Lobster Rolls in Lean Times

Last night, Cheryl and I had lobster rolls and a couple of pints of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale for a total of about $25, including tax & tip at McCormick & Schmick's (Nasdaq: MSSR). The lobster rolls are about $20 each, and pints of Sierra Nevada are $5 each, so normally this meal would cost about $60 with tax & tip. Here's how we paid less than half that much. Cheryl found and printed out a buy one, get one free entree coupon from The Bargainist. After tax and tipping based on the pre-discount amount, our total bill came to $32. Then we paid with the McCormick & Schmick's gift card shown above. Since we bought two $50 gift cards from Costco (Nasdaq: COST) last week (which came with a cook book) for $79.99, we got a 20% discount on the $32 bill, so effectively, our total cost was only $25.60.