Are you a victim of deceptive pricing? - Shrinking Groceries

[lexis200]

In Tesco's again.....

 

Loose white potatoes were £1.28 / kilo (I think). Bagged white potatos were priced per potato - I think it was 17p per potato. However, weighing the pre-bagged ones worked out at twice as much as the loose ones per kilo!

 

I have said it before but NEVER be embarrased about using the weighing equipment in store. I have done it and attracted the attention some uppity who was quite surprised at the price difference and started doing it herself.

 

There doesn't seem to be any scales in my local tescos or sainsburys:(

 

General thought: Eggs have rocketed in price "because of the increased cost of grain to feed the hens". So isn't it strange that the cost of an oven-ready chicken hasn't increased - these birds need feeding too.

 

Depends what you're buying really. Free range/Organic have gone up considerably, but battery hasn't. They die sooner so need less food, so we're not charged for it.I guess because the battery ones are so pumped full of water they can start off as a much smaller bird but be made to look bigger with 'additions' When you think about it logically, we all know the battery birds have a much shorter lifespan than the Free Range etc, and unless they hit full grown in a matter of a month or two must be killed when they are smaller, yet they are always as big as the more natural birds...

[ScarletPimpernel]

Razor blades full stop are evil - one thing to look out for is often you get a full sized 'holder' for blades in a new razor, but only 1/2 blades actually in it. Can often seem like a new razor is the cheaper option when in reality you're getting half (or less!) the cutting-power for well more than half the price!

 

 

I recently had to switch to the old face shredders (disposables) because the price of blades rocketed so much

 

Oh yeah, the other one - often you'll find identical blades with vastly different prices. If a certain un-named brand has a regular razor and, say, one that vibrates you'll find the blades for the vibrator (ohh err missus) are invariably priced higher even though they're EXACTLY the same thing!

 

 

Some time ago I switched to an old-fashioned safety razor (though a modern version), and have not looked back. A far closer shave than with multi-bladed contraptions, and the replacement blades are very cheap. I also use a brush and shaving soap - a tub of Trumpers soap lasts over a year and is cheaper than using aerosol gels and creams.

 

I also echo the recommendation of Lidl. I used them regularly when I lived in Germany, and use them now here. Their fruit and veg is usually excellent, and their fresh meat is all locally sourced.

 

As a further economy measure, I have spent some of the morning chopping logs for the woodburner - we have a dual system, and using the woodburner will save on oil. All the logs came from fallen boughs around our yard. I have half a dozen chickens on order, so we'll be self-sufficient in eggs soon.

[Thailand]

Very sustainable.

 

Have you got a link for this safety razor? Where's the best place to aquire one? I'm currently burning a hole in my pocket buying Gilette Mach 3 turbo's. (and the gel)

[ScarletPimpernel]

Mine is a Merkur, but you can get much cheaper razors. I've had mine a year now, so it's cost me less than £3/month including blades, and it'll last for years, so I saw it as a good investment. Blades are about £4 for 10, and they're double-sided. One edge of a blade gives me a good shave for 5 days minimum.

 

Amazon sell both razors and blades, but there are lots of places to buy on the internet.

 

It does take a few days to get used to using a safety razor, but it's worth perservering - you'll feel the difference.

[gyzmo]

I'd like to know what blades are compatible with otehr razors - I read somewhere that tesco's own brand razors (the mind shudders) are made to fit gilette M3 power?

[Zamzara]

Fruit Pastilles lollies:

 

 

Naughty.

[bottomburp]

I'd like to know what blades are compatible with otehr razors - I read somewhere that tesco's own brand razors (the mind shudders) are made to fit gilette M3 power?

 

I don't know whether the Tesco own brand fits anything else and if so what but I do know that the Tesco own brand razors are the nastiest things that I have had the misfortune to use. My advice to you is don't go there - unless you want one of the world's most uncomfortable shaves!

[gyzmo]

Thanks BP!

[enamae]

Tesco's own brand Tuna chunks in veg/sunflower oil;

 

4 single cans 185g @ £0.65 each = £2.60

multi-pack 4 x 185g = £2.99

[gyzmo]

What gets me with Tescos now is the launching of "new" brands and all the claims by Tesco and other supermarkets that they are all cheaper than each other. Wouldn't it be nice if there was some website that compared best prices, ordered from them and delivered without incurring some huge fee? Or better still, for the supermarkets to put their money where there mouth is and offer price matches for the same (or equivalent) brands in other stores.

[lexis200]

Along the same lines of your irritation with new brands gyzmo, my pet hate is that Tesco (they seem to be hugely into this in the last couple of years) will bring out a new brand, and if it sells well, discontinue it and bring out their own take on it but at about the same price.

 

I'm also noticing in my two local T's - one of which is huge - they seem to just generally be replacing branded goods with their own ones. This wouldn't worry me so much if they were cheaper and the same quality as the branded ones, but frequently they aren't either.

 

Sainsburys were bad for only supplying own label stuff a good few years ago, but they seem to be much better now and offer a decent variety. The difference is their own label stuff is often pretty good!

