Are you a victim of deceptive pricing? - Shrinking Groceries

[gyzmo]

There are controls on the naming of foodstuffs. if the product claims to have nutritional purposes, for example, it must be able to fulfill that claim and/or meet certain criteria.

 

General statements such as "diet" are difficult to pin down because, well, you just put a "can help as part of a blah blah blah....". Well eating pure fat can have that claim!

 

Basically, so long as it does not use a prohibited term or description, or its term (such as reduced calorie, energy, protein, fibre) meets the criteria then its a free-for all almost

[Spiceskull]

Another one that gets me is the BOGOF type offers coupled with 'real world' discounts. Rosie loves her Heinz baked beans, so they are a Saturday staple in Asda. Recently they had tins advertised as 69p, reduced from 79p, and buy 3 (69p) for £2...

 

Good value you may think, but on the next aisle you could buy a prepack of four tins for £1.99...they really do depend on shoppers using the 'quick and convenient' mentality...

[Paintball]

Well, that still is deceptive, surely? If usual price is £2.80/100 ml, and today's roll-back price is £1.40/50 ml, that is exactly the same, and therefore no rollback at all. :-?

 

It works out as the same price, ergo, a 'roll-on' price ...

 

[Bookworm]

Tsk tsk, PB, and there I was thinking terrible puns were my exclusive domain.

[thecteam]

Apparently the increase in vegetable oil prices is to stop people considering using it as an alternative fuel with rising petrol & diesel prices!

 

 

thats as well as maybe, put that is price fixing at best. increasing the price of something to stop people using it. all this hurts is the consumer in the pocket.

the take aways around our way have increased there prices to reflect the price increase in oil.

 

most people use, recycled oil. its thinner for starters after it has been used to cook with.

 

also there is no tax duty to be paid on the first 2500ltrs of the oil you use.

 

once again another con on the public.

 

it has doubled in price in the past year alone. i know i used to run a veg oil car. went from 55 pence up to £1.10 litre to what seems like £1.33ltr. as dear as diesel.

[lookinforinfo]

Then there is the toothpaste dodge. They bring out a large family size but increase the opening where the paste comes out at the same time. If you are getting the right amount on your toothbrush from the smallest size what is the need to increase it on the larger ones, except to dupe the public?

[skbuncks]

I believe its for the family sized toothbrush

 

[Paintball]

Tsk tsk, PB, and there I was thinking terrible puns were my exclusive domain.

 

Oooo, I think there must be room for another on your 'punning pedestal'.

Budge up ...;-)

[elizabeth1]

The funniest offer I saw in a supermarket was last weekend in ASDA.

 

Laundry Soap liquid tablets/pouchy things.

 

£2.98 for a pack of 10 tablets/pouchy things OR

Two packs of 10 for £4.50 - supposedly saving £0.96 (= 20 washes) ?

 

Further along the aisle on the same shelf was whopping big packs of the same items in packs of 30 priced at £4.00 = hilarious??

 

I noticed a few odd offers like this amongst the soap powders and tablets last week.

 

The only draw back with these is these pouchy things are for full loads - so I keep a bottle liquid for when I do smaller wash loads where less detergent is needed.

 

These supermarkets think we fell off a gooseberry bush?

[Belaflat]

And Gyz is so right on the weights and measures issues...prices provided in imperial, without metric...report the boogers to TS..

 

I am an imperial man through and through, hate this metrication lark so I would turn a blind eye myself.

 

We were conned enough when metrication became the norm, 1lb packets becoming 400 grams instead of 454 grams. A 1/4lb became 100 grams...didnt see any price reductions there, we were all cheated royally when that happened but where was everyone then.

[enamae]

200g Nescafe coffee at tesco has gone up 10% from £3.77 last week to £4.14 this week . The funny thing is that if you buy 2 100g jars it only costs you £3.86.

