Call me old fashioned, but I used to enjoy when a deal was really a deal. No this isn't a rant about Groupon or their imitators (I still like Groupon, although I think some of their offers aren't very good, but they can't all be great). No, the thing that bugs me is when companies package a "great deal" for consumers that's not all it's cracked up to be. Of course businesses are in business to make money, but the benefit of packaging (or buying in bulk) is supposed to be that you'll be saving money. Instead, far too often you'll notice packaged items that cost more than buying the items individually. A few examples come to mind, be it the 2-pack of deodorant for $3.99 when each individual stick of deodorant is $1.97 (buying two individually would be 5 cents cheaper), or the 20 nugget meal deal at McDonald's that winds up being more expensive than buying the nuggets, drinks, and fries separately. It's not that I'm anti junk food or deodorant (I enjoy both, although my wife would prefer that I cut down on one of them, won't say which one), I just don't think it should be too much to ask for a "deal" to actually be a deal.

In the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't really matter if you spend an extra 25 cents on your meal at McDonald's or not, but it's the principle of the matter (and boy do I hate when people say "it's the principle of the matter"). Perhaps this only happens in America and not other countries, since the average American's math skills have gone downhill (or possibly we still have more money than sense). Again, maybe it's just me, but at some point you need to ask yourself whether or not a dozen donuts for $3.97 is really a great deal or whether you'd rather buy them individually for $0.33 each (thanks for the math lesson Walmart).