Are you a victim of deceptive pricing? - Shrinking Groceries

[BankFodder]

Have you noticed that some of your regular shopping products may be getting more expensive?

 

Not because the price has gone up - but because the quantity sold has very subtly gone down.

 

Have you noticed, for instance that Heinz beans are now sold in tins of 415 grams whereas most competitors sell cans of 420 grams?

 

Heinz beans are packaged in identically sized tins as the others and you would only know if you checked the weight on the side of the tin - most people don't do this.

 

When did Heinz start to do this? Have you noticed other examples of this behaviour with other products?

 

We think that this could be deceptive behaviour.

 

Please let us know in this thread.

Post photos if you want.

Edited July 19, 2008 by BankFodder

[BankFodder]

America's Shrinking Groceries - Yahoo! News

 

The incredible shrinking groceries - MSN Money Consumer Centre | Money saving tips | Consumer advice | Scams exposed

 

MSN Money consumer champion: Shrinking groceries - your culprits

[Spiceskull]

Specifically Vodafone (others may apply) - spend £2.50 before 18:00 on Friday, and you qualify for free texts from 18:00 Friday to Midnight Sunday.

 

They recently moved the goalposts so that the qualifying parameters were Midnight Friday to Midnight Sunday...a reduction of 11% in the free text mode, and an increase of 5% in the non free text mode (i.e. when you are paying for usage)

 

It was subtlely done, and took a couple of weeks to realise that my texts between 18:00 and Midnight on Friday were costing money...

[suzieblooz]

Notice this all the time, Cadburys chocolate gone from 250g to 230g but still the same price. Tesco mayonnaise gone from 500g to 480g. It seems they'd rather cut the size than put the price up, as shoppers are more likely to notice a few pence price rise than a few grammes taken off.

[ScarletPimpernel]

For a long time supermarkets have made it difficult to compare prices easily. For example, on the shelf label an item that costs £1.20 and weighs 500g will have a 'price per kg £1.20' subtitle, yet the item you would want to compare it to (e.g. an own brand or competitive product), will be labelled in lbs, even if the package itself has a metric label.

[Spiceskull]

I know exactly what you are saying there SP, and was mindful of this thread in Asda today.

 

Roll-on deodorant, 'roll back price' today, £1.40 (for 50ml) and the label said 'usual price £2.80 per 100ml'

 

I spluttered, and said to Jen 'how on earth can that be a roll back price, I have never seen a roll-on deodorant for £2.80...' until she pointed out that the bottle was only 50ml...

 

Yes, this is a good thread, and shows that the corporates are very subtlely pulling the wool over our eyes...

[Fuzzgin]

I know it's not particularly deceptive but in Tesco the 227g coffee (own brand) was always expensive compared to the 454g pack. Something like £1.60 compared to £1.75 for the larger pack. Then suddenly the larger pack went p to about £3.27. A huge increase. As I eat a lot of ham I sometimes buy Tesco own brand value ham (I know, I shouldn't) but it's price can shoot from 32p to 44p back to 38p and up again within a week. How can anyone possibly budget?

[ravenbluemoon]

There is another trick I have noticed, and the main culprits are Tesco, and to a lesser extent, Sainsbury's.

 

Take a closer look at those BOGOF offers. Looks tempting, doesn't it? Take a look at what the price really is - you'll often find that the price is too high to start with. Here's a ficticious (sp?) example:

 

A packet of biscuits is on a BOGOF offer - two packets for £1.25. Looks good in itself, but you know for a fact that you wouldn't pay £1.25 for a single packet, they are usually on sale at around 90p.

 

This tactic I consider to be sneaky. OK, so you are saving money, but they are exaggerating how much the savings really are...

[poppynurse]

Tesco have put cooking oil (3L) up to nearly £4 over the past couple of weeks, and flora (1Kg) and loo roll (12 pack) up to nearly a £5....ouch...

[barracad]

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

[gyzmo]

Notice this all the time, Cadburys chocolate gone from 250g to 230g but still the same price. Tesco mayonnaise gone from 500g to 480g. It seems they'd rather cut the size than put the price up, as shoppers are more likely to notice a few pence price rise than a few grammes taken off.

 

 

barring an amendment of legislation, chocolate musty be sold in certain prescribed quantities. 230 g is not one of them!

 

My my, weights and measures is becomming popular all of a sudden!

[gyzmo]

For a long time supermarkets have made it difficult to compare prices easily. For example, on the shelf label an item that costs £1.20 and weighs 500g will have a 'price per kg £1.20' subtitle, yet the item you would want to compare it to (e.g. an own brand or competitive product), will be labelled in lbs, even if the package itself has a metric label.

 

If a seller is pricing produce using Imperial measures without it being supplementary to an equivocal price per unit in metric, then they are committing an offence.

 

But supermarkets do make comparison difficult. I have no qualms whatsoever about pulling staff members up and getting them to find correct prices if missing.

 

Also make use of the scales provided. I don't see many people using them but I do quite a lot, and its saved me a small fortune!

[semyaza]

My next door neighbour who works at tesco was telling me that when a new product comes out they increase the price for two weeks.

 

We stopped shopping a tesco back in April to try out Lidl and Aldi. We stuck with Lidl in the end as the Aldi in our area was too small. But so far we have halved our shopping for a family of 4. But I expect Lidl will become like the others at some point so it's worth paying attention.

[Spiceskull]

But I expect Lidl will become like the others at some point so it's worth paying attention.

