Do supermarkets assume we're stupid?

I was buying naan bread in upmarket supermarket- price per pack 99p or two packs for £2.00! I queried it with a member of staff who took a few moments to understand, then realised the problem and took the product off the sh of till it was sorted.

We've decided to spend our money wisely instead of banking it for such a miserly rate of interest. So if I see something at a really good price (e.g. DH's favourite cereal at half-price - he's worth it!) we buy twelve packs after checking the date, thus saving 12 x £1.50. This is just one example, but the savings really do add up if you have storage space and actually use the things on offer. Shampoo, shower cream (DH again!), I just buy a few and use them up, by which time the offer has usually come around again. I don't think we could manage without these savings - and I don't have to shop for these items so often. But, as you say, you do have to read the small print on price labels.

Not only in the UK , perhaps a universal marketing ploy; here in France it is always worth checking the price per kilo (always listed although, yes, in small print) to ascertain if buying x2 single is cheaper than buying the duo etc. on offer. However bargain packs of say 2 kg of apples / fruit/ potatoes pre-packed do work out cheaper. Bearing in mind that if there are only two of you you may not consume the produce before it goes "off. " Can't win!!
There are genuine offers but it does pay to have a quick skim down the till receipt in the carpark if in doubt you have been charged full price. Don't always have time / can be bothered - but when retired we mostly have the time and some recall of computation from our school days to discern the bargains versus the rip-offs. (Link to another thread re: mobile phones - most have a calculator feature.)

Shop at ALDI, everything is cheaper, eg I buy a large tin, 200g, of pole and line called Tuna Steak for 80p and they have the standard size usual Tuna for 50p.

We can always get our own back though. I will often go in, buy the offers, and leave without anything else

Looking at the unit price is the answer - as lizzypopbottle says, take your reading glasses and check. You will be amazed!

One place where a huge difference appears is between the price of vegetables loose and prepackaged. Once you have seen the enormous markup for someone packing three courgettes into a plastic tray in a plastic bag (both of which are thrown out before the courgettes are used), instead of you choosing three yourself, you will never buy prepacked again.

Tesco have 4 tins of Heinz soup bought individually for £3.00. Multi pack of 4 tins, same size, £3.29. I shop online so have time to study these so called offers.

I've noticed since I retired, that many 'real' special offers are during the week. When I worked full time and dashed around the supermarket on a Saturday morning I just grabbed what I needed and now know I paid more than I really should have. I must have wasted thousands!

We always use the unit price if there is any doubt, and then it's not a problem.

If you wear your reading glasses and look at the unit price, there's no mental arithmetic to be done. If the ticket's in a difficult place, ask someone to read it for you. I'm happy to do that so I'm sure others are or there's bound to be an assistant in the shop somewhere.

Asda usually put the unit price on the tickets but the writing is so small it is impossible to read without 20/20 vision. They also do this when the tickets are at ankle height! Can you imagine all us grandmas, on our knees, armed with magnifying glasses and calculators? It doesn't bear thinking about!

I nearly always check my receipts because if Asda charge an incorrect price they give me a £2 voucher card to say sorry. ? I've had a few of those over the years.

If more of us took the time to complain bitterly about over-priced "Special Offers" or posted them on FB as someone suggested, then maybe supermarkets wouldn't be so keen to rip us off!

I'm not convinced it is deliberate. There are so many incidences of stupidity/carelessness that we come across and wonder why that person has their job. It is quite possible that an error has been made.

I think most people on here are of an age to easily do the sums involved and work out which is the best buy, mental arithmetic is easy for most of us.

My local supermarket had bottled beer clearly labelled £1.39 each or 2 for £3.

Katek, unfortunately there aren't many mathematical geniuses around and dividing 5 by 3 in their head would be far beyond a lot of people's skills nowadays!!

The answer is a BIG .......YES

I'm mildly obsessed with unit prices. I think supermarkets have to display them. I always compare price per 100g or per kg on so-called special offers. It's on the price ticket that's on the edge of the shelf. These offers are often misleading.

In my local supermarket I notice a pack of 6 yogurts for £2 in the same freezer were identical yogurts 2for £1.20
On questioning this I was rd well someone might only want 2 . I think I'd take the 6

There's a good offer in Tesco at the moment. Two bottles of Gordons Gin for £20. I had to go and check it was correct, and it was. Last week one bottle was £15. Not that I buy gin every week!

I like Sainsburys as they have price per 100g on all the shelves beneath the product which makes it very easy to work out which is the better offer. A woman spoke to me last week saying how difficult it al was to work out & I pointed this out. She had never noticed it before. She was delighted!

Hi all out there. i considered a good buy when on my home shop,
a 250ML Dove caring hand wash usually selling at £2 for a £1.
This is definitely the best hand wash on the market.
It comes out in a small dote, but lathers up wonderfully.
and has a lovely smell.

Perhaps we should all produce "It's a rip-off" stickers and stick them on the offending shelves!

I think they fool younger people with families, because these consumers, as one person wrote, havent time to check prices etc, but we "mature" people should have time to do quick maths, and not be fooled,and keeping us on our toes, having said that, I am not a genius at maths.Happy checking everyone.

This is an alarming trend in supermarkets; I noticed a 'promotion' for two packets of butter that was in fact a complete rip off as the individual packs were cheaper. 'Mentioned it to an assistant, and she said that this kind of thing goes on all the time - 'That's how they make their money'. This in a well known and 'posh' nationwide supermarket. You also have to watch that the offers marked on the shelves have been computerised or you can buy two 'bargains' and get home to find you have paid the full price for each at the till. This happened twice in a short space of time in a VERY well known and old established high street chemist. I went back and did a little war dance about misleading customers and wasting my time; apologies and a refund, which was for about £6; but how many of us don't have the time or energy to check everything carefully or trek back carrying goods we have been overcharged for? Shops must make millions every year with these 'mistakes'. Also attempting comparisons of kg and units make my head hurt - I try to get OH on this as he is a walking calculator.

They usually display the unit price but use different units as comparison in small print. The department manager should ask his staff to report any anomalies and correct they.

Nuts are one of the worst offenders. Selling them in 250/300 g packs they sound relatively cheap - until you work out that it is equivalent to about £15 a kg or more. We shouldn't have to do this. Price per kilo should be clearly stated.