Gravity Reversal: Watch for Falling Prices

Walmart is a strange beast. It's like that guy at work who is annoying in a thousand different ways but is too useful not to keep around. I can't stand the messes on the shelves or the incompetence of the staff, and I keep going back. Part of it is that Walmart is open 24 hours, so I can make a grocery/DVD long after everyone else is closed. And it doesn't hurt that stuff there is so dadgummed cheap.

A few nights ago, a friend and I finished our bi-weekly Waffle House binge and decided to cap off our white trash evening and head over to Walmart to shop for stuff we didn't need. As we were cruising the electronics department, we were sucked in by the wall of flat panel TVs. Plasmas and LCDs of all sizes showing scuba divers and tropical fish in all their hi-def glory. It was all I could do to keep my buddy from buying one (or picking one up myself). A sexy little 19" model especially caught our eye, mostly because the $277 price tag meant that we both had enough in our checking accounts to pick one up. Granted, $277 is a bit much to drop on a TV that size, but the point is that it was within reach!

And then we leaned in closer to read the fine print and noticed something rather curious.


That's right. It was as if Walmart had hired a carnival barker to yell, "Hurr-ay, hurr-ay, step right up! Get yer LCD TV right here! Only $277! Used to be $267! Get 'em before the price goes up again!"

Farther down the shelf, there was another price tag boasting of a less-modest price increase.


Now, I know that Walmart stopped using their old slogan, "Watch for falling prices," but I didn't think they'd start going the other way!

Update: I sent these pics in to Consumerist.com, and they posted them here. Thanks guys!