I picked up my 2 blue heeler puppies at the pound a while back for free. Well, like $25 bucks a piece for paper work to adopt. These same two heelers were in the paper for sale 2 weeks earlier for $300 a piece. $600 bucks....got them for $50 bucks. Does this count now? [roll]

You may want to find a new store that you do not feel the need to rip off. I get that you are in Montana and choices may be limited, but the fact that you have gone back to this store repeatedly reflects poorly on your intelligence. Continuing the rationalization is not helping. Not bashing.

Lifetime warranty on the binocs, you go to the manufacturer for replacement NOT the store you purchased from. The shotgun, if you have the order receipt showing the model # you purchased so you can prove it is wrong, they have to take it back...providing it is not used, once you fire it it belongs to you. If they don't that is what the make small claims court for.

As far as buying something off display, buyer beware unless they give you a WRITTEN warranty.

All these things you list are bad business but they are NOT illegal.

Like I said before, you can try to rationalize it all you want, but it doesn't change the facts. Even your fishing jigs analogy does not apply here, if the person makes a mistake at the register that is their fault, not the same as you lying and stealing something you did not pay for.

I had to argue with a teller tonight at the grocery store because I gave her a $50.00 and she gave me change back for $100. It took me 3 tries before she finally realized I was trying to give her money back and NOT steal it from her.

Nothing in this life is free, there is No getting even or over on somebody, eventually it all comes back to get you in the end. The true measure of a man is how honest he is, when he doesn't have to be or nobody is looking.

You are young and expected to make mistakes, we ALL do it is human nature.. 25 years from now you will look back on this and realize that it was one of the WORST deals you ever made. You wanna know how I know that to be true?..Because I have been reading your posts here since 2004 and I know for a fact that you are good, decent human being.

Chock it up for a lesson learned the hard way and leave all the excuses for the guys that are not man enough to admit their mistakes....after all, if you aren't making mistakes in life, you are NOT doing anything ;)

Just my 2.5 cents worth

Great post.

I was building my house out of pocket and needed a 35' extention ladder. I pinched pennys for a while and finally saved up the $275 and went to Lowes. The cashier tells me $38 something... I said, no, i thiink you scanned the wrong code; she hits it again and ARGUES with me!! Then I found the right code- turns out she was scanning the ladder jack scaffolding that was attached to the ladder!!

Yep, I thought REAL hard about smoking out of there with the cheap ladder, but thought karma is a -itch and I probably would have fallen off at my 28' peak and known why!!

Oh, and I traded a 1981 plain jane mustang- originally a 4banger, I put in a 5.0- with a weak tranny and rattle canned hood(I DID do a nice krylon job tho:) ) for a 1979 Little Red express dodge pickup. It was a canadian one- I think 1 of 800 or so? Still have that one!!

I recently acquired a 2000 Model Fleetneck 40ft trailer with a 5ft dovetail.

For free. Actual cost to me, 108.50 (Registration, and Permanent Tag)

Needs a little TLC, but is completely usable as is.

I've sold every vehicle I've owned for the same amount I paid or more.
A Wyllis Jeep, 3-Fords, Porsche, Bronco, 2-Hondas & Dodge. All driven for at least a year or many more and then sold. No I'm not a car dealer....lol.

My first car that I bought in 74 - was a 65 Ford Fairline (6 Cyl.). I paid $65.00 for it. It was missing the left front fender but it ran good. I found a whole front clip for it at a junkyard for $40.00. SO for $105 I bought my first car and drove it for over a year before I traded "up" (even) for a 69 Mercury Monterey with a 390 police special in it. Those were the days.

As far as cashiers making mistakes, I always try to correct them. I've been known to go back into the store to pay for items that were missed (they were on the bottom of the cart) during the checkout. It was unbelieveable when the cashier one time asked, "Why are you coming back in? You could have just taken it." I told her I had an opportunity to teach my children (they were with me) right from wrong and was sorry her parents hadn't done that with her.

Integrity - Definition:

1. possession of firm principles: the quality of possessing and steadfastly adhering to high moral principles or professional standards

Now that's a good post. Thank you for pointing out that a mistake by others doesn't give us permission to take advantage of them, or steal from them. It's tempting at a big box store, but it's not the right thing to do and it's not a "good deal".

I read a quote somewhere (can't remember anymore but it's always stuck with me) that if your morals are situational dependant, you have no morals. Honest is honest.

As for deals:I got a 40 something foot Chriscraft wood hull cruiser for the cost of moving it. Had two late model 5.9 Chryslers with less than 200 hrs each and a 6.5 kw genset plus all the other gazzilion bits that come on a boat that size. Unfourtunatly it was past being restorable but I figured I made about $30.00 an hour doing the salvage. Took about 225-250 hours to completely dismantle...I was laid off at the time...it was a great summer.

Got four new Hankook 315/70/17 MT tires installed and balanced for $350. Didn't ask how or why. Was sent there by a friend who got the same deal????

If the tire store offered them to you for that price, why not? Sounds good. But then you might find out they are load range B for passenger cars or blems, or maybe they were just a special promotion. I've gotten special closeout deals or items that were purchased as overstock or discontinued from other stores. Shoes are often done this way. A huge markup in the beginning and way below cost at the end of the run. The money is all made in the beginning. Nothing wrong with it at all.

I once bought a bunch of solar collectors at about one quarter of their wholesale price. That model was being discontinued and were sold cheap to move them. All above board and great for me.

On the other hand, I know a guy that bought a big block aluminum Chevy, complete, in the crate, for about $500. Turns out some guy was simply unloading them off the train with a forklift and selling them. Tempting? Yes. But it is also rewarding and incentivizing theft. And doing business with thieves. Yeah, but it's a big block for the hot rod for $500. Does it become OK if you "don't ask any questions"? I know, ask the original owner that lost it. See if he thinks it's OK.

My neighbor once bought a TV, from a couple of guys, out of the back of a pickup. Still in the original box and way cheap. Obviously hot. They opened the corner of the box and showed him the TV. He bought it and hurried home so proud of his score. So proud that he had gotten away with something. [laugh] Turned out they had just put the old TV they were replacing into the box and closed it back up to look like it was a new one. He bought their old TV and they were long gone. [laugh]

They were D range but worked fine, don't haul heavy.

About ten years ago , a friend of mine talked me into cleaning out a backyard of a lady that lived in N.Phoenix. , just to help out. I hired a couple of High School kids and showed up early in the morning. The yard was so overgrown it looked like a forest. After the second load to the dump with my dump bed trailer, my son told me that they had found a car
( I know it sounds strange ) . It was a 68 camero with 61K on the od. Well I went and talked to the lady and she said that here husband and her had bought it brand new in 68 from a local dealer and the scrap dealer would be here on Monday to pick it up for $200 . I offered her $500 and bought the car.
Total investment for that day 1500.00
Total resto (approx) 10K
Sold 3 years later 35,000.00

A very rare find........