Charging for the % extra free

[the groutch]

bought a 380ml bottle of orange lucozade in a shop (not sure if I should name & shame) last week for €1.50

today they had 500ml bottle marked as 30% extra free (380ml + 30%), and they were selling it for €1.85

so they have either increased the cost of a 380ml bottle by 35c, or they are charging 35c for the supposedly free extra 30%

[Captain Morgan]

Have seen this many times with other drinks when they do x% free. Hardly free if the shop is going to charge you for it.

[bcirl03]

Originally Posted by the groutch

bought a 380ml bottle of orange lucozade in a shop (not sure if I should name & shame) last week for €1.50

today they had 500ml bottle marked as 30% extra free (380ml + 30%), and they were selling it for €1.85

so they have either increased the cost of a 380ml bottle by 35c, or they are charging 35c for the supposedly free extra 30%

Oh I love a good 'name and shame' - please do

[vHOST]

i have seen this in T€$co Newbridg - hellman's mayonnaise 800g+33% extra free but with price increased and i see this all the time.

[holly1]

Would you not question it.I would in the shop and ring the company in question.I would insist on an answer.
Thats why it happens,they are getting away with it!!!

[foggy_lad]

i found a shop in carlow doing this before with packets of biscuits so i contacted jacobs to let them know that their 50% free was not in fact free. a few days later went into the same shop to find all the jacobs biscuits in a better shelf location and the biscuits i complained about on sale at the correct price.

[mikemac]

All you can is call the company and the merchandiser or rep will call around to try to sort it.

They won't be pleased about it

[rubadub]

Originally Posted by mikemac

They won't be pleased about it

They won't be pleased but there is legally nothing wrong with it, just like shops selling mulitpack stuff individually, the supplier can just threaten to stop supply I suppose.

Perhaps the shop sees it as 30% extra free to THEM, not the customer

[mcaul]

Its not always done deliberately - when a manufacturer supplies a product with 25% free / 50% free they would normally share the cost of the "free" portion with a retailer.

The benefit for a retailer is higher sales of that particular product.

What happems in some cases, the automatic pricing programmes that are set to provide a ceratin margin for the retailer don't recognise that it is a promotional product and needs to be set at the price of the standard size.

Shouldn't happen when bar codes are identical, but most of thses products have a different barcode and the price needs to be inputted manually.

For most retailers, having someone point out the error will have it corrected immediately.

[smelltheglove]

Originally Posted by mcaul

What happems in some cases, the automatic pricing programmes that are set to provide a ceratin margin for the retailer don't recognise that it is a promotional product and needs to be set at the price of the standard size.

Shouldn't happen when bar codes are identical, but most of thses products have a different barcode and the price needs to be inputted manually.

For most retailers, having someone point out the error will have it corrected immediately.

I hate it when this happens but the above is also true. I worked in scanning and pricing for a long time, ok I worked for some guys who heavily enjoyedmark ups although there is some fall back here.

There is a list supplied to the main retailers on a weekly basis, not sure the name of it, anyway it is for the scanning department mainly that will oversee this list with management decisions where needed. The list has say 100 items with retail prices and something like 80 (memory isnt great its been a while) need to be at or below that price. Some of the main players will be those with extra frees although the extra frees are not included just the normal size. So say the list says Dairygold 254g (which is on the list) should be 2.39, the store may put that to 2.35 in compliance with the pricing structure however if there is a 50% extra free that may stay at the 2.39 or whatever price it enters the system at i.e. rrp is 2.45. I know it sounds awkward if you havent been there but with thousands and thousands of items it is hard to see each cent missed.

Having said that I am sure anyone that raises the issue with the store will see it adjusted in accordance so it is the best step to take. Believe it or not pricing is a hard enough job, I worked in a huge supermarket looking after this and point of sale and I only worked 20 hours a week with nobody looking after it while I was out of store. I do feel some stores need to pay more attention to it, labels should be checked on a weekly basis throughout the store, I used to work 3-4 aisles a day repricing and checking each price every week and even then the following week there would be numerous changes to be made.

[rubadub]

Originally Posted by smelltheglove

There is a list supplied to the main retailers on a weekly basis, not sure the name of it, anyway it is for the scanning department mainly that will oversee this list with management decisions where needed. The list has say 100 items with retail prices and something like 80 (memory isnt great its been a while) need to be at or below that price.

Any retailer can bin such a list. Are there any repercussions if you do not follow their strict orders?

[Pageant Messiah]

Originally Posted by smelltheglove

I hate it when this happens but the above is also true. I worked in scanning and pricing for a long time, ok I worked for some guys who heavily enjoyedmark ups although there is some fall back here.

There is a list supplied to the main retailers on a weekly basis, not sure the name of it, anyway it is for the scanning department mainly that will oversee this list with management decisions where needed. The list has say 100 items with retail prices and something like 80 (memory isnt great its been a while) need to be at or below that price. Some of the main players will be those with extra frees although the extra frees are not included just the normal size. So say the list says Dairygold 254g (which is on the list) should be 2.39, the store may put that to 2.35 in compliance with the pricing structure however if there is a 50% extra free that may stay at the 2.39 or whatever price it enters the system at i.e. rrp is 2.45. I know it sounds awkward if you havent been there but with thousands and thousands of items it is hard to see each cent missed.

Having said that I am sure anyone that raises the issue with the store will see it adjusted in accordance so it is the best step to take. Believe it or not pricing is a hard enough job, I worked in a huge supermarket looking after this and point of sale and I only worked 20 hours a week with nobody looking after it while I was out of store. I do feel some stores need to pay more attention to it, labels should be checked on a weekly basis throughout the store, I used to work 3-4 aisles a day repricing and checking each price every week and even then the following week there would be numerous changes to be made.

It sounds like you are talking about a symbol group like Spar or Centra who might send an individual price list like that out but it's not a list sent to all retailers.

As for consequences of ignoring it can lead to being turfed out of the brand altogether.