To think that Sainsbury's Basics Blueberries shouldn't be...

[itisnotmereallyohnonotatall]

...more per kilo than standard ones? The Basics ones are £1.50 for 125g. The standard ones are £2 for 250g.

I've always found Sainsbury's to be ever so slightly more ethical than some supermarkets so this has flummoxed me!

And yes, I do have other things to worry about...

[phantomnamechanger]

sorry but you gotta LOL at this -

I even look at price per sheet of toilet per roll, before I buy. hmm

[OHforDUCKScake]

"Diddle they do"

That made me laugh, sounds like something Rolf Harris would play.

[phantomnamechanger]

don't mention RH

I loved him. Don't know what to think now

[PeppiNephrine]

Its not wrong, its capaitalism. People seem to think that shops are under some kind of obligation to you to make it all easy for you. They only want your money, there is no sticker on it saying this is always meant to be cheaper than something else.....

[phantomnamechanger]

I love my bargains! even my kids are trained to look for the best buys, by comparing weights/BOGOFs etc

[nemno]

I am off shopping at Sainsbury's at the mo because of their ridiculous substitution policy on offers (delivery of course). But one thing that I've noticed across various supermarkets is that instead of reducing in season fruit they offer it as a BOGOF. I don't want double the amount, I just want to shop the way we are all being encouraged to ie locally/seasonally with no waste.

[moogy1a]

Walnuts and almonds in the baking section are much cheaper than in the snack section
that's because snacks are subject to VAT and baking ingredients aren't, so just by putting them in a smaller packet and calling them snacks, they make it liable to VAT. The quality is no different. ( same with raisins)

[Beastofburden]

yes, I left Sainsburys as their delivery was utter crap. tescos werent a lot better. Vans broke down, daft substitutions, etc.

With Ocado, you book the slot before you do the order, so you can't buy stuff that isnt in stock. I almost never get a sub or missing item now....

[HorryIsUpduffed]

If your children are only going to eat 100g then it's irrelevant what the cost per kilo is.

My children are wasteful eating apples - never get terribly far in. So I'd rather buy smaller ones at 16p each than large ones at 20p each even though it's more expensive per kilo, because the per-unit price is what matters to us.

[limitedperiodonly]

When Sainsbury is responding to the consumer asking for cheaper blueberries, they offer cheaper blueberries. In smaller boxes because they need to keep their profit margins

I understand this quintessential but it's not what most people understand the Basics line to be. And it's not what Sainsbury's market it as.

I checked with my husband, who's a clothing retailer, in case I was being precious. He regards it as sharp practice. His clothes aren't cheap but his prices are easily understood.

[ItIsKnown]

Dried apricots are always FAR cheaper in the baking section than by the fruit bit, always wondered why so thanks for that moogy!

[limitedperiodonly]

Its not wrong, its capaitalism. People seem to think that shops are under some kind of obligation to you to make it all easy for you.

pippi as I've just said, my husband is a retailer, so we know all about capitalism in this house.

He's a very small one, so he can't afford to piss off his customers. Sainsbury's is huge, so they can. That's capitalism in action, I suppose. It's not very pleasant though, is it? Especially when a retailer poses as a chum, when they're not.

DH sometimes bemoans that he can't sell a shirt for the price they're charging in Bond Street, even if it's an identical shirt from the same factory.

Hey-ho. We make a living. It's just that nobody needs that many shirts, or blueberries for that matter. But they do need other food which Sainsbury's likes to call Basics.

It seems people need good maths skills or calculators when going round supermarkets. A big family or a big freezer would also help.

[PeppiNephrine]

I don't think its meant to be pleasant. You don't really need good maths skills, the labels usually give you a per kilo price so you can see at a glance what is better value. If people can't be bothered to read a label right in front of them, its their own problem.

[LynetteScavo]

Really. I've just been conned, as I'm just back from stocking up. I usually think people who fall for this are stupid. I did do a quick look, and thought they were both 150g, as I wanted 200g per person.

