cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/1229201
As the picture shows, most (all??) grocery stores will show the price per ounce on the item’s price tag.
It’s usually on sales tags too.
I was FAR too old before I realized this and it’s made price comparisons in-store much easier.
Note: Not my photo. Just generic photo from google.
One annoyance is when the unit is different for items of the same type.
Produce? Priced per pound (usually). BUT the comparison price is per kg for some reason? Except not always?
Liquid? Per 100ml, except for the one specific thing you want to compare, which is measured per volume of a size 10 sneaker.
Dry goods? Per 100g or kg (or rarely, pounds) with no rhyme or reason as to which they choose.
Toilet paper? Compare “sheet”, which will require a terminal degree in advanced mathematics to calculate (one roll of SUPER PLUSH is equal to 7.2 rolls of MEGA PLUSH, which is 4.875 of double, which is anything except twice as many as).
In Canada, we actually have a big colourful wheel that Chrystia Freeland spins to decide what unit we use when measuring a specific thing.
Experiencing this all the time in the US. Want to buy extra virgin olive oil? One is priced in “per floz” another in “per quart” and a third in “per pound”. All three contain same EVOO in the same size range (500mL-1000mL) on the same shelf. How many ounces are in a quart? Is a fluid ounce the same as a dry ounce? Fuck you! Hope you are skilled at multiplying by 16 in your head. I swear the grocery stores do this on purpose to protest the fair pricing law that forces them to display the unit price. If it were left up to random chance alone, the units would match at least some of the time. EVOO is the reason I hate the imperial measures system.
Yes this is what I notice…in laundry detergent, dish detergent, etc. one brand be ounces, one might be grams, one might say units, another might say paks. Makes it impossible to compare them
If my local supermarket is any indication those $/oz (or per 100ml in my case) are entered manually by employees and can be wildly inaccurate.
So maybe double-check them.That’s not the case for large grocery chains. Those labels are pre-printed and sent to the stores from corporate for Walmart, for example
Are you sure? I’ve seen walmart employees walking around with a handheld printer before. Granted that was before covid so could have changed
I would be shocked if walmart doesn’t print labels in each store
I used to work at Walmart. Maybe some stores print labels, but they are still disseminated from corporate and printed. They don’t have any control or ability to edit anything on the label
Edit for clarity: how we did it was some items had preprinted sheets that we could tear off from and others had printed labels we can stick on the shelf, either way the zebra handheld was connected to the corporate website, we scan the item with the price change, the printer spits out the new label and you place it over the old label. No editing or manually entering the price per ounce label, not sure of any store that does this by any means… since accurate pricing is kinda the point of having a price per ounce label on the item…
I can kindof understand that. If the prices on the shelf don’t match the register, walmart can get in deep trouble (at least where I am). Less to leave in the hands of employees where mistakes could happen. So in that case, the differences in unit types or mistakes in unit price is coming from corporate…
I would classify IGA as a large grocery chain.
Oh. Well, maybe I should remove this. That sucks. :-/
It’s still good advice, even if there are occasionally pitfalls.
No man, it’s the only way to shop.
It’s a good reminder
Sometimes I have to get out my calculator and do the division myself, but it almost always leads to a better shopping choice. Or at least confirmed my instinct
In my country its a law that the “price per weight” has to be on the tag. It may vary which unit they are using but with the metric system its just a matter of moving the comma.
Unless it’s something like fabric softener. Then some brands might use price per 100 ml while others use price per wash.
Metric system still rules though.
In austria you usually get a per 100g price info
EDIT: when dealing with liquid you get a per 1L tag
I use the “price per” information quite a bit when shopping, but it’s kind of infuriating that units can often be different, even for the same type of item.
Some produce is priced per lb, and others are per kg, and others per oz, and others per 100g.
In Europe it’s required by law for most items. And it’s the only price I look at when I buy stuff.
What’s really weird is that sometimes they’ll print the wrong style of label, e.g. video games with a grocery label, so now you get to see how much Mario Kart 8 Deluxe costs per pound.
