3 ms·

20 years ago in Germany, many groceries were required to be sold in specific amounts (e.g. 500g or 1000g of cereals). This requirement was eventually lifted, pr

20 years ago in Germany, many groceries were required to be sold in specific amounts (e.g. 500g or 1000g of cereals). This requirement was eventually lifted, probably all due to lobbying from the producers. Now you have 20 kinds of cereals on the shelf and they all cost the same, but if you look closely every one has a different weight (375g, 500g, 650g, ...). It's crazy. In the end it just means that I need to buy two packages of one kind of cereal because there's less in the package.

ninjinxo 5y ago
In Australia, supermarkets display the unit normalised price on the shelf tag (they do this to highlight the value of their own brand of items). Eg https://imgur.com/a/fjrIECU https://imgur.com/a/fjrIECU
- skohan 5y ago
  This is also true in Germany, they always display the cost/kg
  - twiddling 5y ago
    common in the US as well
    - athenot 5y ago
      However in US, units themselves are not normalized. Some things are per $/oz, others per $/lb, or $/unit, sill others within a same category go by volume ($/floz, $/qt, $/gal...). It makes comparison a pain: I end up looking at the metric unit on the packaging and doing the mental calculation myself.
      - TonyTrapp 5y ago
        Even in Germany it may vary between €/kg and €/100g for the same type of product. But at least that's easy to convert (just append/remove a 0) compared to switching between imperial units.
  - e12e 5y ago
    I believe it's mandated in the EU/EEC?
- TonyTrapp 5y ago
  Yeah, they have to do that here as well, and I'm sure without that requirement it wouldn't have been possible to lift the restrictions on packaging sizes. While you could argue that it's still all transparent and everything, I'd say it leads to the wrong incentives: Trying to sell all types of cereal for the same price now implies that one package of cereal might last for 5 days, but another one just for 3 days (just becauses it contains pricier ingredients). I personally find that rather annoying, and it applies to other types of food as well.

ninjinxo 5y ago

In Australia, supermarkets display the unit normalised price on the shelf tag (they do this to highlight the value of their own brand of items). Eg https://imgur.com/a/fjrIECU https://imgur.com/a/fjrIECU

skohan 5y ago
This is also true in Germany, they always display the cost/kg
- twiddling 5y ago
  common in the US as well
  - athenot 5y ago
    However in US, units themselves are not normalized. Some things are per $/oz, others per $/lb, or $/unit, sill others within a same category go by volume ($/floz, $/qt, $/gal...). It makes comparison a pain: I end up looking at the metric unit on the packaging and doing the mental calculation myself.
    - TonyTrapp 5y ago
      Even in Germany it may vary between €/kg and €/100g for the same type of product. But at least that's easy to convert (just append/remove a 0) compared to switching between imperial units.
- e12e 5y ago
  I believe it's mandated in the EU/EEC?
TonyTrapp 5y ago
Yeah, they have to do that here as well, and I'm sure without that requirement it wouldn't have been possible to lift the restrictions on packaging sizes. While you could argue that it's still all transparent and everything, I'd say it leads to the wrong incentives: Trying to sell all types of cereal for the same price now implies that one package of cereal might last for 5 days, but another one just for 3 days (just becauses it contains pricier ingredients). I personally find that rather annoying, and it applies to other types of food as well.