[thecteam]

coke at asda but 2 x 10 =20tins fridge packs at £6

or buy 24 tins for £7.49

i know it only works out to a difference of 1.2p a tin. but its a whole tin your saving.

the maths in these places just never adds up. buy more it should be cheaper. not the other way round.

[Thailand]

Some other cunning examples of shrinkage here

 

I liked the users comment:

 

'Rip off Britain'

 

'I Would rather be a foreigner in a foreign country than a foreigner in my own country'

Edited July 27, 2008 by barracad
Fixed numpty's link

[Thailand]

Above link fixed.

Edited July 27, 2008 by Thailand

[foolishgirl]

Just a hint that a supermarket marketing guy told me once:

 

The REAL offers are always on the bottom shelves 'cos people don't bother to bend down. So when you're looking for bargains, don't look for the 'offer' or 'value' label, just use your back & bend down.

[gyzmo]

Never mind shrinking groceries, what about teh wrong groceries?

 

Have you ever picked up a product only to find you have the wrong brand? There are a lot of complaints from leading brand manufacturers (and research carried out last year) that their packaging is being copied and is confusing people.

[suzieblooz]

Fairy non bio liqigel tabs - instead of being a pack of 10 or 20 is now 9 & 18.

[skbuncks]

How about this for a rip off, spotted in our Big Tescos a few weeks ago

 

Saffron (located in the usual herbs and spices section) - £2.70/0.4g (£6750/Kg)

On the other side of the aisle there is a section which does imported spices, rice etc which usually comes in much bigger pack sizes for a fraction of the price they have Saffron selling at £1.99/2.5g (£796/kg) saving you a massive £5954/kg. Is sadly discontinued now

 

 

skb

[Bookworm]

Iceland, easy cook rice, only £1.... for 500g pack, used to be 1 Kg bags.

 

Iceland, used to sell packs of 15 eggs for £1. Changed packaking, 10 (or was it 12? can't remember now) for £1. Then upped price to £1.25, now back to packs of 15... for £1.50. All within the space of 6 months.

 

Tip for things like saffron, vanilla essence, and other "exotic" staple goods...: Go to your local Asian/West Indian shop. They will be as a rule a lot cheaper than the big supermarkets.

[semyaza]

Tip for things like saffron, vanilla essence, and other "exotic" staple goods...: Go to your local Asian/West Indian shop. They will be as a rule a lot cheaper than the big supermarkets.

 

Yeah that is definitely a good tip. If you like prawn crackers you can a huge bag for very little. Same as rice. Mind you'd have to really like rice. But other things like chilli sauce, frozen prawns, some vegetables too. Do you like frozen chicken feet For cheap deserts have a look at lotus buns, mmm mm and jellied fruits. I could go on. They do offer much better value for money.

 

Here's one from recent news.....Gas/Electric. I think that's everyone included.

 

edit: When I say prawn crackers I mean you have to deep fry them yourself

[bottomburp]

And strangely, in Tesco, Heinz Organic Baked Beans and Own Brand Organic Corn Oil are cheaper than "normal" versions (or perhaps this has changed, I noticed this a couple of weeks ago that). Bizarre.

[Bookworm]

Oh, and low-fat versions of yoghurt, cream etc... tend to be cheaper than full-fat, thereby forcing those of us who don't fall for the LF hype to pay more for natural, non-messed with products.

[bottomburp]

The low fat stuff is cheaper because it's packed with cheap bulking agents etc and water.

[Bookworm]

I know that, it just annoys the hell out of me that if you want your stuff as untouched as possible, you're expected to pay more.

[bottomburp]

I don't think you are. If you buy the most natural stuff you can then add your own water and get a low fat version in bigger quantities than if you'd bought the low fat stuff - so the normal stuff is, in fact, cheaper.

 

My father used to be in food retail. When "diet" products started tocome out he said the manufactures were laughing all the way to the bank because it cost them so much less to produce than the normal stuff but it cost the punter the same to buy. Things haven't changed.