[lozenge]

It is the law, with an exception for small shops, food "to go", etc. But, it only applies to the ordinary price. Any multibuy or conditional offer is excluded. Now stores have started putting the real price behind a free loyalty card without a unit price, and a ridiculous fake price (like, 2x or more) on the ordinary price tag. The Competition and Markets Authority has started an investigation.

[globular-toast]

That's good to know an investigation has been started. I can't believe anyone would fall for the "clubcard price" nonsense but requiring a clubcard and displaying a fake ridiculous price should both be illegal.

[maxehmookau]

It's not a case of "falling" for it. It's a case of being effectively forced to sign up for these schemes to pay a reasonable price for shopping.

I hope the CMA comes down hard. It's disgusting.

[nonrandomstring]

Tesco pioneered some of the most hilariously sharp practices that mean you really need to have your wits (or enough money to not care) with you.

"30p each or only 3 for £1" isn't a joke. I saw this in a London store when they tried making multi-pack offers near the checkout actually more expensive than picking up separate items.

"Meal Deals" are a fantastic scam that charge you more for eating less. If you don't take the crisps or drink it doesn't "count" as the meal-deal, and the individual items cost more. I end up buying an extra bag of crisps I don't want and giving it to the homeless person outside.

Like many British supermarkets they operate a three tier pricing structure, normal, discounted (with yellow labels) and "Clubcard" prices. These are applied to similar items on proximate shelves, so you're never quite sure which ones the offers apply to. Sometimes those little yellow stickers don't scan, and surprise.. you pay the original price.

And don't get me started on automatic checkouts, which are basically "mugging robots" designed to rob humans.

Supermarkets are playgrounds for screwing people over with little mind games. What a desolation of human life for those who waste their days thinking up this shit.

[getwiththeprog]

I kind of consider supermarket practices a "stupidity tax", Ab Fab really has something to take responsibility for here!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsohPbnp1b8

(Skip to 3.25 in the video for the classic quote).

[nonrandomstring]

Thannks for that big laugh, Patsy and Ed never fail to deliver.

[robertlagrant]

> "Meal Deals" are a fantastic scam that charge you more for eating less. If you don't take the crisps or drink it doesn't "count" as the meal-deal, and the individual items cost more.

How is "If you add a third item the price sometimes goes down" a scam?

[globular-toast]

The real price is the "meal deal" price. The individual prices are scam prices which buyers will often pay if they aren't paying complete attention.

[robertlagrant]

I don't think that's quite true. If I just want a bottle of water I wouldn't buy a meal deal to get the real price. Some of the meal deal items are subsidised more than others, it's true, but that doesn't make it a scam. Paying £3.50 or whatever for quite a lot of stuff is pretty amazing.

[globular-toast]

You don't honestly think the supermarkets are letting you have it our of the goodness of their hearts do you? It's obvious what is going on:

* £3.50 is the price. That means they'll make a profit on that. It's a "low" price because it's garbage, tasteless, low-quality junk food,

* The supermarkets know which items are more likely to sell separately. Like your bottle of water example. So those items are individually priced higher while others that rarely sell separately (like sandwiches) will be individually priced low. Whatever it really is, the supermarket has all the data, they know how to win.

Similarly, it's like how people think shoplifters steal from the supermarket. The supermarket knows how much stuff gets stolen each year. They price accordingly. Shoplifters steal from you.

[robertlagrant]

> * £3.50 is the price. That means they'll make a profit on that. It's a "low" price because it's garbage, tasteless, low-quality junk food,

This is wrong. They won't always make a profit. On some items they make a loss.

> * The supermarkets know which items are more likely to sell separately. Like your bottle of water example. So those items are individually priced higher while others that rarely sell separately (like sandwiches) will be individually priced low.

This is also wrong. These items a) have an actual unit price, which will differ depending on various factors, and b) compete with other vendors selling the same or similar, and c) need to be there or shoppers won't go the the shop in the first place.

There are many forces acting on these prices. Thinking profit is the only force is bound to be wrong.

[baz00]

M&S run the real scam. They don't even do a meal deal. It just costs you £7.

[nonrandomstring]

How is "if you try not to eat more than you need and create environmental and energy waste, we will punish you" not a scandal ?

[andyjohnson0]

> And don't get me started on automatic checkouts, which are basically "mugging robots" designed to rob humans.

How does that work? Are you saying they charge more for the same purchases?

[MereInterest]

They charge the same price for slower service.

Please place your item in the bagging area. Unrecognized item in the bagging area. Please scan items one at a time.

[rowanG077]

That an implementation problem. In the Netherlands self checkouts are very quick and painless. There are no weird ceremonials or a bagging area or whatever.

[Gud]

That’s a very specific thing for the UK.

I have not seen those annoying checkout scales anywhere else in Europe.

[Our_Benefactors]

In the USA the implementation of self checkout varies wildly, and seems to be linked to the socioeconomic condition of the neighborhood.

Grocery shopping in rich neighborhood = scale has a large tolerance and will not stop you from continuing to scan if you place something unexpected on it. You can scan and bag in whatever order without the machine making any accusations.

In a poor neighborhood = you scan an item and put it on the scale, then put your bag from home on the scale to bag the first item. The scale is set to a strict tolerance and stops scanning items “UNEXPECTED ITEM IN BAGGING AREA” and you have to wait for an employee to unlock it.

As they say “there’s nothing more expensive than being poor”, and bad self-checkouts is just another factor in that.

[jampekka]

In Finland in some shops you can take a barcode reader and bag the things directly as you go. In the automated counter you just put in the scanner and pay.

There are no scales and nobody would notice if you just don't scan the item. In theory there are "random" checks. I've never seen one happen though. Not having a huge desperate underclass makes many things a lot smoother.

[extraduder_ire]

When the unit price is only shown for the non-discounted price, I usually pull up my phone's calculator out of spite if I don't know what it works out to mentally.

Another thing that annoys me is there being no indication of how long a sale or promotion is running. Lidl does this correctly, and puts a to/from date on the price tag in tiny text. (for internal use, I assume. but still super useful)

"Clubcard prices" somehow avoid the laws on misleading discounts as well, where the price you're discounting from needs to be the lowest price that product was on sale for for the preceding 30 days.