"Mum charged £47 for two bags of pick and mix from Cardiff Winter Wonderland"

[sunnydaytoday0]

www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/mum-charged-47-two-bags-25576870

When I saw the headline I was shocked someone would pay that much for a couple of bags of sweets even at a place like winter wonderland, which like tourist traps and a lot of attractions are going to be very expensive.

However on reading the story the company isn't wrong in saying that the price per 100g was displayed, as well as a weighing scale being available, plus the mum let her child start eating the sweets before they had fully paid so couldn't put them back?

I don't think the stall has really done anything wrong? Apart from it being very expensive, but then that's why I don't buy stuff from these sorts of places.

I suppose, it's kind of understood that people knowingly go to these special events expecting to push the boat out and come away with much lighter wallets, so everywhere prices accordingly.

Coming away from what is commonly understood as an expensive event that you chose to go to having had to spend a lot of money seems rather counter-intuitive.

My son used to work at the cinema, people would pack as many sweets into a tub as they could, then be shocked when it was eleventy million quid and refuse to pay. It all had to be binned. Despite signs up saying price by 100 g.

Probably the same mindset as the people who thought the government cap on a the price of a unit of energy translated to 'fill your boots and use as much as you possibly can - it's all fully included'.

Give a class the same mass of sweets and ask them which they think would cost more and why?

Discussion about size, volume and mass

Then ask them what we would need to work out the actual cost - the price per 100g - and then work it out.

You could then do a display of the same mass of items and their prices - or / and the same volume of items and their prices.

I have seen Beluga Caviar at £500 per 100g - so that would be at the extreme end of this display!

I was about to say there's loads of companies that do this and have for a long time.

When breakfast cereal companies used to put a free toy in the box being just one example.

@OhWhatFuckeryIsThisNow those places in cinemas are a rip off and simply no need for it
The price mark up is huge its greed on behalf of the conpanies and most people now take own sweets

Newsflash: companies manipulate children to make money

Yes, but don’t call the children bad mannered and greedy for reacting exactly as hoped.

It is!

I hate fudge. Just sayin'...

@cakeorwine yes maybe , but not everyone knows what 1 kg feels like , plus if the kids were carrying their own and then put on scale , no one would of held them together.
Maybe if more people did complain companies would be a little more transparent
Wilko used to do a pick and mix in cup sizes , so you filled the cup and the cup was a set price , its very easy for companies to do that.
But lets be honest most on here are too busy slating the sugar and how many sweets etc, typical middle class mumsnet.
Not everyone shock horror as a high education or understanding of things.
These pick and mix companies can be more transparent if they choose to be, but they rely on people not having an understanding and then being too embarrassed to say they don't want it.
They could also put multiple scales around so people could weigh as they go but again they don't , why do you think that is ?
Personally I never but pick and mix as its always a rip of, unless its cups etc

@PickyEaters it wasn't just fudge , picture shows normal kiddie type sweets

@ScrollingLeaves its just makes them feel superior doesn't it
There kids probably have a lick of a sweet twice a year

I just took a look at those questions:

If a scarf costs £11.70 after a 10% reduction,

what was the original price? (L1) ( I am not sure if reverse percentage is on Foundation Maths)

Mike’s lunch contains 640 calories of energy.

What percentage is this of his target daily intake of

2000 calories? (L1)

Rail tickets increased by 2% in year 1, and 5% in year 2. What was the overall increase over the two years? (L2)

That's quite a hard one - you don't have a number to start with - so you could start at £100. Then work out 2% of £100. Then work out 5% of £102 and work out the percentage compared to £100

These are three offers on the same ketchup.

Which is the best value for money? (L2)
• 275g for £1.05
• 454g for £1.99
• 650g for £2.20
• 425g: buy two for £3.10

You buy a laptop that costs £899, including VAT at 20%. How much of the purchase price is VAT? (L2)

So you need to do reverse percentage again.

Those aren't the easiest examples to show how numerate people are.

And their conclusion - based on these 5 questions

A fifth of the working-age population has the numeracy level equivalent to a GSCE pass (Grade 4) Based on results from a multiple-choice test of people’s everyday maths skills, 20% of the population scored 4 or 5, roughly equivalent to a GCSE pass (Grade 4 / C). This is in line with the last Government-commissioned Skills for Life survey.

I would suggest that the people who commissioned this survey look at how hard it is to draw conclusions from 5 questions.

PickyEaters · Today 12:01
I hate fudge. Just sayin'...

Although it was a fudge company they also sold ‘Pick and Mix’ sweets. ‘Pick and Mix’ is what the children chose in this case.

The company must know not everyone likes fudge.

I am slating the maths here and the lack of parental responsibility.

The sugar intake is something else.

It's exorbitant, but she's a fool to not monitor how much crap her children are taking.
Years ago I took my 2 into M&M World when we were on holidays in NYC, two (admittedly, ridiculously big) bags of M&Ms cost $90. I knew it would be a lot, but it was a once off and I knew that.
When you go to places like that you know what you're getting.

It's the parents who need to take responsibility.

Children are exposed to companies all the time, Flashing lights, friendly characters, colour, the pull factor.

Parents have to parent

The company manipulated the children.
What! At a winter wonderland event with £7 crepes and £40 on ride tokens, a sweetie company tried to entice children to buy stuff?! This is the first I’ve heard of such nefarious goings on.

DS is well aware of what things cost - and he knows that I don't buy things if they are expensive - he has seen me comparing prices and then going on about it.

Right now, he is aware of the price of fuel. And electricity. I hope he takes that knowledge when he is responsible for buying things.

I would argue that my primary school kids both would know roughly what 1kg feels like. Or at the very least that is feels way heavier than a regular bag of sweets from the supermarket.
Or as PP pointed out, most people know what 1kg of sugar / flour feels like.

It’s probably already been said, but other than offering gelatinous crap for sale, the stall hasn’t done anything wrong.

The price is high but not excessive.

100g of sweets is enough for any child.

What is excessive is the quantity of sweets that the parents allowed their children to get, and that they had the audacity to complain about the business online rather than query it at the time.

The business said they had received threats online.

They were effectively bullied into giving a refund that was wholly un-deserved.

Did the family give back the uneaten sweets?

No?

So they got 3 1/2lb of sweets for free just by making an unwarranted complaint.

I know the customer is always right, but on this occasion they have really taken the “it’s everyone’s fault but mine” culture to the limit.

Maybe the fact is that most people still think in lb/oz so if the price was per quarter people would have a better feel for it?

I think that is not that generally true for younger people.

The cost of things per 100 g or per kg has been around for a long time in supermarkets.

Do they? I think that depends entirely on age and what you were taught: both at school and whether you baked at home or similar and with what scales and cookbooks. I was taught metric in school and imperial when in the kitchen at home so mentally a mash-up. But I can’t imagine anyone younger than 40 knowing what “a quarter” is – if most people’s familiarity with weights is food, all the packaging is in grams.

Jesus, this thread is still going.

How about:
a) if you’re incapable of doing maths and weighing things, you don’t buy things from food stalls unless you can access their scales.
b) if you’re incapable of doing these things and of saying no to your children then you probably shouldn’t go out at all, but if you do then what happens to you and your money is your own responsibility.

I just find it baffling that MN can infantilise parents to such a ridiculous degree without being concerned that the parents are in turn responsible for children.

🤦‍♀️ That's not why people are talking about bags of sugar. It's a comparison weight.

They have signs up with the price, how can they be more transparent?