What has that got to do with the change of the method of collecting unemployment statistics in 1978?
https://www.aap.com.au/prices-climb-but-nothing-in-it-for-farmers/
Nothing for the farmers? How unusual.
2 Likes
I notice a consistent ‘all-in’ trend that some price increases are done in the following manner.
Product normal price over time was $10.
It has been advertised on sale for $5, banner of 50% off, regular price shown as $10.
Then the increase.
Product on sale for $5.50, banner of 50% off, regular price shown as $11.
The banner headline the marketeers use is ‘50% off’, diverting attention that the price went up by 10%. Watch for it.
edit: this morning I notice another where the banner is $ saved. A product was long sold on sale at $6.40 banner with $0.60 off. Today it is on sale for $7.00 at $1.00 off. Now there is more off so it must be a good deal?!?
3 Likes
On this topic, today I saw another sneaky price increase under the cover of the coronavirus.
My usual afternoon pick me up is a “short” (237ml) cup of Starbuck’s brewed coffee (aka “Pike Place”).
A couple of months ago, early in the Sydney lock down it sold for $3.25. The same price as last year.
Today it sells for a whopping 32% more, that is $4.30.
When I asked the girl (I thought she was on work experience) serving me “hey, what’s the story? Only a couple of months ago it was $3.25”.
She replied “true, but Starbucks has recently improved some of their prices”.
I did not challenge her on her choice of adjective: “improve”.
Maybe she thought I was a shareholder, when in fact I am a mere customer.
6 Likes
Depends on which side of the counter you usually stand if it is an improvement or not, not always about who is a shareholder or not. 
4 Likes
How did you determine that the price rise was under the cover of COVID?
1 Like
What I meant was that the increase was made while the stores were to all intents and purposes, shut.
Starbucks couldn’t possibly have the increase noticed less by customers given: their stores are mostly open to take away only and then only if one dares to enter a site that has its chairs stacked on tables and unless closely inspected, looks shut.
When I visited there was one employee working front of house (as it were) and I was the only customer and it still took a while between ordering and receiving my coffee. Only when I sat down near a window, waiting, did a couple of customers come in thinking it indeed is open, notwithstanding how the chairs were stacked.
1 Like
That is true.
1 Like
Hi
I just wanted to put forward an observation from my weekly shop. I wonder if anyone else has noticed same.
For example :
- during a ‘sale’ an item is often tagged with a discount price that is supposedly half the regular price, when in actual fact the sale price differs very little from the regular price
Ice cream is an example of this that I have often seen advertised, as well as laundry detergent. Here is a snapshop of laundry pricing. Has anyone seen this product advertised at a normal price of $24.85??
- also, price increases for certain goods are moderated by reducing the package quantity, though the overall price hike can be over double. Does this get picked up by the CPI?
I also have a photo (unable to post due to size limitations) example of lentil prices. My usual 1kg bag of lentils was $4.40 but is now being sold at $2.30 for a packet one third the size. That’s a unit price increase from 61c/100g to $1.50/100g. And this is ignoring that 2-3 years ago I regularly picked up same brand of pulses on sale at 99c for 375g.
- I’ve also noticed that the supermarkets have tempered their price rises for the kinds of products most likely to be in the CPI basket, such as basic essentials like bread, flour, pasta, plain cereal like weetbix, sugar, etc. Meanwhile if you want to buy a treat like chocolate, ice cream or biscuits then you could be paying double what you were pre covid.
Is this the supermarkets’ way of boosting bottom line without alerting the consumer watchdog?
The most galling thing about this is that the supermarkets think that we haven’t noticed. And, unfortunately most people being time poor or trying to limit their time in a supermarket where they may be exposed to covid, they just throw things in their trolley.
And don’t get me started on fruit and veg. If our local greengrocer can offer reasonably priced vegies why can’t a supermarket with huge buying power?
I’ve sent through my examples to Choice Magazine but if anyone has others to add that would perhaps encourage Choice to do a bit more investigating on the consumer’s behalf regarding supermarket price creativity.
2 Likes
Welcome to the Community @Lora
I merged your post into this existing topic that has a few more examples.
I don’t buy Dynamo but have noticed many products subject to the same tagging. The price has gone up but the groceries start by offering it on sale, and then a lesser sale, until the new sale price becomes the ‘expected sale’ price regardless that it is higher. Who would notice (beside us)?
With the supply chain issues, additional costs of cleaning, keeping staff healthy and on the job, fuel, and so on these rises are inevitable.
How it is being done is cynical yet creative.
I cannot comment on that, but last Friday Coles had green beans at $9.90 a kg and the F&V shop next door was $15.99!
1 Like
The standard price at both Coles and Woolworths is $23. It is not unusual for smaller supermarkets to charge 8% higher for laundry products. Do you have a recollection of the non-special price being a lot less in recent times?
Current specials for Dynamo professional include $11.50 for 1.8 litres at Woolworths, $17 for 3.6 litres at Coles and $29 for 5.4 litres at Big W.
I usually find the full price at the major supermarkets of products regularly subject to 50% off sales to be overpriced in comparison to competing products.
The unit prices you have mentioned don’t correspond with your earlier information. A 1kg bag costing $4.40 would have a unit price of 44c/110g and a 375g packet for $2.30 would have a 62c/100g unit price.
2 posts were merged into an existing topic: What food or drink price rises have you noticed recently?
