Today’s code: “Limited Time Offer”.

Translation: Hurry up and buy it before the price (and our profit) drops even lower.

Explanation: The classic gimmick for getting rid of either old stock, stock about to become useless because of a new model introduction, or an impending price decrease because of an incoming new competitor with a better product and lower price. The time is limited for the company because pretty soon no one is going to want the inventory still crowding their shelves. This gimmick is also used to introduce new products at a lower price in order to hook you into other high-priced accessories and services, e.g. the new Apple iPhone was introduced at a much lower price in order to lock in “early adopters” into a particular network and service plans before competitors could rally with their own new products. Rogers’ “Limited Time Offer” of a 6GB data plan was designed to get the most people flocking to the new iPhone as quickly as possible before Bell and others could get their new models on stream.