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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think that shops charging non-locals higher prices is not on?

391 replies

BBInGinDrinking · 01/09/2019 15:34

We're on a family holiday staying in a rural coastal cottage in the UK and have been doing all our grocery shopping at the local stores in the nearest villages. I discovered on the last visit to a general store in one village that they have two sets of prices - lower ones for locals and higher ones for visitors.

Who knew?! Is this a thing?!

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 12:38

I don't know how it works.

So presumably you paid the prices as marked on the goods/shelves then. So no obvious signs of differential pricing, i.e. different prices on the items or you being asked to pay more than marked.

Sounds like a discount scheme, just like students or NHS or union membership or local employer discount scheme. Nothing at all wrong with that - very common.

DarlingNikita · 02/09/2019 12:47

'local prices' sounds very much to me like they add a tourist premium, as opposed to giving locals a discount.

Original poster
BBInGinDrinking · 02/09/2019 12:52

Thinking about it afterwards, I realised that many or even most items aren't priced individually and aren't priced on the shelf or on a sign. I had also never been given an itemised receipt, so buying quite a few items each time I only ever knew the total rather than what anything actually cost. The total always seemed a bit high, but I'm on holiday so probably less careful than usual, on our way to or from somewhere, with my mind on that, getting what we need, and getting back to the kids in the car. I just trusted that I was paying a reasonable and fair price for the location and paying the correct total.

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 12:53

'local prices' sounds very much to me like they add a tourist premium, as opposed to giving locals a discount.

As the OP herself doesn't know how it works, it's a bit of a leap to say tourists are charged more than the marked prices!

Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 12:55

many or even most items aren't priced individually

So you don't know whether you were charged more then, if there were no prices at all.

hazell42 · 02/09/2019 13:06

TThink of it as a loyalty discount.

I dont shop in tesco above once a year.

Why haven't I got club card points?

Same thing

AskingQuestionsAllTheTime · 02/09/2019 13:07

DarlingNikita
Asking, that's not a meaningful analogy though, is it? The clocks just go back and forward for everyone. Certain shops deliberately charge more money to people who are (or who they perceive as) outsiders.

My attitude, which is that since I cannot stop it from happening I might as well put up with it, is the same. I was not talking about the clocks changing, I was talking about the same idiot remark being made time after time after bloody time without fail, when it is garbage every single time it is said. There is nothing I can do about that, though they could shut the frod up...

What is being talked about really is not certain shops charging more to outsiders(though they have every right to charge whatever the hell they like or the market will bear); it is certain shops charging less to people they know to be regular fifty-two-weeks-a-year customers not one-week-only ones.

Some people get charged less than I do for things. Woe is me, I'd better cut my throat now, or maybe try to sue them or make a fuss on social media or something. Or I could just think to myself, some people get charged less per item than I do because they buy more of that item over a fifty-two year period, just as some people get charged less than I do per bogroll because they buy fifty at a time instead of four, or less for porridge oats per gram because they buy 50kg sacks instead of 1kg ones; ho hum.

Original poster
BBInGinDrinking · 02/09/2019 13:21

It seems usual around here for items or shelves not to show prices, and to be given a total or no receipt rather than an itemised receipt. The only exception is at a small independent garage shop, where everything is priced and an itemised receipt is given. I definitely pay less there. When I mentioned it to the shopkeeper, she rolled her eyes and said she knows higher prices are charged elsewhere and doesn't agree with it. This was before I realised that by higher prices she probably meant higher for tourists prices.

OP posts:
DarlingNikita · 02/09/2019 13:23

Asking, you're basically saying you don't care much about the issue on the thread.
Which rather raises the question, why are you on it, if you're not bothered about arguing either in support of or against tourist prices? Confused

Original poster
BBInGinDrinking · 02/09/2019 13:33

I think a pp or two mentioned petrol and supermarkets varying their prices around the country. The one thing that seems to be high prices here for everyone is petrol. It's more expensive even at the nearest big name supermarket. Even the man serving said their petrol prices are higher. I avoided the store but filled up when passing on a trip out because I hadn't yet spotted the independent garage and was running low.

