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You have probably noticed during your weekly shopping that the volume of certain items you buy such as milk, bread, chips, pasta is decreasing.
But their price often remains the same, or even increases.
Today, the Prime Minister announced that he will introduce stricter legislation governing unit prices in Australia, in a bid to help Australian consumers manage their household budgets.
“One of the things we announced and will be introducing legislation this year is to make the food and grocery code mandatory. It was voluntary, it was basically all dependent on the goodwill of the big supermarkets, but we are going to impose it, this will mean penalties of several million dollars in the event of serious violations. Thus, shrinkage is when a product that weighed 500 g no longer becomes 400 g but at the same price. And the people have noticed this happening, companies are downsizing their products and pricing them higher and so…this is ripping off Australians…new product packaging should not mean customers are paying more for less.
Last week’s ACCC report into supermarket behavior found “shrinkage” is increasingly common.
To solve this problem, the government seeks to strengthen the rules on pricing units, allowing customers to compare the cost of goods by weight or volume, and introduce multimillion-dollar penalties for violations. serious.
On the other side of politics, Peter Dutton used economic reasoning to support the government’s announcement.
“There is a free market that works in our country and we fully support it, but ultimately the free market has to work in the interests of consumers and we need competition and we need fair competition and companies have to be transparent in their pricing and in the products that they put on the market and the laws are very clear in this country, if you’re trying to deceive consumers, if you’re trying to mislead. error, if you try to operate within the framework of a cartel, the sanctions are very important. I think companies need to be very careful if these are the measures they take.
Gareth Downing, chief executive of the Consumer Federation of Australia, says although the Unit Pricing Code has been in force for some time, it lacks the strength to truly protect consumers.
“This area has been subject to some regulation since 2009, which is why the unit pricing code has been in place since 2009. Despite this, the code’s requirements are primarily principles-based regulation, so it requires you to present information in a readable format Unfortunately we have seen information presented that is inconsistent, difficult to read and navigate. These changes will hopefully correct these issues, but they will also result in penalties for failure to submit. death information in a truly clear, visible and easy-to-use manner for consumers.
The moves come after the ACCC was awarded $30 million to investigate poor supermarket practices and understand the impact of companies’ pricing strategies on product prices.
Australia was reported to be home to misleading pricing information, where products were advertised as being discounted, after the original price had been increased.
The study also found that major supermarkets were using an anti-competitive practice known as “land banking”: purchasing holding sites to exclude potential competitors.
The legislation is expected to be introduced this year.
