To say it's time supermarkets were stopped from doing this.

[cupidsgame]

It's the way they try and fool us into buying the dearer product rather than the ones on special offer. Tesco does it blatantly, they put certain products on special offer but the product immediately below the "special offer" is not the one being reduced,

Its more or less the same product but for example, if it's for shampoo the offer might be only for dry hair, but the price tag has the "dry hair" bit in very small letters. So you pick up the shampoo for "greasy hair" thinking you're getting a good bargain only to find at the checkout that it's the full price.

It's legal I know but I wonder how much they make from duping their customers this way. The trouble is as well the staff always try and blame you for not reading the offer properly and imply you're being a bit dim. Anyone else get annoyed at this. Surely they shouldn't be allowed with getting away with it.

I stack shelves. And we are told exactly where to place the products and the signs they are very perticula about this. Although the store I work in I don't think is guilty of misleading customers. Our offers are all usually in one section. But even though I work in retail so know all the tricks of the trade. I still get bamboozled by this. That's why I stick to aldi now. Sick of getting conned with "special offers"

When I worked for Sainsburys - 34 years ago - the store layout was known at head office. Displays were set there and sent out to the stores.

They knew what products were on what shelves, and how many cases a shelf could hold.

Admittedly they were very early IT adopters, but I can't see things going backwards.

(All of this makes the wheelchair unfriendly layout of modern stores even more inexcusable - to refer to another thread).

I think the bl*y supermarkets are all at it, trying to fool us. It seems now that the entrenched belief that the larger the size the more economical the unit price is no longer the case - I have sometimes checked and found that two of the smaller size are a better buy than the large, and although I won't bore you with all the details I had to check a price in Waitrose the other day as an item came up on my self scanner as twice the price on the ticket; assistant tried to fob me off with a ludicrous 'explanation', then said she would check it and hey presto - wrong price on the item barcode. That would have cost me an extra £6.20 if I hadn't noticed. Boots are also offenders with special offers - I have lost count of the times I have checked my receipt as I have left and found the 'bargain' code has not been placed on the item although it is on the shelf ticket. Who has the time to keep checking? Even if you do, there are better ways to spend your life than queuing up and arguing the toss in a supermarket.

That's why I love aldi!

No rubbish from them, it's all good value.

Tesco's get my blood boiling when they a) don't put a price ticket on the shelf in the first place and there's s never anyone around to ask or b) have a price ticket on but it is the wrong one,or someone has put the wrong product there or c) there is a ticket saying that the product is on special offer but the offer finished a day or 2 before,but nobody has bothered to remove the ticket! IMO Tesco are the worst offenders for these things. I think their problem is that they are so damn big that they think they are above the law. Don't get me started on their goods that are past their sell-by date.

Nescafé , to use an example, will pay extra for their prominence on a shelf

I thought this was now prohibited under the Groceries Code?

Supermarkets are having to clean up their pricing practices - the Competition and Markets Authority published a report very recently due to the supercomplaint from Which?

Fv45 I agree with you on the confusing fruit and veg pricing, I'm glad I'm not the only one who hates this. Every time me and my fella are in the veg section I moan about it and I do his head in lol

It's also annoying when they re package stuff or change the product slightly then say it's new so you want to try it. This happens with toiletries quite a lot.

Another thing I've noticed on several occasions is an offer - such as 3 for 2 - not registering at the checkout so you end up being charged the full price. Whenever I've queried it I've been fobbed off with comments about it not being programmed in properly.

I expect they make a tidy sum from that little ruse as well.

The corner shop near my work often has signs saying "£1" by the soft drinks display, but it only applies to certain drinks (normally to coke/fanta/etc or water but not to the 'premium' things like those bottled Starbucks drinks)... so I check the sign before choosing a drink.

I know it's annoying, but it takes literally 20 seconds to double check.

I don't think they fool us. I always compare prices of multi packs. Always look at the offers and work out if it's worth it. Use the my supermarket app to compare shops. You're only fooled if you're too lazy to look properly.

I genuinely think it is one of the reasons that Aldi and Lidl are so popular these days.

None of this "3 for 2 cheapest free BOGOF quadruple loyalty points" offer crap that no bugger can work out. Including the shops themselves it seems.

In Tesco today tins of tuna at 1.50 euro, a pack of 4 was 9.50 euro. I thought this must be a mistake, surely a multi pack should work out cheaper. I was amazed, even by Tescos standards, this takes some beating. It doesn't make sense

I hate the way Sainsbury's spits out all those paper vouchers especially the ones where they tell me they own me £1.02p which they know most people don't claim back. SCAM!

Oh God, Sainsburys.

Your shop is £0.02 cheaper than Asda.

The nearest Asda is 25 miles away.

no, it's the other way round: oops, asda was 2p cheaper. here is you 2p off voucher for your next shop which expires the day before you next shop with us.

One small tip if you buy reduced items. In certain supermarkets, the reduced item has two labels - one big one - usually at the front - with the reduced price and new barcode and one smaller, blank one - usually at the back - covering the original barcode so that it can't be read.

On numerous occasions, I've noticed in my local supermarket that the small one is missing so that the item is scanned through at the original price. I'm sure it's just lack of attention on the part of supermarket staff but - check those receipts!

Of course it's deliberate - expensive stuff is put at Ms 5'4" - 5'7" eye-line height

Loud proclamations about bargains which aren't

Bamboozling information about price per this, that or the other unit

I waste a lot of brain-power trying not to be ripped off while I'm shopping & it's not easy, especially in a rush - nothing thick about me either A level Maths, three degrees, several postgrad qualifications

I get totally pissed off with the permanent "special offers" in Tesco....kilo of salmon for six quid....it's on permanent sale.

Cozietoesie. Co-op are terrible for this. Bought a sandwich 3 days in a row with a reduced sticker on the front and nothing on the back. When I said they had overcharged me, the cashier apologises and says she hasn't seen the reduced sticker! Really 3 days running?

LittleMissUpset I used to work in a supermarket on checkouts as well, and I had to deal with the fallout of misleading prices at the till. It was all more cock-up than conspiracy - the place I used to work for were very poor at training their staff (they made you stare at a DVD for a few minutes, answer a few multiple-choice questions and hey presto, you were qualified to operate heavy equipment ) and 'put-backs' were often done by staff who were as bewildered by the labyrinthine layout of the store as the customers. Stocking the shelves was mostly the responsibility of the night staff, who might not unreasonably be less than accurate at 3am. And I don't think there was much will to make the shelf tickets any clearer, no matter what impression the sloganeering from the management top brass might have given.

V interesting thread, just marking place

I can only conclude from this discussion that there are more semi literate, innumerate, thick as 2 short planks people in the country than I initially thought.

It's basic reading and adding up - if you can't manage that then who the hell employed you?

Apologies if you have already seen this. But be careful what you wish for!

How fucking rude t4gnut
My DM is innumerate. She had a horrible abusive childhood, barely attended school and, like 50% of the population, is of below average intelligence.
She gets by but it's wrong of supermarkets to purposely make things more confusing and difficult. Many get confused but it's obviously much harder for those with learning difficulties, or are as thick as two short planks as you'd say.