Sometime last year, one of the food store chains in this country accelerated competition on young parents. They reduced the retail price for diapers by 50%. In addition, the chain operating the store in my neighbourhood increased the bonus you get when shopping for diapers. Instead of getting the 4th package for free, they also gave you the 2nd package for free. This effectively reduced the price of a diapers package to one third the regular price – which was even lower than the price I used to pay in Germany. Newspapers called it the „diaper war“ (bleiekrigen).
I started to buy diapers whenever I shopped. Mostly two packages a time, sometimes four. I did this for weeks until the offer was terminated at the end of the year. The store had limited the number of packages you could buy per trip, and quite often the shelves were empty for the most attractive sizes.
In the end I had ca. 4,000 diapers in stock and kr. 3,500 saved compared to regular prices. A quick back of the envelope calculation revealed that I will probably not have to buy diapers again before next winter.
