Even with Coles, one doesn’t know the exact price of their order until it is packed ready for delivery…thus reducing the requirements for a purchase transaction adjustment like Woolworths. I expect that Coles would be a day or so after the online order is placed before the final packed price is known.
The only real ways to get around this for online shopping would be to have every loose product sold by weight the same weight. This would be problematic for foods like meat where there can be variation between each item…and taking such approach may mean that the item delivered may have something taken from it to standardise the weight. I can see that this would give rise to complaints as it may increase the ratio of bone to meat or for a steak to look like someone has taken a bite.
The only way to possibly know exactly the price when one makes the purchase decision is to buy loose fresh items with a per weight price in store.
The only way to have that surety is to buy only fixed price items, things that might meet this are packages of meat or vegetables that are pre-packed to a price, such things as $8 packs of sausages, packs of patties and similar.
+1 to @Fred123’s comment, both Woolies and Coles have a number of meats packed as standard weights for a fixed price. Woolies and Coles both sell mince in standard weights, and comparatively recently various steaks have been on offer for ‘standard’ weights as well as by the kg. The ‘standard’ weights have that pesky ‘e’ - an example is this 400g package, on sale for $13 per package, normally $15. The signage in our local also shows the per kg unit prices. There are similar offers for eye filet (regular, grass and premium varieties), rump steaks, scotch fillets, and more…
There are meat products which aren’t packed to a standard weight…roasts (beef, pork), whole hams, whole chickens, seafood etc which are each labelled and sold based on their individual weights. I am not for having every thing sold as a standard weight as often items of the standard weight will not be big enough for some families but, two, far too big (potentially creating waste). The ability to have some products of differing weights suits some consumers. While online, the weight chose is less likely to exist, if they adopt standard product weights for every product online, this is likely to also become standard in stores for a number of reasons (principally since many stores pack the delivered groceries).
The other examples would be fruit where it isn’t opportunity for standard weight packing. An example would be sweet potato, watermelons, paw paw etc.
Use the scales present in the store…or it will be shown at the check out when the purchase is made.
Sweet potato our local Woollies is sold per kilo (there used to be also prepacked sweet potato in 1kg lots, but haven’t seen these for a while).
Likewise with bananas, broccoli, pumpkin, garlic and carrots…loose ones are sold $ per kilo. If one buys online, one better hope that that get a generous bag packer who picks a big one rather than a small one.
Based on these, I don’t think I would ever use online shopping for fresh foods…well, we don’t use generally Woollies/Coles for such foods but a local green grocer owned by a local farmer.
I always check the pricing that’s why i like to scan my own, gives me time and ability to look at the costs. You cannot trust the Supermarkets to be fair.
We should have a law in place to force all supermarkets to stop unfair trading.
It’s your credit & Woolworths is using it to get interest on it. It may only be a dollar or 2 on your account but when all those over-charges are added together Woolies is making a packet. And the credit card company will be adding up the interest on your card. Unless you can pay that off before they charge you interest you are losing. I don’t have a credit card, only a debit card. I loathe being in debt especially to financiers.
I specifically visited our local Woollies today before shopping at Coles.
None of the fresh produce items shown on their website priced per item were actually displayed as such.
All were priced per kilo as always.
Looks like the whole issue is just another example of Woollies incompetence.
However, Coles had packs of Coles Finest Angus Rib Fillet dated 18.01.2021 marked down by 30% and trays of Luv A Duck A L’orange Duck Legs dated 23.06.2021 for just $7.00, save $7.50.
There is a reason for them to not be the same. The goods are being selected in different ways by different people at different times. For online purchases there have to be compromises on foods that need to be weighed unless you pay after they are picked and weighed, which has its own problems.
Selling veges by each online that are usually sold by weight is one such compromise. As mentioned previously regarding non-prepack meat there are other ways to do it such as maximum estimates at order time which are then adjusted after weighing.
All of these three methods have drawbacks.
If woolies choose a compromise that you don’t like that is hardly incompetence, especially if you don’t like any of them.
So have you actually seen these loose fresh produce items priced as individual items as opposed to by weight at Woollies in either an online order you did or in store, or are you just being pedantic with no personal evidence?