 

And one I've just thought of - Tescos Stars cereal. I really like this (I buy it for my children, honestly:oops:), but they've put the price up by about a third recently. The reason? They've added a picture of Tigger to the box and called it a Disney cereal!

[gyzmo]

Hope Disney were consulted (and Kellogs)!

 

On these now "discount" brands they seem to be introducing, I'm going to avoid like the plague in the future.

 

My flatmate bought two bottles of wine (Carte Noir Malbec) at £2.99 a bottle and it tastes like, well, heavily watered down vodka with one ml of vimto in it. (and before anyone has a go at me for buying cheap wine there are some good ones. Tesco's Gran Tezoro at £3.29 is one of my favourites and I have had far worse wines costing 5 times that price - and it has also featured in the Times recommendations, so ).

 

Then there is the "creamfields" (awww how quaint!) cheese described as mature. Again, no taste whatsoever.

 

I'm considering class action under s.13 of SoGA and under the Food Safety Act ss 14, 15 (selling food not as described and not of nature, substance or quality demanded)

[skbuncks]

snip...

My flatmate bought two bottles of wine (Carte Noir Malbec) at £2.99 a bottle and it tastes like, well, heavily watered down vodka with one ml of vimto in it. (and before anyone has a go at me for buying cheap wine there are some good ones. Tesco's Gran Tezoro at £3.29 is one of my favourites and I have had far worse wines costing 5 times that price - and it has also featured in the Times recommendations, so ).

 

 

Tesco own Valpolicella, Montipulciano and Chianti are all £3.19 and quite drinkable, hic (certainly by the second bottle anyway). There also currently doing a Chasse Du Pape Reserve Cotes Du Rhone for £4.68 which is very drinakable indeed, hih hic

 

skb

[skbuncks]

I've also noted that both sainburys and waitrose both stock home brand Valpolicella and Montipulciano at the same price. So, purely in the name of science, I purchased them with a view to comparing them with their competitors. After drinking a bottle of each in rapid succession I came to the conclusion that not only do they get you nicely trollyed but they were also all exactly the same wine.

 

skb

[lexis200]

After drinking a bottle of each in rapid succession I came to the conclusion that not only do they get you nicely trollyed but they were also all exactly the same wine.

 

skb

 

:lol: Didn't think anyone else used 'trolleyed' anymore:-D

[mfpa]

I'd like to know how long HMV think a "sale" should last for.

 

This may no longer be true but a few years ago the higher price quoted for comparison with the "sale" price had to have been the selling price of the item for at least 28 consecutive days in the last six months. Unfortunately, in chain stores it did not have to be in the same branch.

[mfpa]

General thought: Eggs have rocketed in price "because of the increased cost of grain to feed the hens".

 

Which is a consignment of geriatric shoe manufacturers, as we all know. Two or three years ago, half a dozen eggs cost 28p in our local Tesco. The price had roughly tripled before there was any word of increasing grain prices. (-;

[gyzmo]

This may no longer be true but a few years ago the higher price quoted for comparison with the "sale" price had to have been the selling price of the item for at least 28 consecutive days in the last six months. Unfortunately, in chain stores it did not have to be in the same branch.

 

My understanding now is that a pre-sale price has to be at that price for a reasonable length of time. Would love the legislators to work that one out. Why we brought in the CPUT regs I do not know. There are some benefits, mainly the banned practices in the appendices, but the rest is a nightmare. We had previously prescriptive measures covering specific areas. Now we have a load of subjective drivel. But anyway....

 

I remember this particular wine in m local tesco - was always priced at £3.99 and it seemed hardly anyone bought it. Then they put a sale sign up saying it was reduced to half price. Needless to say, it was still £3.99 but they were sold out the day after!

 

I always thought that the law should have been changed so that a sale item had to be sold at the higher price in that particular store to prevent customers being fleeced. But nooooo

[samsmoot]

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...

 

Vodaphone once started charging me more (for 0845 numbers, I think) than was printed in the contract. Had to make a small claim for the ₤12 overcharging in the end - they paid up because, they said, it "wouldn't be cost effective to defend the claim".

 

 

I would advise anybody in a similar situation to demand their money back, and make a small claim if they have to.

Edited October 9, 2008 by samsmoot
Reformat

[lexis200]

Which is a consignment of geriatric shoe manufacturers, as we all know. (-;

 

I've just worked it out - and it's only taken me 3 days - Woohoo:D

[Thailand]

I was bored last Monday, so I thought I would send a few emails to pass the time. I thought I would go through the entire list and see what would be said about these shrinkages - not that I thought I'd get any truths, rather to see what spin they would put on it. The generic letter I produced, turned out not to be so easily tweaked for each one, so gave up after 3.

 

I started with the beans in post one, then onto Cadbury's in post two. By then I jumped straight to Ginsters as it was annoying me as to who was being so darned cheeky, the retailer or the manufacturer. As it turns out I emailed, or used the on line feedback, only for manufacturers. I've had a reply of Ginsters.

 

I wrote, and no my name is not Pedro, nor am I an editor!

