price reduction?

[doug3030]

About once a fortnight we buy a supermarket roast chook. It is not worth cooking one yourself when you can buy it for $7.80 - 8.00.

Today I went into (a well known supermarket) which had been selling roast chooks for $7.80 for a long time now. They made a big deal about the price being reduced from $11.00 to $7.80 when they dropped the price ages ago.

Today they were selling the chooks for $7.90. Ok, fair enough, things go up. But there was a sign next to the chooks claiming that the price had been reduced from $11.00 to $7.90. In fact it had gone up 10 cents. I wonder if they put the price up to $11.00 for five minutes so that they could legally make that claim but either way I feel that it is deceitful. Other than that I have not paid $11.00 for a chook in a hell of a long time.

I went to the other end of the shopping centre to another well-known supermarket and paid $8.00 for a roast chook. It cost me 10 cents and a short walk but I see that as money and effort well spent to buy from the supermarket that had not just played us all for fools.

Of course I know it does not really matter and the one I bought the chook from today will be the next one to treat us like fools but it made me feel better at the time.

Cheers

Doug

[Ubernoob]

I see no issue with it, all the ones I have seen have a date of when they were at the higher price so if it's still under that it is fine by me.

Breeding, killing and cooking an animal for $8 is insane though, I'll grab the free range one if they have one. I went through a battery farm as a kid and I was horrified at how the chickens were kept, I'd assume the ones for consumption would be in similar conditions.

[FenceFurniture]

They reduced them from $10 to $8 up here, but with a commensurate drop in size, so where we used to get 2 feeds each we only get 1½ now.

[doug3030]

I see no issue with it, all the ones I have seen have a date of when they were at the higher price so if it's still under that it is fine by me.

There was no date on these signs, they were just hand-written saying "price reduction was $11.00 now $7.90.


Breeding, killing and cooking an animal for $8 is insane though, I'll grab the free range one if they have one. I went through a battery farm as a kid and I was horrified at how the chickens were kept, I'd assume the ones for consumption would be in similar conditions.

The consumer does not see the hen that lays the egg, they just buy the eggs. The welfare of the bird is just above the threshold where a presnetable egg is produced, and that is an egg presentable to the average consumer. As a former breeder of exhibition poultry I a pretty fussy about the eggs I buy and most of what is sold as "free range" is definitely not.

The meat birds that the supermarket roasts are actually seen by the consumer, once plucked and cooked of course, and they are not very old when they are slaughtered. They are grown for anly a few weeks as opposed to battery hens which may be producing eggs for a year or more. Meat chooks get a better deal than the battery hens - up until the point of early termination of life of course.

[nrb]

This is a little away from the post but on the subject of supermarkets
What really p.....es me of is how you can go to the fast checkout line with just a few items,wait your turn behind four or five people and along comes some one to buy something on the front counter AND THEY GET SERVED STRAIGHT AWAY
Not the fault of the young person at the checkout but the managers ,is it that the store would rather sell cancer sticks at a bigger profit margin than a loaf of bread at a lower margin
I wonder!!

[Ubernoob]

There was no date on these signs, they were just hand-written saying "price reduction was $11.00 now $7.90.



The consumer does not see the hen that lays the egg, they just buy the eggs. The welfare of the bird is just above the threshold where a presnetable egg is produced, and that is an egg presentable to the average consumer. As a former breeder of exhibition poultry I a pretty fussy about the eggs I buy and most of what is sold as "free range" is definitely not.

The meat birds that the supermarket roasts are actually seen by the consumer, once plucked and cooked of course, and they are not very old when they are slaughtered. They are grown for anly a few weeks as opposed to battery hens which may be producing eggs for a year or more. Meat chooks get a better deal than the battery hens - up until the point of early termination of life of course.

Fair enough, all the signs at my local are printed.

I did suspect that the free range thing was a bit of a leg pull as so many brands just popped up with FR eggs, I can't imagine they would have just been sitting on a bunch of vacant land for no real reason. There have been a few reports of them being as you say too so I guess that really makes me like the buyer of the cheaper stuff, just a bit poorer but with a feeling of superiority, hahaha!

My local Coals also run on a first in first served for the ciggy/checkout operation, couldn't really fault my local until they pulled buttermilk and molasses. How am I supposed to make a good schnitzle or sauce? Life is so tough.

[woodPixel]

... is it that the store would rather sell cancer sticks at a bigger profit margin than a loaf of bread at a lower margin
I wonder!!

They need to serve those clients faster, for like the roasting crooks, their lifespan is so much shorter!

I have a friend who is an acturarilist (??sp)... He thinks smokers are societies best deal ever. They pay hoards of tax, die young and die fast. Their treatments are limited to cheap generic surgeries and generic chemos plus they don't get the chance to collect on an aged pension for 30 years. He reckons the government is crazy to stop people smoking.

Still, line pushers get my goat :)

[doug3030]

Still, line pushers get my goat :)

THey need their fix, so they will wait, so they will still die young. Trouble is - it costs us all a royal fortune to support the last six months of their lives, reputedly a lot more they pay in tobacco tax over thier lifespan

[smidsy]

There is a certain well known supermarket who has a brand of cheese slices I like.
I went in one day and the cheese slices had a big label proclaiming their new lower price - I knew this was crap because (A) I bought them every week and knew what the price was, and (B) by sliding the new lower price label along I revealed the normal label which gave the old price - the same as the new lower price.
I took a pic and blasted off an email to the supermarket, got a nice reply back saying it was a new staff member who'd made an error.
The false lower price label disappeared for 2 weeks and then came back.
A definate scam, but one of many.

[woodPixel]

(background: I worked at the Trading Post for 6 years and we had in-house counsel. I worked with him on all the business deals. Good bloke too, very smart.)

This conversation reminds me of discussions we'd have on false discounting and the Trade Practices Act: https://www.accc.gov.au/business/pricing-surcharging/displaying-prices#two-price-comparison-advertising

Obviously the ACCC is an castrated toothless tiger, but it might be worth making a political stink over this. Write some emails to a few MP's and senators?

Nothing gives me more glee than seeing big companies being bollocked.

[smidsy]

In the end I gave up on the two majors and used the local IGA.
The added benefit of IGA for me is that I am a smoker, a smoker who rarely carries cash.
The two majors won't sell tobacco through the check out citing the law, which means two transactions and two queues.
The IGA will sell through the check out so I can do all my shopping in a single transaction without having to queue twice.