I'm my defense DD was getting a bit over excited about greengages being the biggest grapes she has ever seen.

[FrameyMcFrame]

The Basics Blueberries are actually nicer than the normal ones though

[limitedperiodonly]

You do need good maths skills to negotiate the prices in supermarkets that switch between imperial and metric, loose and packaged.

Supermarkets know this and they know that many people don't have them and are embarrassed to admit it.

This is a first world problem, I know, but I asked someone only the other day about a bottle of wine where the pricing wasn't clear. Was that an accident? Of course it wasn't, because the till captain ordered someone to put a price on it as soon as I complained.

I think the manager thought people would put it in their trolley without bothering to think about it. Maybe they'd be embarrassed to ask. But I did. Do you know what? It was £12.99. I put it back.

Nobody needs to buy alcohol. They do need to buy food though, and they deserve clear prices.

[LynetteScavo]

This is why I do my main shop at Aldi.

I am too thick to work out all the special offers in Sainsbury's. I only go there for my treat food we don't really need, when I can't be bothered to drive across town.

[Therealamandaclarke]

In Lidl they are less than 90p for a punnet. I think it's about 125g.
No bad-uns.

[Therealamandaclarke]

We don't have aldi.

[Therealamandaclarke]

It's tiring and time consuming to work out the pricing and offers IMHO.
Multi- buy offers make we want to cry. Tesco ate the worse or this. I no longer shop there as my cupboards are not capacious enough for their buy - six- get - twelve- for slightly less on a Wednesday - offers.

[PeppiNephrine]

How is it tiring and time consuming to read the labels on the shelves in front of you? That is a total cop out. Get a calculator if you really must, but it takes the math skills of a ten year old to see if one is more costly than another.

[ItIsKnown]

Supermarkets are untrustworthy bastards but I was gratified by a particular pricing glitch which meant I got to buy an second bottle of wine for one pence. I wanted to go back every day until they noticed their fuck-up.

[QuintessentialShadows]

It is not as bad as Tesco though.

When shopping online, they sometimes display the vegetable in question lose, even if pacakged together with other vegetables, so unless you read how many grams/kgs, you cannot easily gauge how much is in "one pack". They seem to change around the weights too, make the packages smaller on a regular basis. Packs which used to contain enough for serving mixed veg on the side for two dinners, are now only big enough for one dinner. They have gone from 320g to 200g (or thereabouts) Price looks the same. Packaging looks the same, it is just smaller quantities than it used to be. It is made to be confusing to the consumer so they dont actually get enough food in their order.

Waitrose is not as expensive as they used to be. I run a supermarket comparison software, so get alternative baskets in other leading brands displayed in the left corner, so can easily see where I get best value.

Sainsbury is much more expensive than all the rest.

[limitedperiodonly]

This is probably illegal and has been in Britain and Europe since about 1964.

But some people here seem to think it's okay for retailers to behave like this in the spirit of capitalism, because despite the law, we should just know, shouldn't we?

I can only assume they are major shareholders or just daft.

[Therealamandaclarke]

PeppiNephrine "how is it tiring and time consuming to read the labels on the shelves in front of you?*

Well, I'm not sure how, it just is ime.
Nothing to do with my maths skills, it's just that in a large store if I am choosing a laundry detergent, for example, and I want to get the best vfm I need to check cross brands/ cross size / cross type (tablet, powder etc) and also check the "offers". That is more time consuming than simply picking the obvious "value" choice. It used to be consistently better value to buy a "family size" pack of something or other. Now, that isn't the case and if I do that on most items in a store then it adds time. I am very tired ATM and very busy. So I avoid the large mainstream stores. Lidl is small and almost always better value with pretty cent produced IMHO and waitrose, although not cheap, still compares reasonably with sainsbury or tesco and has very good produce and nice treats. And both Lidl and waitrose tend to have smaller storeands upper bonus) and I find they also both have fewer multibuy "offers" which actually tend to not be all that great.