 

To: Ginsters Reception

Subject: 'Shrinking Groceries'

 

 

Hello,

 

My name is Pedro Rodriguez, I am a 3rd year student preparing an essay regarding 'Shrinking Groceries', and also the editor of my universities thrice yearly 'almanac'.

 

For reasons pertaining to my essay, and a feature in our forthcoming publication, I wondered if I could acquire Ginsters response to the following facts. I would be extremely grateful to publish your viewpoint on the matter and of course your express permission to do so.

 

Amongst other evident shrinkages to maintain profit margins for the manufacturer, rather than play fair with the consumer, the misleading offer surrounding the sale of your products is alarming and thus must be dealt with, if for no other reason than alerting the general public. Could you please verify if promotions such as the following are the marketing whizz of your company, or are that of the retailer? A local ‘Spar’ close to our university is selling your product (standard pasty) at £1.69 BOGOF (buy one, get one free) Sceptics amongst my fellow students/reporters believe this is to mislead the consumer.

On a recent field trip to Lancaster, we, by chance, had Ginsters pasties for lunch. The cost, or RRP (please advise as to this), was 90 pence. So, you see, pricing at £1.69 can not be tolerated as a price for the sake of pulling the wool over the consumers eyes via a ‘BOGOF’. All it does is ensure the retailer sells two, rather than one, as the price is nearly double. In these harsh economic times it appears the retailer, or yourselves, not only tries to salvage sales, but double them at the same time.

This report will also conclude on BOGOF offers and the truth behind the inflated price which makes this ‘deal’ viable only to the manufacturer/retailer.

 

Whilst I will go ahead and print our opinion, backed up with photographic evidence, I would very much like to print your response in the spirit of fairness. I have a statement of the local retailer that alleges this mater is wholly to do with the manufacturer.

 

Regards

 

Pedro

 

 

Dear Pedro

Thank you for your email.

We would like to make a few points which we hope you will find helpful.

We sell our products to the stores at a wholesale price, but we do not decide the retail price on shelf. (Competition law forbids manufacturers from dictating the price at which their products are sold to the consumer.) So the retailer is free to set whatever retail price they think is suitable for their business. As a result you will see some wide variation in the prices at which our products are sold when compared across the different types of retailer.

When it comes to price promotions, again there are laws in place that prevent anyone suddenly putting up the retail price in order to then run a price promotion. The law states that a product has to be on sale at a particular price for a minimum period of 28 days before a store can run a promotion based on that price.

I hope this will reassure you that there is a framework in place that protects the consumer.

From our perspective, we aim to produce good quality foods from locally sourced fresh ingredients, and always do our best to ensure our range offers good value for money for our consumers.

Kind regards,

Larry File

Brand Communications Manager

So my local Spar is the culprit, the cheek of them....I bet when the BOGOF is finished they won't stay at £1.69.

 

I'll post up what HP (Heinz) and Cadbury's say if they can be bothered to get back to me.

[DuffNCustard]

Anyone else getting brassed off about LARD - we used to buy 500g - now we can only get it in 250g blocks for 31p - which is just about what 500g used to cost a few months back - chiselling swivvelers - if any one knows where we can get 500g please reply!

[elizabeth1]

Anyone else getting brassed off about LARD - we used to buy 500g - now we can only get it in 250g blocks for 31p - which is just about what 500g used to cost a few months back - chiselling swivvelers - if any one knows where we can get 500g please reply!

 

I think you'll find this price change is more to do with the Catering industry now buying larger quantities of Lards and Dripping for deep fat frying foods more recently. Maybe the manufacturers realise they can achieve a higher price?

 

Couple of reasons I read about were -

 

1) the price of cooking oils (rapeseed, veggie oils etc..) shot through the ceiling with the Gov'ts bid to stop car drivers using cooking oil to run their cars on cause it was cheaper than diesel/petrol. So Oil prices were raised to meet petrol prices kind of things - this resulted in lots of catering industry switching to use Lards and Drippings for cooking etc.. as it was more affordable. (To accomodate vegetarians most places just keep one oil fryer for their foods)

 

2) there was something to do with obesity & cholestrol = Lards and Dripping have different properties that were supposed to be healthier than these oils for cooking foods (saturates, mono saturates, polyunsaturates etc..) the switch in usage was meant to be beneficial to health etc..

 

I don't think retalers are going to miss any opportunity to gain higher price margins for goods if they can help it.

[pompeyfaith]

Anyone noticed the offers that are not offers at all if you look at the individual price i.e 2 for £2 but look at the individual price and they are £1 each.

 

I noticed this last friday while at asda walmart in Havant i forget what it was for now but ill look again this saturday and post again.

 

Regards

 

Leon

[mfpa]

A pint of semi-skimmed has been 42p for several months in my local M&S, Coop, Tesco and Sainsbury. Last Wednesday in M&S it was suddenly 45p, an increase of over seven percent! Not yet seen if the rest of them have increased too.

 

Still cheaper than Boots, Superdrug and Spar, who are all 54p.