Supermarket DisEconomy of Scale Name & Shame

System

Asda Crunchy Nut Cornflakes - if I remember right the smaller pack is better value.

MSE_Martin

Superhoop. Your points are very valid. The difference between this and overcharging is this is a pricing policy from head office - overcharging is an error not a deliberate policy.

Of course this isn't criminal and people can check things out - but it's typical of the prestidigitation that the supermarkets play to make us spend more. Interesting to see who is worse!

martin

System

Has anyone else noticed the way they arent very consistent with their "units" they price by?

I was looking at some teabags for like herbal tea and thinking my gosh these are extremely expensive compared to normal ones but i thought it must be because they were herbal, in a small packet etc

then i noticed one was per 100g and one per kg! doh!

System

Tesco diet tonic 33p per bottle or 3 for £1, yes got me confused even before I added the Gin?

cathy_3

I got fed up with my job and got one in a bank for a couple of years and I remember going shopping in my lunch hour,
I brought back a huge box of soap powder one of those with a handle on the top cos it seemed so much cheaper

one of the top banker guys was down from London and saw this on the floor by my desk and said

"is that yours? why did you buy it?

so I said " cos it is cheaper to buy a big one than a little one"

he said "think about it, do you think Mr Soap powder pays for those big boxes, with handles on no less, fills them full of soap powder, puts them on lorries and transports them all over the country, advertises them at a cost of millions, to save YOU money?"

superhoop

Martin:

I'm quite flattered that you took time out to reply to me! Prestidigitation - what a fantastic word!

I agree that this thread is quite fun. It's great reading everyone's stories. However, if the principle of economies of scale didn't apply to supermarkets, there would be little logic behind Morrison's acquisition of Safeway!

I think we'll have to agree to disagree on what is the root cause. One of my roles in my six years at Safeway Head Office was in price strategy. Now all sorts of tricks are played which the average customer doesn't see. However, charging more for a bigger pack isn't one of them!

My time there did teach me to subscribe to the c*ck-up theory. All sorts of mishaps and miscommunications happen in a large organisation, and even more in the complex food supply chains which exist today. These things are easily done.

On the other hand, overcharging whilst almost always unintended really can upset customers. During my time in-store with my former employer, our policy was to make up for pricing errors by giving the customer a refund and the product free. In comparison, the largest grocer in the UK will only usually give the customer the value of the 'error'. I think this is scandalous and is bad customer service - hence the need for a name & shame!

Anyway Martin, thanks again for your reply - I love the site, your book and what you stand for. Keep up the good work!

Steve

zx2011

In Safeway, Acton yesterday:

Blue WKD
Pack of 8 @ £9.29 (£4.22/Litre)
Pack of 4 @ £4.49 (£4.08/Litre)

It 12p/Litre cheaper to buy the pack of 4!

In bars in London they cost £3.20 each!!!!!!!

The_Baroness

Has anyone else noticed the way they arent very consistent with their "units" they price by?

Yes, crana99

It is annoying. I can see no other reason for it other than the supermarkets trying to confuse their customers and make it more difficult for those who are not good at maths to work out which product is better value. How difficult can it be to standardise unit prices for particular types of products?

Baroness

Nile

The previous posting by nearlyrich (a room full of toilet rolls) made me smile because we're the same.

We've got toilet rolls, anti-perspirant, shampoo and all sorts of stuff which was bought on offer.

I'm sad and happy now.

Sad, because the Safeway offers are disappearing due to the Morrisons takeover.

Happy, because I get to eat Walkers crisps that are fresh rather than weeks old and Penguin biscuits that are fresh etc. ;D

competitionscafe

Sainsburys in central Edinburgh (St. Andrew Square) have packs of baby tomatoes clearly marked as 'buy one get one free' - however when you get to the checkout they charge full price for both packs! >:(

Unfortunately its a busy store and I only realised this when I checked the receipt at home. It's not the first time this has happened to me at this store either.