I am at the shops with my grocery list. Most of the stuff is pretty standard but we need pine nuts to make pesto. It's not a regular purchase so I really look at the price. The ticket on the shelf says $12.50 for 130 grams.
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When I get to the checkout, I notice two things. One, the packet is actually 110g and two, the price is a terrifying $16. I find the store manager to tell her about the error. She doesn't offer to give it to me at the original price. More, something along the lines of, do you want to put it back on the shelf?
With my beloved, we kept a tight rein on the family budget when we had to. As a young mother, I kept an eye out for specials. But keeping a tight rein on a budget would be a struggle for anyone shopping in a supermarket today to figure out what anything costs, whether it's really on special and even what the cost per 100g, per toilet roll, per tablet, is.
New data from the researchers at Choice confirm all our confusion: "It's tough to work out if a discount is actually on offer."
How does Choice know what we think?
In February 2024, it showed 1000 people nine images taken of supermarket labels using different phrases or terminology. Did those images represent a discount on the usual price? Could shoppers identify a discount easily?
That would be a resounding no.
How special is the special? How far has the price dropped? Choice says the consensus is that there needs to be more clarity, but the major supermarkets deny there is an issue. They deny there is ever an issue about anything.
Of course they do. We've seen Brad Banducci, outgoing chief executive of Woolworths and Leah Weckert, CEO of Coles, have long been in the deny-everything and admit-nothing trolley. Exhausting. Whether it's about pricing or the treatment of suppliers or about market power, we the consumers get nothing.
Choice senior campaigns and policy adviser Bea Sherwood said in a statement: "People are sick of feeling tricked by the specials offered by the big supermarkets."
And the consumer organisation is calling for stronger rules around how prices are displayed, including which terms and colours can be used.
"It is disappointing that none of the supermarkets we spoke to for this story acknowledged the harm that these confusing labels are causing. It is clear we can't rely on the supermarkets to do right by consumers," she said.
I don't want to complain about the folks who staff supermarkets. They are doing their best but they are working in organisations which aren't doing their best. When I bought a dozen containers of my grandson's favourite soy milk (meant to be on sale at a big discount), I had a strange moment of prescience when I decided to take a photo of the shelf label. Why prescient? The till didn't ring up at that price. At that moment I made an $18 fuss and got it as per the sticker.
I didn't make a fuss about the pine nuts for some bizarre reason. I bought them because that's what the recipe called for.
But I want all supermarkets to price goods accurately, both cost and weight. In my fantasy, supermarkets would be absolutely bound to tell consumers if we are buying goods affected by shrinkflation, the practice of reducing the packet size but increasing the cost.
And I desperately want to know if it's really on special.
HAVE YOUR SAY:
What are your most annoying supermarket stories? Ever had an argument at the checkout? And do you think supermarkets will ever tell us the truth? Email us: echidna@theechidna.com.au
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THEY SAID IT: "My conclusion is that Australians are paying prices that are too high, too often. The cause is weak and ineffective competition in too many markets." Professor Allan Fels
YOU SAID IT:
We spend a lot of our time thinking about human health, not so much about animal health.
Karen lives in both Mudgee and in Sydney. She says that in Mudgee there's only "one large animal vet to cover hundreds of kilometres a day, and the occasional trainee who lacks experience. Sadly once the trainees get experience they go elsewhere ... My Sydney vet has gone from three vets to managing a large practice by himself. I need to book weeks in advance for a check up. There needs to be more done to encourage young vets to do large animals and those that don't, to work in family vets. Not everyone can work at a zoo."
Both Maggie and Stephen suggest solutions. Maggie: "One solution would be to accredit vet nurse practitioners, as we have nurse practitioners for people - highly qualified people who can judge when to go ahead on their own and when to call in a vet or doctor."
Stephen: "There should be a HECS credit for those who work in remote and rural areas. It might help the vet problem that we seem to have. As someone who received a free university education I'm appalled at the HECS setup. Not saying it should be free but it seems it could be a lot fairer and used to direct graduates to areas and jobs that need them."
So many of our readers really understood the difficulties of a vet's life.
Lee writes: "We have a beautiful vet for our dog, but I know they also do large animals. This means there are times when some of the vets are out on emergencies as they need to reschedule. I also know our vet has put up signs explaining this and asking people not to be aggressive towards the team. They work bloody hard and need respect."
Coral too: "Our large animal vet left the profession not long after, leaving no vet able or willing to work in the district. Vet work is very taxing, most vets get burnout irrespective of where they work."
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
Jenna Price is a Canberra Times columnist and a visiting fellow at the Australian National University.
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