Photo paper bargain shopping!
Just had to share with people who would truly care and understand...
Went to Office Max with my mom today and decided to browse through the photo paper aisle. Usually I don't pay much attention to the aisle of store-brand, HP-brand, and Kodak-brand low-end photo papers, but I was killing time. Turns out they actually had some of the higher-quality Epson paper in 8.5x11 and 4x6 sizes.
I was about to buy a 100-count box of 4-star Premium Glossy Photo Paper (4x6) to replenish my supply, and then I noticed that the 50-count box of 5-star Ultra PGPP was only $5/box, as opposed to $16 for the 100-count box of the PGPP. So I bought 3 boxes for $15. (Found out just now that Epson sells the 4x6 UPGPP for $16.20.)
Then I checked out the 8.5x11 and, same deal! The 50-count box of PGPP was about $35, but the 20-count boxes of Ultra PGPP were only $9/each! So I bought 3 boxes of each... Epson's price? $15.30 a box.
Then I am wandering through the clearance aisle and they have tons of boxes of 50-count 8.5x11 Luster paper... marked down from $28 to $18! So I picked up 3 of those. I was so excited at my bargain shopping and then I got to the counter...
Turns out those $18 boxes of Luster rang up as $8/each !!!! WOOHOO!!! They sell for $35/each on the Epson site. The reason for the drastic discount on the Luster was that it was the old style boxes, and Epson has changed their packaging.
So, I guess it pays to check the local stores on occasion... I spent $66 for $200 worth of paper!!
Now if they only carried 13x19 boxes...