On the shelf, the 48-ounce carton of Swanson’s chicken broth brags that it’s 50% bigger. “50% bigger than what?” the cynical consumer might ask. The fine print tells us that it’s in comparison to the company’s 32-ounce container. This is all factually true, but the problem is that while the package makes shoppers think that they’ll get more, they’re actually paying more per ounce to buy the bigger package. [More]
bulk pricing
Target Still Doesn’t Understand Bulk Pricing, Or Maybe Charges For Boxes Now
By 1.13.14
Target is one of my favorite stores. It’s where you can find all of life’s essentials at deeply confusing prices. You might as well just ignore the price tags, since unit prices are really the only thing that matters. [More]
Consumer Reports Learns All About Target’s Fuzzy Unit Pricing Math
By 8.21.13
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. [More]
5-Pound Gummi Bear Yet Another Example Of Misleading Bulk Pricing
By 9.2.09
You might think that by purchasing your gummi candy in the most bulk form possible—as a single 5 pound bear-shaped block—you’ll be saving money. After all, the catalog page says this little fella is equivalent to approximately 1400 regular-sized gummi bears. But actually, it turns out a 5 pound bag of Haribo gummis on Amazon is less than half the price (if you get super saver shipping).
