When A Bargain Isn’t A Bargain…

Despite everything they say on their adverts, we all know that supermarkets are there to make money but you really do need your wits about you on every shopping trip these days!

During my recent shopping trip to our local large(ish!) Morrisons store I decided to pick up a pack of belly pork slices for dinner – my mum loves them and they are easy to roast in a slow oven and just forget about them for a couple of hours or so.

We only usually buy a small pack of these as pork isn’t the best meat to freeze in our opinion but the ‘Price Crunch’ sticker on the larger pack caught my eye, as it is indeed designed to. However, putting it next to the smaller pack on the same shelf was a shot in the foot for Morrisons as it was clear how much of a bargain it wasn’t!

In the past many of us assumed that larger packs = better value but for some time this has proved to be not as clear cut as it should be. Nowadays all too often larger packs are more expensive than their smaller equivalents, Value ranges cost more than the standard supermarket range and now when they are running a campaign to make you trust that they are lowering prices to save you money, well, the proof that that might not quite be the case is laid out in front of you on the shelves – it’s consumer versus big business and it’s best to check every price and not just trust that the clever advertising can be taken at face value.

pork-belly

The example here with the belly pork slices highlights the problem very clearly. The smaller pack on the left weighs 440 grams and costs £2. The price per kilo is clearly displayed as £4:55/kg but when you look at the larger pack (which many of us would quite justifiably assume would be cheaper anyway) is priced at £2:51 for 525 grams, which works out to £4:78/kg – the large green ‘Price Crunch’ sticker tells us just how much per kilo we are paying but it is actually dearer than the smaller, not ‘Price Crunch’ed pack!

pork-belly-price-1  pork-belly-price-2

So, beware of tempting stickers that try to make you believe that the product is the supermarkets best price for that item…always look at the price/kg and compare everything!

pork-belly-price-crunch

2 thoughts on “When A Bargain Isn’t A Bargain…”

  1. It’s really nice to see you highlighting this as I get so frustrated seeing examples like this all the time whilst shopping. I tend to shop online, so comparing prices can sometimes be easier, but you really have to have your wits about you. Sneaky supermarkets!

    1. Hi Sarah, it’s so easy to trust the supermarkets are really providing us shoppers with ‘bargains’ isn’t it? It takes a little longer but I check every price now! But I do think that supermarkets do need a bit of a kick when it comes to misleading offers.

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