Nice people thread part 4 - sugar and spice and all things

chewmylegoff

vivatifosi wrote: »

If you're strange, then I'm every bit as strange as you. When la Rayworth was saying about she doesn't have time to work out the differences, she shouldn't have to, it should be instantaneous and in her head. Battling the supermarkets: a form of mental arithmetic and logic puzzle, but unlike a Sudoku you get a cash reward at the end. What could be better?

it's not like it's difficult to check either is it. you don't need to be able to do the maths, as you can just read the bit in slightly smaller letters underneath the price on the shelf which tells you what the cost / kg (or cost / some other measure) is. don't all supermarkets have this?

vivatifosi

chewmylegoff wrote: »

As usual, anything to do with finance is presented in a patronising and basic manner by the BBC, probably because the people making the programme didn't understand the subject matter and were relying on some guardian journalist who didn't understand it either to explain it to them.

I'm not convinced that Sky are much better. I remember one of their reporters talking about the indignation regarding their CEO's retirement package. He said "I can't see what the fuss is about, it's only gone up a small amount (can't remember the numbers it was something like £600 to £650k pa). But he completely ignored the fact that the new package involved retiring significantly earlier, as though there was no financial impact from that. I would have thrown something at the telly if I wasn't MSE and mindful of the consequences.

vivatifosi

chewmylegoff wrote: »

it's not like it's difficult to check either is it. you don't need to be able to do the maths, as you can just read the bit in slightly smaller letters underneath the price on the shelf which tells you what the cost / kg (or cost / some other measure) is. don't all supermarkets have this?

Precisely! The only time there's ever an issue is with chocolate, where sometimes you have price per unit vs price per kg. In such circumstances one should of course just buy all of it and enjoy munching through the stash. Oh I love chocolate. Yummmmmmmm

Malcolm.

Nappies are a difficult one. The different quantity packs have different special offers at any one time and the price per nappy amount displayed is pre 2for1. Requires mental arithmetic, or a phone with calculator.

Whilst on a poo theme. An item I find misleading is toilet roll. Andrex standard has 240 sheets per roll, the aloe vera one only has 160 or 180. On the face of it, seeing a discounted nine pack of aloe vera cheaper than the standard sort makes the punter want to buy aloe vera, unless they check the small details on the TT packs.

Malcolm.

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'm not convinced that Sky are much better. I remember one of their reporters talking about the indignation regarding their CEO's retirement package. He said "I can't see what the fuss is about, it's only gone up a small amount (can't remember the numbers it was something like £600 to £650k pa). But he completely ignored the fact that the new package involved retiring significantly earlier, as though there was no financial impact from that. I would have thrown something at the telly if I wasn't MSE and mindful of the consequences.

I've often thought the broadcasters need more specialist financial interviewers/reporters. The amount of out and out lies (or I think the PC term is misleads) interviewees get away with unchecked simply because the person conducting the interview isn't versed in economics is mind boggling.

chewmylegoff

Malcolm. wrote: »

Nappies are a difficult one. The different quantity packs have different special offers at any one time and the price per nappy amount displayed is pre 2for1. Requires mental arithmetic, or a phone with calculator.

Whilst on a poo theme. An item I find misleading is toilet roll. Andrex standard has 240 sheets per roll, the aloe vera one only has 160 or 180. On the face of it, seeing a discounted nine pack of aloe vera cheaper than the standard sort makes the punter want to buy aloe vera, unless they check the small details on the TT packs.

jeeves wipes my @rse. when he's on his break i use the bidet.

zagubov

Malcolm. wrote: »

Nappies are a difficult one. The different quantity packs have different special offers at any one time and the price per nappy is pre 2for1. Requires mental arithmetic, or a phone with calculator.

Whilst on a poo theme. An item I find misleading is toilet roll. Andrex standard has 240 sheets per roll, the aloe vera one only has 160 or 180. On the face of it, seeing a discounted nine pack of aloe vera cheaper than the standard sort makes the punter want to buy aloe vera, unless they check the small details on the TT packs.

Supermarkets price some per roll and some per sheet. Some items are cost per unit, some are cost per 100g, and some per kg - and that's on the same shelf.

And let's not forget the old classic of selling cheaper own-brand versions in wider-necked bottles/ dispensers so the price per weight is irrelevent because you have to waste more with each serving.

vivatifosi

Following the food weight stuff above, DH has just told me this one:

"I had a dream last night that I weighed less than 1000th of a gram. It was amazing. I woke up and thought 0mg!"

GDB2222

Malcolm. wrote: »

Nappies are a difficult one. The different quantity packs have different special offers at any one time and the price per nappy amount displayed is pre 2for1. Requires mental arithmetic, or a phone with calculator.

Whilst on a poo theme. An item I find misleading is toilet roll. Andrex standard has 240 sheets per roll, the aloe vera one only has 160 or 180. On the face of it, seeing a discounted nine pack of aloe vera cheaper than the standard sort makes the punter want to buy aloe vera, unless they check the small details on the TT packs.

You could buy toilet paper by weight reasonably accurately. That would save complicated calculations about number of sheets, size of sheets, thickness, etc. Of course, if a significant number of people started to do that, the manufacturers would just add water to the product.

GDB2222

vivatifosi wrote: »

Following the food weight stuff above, DH has just told me this one:

"I had a dream last night that I weighed less than 1000th of a gram. It was amazing. I woke up and thought 0mg!"

How do you 'tell' that joke. It surely only works well in print?