Comments on: Honestly Frugal: the Ethics of Saving Money

By: Good Financial Reading This Week » JoeTaxpayer

Good Financial Reading This Week » JoeTaxpayer — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:04:41 +0000

[...] blog’s article Frugal or dishonest? You decide referenced stories from my fellow PF bloggers, Penelope Pince, FMF, and Smithee. A combination of MSN struggling a bit to come up with new material, and the [...]

By: Sarah Eliza @ devastateboredom

Sarah Eliza @ devastateboredom — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 11:40:30 +0000

Thanks so much for making this point! I’m very careful to err on the side of spending more money rather than act fraudulently… I think maybe that’s the line between “thrifty” and “stingy” lol. No wonder register clerks are sometimes less than enthusiastic about coupons etc, if there are people regularly and blatantly trying to rip the stores off…

Pity that we honest Thrifties get lumped in with the bad guys!

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 13:21:41 +0000

Or they could have been “technically” regarded as the paid jars and she had already “technically” used the ones she paid for.

Each person has to make their own choices. I would not have made the same choice she did, but you know what, it was her choice and not mine.

By: Deborah

Deborah — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 16:12:34 +0000

I used to work for customer service in a grocery store, and you would not believe the dishonesty. One woman brought back $50 worth of perishable salads, dips, and deli items after New Year’s because she didn’t use them for her party. One man brought one grape and a seed with a receipt, and demanded his money back because he said he found this seed in the “seedless” grapes. People would regularly do a BOGO and bring one back just days later with no recipt. We had to return their money, or give them a gift card if it was over $10.

I always used to pray to God that these people would one day be poor and hungry, and come to regret their actions. I know that’s not nice, but it made me so angry.

Greed and selfishness like this are what has brought this country to the state it’s in.

By: John

John — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 19:47:31 +0000

It’s dishonest. Worse still most business, especially small local stores can’t “afford the loss”. It amazes me how many people forget that a business is probably owned by someone just like them who too is trying to just make an honest living.

So in the end the loss either comes out of the owners pocket, or gets added to the cost that the rest of us honest shoppers pay.

By: Funny about Money

Funny about Money — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:33:22 +0000

Thanks for the thoughtful post.

BTW, the grocery store really can’t afford to throw away the soon-to-be-outdated jars of sauce. The grocery business has a notoriously tight profit margin. Besides, even if someone can AFFORD to be ripped off, is that an excuse to rip them off?

By: Northern Cheapskate

Northern Cheapskate — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 15:16:45 +0000

What a GREAT post… My thoughts exactly! Thanks for sending me the link.

By: 1stopmom

1stopmom — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 05:27:25 +0000

Being frugal does not mean being dishonest and she was dishonest. In my mind, taking that money is stealing and I would not do it or allow my children to do it. What she did is not the definition of being frugal.