Not so sure about that - there was a comparison a few weeks ago, and all the big 4 decided that to maintain customer share, they would need to become more like Lidl and Aldi...

 

Wouldn't that be a novelty - price wars actually leading to a lower median price, based on the cheapest, rather than a higher median price, based on the highest...

 

And Gyz is so right on the weights and measures issues...prices provided in imperial, without metric...report the boogers to TS...would need to find oput more about the chocolate regulations, and whether or not packaging counts as part of the gross weight...

[gyzmo]

you can find said information in the Weights and Measures (Packaged Goods) Regulations 2006 (SI 2006/659) or Part IV of the Weights and Measures Act 1985 depending on what the product is, how it was packed (if at all) and where it was sold from.

 

Be warned though that they are very complex and confusing.

[Bookworm]

Roll-on deodorant, 'roll back price' today, £1.40 (for 50ml) and the label said 'usual price £2.80 per 100ml'

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. :-?

[Janet-M]

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. :-?

 

Well it should work that way .. but you usually find the smaller things are more expensive.

[Spiceskull]

Well it should work that way...

...but doesn't, because usually the bloody thing only costs me £1.29 (for 50ml)...I guess this is deception in the extreme, and it should really be called roll-forward price...i.e. one day we will be charging this much, but for today only you can have a taste of things to come...

...but you usually find the smaller things are more expensive.

...anyway, I couldn't resist this one...I hear that Bookie's brain is retailing for £500,000/g...the only problem being it would be hard to find a gramme in the first place...

 

Cue responses along the lines of '...spicey's charm/gallantry/acuity/bits are very rare commodities, and indeed the selling price has yet to be cumulatively minted by all the coinage houses in history...'

[Thailand]

There is another trick I have noticed, and the main culprits are Tesco, and to a lesser extent, Sainsbury's.

 

Take a closer look at those BOGOF offers. Looks tempting, doesn't it? Take a look at what the price really is - you'll often find that the price is too high to start with. Here's a ficticious (sp?) example:

 

A packet of biscuits is on a BOGOF offer - two packets for £1.25. Looks good in itself, but you know for a fact that you wouldn't pay £1.25 for a single packet, they are usually on sale at around 90p.

 

This tactic I consider to be sneaky. OK, so you are saving money, but they are exaggerating how much the savings really are...

 

I'm not sure some of these offers are even saving money, I have an offer like this in front of me, courtesy of Somerfield mail shot. The audacity of one of the offers actually resulted in the lowering of my bottom lip.... although I am a tight northerner.

 

* Somerfield Back Bacon (6 rashers) £3.49 BOGOF, now it may be 'thick cut', but I'll stick to my 6/7 regular for 99p. That's blatently misleading for me.... for £3.49 for 6 rashers of bacon I want my pig to be 1st in line for the throne, be fed on Aberdeen Angus Steak whilst sipping the finest Champagne. :-|

 

Another trick my local Spar use is to reduce the item by a penny, inflate the signage, and add a 'everyday Value' logo. Hot Choc 500g £2.78, underneath SEL £2.79.

 

Edit: Just been to Spar, and the one I noticed appears to have been an error.

Edited July 22, 2008 by Thailand

[Bookworm]

Tescos' latest trick, just in time to take advantage of the heavily mediatised Asda £1 price war to be: £1 signs everywhere... but some of the products are not £1... They have £1 OFF whatever price they are... which you only notice when you get closer and even then you have to look carefully. Grrr. About as subtle and pleasant as Spicey's wit (for want of a better word ).

[semyaza]

That's why you have to pay attention all the time. I should talk though as I don't like being in supermarkets and just throw stuff in the basket and go. Although I am getting better :-/

 

I never understood why it took my mum and I noticed also my partner taking so long to stare at a shelf. Now I know. Women have known about this for decades They just never told us stupid men...well this one anyway

 

Another example that puzzles me is cat food. I can't remember the exact figures but where you have the big bags in Kg then the smaller boxes which are in grams, it works out cheaper to buy several boxes instead of one bag. What happened to bulk buying?

[skbuncks]

A little trick I have seen in Tesco, and other supermarkets for that matter is in the price comparison between a branded item and an own branded one. The own branded item will give a comparison in say £/Kg whilst the branded item will be in £/500g thus making it look cheaper. Or even more crafitily something like own brand £1.20/400g and branded £0.8/250g, try working out in your which head one of those is cheaper

 

skb

Edited July 23, 2008 by skbuncks
idiocy

[skbuncks]

Another area where they rip you off, on some products anyway, is going for the 'Healthy but more Expensive' option.

 

Example:

Tesco value beans 20p per 420g tin versus Tesco Light Choice beans 31p per 420g tin. (Values are per 100g)

 

.............................Value.............Light Choice

Energy.....................60kcal...............75kcal

Protein.....................4.7g..................4.3g

Carbohydrate.............9.0g..................3.4g

Fat...........................0.5g.................0.5g

saturates...................0.1g.................0.1g

Fibre.........................3.5g.................3.8g

Sodium......................0.2g..................0.1g

 

So you basically pay 50 % more for the Light Choice option which is nmore fattening thatn the value option.

 

skb

Edited July 23, 2008 by skbuncks

[gyzmo]

Ah but with the increased fibre you might just pass all that extra fat through a lot quicker!

[semyaza]

But is it more fattening? There are less carbohydrates but a few more calories. But it is another area to confuse the consumer. "Hey look it costs more but it's good for you."