I don’t know how we could have been so naive, but we thought that we could trust the unit prices on shelf tags in stores, including Target. If this site has taught us anything, it’s that labels can be inaccurate, and that Target may not even be part of our present reality at all.

Our colleagues down the hall at Consumer Reports found even more unit pricing wackiness at Target than we usually do. They pointed out an example of pretty typical Target math, where smaller cans of tuna cost $4.12 per pound for a 12-ounce can, but only $3.58 per pound for a five-ounce one. They happened to calculate the real unit price for a bottle of ketchup, though, and noticed a discrepancy. The price per ounce was stated as $1.14 when it was really $1.20, which meant that what appeared to be an instance of Target math wasn’t.

If you live in an area where unit prices aren’t posted, you might not have the time or inclination to sit there with a calculator figuring them out for yourself. That’s cool. Where they are posted, though, whether the law requires them or not, it would be nice if they were accurate.

Unit prices can help you save on groceries [Consumer Reports]

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