Multipack item sold individually

Mk14:37

This is something of a trivial 'Moral Maze'. I fully intend to do nothing about the situation, but am interested in the opinions of other MSE-ers.

At my local station, there is a very simple kiosk. It appears to be a family run affair, selling newspapers and magazines, tobacco, soft drinks and snacks.

Yesterday I bought a bottle of Lucozade which was clearly marked as a multipack - NOT FOR RESALE. Does this carry any legal weight, or not? If yes, would you begrudge a small business trying to turn over a profit in difficult economic circumstances?

david39

There is a previous thread that ran this query.

It is not illegal to sell a split multi-pack - the manufacturers label it this way to deter retailers from splitting special-offer multipacks that are heavily discounted by the manufacturer and then re-selling them at full price as single cans.

You bought a can of whatever it was at a price you expected to pay, so you got what you wanted and were not cheated. The fact that the retailer made a little extra profit out of it is a matter between him, his conscience and balancing his overheads. The manufacturers are aware that this goes on - if they were troubled by it, they would take action to stop it.

Brian_The_Lion

I personally would refuse to buy the multipack item based on the fact that they are usually smaller, which would create a sense of being ripped off...

I'll give you an example, a bag of individual walkers crisps is around 34.5g when bought in a shop. The multipack version is around 25g. (27.5% smaller)

Now do you think this is fair for a retailer to sell you something that is smaller but for the same price? Will you see a 27.5% discount? I don't think so....

I know its only a bag of crisps, but its the best example I could think of...

reehsetin

usually they have a "pay no more than x" statement on them, I'd just hold them to that

kerrydrobertson

ive noticed it in a couple of my local shops too, especially with chocolate bars, flakes, diary milk bars etc and they are still the same price as the larger ones

Emmarillo

I certainly wouldn't begrudge them a few extra pence. Times are very hard for small independent retailers, and the worst thing that could happen is next time you go to the station, the handy little kiosk has disappeared. The one at my station has closed and I really miss it.

I don't agree with selling smaller sized items for full size prices, as Brian the Lion was saying, but a coke from a multipack is fine by me.

xanthe

I'm not bothered multipack soft drinks are still 330ml and tastes the same

colmil

These people are breaking the terms and conditions of purchase.

There is no excuse for ripping people off, I would certainly never use that shop again for, as sure that 'eggs is eggs' the same people will try to offload out of date goods on you, I've seen it happen too often!

sawan82

In that instance I wouldn't mind. Went to a Yo! Sushi once and ordered a coke. Didn't click til later that it was a multipack can price marked at 39p or something and I'd paid way over a pound for it!! I just didn't know what to say!

jenniewb

sawan82 wrote: »

In that instance I wouldn't mind. Went to a Yo! Sushi once and ordered a coke. Didn't click til later that it was a multipack can price marked at 39p or something and I'd paid way over a pound for it!! I just didn't know what to say!

Now that is shocking! (to me it is anyway) a small train station type company I can see the logic, but Yo Sushi are IMO expensive and don't need to save a few extra pence, I'd assume they make enough on profit from the meals they serve, I'd wonder if they were maybe a franchise company and the manager had been trying to save a few pence but makes you wonder why they don't offer to pour out glasses and save themselves the embarassment!

Enterprise_1701C

Shoe on other foot time.

What happens when customer come in and decide to open a multi-pack - either because they only want one bottle or bar etc and there is not a single on the shelf, or because they are in the queue and think no-one can see them. What happens when there is a delivery and damaged multi-packs are not noticed until the van is gone, and how about all the customers that manage to drop a multi-pack and cause a leak in a bottle/can and decide to walk out in disgust because "it was the shopkeepers fault for making me queue"?

Had all these instances, losses would be rather high if the whole lot was just written off because of this so goods have to be sold to the customer in singles.

Just remember the shopkeeper is not always the villain in this.