Saving Money

It’s Not The Pizza Guy’s Job To Save You Money

My family and I are currently on a family vacation, staying at a hotel that has an indoor and outdoor water park. It’s become somewhat of a tradition, as we’ve come here for several years in a row. Sometimes we come with friends, sometimes it’s just our family. This year we’re vacationing with family, and as usual we’re having a great time. Over the years we’ve learned which activities are worth doing, and how to maximize our fun while minimizing our expenses.

How to bring down our food cost is one thing that we’ve mastered. For example, we’ve learned that getting food outside the park is much preferable to cold, soggy and overpriced water park food. Instead, we headed to the Subway right across the street from the water park when we became hungry for lunch. Our bill was half of what it would have been at the water park, and we were back in the pool in half an hour.

Lunch that day was success, but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t do better.

After a long day at the water park, we headed back to our room for a break before deciding on the evening activities. The group decided on ordering pizza for dinner. My sister-in-law called first, but she got a bad connection and couldn’t understand whomever answered the phone. My wife called next, and got a better connection. Two large pizzas would be delivered in 30-45 minutes.

“Did you get the water park special?” my sister-in-law asked.

My sister-in-law wasn’t able to understand the employee, but she was able to hear the automated message played at the beginning of the phone call describing a promotion for 2 large pizzas and an order of bread sticks. The price was less than what we were quoted for just the two large pizzas. Unfortunately, my wife wasn’t paying attention to the promotion description. She called back, explained the situation, and was able to switch our order to the special.

“Just out of curiosity, why didn’t you mention the water park special when I ordered?” my wife asked.

“You didn’t ask,” was the employee’s response.

While it would have been nice for the employee to mention the special fit what we were ordering, and would actually give us more food (the breadsticks) for less money ($5 cheaper), the responsibility is certainly on us to have recognized that fact.

We’ve learned a couple of lessons from this experience:

• Listen carefully to any automated messages when you call for take out or delivery food.
• Ask if there are any specials or promotions currently available if none are mentioned
• Some employees have no interest in helping you get the most for your money.

Saving money is an active process. Whether it’s leaving the water park to get better, less expensive food elsewhere, or listening carefully and asking questions to find promotions, saving money takes a little effort.

Image courtesy of stockimages at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What do you think, Clever Friends? Would you have expected the employee to have told us about the special? Have you ever discovered a special after ordering delivery or take out and called back to switch your order?

Brock Kernin

Brock is a software engineer by day and personal finance blogger at night. He is a fitness junkie and enjoys grilling and smoking meat. Married with two children,  Brock strives to improve his skills as a husband and father, and is always on the lookout to stretch his family’s budget as far as he can.