I contacted Bunnings head office in NSW regarding their pricing policy. They had the manager of the my nearest store call me.
I told him about people buying the panels and battery packs at the prices quoted and he advised it’s up to each individual store as they do not price match other Bunnings stores. Their system they follow is all dictated by their head office. He did say some states may be different regarding pricing policy on matching receipts.
He was very upfront and honest. This store has 8 blankets and 6 battery packs marked at the current mark down prices. He advised that once they have only a few left they would look at marking them down further to clear them out.
I told him I went to a store not far away with only one blanket left and I was told that’s the price ( $149) and they would not reduce it any further. He said yes he understands the inconsistencies but it’s up to the store manager / section manager. He did say a number of staff have been sacked by reducing deleted items well below what they should have been.
I will just wait until the battery packs reduce over time.
I think the only people getting sacked would be people dropping prices to buy for themself or for friends/family, and as it is up to the manager on duty as to what price is acceptable, it should only be anyone not getting their approval.
As I mentioned at the beginning, they are not obligated to match other stores prices, it is up to the discretion of the manager who is there. My experience is that those whose day job/career is working at Bunnings tend to work at the day time and have a greater tendency to suffer from little Hitler syndrome, those at night (managers included) tend to be the ones working around studying etc and don't take their role overly seriously.
Hence my suggestion of going in at night time and asking politely. It sounds like your local store though has a manager who thinks he is pretty important, and now that he has had this bought to attention from head office he won't be dropping the price anytime soon, just because he can. He has probably instructed other managers now that they aren't to do it either, because thats his delegated authority and he is going to milk it for all its worth.
I wouldn't be holding my breath for him to reduce them anytime soon. If you really want some, I'd try and find another store that has them nearby that you haven't already approached in the day time and ask politely if they can match what other stores have sold them for, if they say no (as is there prerogative), move on and try another.
