The head of Australia’s consumer regulator says she is concerned by the growing practice of major supermarkets charging customers for fresh produce by item, rather than by weight, leaving some shoppers confused and short changed.
Guardian Australia has recently reported several examples of price discrepancies by supermarkets charging fruit and vegetables per item.
At one Woolworths store, small “lunchbox” bananas have been sold in bunches of five, priced per bunch, next to larger ones priced per weight.
The small ones were double the price on a per-kilogram basis, although this would not have been clear to most customers unless they weighed the bunches and did calculations in the shopping aisle.
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Gina Cass-Gottlieb, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair, said grocery retailers should display a consistent unit of measurement to allow shoppers to compare prices in a supermarket, and between supermarkets.
“It is of concern,” Cass-Gottlieb said at a briefing before a speech on Thursday detailing the regulator’s compliance and enforcement priorities.
“The review and the strengthening of the unit pricing code is the right way to address this.”
Cass-Gottlieb said one of the regulator’s main priorities was to ensure price claims made by supermarkets and other retailers were transparent.
“They’re a big part of our economy. They’re a huge part of household budgets,” she said.
“It’s very important that pricing claims and product claims are clear and truthful.”
The criticism comes during a period of reigniting inflation, with groceries and other household costs rising strongly again.
Separately, the ACCC is suing Coles and Woolworths over allegations they offered “illusory” discounts on many everyday products. Cass-Gottlieb could not comment on the proceedings which are being heard in the federal court in Melbourne.
In stores, Woolworths, Coles and Aldi have all expanded their use of per-item produce pricing, and often do not display the weight price next to it. There are no scales at Aldi’s Australian stores.
The supermarkets have different online practices, with Woolworths using fixed prices for some produce, regardless of the weight, while Coles and Aldi adjust the final price depending on the weight.
The supermarkets have argued that per-item pricing can make it easier for customers to quickly budget for, and choose, the number of items they need.
Under existing rules, the major supermarkets can price fruit and vegetables per item or per kilogram, whether they are packaged or loose. While the Albanese government has said it would strengthen aspects of the unit pricing code, it has not announced reforms to the practice.
The rise of per-item charging has led to huge price discrepancies, given larger cauliflowers, broccoli, capsicums, mangoes, avocados and other produce are likely to be snapped up quickly, leaving the smaller ones behind for the next wave of shoppers.
Online shoppers using delivery services have no control over the size chosen.
Ian Jarratt, a consumer advocate who pioneered the Queensland Consumer Association’s unit pricing in Australia, said all produce should be priced, and displayed, per weight.
“If they want to give an approximate item price they can do that, but it should be charged on a per kilo basis,” Jarratt said.
“The base problem with what supermarkets are doing is that there is not sufficient transparency.
“Why should you be penalised because someone else picked up the big cauliflowers?”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
