… the media, big retail interests and the opposition, that’s who.
Economist Peter Martin reports on why the upcoming PriceWatch scheme for grocery prices should strike fear into the hearts of retailers sitting on padded profit margins, and why consumers’ hearts will be gladdened.
Kevin Rudd was back on message yesterday in Question Time making exactly this point - the Coalition are aligning themselves with big business and against consumers. After all, what manner of Liberal party is it that opposes more transparent pricing information for consumers? And a more rigorous consumer protection regime working against anti-competitive behaviour? One that supports imbalances in market power (well, there was WorkChoices…)? One which is about to find its pseudo-populist emoting backfiring? We’ll see.
Well I wonder if it will be the big supermarket chains that hurt the most or the smaller independent ones. In my experience the independents tend to be friendlier more convenient and better staffed, but are noticeably more expensive. A pricewatch scheme will make that clearer to consumers.
Still, if it means overall cheaper prices to people it may well be worth losing the smaller independent retailers that don’t have the benefits of scale that the large ones do.
Now if only they’d introduce a GeekToyWatch to make it easier to find out where to buy cheap electronics!
Geek if you’re a member of a union, try Union Shopper! No good got Apple Mac stuff; but most other Geek toys … white goods, furniture, bedding etc. When (lie OH & me) you’re no longer a “Working family”, and buy very little, it still pays to hold some membership (part time job & Misso membership?) We often get sent to warehouses / Manufacturers!
PS Glad to see Rudd back on message.
the UK had unit pricing in 1991 and possibly before but then they also have more than 2 big retailers (though that might be changing!)
If pricewatch helps to reduce some of the more ridiculous profit margins that I have long suspected they slap on some products then it will be a winner.
And I’ll still shop at smaller stores too as they offer convenience, better quality products etc even if they are not always cheaper.
We deliberately shop at a few independent places, greengrocer, bakery and butcher in particular, even when acting under the assumption that prices would be higher. We were happy with the trade-off of gaining ‘community’ and friendship as Chris mentions in #1. Then the mum-in-law came shopping with us a few times and she reckons prices are about the same, perhaps even lower, as her major supermarkets.
And a noticeable gain in food quality.
Now m-i-l is a reallllly realllly frugal shopper [Kev could consider hiring her and some of her mates instead of some govt. mob, the [great] grannies would do the price watch well and enjoy being swanned around the supermarkets].
But even if she is wrong, and Price Watch confirmed that independents are dearer, I reckon most people would still shop at such for the community and convenience.
And the occasional calendar.
It would just be a better informed choice than previously.
Bit if we HAD to shop at one of the majors, which we hate doing, then we would pick the cheapest.
I was really happy when an IGA opened up the road from me because it has better quality, a different range and better service than the local Coles, despite slightly higher prices.
What sort of Liberal Party aligns itself with big business against consumers? THE Liberal Party.
The same Liberal Party that aligned with big business against employees to give us the Work”Choices” no one ever voted for.
The same Liberal Party that stands for government handouts to the wealthiest Australians.
The same Liberal Party that reduced funding for Tertiary education and the federal share of health funding relative to the states. That poured more money into private schools and private health insurance.
The same Liberal Party that would blow a billions-big hole in the budget surplus to fund a ridiculous 5c-per-litre petrol “scheme”, hence pushing up inflation and hurting little Australians most.
“We deliberately shop at a few independent places, greengrocer, bakery and butcher in particular, even when acting under the assumption that prices would be higher.”
I do also. The baker is not only cheaper but better quality than the big supermarkets. The greengrocer is usually around the same price but the quality is better. Don’t buy meat, so can’t comment on that one. My corner shop is also cheaper for some items than the supermarkets.
Smaller does not necessarily mean more expensive.
Our local butcher is right next door to our woolies. Cheaper and better meat overall and it’s nice to be served by the buthcher. I really like the idea of unit pricing. Have noticed a couple of times buying single/smaller is cheaper than buying bulk. I check everything now.
For fresh fruit, vegetables and meat the markets are definitely superior to grocery stores (independent or not) in terms of cost and quality. Going just in the afternoon you can get some excellent deals. Don’t know why more people don’t go to them.
Wish it were the same in terms of quality with our local independent. Its much more convenient and friendly, but the range is much smaller and they consistently have out of date food on the shelves, even after being told about it.
