Buying in bulk / special offers not always the best option!

whiskeyman

Was in Supervalue the other day, when we spotted what appeared to be a good offer on Fairy Liquid at the end of an aisle - 3 x 500ml pack bundled with a big sign saying '3 for €3.79'.

'Great' we thought... but I popped around to where the individual bottles were sold to check our savings.
Low and behold, each 500ml bottle sold seperately (and not on special offer) was €1.25!!
So, for a triple pack 'special offer', I had to pay 4c more!

To make this even more interesting, a 1ltr bottle of the exact same Fairy Liquid product was on sale for €2.79.
It would still have been cheaper to buy 2 of the 500ml bottles. (for €2.50 for 1ltr).

I wonder how widespread this practice is in shops around the country, as I'm sure I, like many shoppers, would just presume we are saving as we buy in bulk.

Does anyone have any more examples of this?

IvyTheTerrible

Yeah that's a common thing. The solution is to look at the "per litre" or "per kg" price..it's the easiest way to compare.

750 mls of Tesco olive oil is cheaper per litre than the 1 litre bottle (but the pricing makes it look the other way round).

luckat

Ohh, it's *great* to see Irish people getting back to looking at the prices of things and refusing to be ripped off. Well done!

watna

It's something I've become much more aware of since moving to NZ. People here are OBSESSED with special offers. I always check my receipt to make sure I've got them.

Quite often if you're buying something e.g. cheese, it's cheaper to buy 2 250g blocks as opposed to a 500g block. And by cheaper I mean a good bit cheaper, not 4c! As was said above I always check the per 100g price.

Another thing they do in NZ and may hit Ireland is on chain advertises that they are the cheapest supermarket and that they are all about savingus money. Some things are cheaper. However, a lot of staples are actually more expensive so you don't end up saving money overal. The best example I have of this is toilet paper. It was $2 more in the "cheap" supermarket than the posh one - which is across the road.

What a lot of people do here and we've started to, is to make a list and go check the prices in both supermarkets (as I said they are opposite each other). We then buy things where they are cheaper or on special offer (and often there is big differences between supermarkets). We save a lot of money that way and don't get ripped off. We usually end up buying half our shop in each supermarket.

Reading back on it it sounds super scabby but watching you pennies and budgeting is much more of a big thing here and since moving from Ireland our disposable income has dropped rapidly. Saving money on the shopping really helps.

mikemac

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Yeah that's a common thing. The solution is to look at the "per litre" or "per kg" price..it's the easiest way to compare.

+1
It's the easiest way to compare, no question

MOH

Toilet paper is a common example - it's often cheaper to buy 3 4x packs thatn 1 12x packs.

Honey-ec

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

750 mls of Tesco olive oil is cheaper per litre than the 1 litre bottle (but the pricing makes it look the other way round).

I noticed that the last time I was there! Thought it was crazy.

They also had pint bottles of Magners cider in my local Tesco last year and people were going mad buying it for the "novelty", but the price per litre was about 20% higher than that of the 500ml bottles of Bulmers. Mad altogether!

axer

IvyTheTerrible wrote: »

Yeah that's a common thing. The solution is to look at the "per litre" or "per kg" price..it's the easiest way to compare.

Yes, that is the best way. It is a good thing that it is mandatory to display such information.

I even see in Germany. It costs 70c a litre for a 2ltr bottle of coke i.e. e1.40 whereas the 1.5ltr bottle of coke is 68c per litre. It just so works out that way sometimes so always look at the breakdowns.

MysticalSoul

I was in SuperValu one day, and was getting some detergent. The sign said same price as Tesco etc for €x. When I went up to the cashier and she scanned it, it was €1 more than the price advertised. I pointed this out to them, they had to leave the till to check. As I was only getting that one item I was aware of it straight away. If I had been getting a full shopping that day, I probably would not have noticed though, so just watch out for signs that you read aren't always reality.

Alun

I've seen the same thing with shrink wrapped multipacks of Heinz beans, not even a special offer as such, where the price per tin was higher if you bought the multipack than 4 individual tins. And this has been the case in several different supermarkets too, which points to the manufacturer rather than the individual supermarkets.

IvyTheTerrible

axer wrote: »

Yes, that is the best way. It is a good thing that it is mandatory to display such information.

I even see in Germany. It costs 70c a litre for a 2ltr bottle of coke i.e. e1.40 whereas the 1.5ltr bottle of coke is 68c per litre. It just so works out that way sometimes so always look at the breakdowns.

Yeah it's important. I never used to look at the breakdowns before, but my boyfriends family are obsessed with the price per kilo, so i've been trained!

Musha

Long Live the Shopping Revolution

Noticed this on Tesco New "Cash Savers" very limited number of products.

Still can get a weeks shopping for 4 in Aldi for c.€100 without having to cut back on number of products. Treats and Jellies all round