Cheeky trick to avoid price comparison!!!

SAVEALOT

Hi all, this may seem more like a runt, but it's really an honest observation, which has led to continuous frustration for me.

I haver found that, the things that I used to be able to buy, in both my local Asda and Tesco, in very similar sizes and quantities is very hard to come by nowadays.

For example,

Johnsons baby wipes, Asda 4 packs, Tesco only 3 packs.
Malted milk biscuits, Asda 400 grams Tesco 200 grams
Frozen fish ie Haddock Asda 400 grams Tesco 450 grams

Many more examples, but I won't bore anymore. Has anyone else noticed anything similar, or am I being very paranoid?

Edwardia

That's why I resort to using the calculator on my BlackBerry online and instore.

It would be useful if MSE did some number crunching from all the prices we put up to actually say if you can get cheese for x per kilo that's great or the average this week is y per kilo.

Owain_Moneysaver

You will find the same thing in power tools in DIY sheds, Argos etc.

Same product but with a different model number eg XYZ1000BQ instead of XYZ1000 - price comparison does not apply.

Lugh_Chronain

The following has been mentioned on here a few times.

Check the boxes of supermarkets own brand wholewheat biscuits and you will most likely find they all carry the community trade mark number 834150. It appears they are all made by Weetabix and have been for some time apparently, with the exception of the value ranges.

There also appears very little difference from one store to the next as well.

http://www.supermarketownbrandguide.co.uk/search.php?SearchString=Weetabix&score=&price=0&pricevalue=0.00&aldi=1&asda=1&coop=1&lidl=1&marks=1&morrisons=1&sainsburys=1&tesco=1&waitrose=1&Search.x=0&Search.y=0

geordie_joe

Lugh_Chronain wrote: »

The following has been mentioned on here a few times.

It it has been wrong every time.

Lugh_Chronain wrote: »

Check the boxes of supermarkets own brand wholewheat biscuits and you will most likely find they all carry the community trade mark number 834150. It appears they are all made by Weetabix and have been for some time apparently, with the exception of the value ranges.

the number doesn't mean it was made by wheatabix, it just means it was made to a shape that wheatabix have the trade mark on.

Haffiana

It also doesn't mean it was made to the same recipe. I have seen hundreds of threads on here about 'X's baked beans being made at the same factory as Heinz' or 'Y's value chocolate biscuits made by McVities' etc etc. Yes, of course they are made in the same factory, because the factory makes baked beans, or biscuits, or whatever, and has the production capacity, but the mix of ingredients in the product can be quite different, the cooking time, the quality grade of the ingredients - it is all controlled and computerised down to the last gram.

It does happen that the end of a brand production run can overrun and be packaged up as a 'value' item. But that doesn't mean that the next production run of that 'value' item will be the same. What you are buying with a brand name is consistency - the item will be designed to always look and taste the same. You get what you expect, each time. A 'value' brand will vary wildly in quality as it is made with whatever ingredients are cheap, in season, Grade B, or have had slight processing errors that caused them to be rejected for the brand name item (overtoasted oats or slightly burned chocolate or whatever).

This is one reason that you get one poster here saying how good Z's own-brand (value) eg mayonnaise is, and another saying that it was utterly disgusting. They are not necessarily talking about the same product - the only thing the two mayonnaises might have had in common was the label on them.

Broke_n_Broken

Yes OP, have noticed that, I really gets on my nerves. It helps when they give price per kilo/100g but they sometimes get this wrong. They're crafty with that too, using per kilo for one brand and 100g for another/own.
I'm poor, I need to compare own label & value items too, I don't care if I get 3 grams more in this, an extra pea in that...GAHH!!!

@Haffiana it's not just the value ranges that vary, I had a very nice £1 ASDA pizza in wales a month ago, get home and it's the same crud as Tesco's.
It was a nice surprise cracking open value biscuits & finding mcVities stamped on them. Was a while ago though.