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What other cost saving tips you hiding

S

sinkingbeach

Either you guy's have been holding back on me or you just didn't know or you assumed everyone new petsmart carries frozen mysis and it's less than half of what I've been paying for it at the LFS.
I just happened to need both salt and mysis today so while picking up my salt using their online price match ;) I asked if they carried it and sure enough they did only $3.99 for the Hikari 3.5oz cubes... I've been paying $7-$11 depending on the LFS :mad:
 
mfisher2112

mfisher2112

Make sure you sign up for the petperks card and include your email address if you haven't already.  We, ahem, I mean they do ALOT of targeted marketing with coupons and discount events based on your category purchase trends.  And probably about 80% of the discount marketing is done via email.

And no, they don't sell your email address.  ;D

Keep your eye out for the next "Aquatics" event.  Should be coming up sometime this spring.  Usually Koi focused first, but the second event follows close behind.

Just a tip from me to you!   8)
 
K

kathainbowen

Best advice overall that I've learned to save money:

Be kind to your LFS staff!

The nicer (but not stalker-y) you are to your LFS, the more they will take care of you. I've seen LFSs take in fish when their clients had massive failures of their tanks (*cracks, leaks, faulty bulkheads, etc.) until a new tank could be set up. I used to hand pick the VERY best specimens for people, or hide specimens that looked really nice for people I knew would truly appreciate them. Up here, one LFS gave me a few tiny frags when I started to add to my tank (some star polyps, and a rather stange button polyp that has a weird blue-green sheen, but no real color)

Seriously. Be good to your LFS staff, and they will be good to you!
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
kathainbowen said:
Seriously. Be good to your LFS staff, and they will be good to you!
Click to expand...

kathainbowen,

I don't know you... but i assume you must be very cute, that is why your LFS staff like you so much...
;D

i purchase a whole setup from a LFS about $8K, do you think they nice to me? no! they did not.  they continue selling me more junks that i don't need...  under powered lightling, under powered poteint skimmer, too small a sump...etc.(at that time i don't know... after i join NJRC, now i know!)
:mad:

not really a complaint, just seems a long shot that my LFS will be nice to me...  beside grab more $ from me...
;)
 
E

eholceker

NJRC Member
you could do what i did! get a job at a LFS, work crazy weekend hours and then blow all your money on supplies! ;)
 
K

kathainbowen

malulu said:
nt, just seems a long shot that my LFS will be nice to me...  beside grab more $ from me...
;)
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, there are many LFSs that will do that. It's a business, and, to stay in business, they've got to make money. But, when you look around, you can find good LFS here and there.

My old manager, Danny, he taught me, though, that fish were just part of the equation when it came to business. I have a great many Danny stories to illustrate the point, but they would eat up too much space. Everything from refunds that I can't believe he actually gave, to the gentleman who, after he called the cops on us, was escorted out by the same cops by Danny's doing. But, trust me on this. If there's anything I've learned from Danny, it's that niceties are a two-way street. ;)
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
kathainbowen said:
malulu said:
nt, just seems a long shot that my LFS will be nice to me...  beside grab more $ from me...
;)
Click to expand...

Well, yeah, there are many LFSs that will do that. It's a business, and, to stay in business, they've got to make money. But, when you look around, you can find good LFS here and there.

My old manager, Danny, he taught me, though, that fish were just part of the equation when it came to business. I have a great many Danny stories to illustrate the point, but they would eat up too much space. Everything from refunds that I can't believe he actually gave, to the gentleman who, after he called the cops on us, was escorted out by the same cops by Danny's doing. But, trust me on this. If there's anything I've learned from Danny, it's that niceties are a two-way street.  ;)
Click to expand...

ok, enough on this Danny stories!!

where is this store? i want to go there (if not too far away...)
;D
 
K

kathainbowen

Atlanta, GA (Petland-Dunwoody) Hence why I don't work there anymore. :-[

And, sadly, there are rumors circulating that the Danny-type-person might be leaving Petland permanently to be a rep for Marineland. :'(
 
MadReefer

MadReefer

Vice President
Staff member
NJRC Member
Moderator
You should also sign-up for a PALS card at PETCO. Use it no matter what you buy and eventually you'll get coupons in the mail.
Also, discounts on fish and other items.
 
blange3

blange3

And back to thetopic at hand. My LFS's have it for around $3.00 and at our NJRC friendly sponsor, Aquatic Obsessions, we get a 10% discount.

Guess I'm lucky.

My other money saven tip: NJRC Group Buys! ;D
 
Phyl

Phyl

Officer Emeritus
Officer Emeritus
Bill, I fully expected that you'd be doing your best to scare people AWAY from GBs, not leading them to it! :)
 
K

kathainbowen

Ok, so check out these money saving tips from the retail world:

Ash content awareness is good. The higher the ash content, the higher the amount of undigestable stuff is in it. So, the lower the ash content, the more digestable food is in it. It's like hunting for dog foods that don't use filler products. A good ash content should sit at around 5% to perhaps 15% at the most, IMHO.

Bulk is good, too. At the time when I worked at Petland, one type of OSI food was $2.99 for one size, $3.99 for a can twice that size, and $5.99 for a can four times the size of the $2.99 size. Ocean Nutrition frozen cubes were $4.99 for the smaller size and $7.99 for the larger size. For $19.99, you could get a 2lb pack that was about 5-6 times the quantity of the $7.99. Most LFSs aren't like Shoprite, Kroger, and the supermarkets, posting the cost per unit, so you should always be prepared to do your math. Also, try to get info on how much bulk items would cost you so you can see if it's worth it to special order larger sizes.

Nori is a poor substitute for seaweed strips. The sushi grade nori is generally "flakier" and breaks up easier than seaweed strips for fish. So, you might save some money buying nori at your farmer's market, but it's messier and dirtier in the long haul. It's more a waste of money over time to buy cheaper nori than to just put the money into getting good seaweed strips.

Between Kent's Superbuffer dKh and Probuffer dKh, Probuffer is less concentrated. At about the same cost, you will probably go through Probuffer about 3 to 4 times faster than the Superbuffer. Probuffer, as a liquid format, is nicer for newbies, but it's seriously not worth the cost.

TLC for saltwater is more concentrated than Cycle from Hagen. About 5 times more concentrated. If you have freshwater tanks in addition to your saltwater tank, use Cycle (*it's cheaper than buying two bottles of TLC for saltwater and for freshwater). If you only have saltwater, TLC is cheaper in the long run.

Baby medicine droppers for measuring liquid volumes. They cost about $1-2 and are pretty nice for measuring doses, among other uses. I was big on using them for feeding "easy-to-target" corals, as well as timid fish away from the rest of the school. Also, for anyone who breeds clownfish, it is supercute to get little groups of them eating out of them end of the dropper!

7-Day Pill Boxes. You can buy them at your local dollar store, Walmart, CVS, etc. They can be an utter lifesaver if you have to go out of town and leave your tank in someone else's hands. Buy enough to hold food for every day you will be gone, and put only as much food as can be fed in one meal in each slot. If you're really crazy about feeding, you can always get a few in different colors for AM/PM feeding, or different tanks. But they are a blessing when you are leaving your tank with someone who can't be trusted not to kill your fish with kindness by overfeeding.

.... uh.... okay.... I'm tapped out for cheap ideas.
 
malulu

malulu

NJRC Member
kathainbowen,

Wow, thanks for all this great tips...

and please Be kind to your NEW LFS staff! and when you find one, let us know, we will be there... (and hopefully, this time, it is not in Atlanta...)
;D
 
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