My partner Shamus got a bit of a shock while grocery shopping when a packet of beef mince he thought cost $10.50 ended up costing exactly double, $21.00.
This was due to a pricing label feature that can easily be confused by busy grocery shoppers.
All he saw was a price label that read “$10.50.” He missed the part where it added ”kg” indicating that the price was per kilo.
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The beef mince packet was two kilos and therefore cost two times that amount.
It wasn’t until he was at the checkout that he realised his mistake.
So for this week’s Supermarket Sleuths I decided to check and see if this price label was still being used, and to see how both Coles and Woolworths fare when it comes to price labels they use for meat products.
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I contacted Coles on Thursday to ask about this particular beef mince price labe,l and was told they are no longer being used. They sent a photo of the beef in question at a store without it.
However, during my Thursday night shopping last night I found them still in use at three New South Wales stores – Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills, and Shamus found them still in use at Penrith.
The Coles spokesperson told 9honey: “At Coles, we know customers are on the lookout for great value, and we have several specials mechanisms which customers can look for in store and online to help them spot great value.
“The per kilo sticker on this meat pack was intended to help customers understand the per kilo price, as we moved to fixed weight packs for these beef mince products.
“The price shown on the shelf ticket displays the total price of the 2kg pack. We have stopped using these stickers now that we have completed the transition to fixed weight packs.”
The labels had been removed at Coles Kellyville.
Clearly it will take some time for the labels to be removed and replaced, but the reason I wanted to highlight it was so others don’t get caught out while grocery shopping this weekend.
Most of us budget to the dollar when it comes to our grocery spend, so an unexpected $10.50 isn’t great.
Coles isn’t alone when it comes to confusing pricing labels, and it is an issue that has been raised by CHOICE, which has contacted the ACCC regarding misleading pricing.
At Woolworths, I discovered inconsistent pricing labels being used on meat products.
What the different sales tags at Coles and Woolies mean
Some products clearly stated the cost per pack on them in a large sticker, and others did not display it so clearly.
Bea Sherwood, Senior Campaigns Advisor at CHOICE, told 9honey they are “advocating for increased transparency in historical supermarket pricing, strengthening unit pricing and the introduction of rules about discounts and promotions and how these should be presented to consumers.”
“As well as economy wide law reforms, such as a ban on unfair trading practices and changes to the Privacy Act.”
CHOICE research has found consumers are finding current pricing practices at the major supermarkets “incredibly confusing.”
“Our research shows that on average one in four people didn’t know whether certain price labels represented a discount on the usual price. We don’t think that’s good enough, consumers should have access to food and groceries at prices that are fair, affordable and transparent.”
Of particular concern to CHOICE are “specials that aren’t really specials, multi-buy deals that push you to buy more than you need in order to get a discount, paying more for less product or feeling forced into joining membership programs to save.”
“People are sick of feeling tricked by the variety of pricing tactics being used,” Sherwood said.
“CHOICE is calling on the government to force supermarkets to make grocery pricing fair and transparent, you can sign our petition at www.choice.com.au/fairersupermarkets
It would be amazing if consistent pricing was used for all products. In an ideal world I’d love to see the cost of each packet clearly displayed on it next to the per kilo price.
These sorts of confusing situations are exactly why I continue to do the majority of my shopping online.
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