Less content, but a higher price: the daring tricks in the supermarkets cause the telephones of the Chamber of Labor to overheat. There they criticize the sometimes opaque gauntlet that runs through the shelves.
“Daily shopping is increasingly becoming a glove for the consumer,” criticizes the Lower Austrian Labor Chamber. Because the tricks companies use are becoming more and more daring. While hidden price increases have long been common in supermarkets by secretly reducing the contents of the package at the same price, manufacturers have gone a step further since the price increases began.
375 instead of 500 grams
Not only does the content of certain products decrease, they also become more expensive. There are only 375 grams in the meat cup instead of 500 grams, hygiene products contain only ten pieces instead of twelve, the content of ready-made meals drops from 250 to 220 grams, and all this with an additional cost of an average of ten percent. “The product price looks more acceptable at first glance. “But the basic price is rising significantly,” say the consultants, whose complaints are now piling up.
Legally speaking, the companies are not responsible for anything. “The more creative the format and less transparent the packaging, the more difficult it is to do daily shopping,” is how the Chamber of Labor describes a facial toner whose packaging is three times as large as the contents. “It is therefore particularly important to provide consumers with comprehensive information and education so that they can make a good decision when shopping,” says President Markus Wieser.
Comparing is worth it
The most important criterion for estimating a price is the cost per piece, 100 grams or 100 milliliters. “These largely need to be identified,” says Wieser. For example, he refers to the online portal preisrunter.at, which is supported by the chamber and compares prices in supermarkets on a daily basis. It is surprising what increases are sometimes visible there, says Wieser.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
