Alert to shoppers: Never mind the price, feel the weight

[Lovelee]

 FOOD MANUFACTURERS are downsizing their products rather than putting prices up, in a marketing ploy that has left some consumers feeling duped.

Consumer New Zealand says it has fielded a steady stream of complaints from shoppers who have bought items at the supermarket only to get home and discover the manufacturers have apparently disguised cost increases by reducing the pack size while keeping the price the same.

The size of a bag of potato chips, for example, has in many cases shrunk from 200g to 150 or 160g, but prices have stayed the same. Some brands of toilet rolls used to contain 400 sheets of paper but many now contain just 380. Last August a 350g pack of Milo cost $4.49. Three weeks later a 310g pack at the same store cost the same $4.49.

And sometimes you don't even need to change the weight to leave customers mistakenly believing they're getting a good deal. Chocolate giant Cadbury is now selling its drinking chocolate in much larger packets, giving shoppers the impression they are getting more for their money even though there had been no change to the product's net weight.

With the recession making shoppers more budget-conscious, Consumer NZ is now calling for unit pricing to be displayed on all supermarket shelves so shoppers can easily work out which products provide the best value for money.

Unit pricing means displaying the price of goods per unit of measure per 100g, per kilogram or per litre, for example.

In the European Union all but the smallest shops must give unit prices for all their pre-packaged goods. Several states in the US also have mandatory unit pricing. Last year the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission published a report recommending a mandatory unit-pricing regime for standard grocery items both on in-store price labels and in print advertising.

Here, manufacturers must display the net weight of their product on food labels, but there is no mandatory requirement for shops to display unit prices. Woolworths, Foodtown and Countdown have displayed unit prices in some stores on thousands of lines for more than 10 years, but New World and Pak'n Save stores do not show unit prices on their shelf labels.

Maggie Edwards, a consumer adviser with Consumer NZ, said unit pricing would make it easier for consumers to compare the price of products that come in different sizes: "In times of rising food prices consumers need all the help they can get. Displaying unit prices saves shoppers time and money."

Edwards said manufacturers approached by Consumer NZ have defended "down-weighing" as the only way to protect consumers from price increases necessitated by the rising cost of ingredients.

Disgruntled shoppers caught out by sudden changes in packaging and product sizes have started alerting other consumers to their mistakes on TradeMe message boards.

One product that appears to have caught many people out is the new 400g block of Pams butter. Traditionally butter has been sold in 500g or 250g blocks.

"I was in a rush and noticed Pams butter was $2.99 and that to me at the time was a good price until I noticed the sneaky sods had changed the size. There was no warning and it is definitely buyer beware," wrote one shopper on the TradeMe message board.

"You really have to spend time looking at everything you buy now, even if it is the normal stuff you buy," another shopper noted. "Compare weights and prices, it's daylight robbery!"

Marketing expert and lecturer at Otago University's business school Rob Hamlin said down-weighing was a known practice associated with branded manufacturers. The small and unannounced size reductions tended to be corrected periodically by a substantial and public upwards resizing and consequent price increase.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sunday-star-times/news/2380433/Alert-to-shoppers-Never-mind-the-price-feel-the-weight

[Charlie]

Foodtown Woolworths Countdown changed the pricing in their deli section the same time they changed pricing from per kg to per 100g. Things like colslaw doubled in price.

[Magoo]

oodtown Woolworths Countdown changed the pricing in their deli section the same time they changed pricing from per kg to per 100g.

New World have done that too.    I tell them how many slices I want so they don't weight me up to the next gram.

[ssweetpea]

Milo changed their pack sizes well over a year ago.

[donquixotenz]

I hate buying from the deli counter as the meat is often a day sliced and the monkey behind the counter generally has no idea how the bag the purchase mostly they pick up neat slices and just stuff them in a bag all scrambled up not neat and flat as displayed.......and they always seem to take no joy in serving customers with a smile and care.......I thought that was what they were there for and why one paid a bit more for the service as opposed to the neat stuff prepackaged in the chiller cabinets.
And another thing .....have you noticed that there appears tp be a sound curtain between the customers side of the counter and the attendant and that they seem cross eyed as one often points clearly at one product and they go for another???

[wgtngirl]

A single packet of griffins wine biscuits weighs 250g but a twin pack of the same biscuits weighs 400g making each packet 200g.

[Magoo]

To continue from Dons post on the deli...    ever bought a nice large wedge of quiche for a quick tea only to find it has been packed in the bottom of the bag.                I always put the stuff onto the conveyor the way I want it packed.  Heavies, laundry, pet, pantry, fridge, bread, eggs etc I reckon they mix it up for fun.

