I think the gas station across the street from my place of employment is running a fiendish bait-and-switch scheme on their mulch. There are several stacks of bagged mulch prominently displayed spaced out amidst the rows of gas pumps, jauntily flaunting their mulchiness. A large sign on each pile proclaims

Mulch
as low as
$1.99 per Bag!

A cursory mulch inspection did not reveal any significant variation in size or quality from one bag of mulch to the next. However, the clear disclaimer "as low as" certainly implies that some bags of mulch cost more than $1.99. Surely this is only sprung on the unsuspecting consumer after they have already been lured in by the intoxicating promise of sub-two-dollars mulch. What is the actual cost of those alluring mulch bags which so readily catch the eye below the bold $1.99 lettering? Does the "as low as" price only apply to certain small bags containing insufficient mulch? Or perhaps only to mulch of inferior quality, consisting only of poor "filler" substitutes like wood chips, grass clippings, and leaves instead of actual mulch?

Fearful of such shenanigans we should rightly be, but I could not see any smaller bags or insufficiencies in the mulch itself... unless that's it! The unscrupulous fiends were indeed selling their product for merely $1.99 per BAG. But they would be sure to stick you with higher costs, service charges, and financing charges if you were to want to also purchase the mulch to go inside the bag!