It's cheaper when you buy things in multipack. Course it is - stands to reason, dunnit? That's what I thought, anyway.
I'm not terribly good at mental arithmetic, but fortunately my antique mobile phone also functions as a simple calculator. So, let's see. . .
Asda's Tiger brand cat food (400g tin, rabbit and chicken in jelly. Yummy, if you're a cat!) - a six-pack of these costs £2.23.
Individually they're 34p each, so 6 of them costs £2.04.
I can only assume that the extra 19p pays for the shrink-wrapped bag that holds them all together!
To be fair to Asda, they aren't actually stating that this particular cat food is cheaper in multipack. They don't have to! The simple fact of a common belief (bulk-buying is cheaper) coupled with the placement of the multipacks right next to individual cans does all their work for them. And the designers of the shelving system know it!
I've been falling for this one for at least six months. Without boring anyone with the maths, it means I've unwittingly given Asda around £1.95 I didn't need to.
That doesn't sound like much until you wonder just how many people buy those multipacks every week or two, and how many other things we may be buying under the same illusion.
That's Asda Price! *ching ching*
Love,
Seán
3 comments:
I always check the shelf-edge label, which gives the price per item/kg/litre or whatever the product comes in.
This is because I am tighter than a fish's bum and will change my brand of bog roll for the sake of 1p.
Howdy brother
Greed and attendant fnords are an international affair.
A similar stunt afflicted my shopping over the price of two 6oz tins of tuna
versus the economy sized 12oz tin.
The two separate 6oz tins were costing
me more than the economy sized 12oz
with the well entrenched mantra of buying in bulk totally bypassing
my normal checking of unit prices
See fnords even make me make typos.
I meant to say that the large 12oz tin of tuna cost me more than the two 6oz tins.
The ingrained notion that buying in bulk saves even managed to affect my expression of the fnord.
Post a Comment