[Lovelee]

Hell yeh!!  I work really hard at the checkout to make sure everything is packed suitably.
Bread and anything breakable or soft goes onto the belt last .. along with me telling them how to do it.

We often buy a cooked chook - he likes them - the buggers stick it into another bag and chuck it in with others if I dont watch - then when I get home I find the juices have all spilled out into the carpet of the car 

[wgtngirl]

I always seem to be pointing out to the packers that I don't want my raw chicken packed with any red meats.  As for bread, I always put it on the belt so that the end with the tag is facing the check out person but they still persist in grabbing the bread by the slices and shoving it into a bag thus squashing the bread.  Hence, I do most of my groceries at Pak n Save where I can pack the stuff myself.

[ssweetpea]

That is one of the reasons I shop there as well.

Still it amazes me how many checkout operators don't leave enough space on the bottom of the trolly for my 8 bottles of milk. The are usually among the last items on the belt because they are the first in the trolly. It isn't as if they can't see them coming.

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

[Kiwithrottlejockey]

As for bread, I always put it on the belt so that the end with the tag is facing the check out person but they still persist in grabbing the bread by the slices and shoving it into a bag thus squashing the bread.

Whenever a checkout operator does that with bread I am purchasing, I loudly call the supervisor over and create a huge, very loud scene, demanding a replacement loaf of bread due to the fact that the "ignorant idiot" at the checkout has just squashed my bread. They usually only do that once with me, then next time I deal with the same checkout operator, they tend to remember that I am the person who caused them a shitload of grief, embarrasment, hassle, etc, last time and as a result they handle my bread a lot more carefully.

[chrismrky]

i am amazed at the negative comment about checkout staff......
not sure what areas you guys are in,  but up here in Whangarei,  I reckon they do a pretty good job in comparison to what you lot are getting in the rest of the country.  i too put my stuff in particular order, and the guys here do very well with it and say thanks..... this is in New Worlds and Countdown Whangarei  (dont know about Tikipunga, dont shop there)

Gooooo NORTHLAND....

[ssweetpea]

Has anyone else noticed that while Cadbury's Chocolate is on special at the moment ...


... the King sized blocks have shrunk from 250g to 200g.

Who do they think they are fooling?

[Magoo]

I noticed that.

[Lovelee]

Not only the sizing has changed, we eat a LOT of chocolate, the packaging also.

I dont like packaging that is unnecessary 

[Magoo]

I dont like packaging that is unnecessary  Angry

Me either.   All the huffery puffery over the plastic shopping bags is a joke when you consider all the crap we carry home to put in the bin.   It is a major Grrrrrrr with me.

[ssweetpea]

What's with the cardboard packet? Is is still lined with an layer of foil or paper?

Whitticker's still use the paper backed foil with outer paper sleeve and they are cheaper by weight at present, at Pak'n'Save Albany anyway.

I worked that out without the aid of a calculator to boot.

I admit that I didn't notice until I picked up a packet. Needless to say it when back on the shelf while I did the maths and bought the Whitticker's product instead.

[Magoo]

What's with the cardboard packet?

SP tomorrow I shall buy some to find the answer for you.

[Lovelee]

yuk - I didnt think anyone ate that whittakers - it tastes like crap!

[Calliope]

Lovelee you have no taste   - Whittakers Ghana Dark is the best dark chocolate I have found - unless you want to buy imported Belgian chocolate.

[Calliope]

Incidentally I got the best price on butter the other day Budget Butter at $1.99 for 500g

[Lovelee]

LOL funny how our tastes are all different    Give me Cadburys any day.

I bought that $1.99 butter too - no difference in taste or cooking with it.
So whats the difference - is it the packaging?

[Magoo]

I'm a Cadburys girl too.   Whittakers gives me a headache so the cocoa content is probably stronger.  I am not likely to pass up the offer of a Terrys chocolate orange either.

[ssweetpea]

Incidentally I got the best price on butter the other day Budget Butter at $1.99 for 500g

I've got 6 blocks of that sitting in my fridge, damn good price. With home baking and puddings we are going through a block a week.

yuk - I didnt think anyone ate that whittakers - it tastes like crap!

I will admit that the dark Ghana is an aquired taste, I don't mind it but it is too strong for Mr sp. Makes awsome gormet chocolate biscuits .

I prefer the Dark Cacao one, at 62% cocoa solids it is similar to Cadbury's Old Gold but not quite as fatty.

I wish I could still buy the Whittickers dark chocolate orange block  up at Countdown or Pak'n'Save. Only the local New World stock it. I find it hard to justify going there just to buy it when there is a cheaper chocolate fix to be had without going out of my way.