Cost of living "scam"

[Buckman]

Not a true scam, but recently we have noticed that while the packaging and price remain the same the weight or volume of the contents has been reduced i.e. instead of 500gm margarine it is now 450gms, cat treats 35gm now 30gm. Actually with the latter the price went up £0.20p. This is just from goods purchased recently by us and my eagle eyed OH picked it up.

Have you noticed any goods where price has remained the same or even increased, but contents are less?

 

[otherclive]

Not a true scam, but recently we have noticed that while the packaging and price remain the same the weight or volume of the contents has been reduced i.e. instead of 500gm margarine it is now 450gms, cat treats 35gm now 30gm. Actually with the latter the price went up £0.20p. This is just from goods purchased recently by us and my eagle eyed OH picked it up.

Have you noticed any goods where price has remained the same or even increased, but contents are less?

Yes lots of repacked items like biscuits, fish, bread, milled flax seed, etc. Interestingly the two worst offenders for food price inflation are Aldi and Lidl who are around 25% increase, but their prices though are still lower than the other supermarkets.

 

[Beachball]

We get home delivery from Asda and every week prices have gone up on bread . margarine , cakes semolina 400gm dog treats but we do shop around for stuff

 

[Buckman]

Yesterday I did an order for delivery of goods today . Ginger Ale priced at £0.70p and confirmed in comfirmation of order email.

Today got sent the receipt email and have been charged £0.75 for the Ginger Ale. Only a 5p difference, but is it worth hassle of phoning and complaining on principle or just accepting it and getting on with life?

Just to add not the first, second or third time as this has happened with other goods from the same supermarket.

 

[RogerL]

Not a true scam, but recently we have noticed that while the packaging and price remain the same the weight or volume of the contents has been reduced i.e. instead of 500gm margarine it is now 450gms, cat treats 35gm now 30gm. Actually with the latter the price went up £0.20p. This is just from goods purchased recently by us and my eagle eyed OH picked it up.

Have you noticed any goods where price has remained the same or even increased, but contents are less?

Using a change in the package size to get an increased price per kg, or per gm, has been going on for a long time.

Some supermarkets include the price per kg, or price per 100 gm, as well as the actual price but that can't be relied on as errors can, and do, occur.

What my wife notices is that price changes aren't small nowadays - in the past an item might go up from £1.20 to £1.25 but now it's quite likely to go up from £1.20 to £1.50 in one go.

 

[Buckman]

Using a change in the package size to get an increased price per kg, or per gm, has been going on for a long time.

Some supermarkets include the price per kg, or price per 100 gm, as well as the actual price but that can't be relied on as errors can, and do, occur.

What my wife notices is that price changes aren't small nowadays - in the past an item might go up from £1.20 to £1.25 but now it's quite likely to go up from £1.20 to £1.50 in one go.

Package size remains the same so visually no difference. However it is the contents that are reduced in weight or volume. To demonstrate the sneakiness supermarket normally charged £1.20 for cat treat. The goods then went on special for about 2 weeks with priced reduced down to £1. It was then picked up the weight had been reduced. Now the price is back up to £1.20 for less contents.

 

[GaryB]

"Value engineering" has been around for a long time and goes largely unnoticed. I've been involved in it for the last 35 years, it's all about reducing in-house costs without having to tell anyone you've done it! In my industry it's all about looking at the tolerances of a product and engineering it down to the absolute minimum limit, sometimes the annual cost savings are considerable.

An old saying that I always preached to any of my staff was "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves".

Clever marketing sometimes allows cost savings to be accepted as an improvement by the end user. Walkers crisps now proudly state that their ready salted crisps contain less salt. A definite health bonus but I suspect the real driver was to save money on salt!

 

[otherclive]

Package size remains the same so visually no difference. However it is the contents that are reduced in weight or volume. To demonstrate the sneakiness supermarket normally charged £1.20 for cat treat. The goods then went on special for about 2 weeks with priced reduced down to £1. It was then picked up the weight had been reduced. Now the price is back up to £1.20 for less contents.

I rather suspect that when supermarket annual results are declared there will be some good outcomes. The customer has no way of knowing if the price rise is due to the genuine increase in production costs or just a way of creaming more from the customer. With all of the media publicity wrt food inflation the supermarkets and others have the ideal smokescreen behind which to hide. As Roger says it has been going on fora long while.

WRT hospitality we have cut back significantly from eating out as pubs/restaurants/cafes have all increased prices and several we went to added a service charge of 10-12.5% fora table of four. Service charges only used to be levied in pubs/cafes on bigger tables eg 8+ Needless to say we asked for it to be removed as in the small print it wasn't mandatory.

 

[audiorob]

I think the term is shrinkflation !

 

[otherclive]

"Value engineering" has been around for a long time and goes largely unnoticed. I've been involved in it for the last 35 years, it's all about reducing in-house costs without having to tell anyone you've done it! In my industry it's all about looking at the tolerances of a product and engineering it down to the absolute minimum limit, sometimes the annual cost savings are considerable.

An old saying that I always preached to any of my staff was "look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves".

Clever marketing sometimes allows cost savings to be accepted as an improvement by the end user. Walkers crisps now proudly state that their ready salted crisps contain less salt. A definite health bonus but I suspect the real driver was to save money on salt!

Means the you can now eat more Melton Mowbray pork pie along with Long Clawson Stilton.

 

[GaryB]

Means the you can now eat more Melton Mowbray pork pie along with Long Clawson Stilton.

I'd need Dyno-Rod to sort out my arteries!

 

[Dustydog]

It all started with smaller wagon wheels and mars bars. Crisps used to be 25g now they are 24g and cost more

 

[Buckman]

When supermarkets manipulate the weights and prices surely this should effect the index for inflation etc? Would it perhaps give a false figure?

 

[Raywood]

The practice is so rife now I think we need legislation to make it a requirement that where the size changes it should be clearly indicted on the front of the packaging for say six months. .