Forum Topic

Tesco's reach a new bottom?

Popping in for some items yesterday I noticed that it is cheaper to buy 2 x 9toilet rolls than it is to buy 18 toilet rolls - quite the opposite of what one might expect: usually, you buy bulk and get a better price.This was replicated throughout the store: it was cheaper to buy single boxers of tissues than it was to buy the dual pack for instance.  Are Tesco's exploiting our expectations to make a few extra bob at a time when the pennies really do matter: every little helps, as someone once said.Perhaps a representative from the store would explain this anomaly?

Jon Hardy ● 5267d4 Comments

Actually it's not just Tesco it's all supermarkets.  A few weeks ago one Saturday morning on BBC news they demonstrated such "Offers" from all leading supermarkets whereby, there were frequently big stickers on shelves advertising say, 2 for 1 BUT the offer price was frequently more than the actual price of 2 individual products!  If you see what I mean?  i.e. 2 for 1 jars of Lloyd Grossman sauce £2 - or 1 jar of Lloyd Grossman sauce 89p.  This was replicated many times over and as I said by all supermarkets so, the moral of the story is, don't be lulled by the big stickers.Actually what is required is a PHD in shopping or, about 4 hours to wander round the supermarket really taking note.Just to moan a bit more, yesterday in M & S in Fulham Broadway I bought Singapore Noodles.  The price in front of them said £3.15 (they were not on offer) but when they went through the till they came up at £3.65.  I spoke to a superviser who refunded the 50p but then asked an assistant to put a new price sticker on the shelf as the price had increased.  I know prices are going up but a 50p hike in one go on 1 product is ridiculous.  Clearly this wasn't the only price going up either.  Soon we will all need mortgages for a weeks shopping!

Bernadette Paul ● 5266d

"Are Tesco's exploiting our expectations to make a few extra bob at a time when the pennies really do matter"Yes they are. There are lots of catches unless you are very careful. The bulk buy of cat food in tins is another 'con' Beware also of clubcard vouchers offering special prices or points. The offer may be for a 500gr product and if you mistakenly buy a 325gr packet or tin - No discount.All clever marketing to catch out the punter

Steve Taylor ● 5266d

Another ruse that needs to be looked out for is the placing of large yellow "Special Offer" notices beneath the wrong product.  Not everybody checks their receipt at the point of purchase, especially if feeling pressured by the queue behind.Slightly off-topic but a (hopefully) amusing anecdote - in my pre-vegetarian days I purchased two packets of sliced ham from Tesco in Isleworth which were originally priced at £1.99 on a "two for the price of one" offer.  However these particular packets were on the "reduced" shelf, priced at 99p.  When I checked my receipt I noticed that due to the double reduction the till had priced them at -1p.So having taken my supplies to the car I returned to the store and purchased another 20 packets of said ham and took them to the checkout, whereupon the receipt told me that not only did I not have to pay anything, but the store actually owed me 10p.  The checkout girl called the manager who confirmed the price and told her to give me 10p from the till.The moral of the story is that there is indeed such a thing as a free lunch, just so long as one doesn't mind lunching on 20 packets of cheap and slightly out-of-date sliced ham.

Phil Andrews ● 5267d

This has always gone on - you need to look at the price (for paper products) per sheet, and for stuff like Marmite price per gram, these are in tiny print under the big price. Quite often it is cheaper to buy two small jars that together contain the same quantity, or sometimes more, than the bigger single jar does! Even though the so-called bargain price is on the bigger jar/pack. The same applies to washing powder. It's called marketing by the big stores, we call it B/S baffles brains. You have to be extremely careful when shopping and a degree in advanced maths would probably be handy.

Vanessa Smith ● 5267d