I have to admit, I collected my loyalty points, yes! I'm certainly not adverse to discounts, especially being usually a bit of a bargain queen, and I don't begrudge others theirs - as long as it's upfront and honest.

OP posts:
Original poster
BBInGinDrinking · 02/09/2019 13:37

I'm guessing the higher petrol prices are lack of competition, captive audience, tankers having to travel further, local agreed price fixing?!

OP posts:
Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 13:38

There's no way I'd ever buy anything without knowing the price up front, not even a Mars Bar. If something isn't priced, I either don't buy it or I ask the price at the counter. You can't buy something blind and then complain about the price afterwards.

MRex · 02/09/2019 13:54

Let's say you don't shop there again then OP. What have they lost exactly? That'll be 3/4 of bugger all. I understand that you're upset because you feel someone discriminated against you, I don't understand why you can't see that it's only based on shop usage even though that's been explained to you many times.

If you thought the price was too high then you should have negotiated or shopped elsewhere. Say water is an extortionate £2, wait until the shop is empty and offer £1 if you think that's fair. They can say yes, or say £1.50, or say go away.

9ofpentangles · 02/09/2019 13:59

It isn't legal. Prices need to be on clear display for every product or they could be fined by Trading Standards. Shopkeepers can't make up prices as they go along

Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 14:01

Another one I've just thought of. Cafes and shops on university campuses. As open day visitors, we had to pay shelf prices. However, students and staff get a discount card. I'd say that's just the same as a locals discount making prices lower than for occasional tourists.

9ofpentangles · 02/09/2019 14:02

Taken from .gov website:

Rules for retailers
If you’re a retailer, you must display:

the price of products - this must be in sterling (pounds and pence) and include VAT where applicable
the price of a single item (the ‘unit price’) for products that you sell loose
metric measures (like kilograms, centimetres or litres) for unit pricing - except for some products (for example, beer is still sold in pints)
If you don’t follow the rules you can be prosecuted.

Talk to your local Trading Standards office if you have questions about how to label your products correctly.

Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 14:03

Prices need to be on clear display for every product or they could be fined by Trading Standards.

There is no such law.

9ofpentangles · 02/09/2019 14:06

I work in retail and this is always being drummed into us

MRex · 02/09/2019 14:22

@9ofpentangles - prices need to be displayed, but a retailer can charge less if they want to. They can't charge more. There's nothing to indicate from OP not seeing all the prices that they've actually done anything wrong, because there could have been prices there and it's more likely that locals get a discount than tourists being a surcharge.

9ofpentangles · 02/09/2019 14:26

That would be a way round it, yes, but not displaying prices at all and then making up a price depending on customer seems dodgy

Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 14:28

because there could have been prices there

Such as a price list which is entirely within the law - there's no requirement to price mark every individual item nor have shelf-edge pricing.

Take a corner shop selling ice-lollies. Price stickers won't usually stick to wet lolly wrappers, so there'll be a price list someone on the freezer.

Kazzyhoward · 02/09/2019 14:29

but not displaying prices at all and then making up a price depending on customer seems dodgy

All we know is that the OP didn't notice any prices, but bought anyway.

9ofpentangles · 02/09/2019 14:33

They do have to be displayed, though. A price list is fine

fitterhappierhealthier · 02/09/2019 14:44

I think the prices should be displayed but there would be nothing to stop shops increasing their prices by 5% during peak tourist season and giving their local customers a 5% discount. I often get a discount in our local farm shop and hardware store and it would seem less them/us to the tourists I suppose.

Skinnychip · 02/09/2019 15:03

I stayed in a small rural uk village last holiday and was (naively) amazed at how few and far between the supermarkets were, and that the only grocery shops were village shops. I think it was 15 miles from the nearest tesco. It was fine to use the village shop for a week but i thought how expensive it would be if you were local and did most of your shopping there (it was quite a novelty for me to buy branded stuff as most of my shopping is aldi or own brand!) I've no idea if we were charged more although as soon as i went in the shopkeeper asked if i was on holiday (maybe it was the waitrose carrier bag i took....)