Obviously, the supermarkets are replacing small shops, and sometimes even vast markets. On one hand, they are really convenient – one can buy almost everything in the supermarkets. On the other hand, though… as one faces the sly tricks of supermarkets, he begins thinking over if the deception will always be an inalienable part of trade.
[adrotate group=”1″]Apparently, the bigger the business is, the more deception it has. You’d have probably been deceived in small shops when the salesman weighed goods on old scales with weighs and then a bit shortchanged you, but supermarkets have far more possibilities to cheat you and the tricks are more intricate. You may find out about some of the most frequent “unfair” methods of large supermarkets below.
You may also add something to this article and warn others about the ruses, so they will manage to avoid them in future.
The Merchandiser’s Cunning
The daily needs (bread, milk, sugar, meat) are situated far away from one another, so one has to cross the whole supermarket to buy them all. That is not accidentally at all. In such way 30-60% of the goods appear in the cart, though they were not planned. The “right” placing of the wares is the part of the professional merchandiser’s work.
Each attentive customer knows well that fresher products are always in the back rows, behind less fresh ones. Those, which are nearly out-of-date, are put forward.
Special Offers and Sell-outs
None of the supermarkets will trade at a loss and sell goods at purchase price. So if a product suddenly fell in price, the other, which is rather important as well, went up. Crossed out price attracts customers psychologically. That’s why, the salesmen usually raise the initial price of the good, then cross it out, put the lower price below and add “Special Offer!!!” written in big red letters.
Sly methods to deceive customers in the supermarkets
One more ruse for cheating customers is to overprice goods deliberately. People start avoiding them, but in some days the price is changed. The previous cosmic price is written, crossed out and, again, the “Special Offer!!!” is added. Customers snap up such goods being afraid that soon the previous ‘cosmic’ price will return.
[adrotate group=”2″]Tip: always check the shelf life of the product you buy for special offer. The supermarkets often try to sell out things that are lying on the shelves too long. Do not buy such goods, if your health is more valuable for you.
Simple manipulations with price tags
Manipulations in the supermarkets are so various! Let’s look some of them over!
Example #1
Recently the Ahmad Tea has been sold in one of the supermarkets – 100 tea bags for 189 RUB. When one gaze at the price tag carefully, he’d read the name of the product, the number of tea bags and weigh number. The fact that the tea is green has been written in a tiny print.
It is not hard to guess that the price tag was exactly under the big packs of black Ahmad Tea that is sold better. Several packs of green tea were lying nearby. Nobody was guilty – right? The customers are just inattentive.
Example #2
The price tag of the mineral water “Slavyanovskaya” (1 l. per 14.90 RUB) was found under the 1.5 l. bottles, which are, of course, more expensive – 21 RUB. Everything is legal. One will not be able to reproach anyone for that. [adrotate group=”3″]
Example #3
There is one more really popular trick with price tags and almost all supermarket and hypermarket chains use it. The prices of the goods you see in the sales area vary from those you see at the cash register when a cashier scans products.
The difference is minor, and still the price becomes higher. If the customer notices the difference and asks a cashier to explain the situation, the cashier apologizes and says the prices got higher and old price tags in the sales area were still not changed because of the heavy workload in the supermarket.
Oh, what is more, you may be also shortchanged like in good old times: the cashier can scan a product two times or, for example, scan not 5, but 6 yoghurts.
Attractive packaged goods
Avoid buying products that were packaged in the supermarket, because you may find out-of-date pieces under the beautiful ones. Look at vacuum packs intently.
The shelf life printed on them is often changed. One can easily rub it off from the foil, wash away from juice, milk box and box of chocolate, then write a new one with a special ink. So the goods packaging is also a part of a successful business. Or, is it a part of a successful deceit in the supermarkets of our country?
Smart cashiers
After scanning all the products, the cashier tells you the sum which is a little bit higher than it actually is. Sure, the real sum is on the cash register monitor, but who checks it? However, if the customer notes the inconsistency, the cashier apologizes and tells the right sum.
Night shopping
Do not make large purchases in the evening, especially on Friday and Saturday. These are considered to be favourable periods for swindle. People are worn out on Friday evening after work week and, that’s why, they are irritated and less attentive. They do their best to buy up as fast as possible, rarely check the receipts carefully or clear up issues concerned with prices. Unfair cashiers and shop assistants make a good hand out of it.
And, finally, the basest and meanest way of cheating customers. The packs are slightly torn and a part of the contents is poured out.
[adrotate group=”5″]Note: always check if the package is intact, as well as the amount of the product in it.
Maybe, there are far more tricks and ruses in the supermarkets. When you talk with tradesmen and ask them if everything is all right with their conscience, they say “Conscience? That’s business. One would not make money with the help of conscience.” So that’s what we have… Unfortunately, the fact is nowadays (or at all times?) a tradesman is not a profession, but a way of thinking and living.
Hopefully, this article will help you get your bearing in the complicated space of super- and hypermarkets and, what is even more sufficient, will help you preserve your nerves in the everyday situations. You may find related articles on our website.