Does anyone know if PriceWatch is going to cover fresh produce as well? I wonder how they’re going to handle differences in quality? I’ve noticed that in grocery stores in richer suburbs that prices can be higher but the quality can also be higher. Which brings up another issue - are some of the price differences between stores caused because the supermarkets know they can charge wealthier people more for the same item?
Actually Mark, you’re twice blessed with IGA’s there, or so my Shelbyville relations tell me. Apparently one’s the Good IGA, thus called GIGA, and the other’s the Bad IGA, ie BIGA. You might be lucky and the one you’re using is BIGA, and there’s more joy in store for you a bit further up the road.
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“Which brings up another issue - are some of the price differences between stores caused because the supermarkets know they can charge wealthier people more for the same item?”
Gosh, (Chris (a different one), those folks are so canny they could never be conned. That’s why they are so rich.
(And remember independent watchdog Howard looked after their interests, very well, for over 10 years.)
I should imagine that the grocery price watch is based on what Swan has being doing in his electorate for years, albeit with some refinements.
I suspect that the real winners will be ALDI whose lower prices will be evident to all.
Real choice based on real knowledge. Now what’s wrong with that? It’s how ‘markets’ are supposed to work, isn’t it?
A friend of mine used to run a small goods farm. Good crops, knew what he was doing. He noticed that the retail price of the chillis he grew was x4 the price he was paid, no processing involved, just raw chillis. Gee, who’s making a buck because it aint the farmers. He sold the farm.
I guess my point was that if the rich are currently effectively cross subsidising the poor because they’re mostly unknowingly paying more for the same product, schemes that provide more information will lead to a transfer from the poor to the rich as prices even out.
Just like providing unit pricing will help those who either can’t do the arithmetic in their head or can’t be bothered because they don’t care enough about the price.
One of the differences between pricewatch and fuelwatch is that with pricewatch they aren’t going to comparing all goods, or even telling people what is in their basket of shopping that they compare between stores. So depending on individual purchasing habits, you could get very different results if you followed the advice.
Given that stores these days use electronic pricing you have to wonder how hard it would really be to just make the stores make the data available for all their products publicly accessible.
“I guess my point was that if the rich are currently effectively cross subsidising the poor because they’re mostly unknowingly paying more for the same product, schemes that provide more information will lead to a transfer from the poor to the rich as prices even out.”
Thanks for the clarification Chris(ado). Too bad that the premise is nonsense for many different reasons.
There are clearly quality differences and price differences on a lot of fruit and vegies between monied areas and less affluent areas.
You won’t find many dearer priced Kipfler spuds for instance in most Aldi suburbs, not many tomatoes on the vine, individually wrapped Fuji apples and so on.
Supermarkets? 995 of my food comes from the Adelaide Central Market, the Wayville Farmers Market and the butcher 2 doors down from my shop.
Three reasons why wealthier people have no problem with higher prices at their supermarkets:
1) They can afford it.
2) They expect better quality and get it.
3) It very effectively keeps the riff raff out.
The last research I saw contra-indicated the “Rich pay more” hypothesis.
Specifically stores in perceived wealthier areas had lower prices then those in perceived poorer areas. To the point where there was a significant saving by driving up the road to a posh area to shop. These were the same brand stores, just in different neighborhoods.
And 20 years ago admittedly.
“what manner of Liberal party is it that opposes more transparent pricing information for consumers?”
The Liberal Party of Australia. They opposed the Trade Practices Act from the start and when Fraser came to power he gave his newly minted minister for Business and Consumer Affairs, John W Howard, the job of knobbling it, which was done quite effectively by the Swanson Inquiry (whose core members were directors of large corporations being investigated by the TPC).
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Right off the top of my head, I’d say you’re mistaken to assume prices will even out. Also, it’s less likely that folks who have money will bother doing the rounds of their local supermarkets to compare prices (unit or otherwise). Like most people, they probably prefer to shop at the place most convenient for them. Or without the riff-raff…
I think you’re right that most well of folk won’t bother shopping around, often because its simply not worth it - their time is worth more than the money they’d save driving around to get a bargain. But the intent of the program is to “name and shame” with I think the idea that they can coerce the supermarkets into having fewer “price anomalies” through publicity.
Its kind of like a government funded Today Tonight expose on supermarkets
Next stop - used cars and consumer electronics repairs!