise friend ^^^

[FallenPixels]

I surmised the majority of time is spent on formatting, as my original proposal (another thread) included format highlighting to identify sections of the proposed content. This effort, within the limitations of the wiki tags, took me well over 5 hours.

Really? you think it takes that long to type Kraft Singles $2.97 - $1 (save.ca) = $1.97 ?

Formatting could be helped by people adding deals adding them in the same format, yes but it takes seconds to retype them. The majority of time is spent reading the flyer, checking the size matches the coupons, matching the coupon, ensuring the coupon is still valid etc

In attempting to create a local list of deals ( for my personal use) I found that the current "layout", does not lead itself to "description" sort order because the stores where the deal can be found is lost once it is removed from the original order ( Store - description ). This makes such a list useless.
...
The Alpha deals thread that I share suffers from not being usable in areas that do not have the same store availability. User in BC for example, don't have access to RCSS-Atlantic, and I don't have and LD store near by. Adding all the stores to such a list simply pollutes any such presentation with irrelevant content.

Having an standardized "deal", would allow for users to select only those stores of interest ( from the Official thread) , import the data, and generate such personal lists, even sharing them if they like, with other regional users.

I know my "Description" sorted list helps me to determine if an in-store special is a good buy or not. Simply scanning the descriptions and I can quickly see if the product is on sale elsewhere, at what price, and use the statistical data to have avg and minimums right there on the same line.

The parts I have bolded, I feel are just rude and an insult to Anne for the time she spends on this thread, as well as all the others before her.

As far as the rest
- localised deals: it states BC flyer etc in the list. We are all fully aware what stores are in our area and can browse those stores, that is why they have a big logo stating the store name.
- by the time people import the data and sort it to show only lists they want they could browse those lists manually
- Control+F is an amazing feature for seeing if there is a deal that suits you and comparing stores, although I find just looking at the list for 5 mins, I can work out what I want and where to buy it

I am not sure how you make your list, maybe you are making things more difficult on yourself than you need.

I open my fridge etc and make a list of stuff I need, I browse the flyers and write beside them where to buy and the price. Then I look at the list and see what I can buy for nearly nothing to stockpile and I add that to my list. I highlight those at 3 stores, WM and 2 others where I can get the bulk of items and PM the rest while I am in WM. This process takes me an hour without a standardised sortable list. Your list would save me perhaps 5 minutes, the time it would take to export it, hide unwanted stores and sort it each time for the item I want

[screamy]

My brain is too small to even understand most of this, but now I know that if I get some flyers early, Anne would benefit from having them, so that's good!

SRC: I have often thought that a macro, or something (and n.b. I don't pretend to understand those, either!) that would auto-type the coupons that are available to apply to a given product would help Anne (and the other people who have contributed to the thread over the time I've seen it on SC) a lot - even if it was just a list from which to copy and paste.

I have no idea how to assist with that - assuming assistance is even required, and it doesn't seem to be - and didn't know what process she used until I read through this thread. Obviously she has a system that works for her, and I get to sit back and reap the benefits of all her hard work.

I'm just grateful there's a thread compiled, period....and also that I'm not the one who has to do the compiling!!

[somerandomcheese]

Really? you think it takes that long to type Kraft Singles $2.97 - $1 (save.ca) = $1.97 ?

Formatting could be helped by people adding deals adding them in the same format, yes but it takes seconds to retype them. The majority of time is spent reading the flyer, checking the size matches the coupons, matching the coupon, ensuring the coupon is still valid etc




The parts I have bolded, I feel are just rude and an insult to Anne for the time she spends on this thread, as well as all the others before her.

As far as the rest
- localised deals: it states BC flyer etc in the list. We are all fully aware what stores are in our area and can browse those stores, that is why they have a big logo stating the store name.
- by the time people import the data and sort it to show only lists they want they could browse those lists manually
- Control+F is an amazing feature for seeing if there is a deal that suits you and comparing stores, although I find just looking at the list for 5 mins, I can work out what I want and where to buy it

I am not sure how you make your list, maybe you are making things more difficult on yourself than you need.

I open my fridge etc and make a list of stuff I need, I browse the flyers and write beside them where to buy and the price. Then I look at the list and see what I can buy for nearly nothing to stockpile and I add that to my list. I highlight those at 3 stores, WM and 2 others where I can get the bulk of items and PM the rest while I am in WM. This process takes me an hour without a standardised sortable list. Your list would save me perhaps 5 minutes, the time it would take to export it, hide unwanted stores and sort it each time for the item I want

Without formatting the exampled string is quick. (in that case the work is as you rightly point out is coupon matching, checking size, deal verification, etc).

I refer to other such lines. Exampled from the Thread of last week:

Philadelphia Cream Cheese $2.99 - $1 (facebook) = $1.99

[*][COLOR=red]Philadelphia Cream Cheese[/COLOR] $2.99 - $1 ([URL="http://www.realwomenofphiladelphia.ca/"]facebook[/URL]) = $1.99 

The extra burden to source and provide URL links and to colourize is the time to which I'm referring.

I think you misunderstood "this", in the emboldened area, it was intended to refer to a "description sorted" list of deals, without store references.

In my case, I've got a number of stores local to me. When I print a modified Official Thread ( pasted into Word with irrelevant stores deleted) the end result is still 7-15 pages per week. This is printed on a Laser and therefore B&W. All the nice red highlighted deals disappear, So deals cannot be identified in addition searching, in-store, is painful having to search all stores for a particular product, for in-store special deal verification.

[VeeVee]

[annedougherty]

I'd like to propose my own solution. I'm going to employ the use of SC's block feature.

[FallenPixels]

why do you feel the need to print the whole thing?

I print my shopping list, from word

red involves highlighting and clicking the colour button, as does URL - forums are set up to make these formatting changes easy

[Patty Smyth]

My brain is too small to even understand most of this, but now I know that if I get some flyers early, Anne would benefit from having them, so that's good!

SRC: I have often thought that a macro, or something (and n.b. I don't pretend to understand those, either!) that would auto-type the coupons that are available to apply to a given product would help Anne (and the other people who have contributed to the thread over the time I've seen it on SC) a lot - even if it was just a list from which to copy and paste.

I have no idea how to assist with that - assuming assistance is even required, and it doesn't seem to be - and didn't know what process she used until I read through this thread. Obviously she has a system that works for her, and I get to sit back and reap the benefits of all her hard work.

I'm just grateful there's a thread compiled, period....and also that I'm not the one who has to do the compiling!!

Please let's not degrade ourselves even in jest because this is just feeding into this whole scenario. The whole tone of this thread is insulting.

I don't know how much clearer we all can be SRC that we do not want to change the format. Some of the people who work on it as well as Anne have already commented several times in here.

Your point has been made and discussed by those who it will affect namely Anne and she says no and unless Boo says otherwise can you please be respectful and accept that.

[VeeVee]