Illogical pricing

[atyclb]

On 8/7/2018 at 4:40 PM, hobz said:

Isn't it strange that I never saw it in Sweden for 30 years but I see it constantly here.

 

That can't be coincidence. Sorry.

 

Of course I don't want to generalize too much over it. But I'm 100% confident it says something about Thailand or Sweden. Interesting to me personally even if it's really minor. I love minor culture differences. They are fun conversation starters and can be used to open minds etc.

 

Maybe it's simply computer errors. But in Sweden they get fixed quicker because Swedish People complain more? It's the only known factor that I know...  Swedish ppl love complaining and Thai people rarely complain.. 

Everyone makes errors... But the swedes fix them quicker due to constant complaining?

 

I heard also that Thai lower/floor staff never report problems upwards to higher staff.. something about face or whatnot..  in Sweden they do.

 

 

living in Thailand learn to turn off your brain and life will improve greatly

[MyFriend You]

I once pulled out a three pack of Chang from the fridge in the new 7/11 in Jom Tien, as I was putting it in my basket, one of the bottles literally flew out of the pack.  They came to clean it up, and I heard a lot of 'farang, farang, farang from the fat supervisor.  I took two more packs to the counter to pay - noticed the charge was different so checked the bill, they charged me for the beer that fell out of their faulty package - I speak a fair amount of thai, and berated them for charging me for an accident that wasn't my fault, then pointed at the fat lady and said 'puht maack' if you don't like farangs, why work here??   They re-rang the charge w/o the broken beer.   it's not the price - its the attitude - and the fact this fat b..ch told them to charge me for it.

[stephenterry]

On 8/7/2018 at 5:22 PM, OneMoreFarang said:

What kind of logic to you expect? Logic like if it is double the size it should be max double the price but likely be cheaper?

I can see the logic: Drinking beer and eating chips is a lot more fun with a couple of friends. So people buy lots of beer and big bags of chips. That's logic, or not?

 

How many people in Thailand do you think are able to figure out what a 75g bag should cost compared to a 53g bag? I bet at least 70% of the people wouldn't be able to figure it out any way including calculators, mobile phones, calling their friends...

Probably more convenient to pick up a four pack and a large bag of crisps than logical. Also, new supplies coming in could be more expensive than the older stock, which I suspect is the main reason for price variances. 

 

 

[HAKAPALITA]

Am i the only one who only knows what Beer and Benzine costs. Mrs buys the rest.?[emoji481]


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[OneMoreFarang]

26 minutes ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Am i the only one who only knows what Beer and Benzine costs. Mrs buys the rest.?
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Probably you are the only one. I don't know what beer and gas cost.

I have to buy it anyhow even if it would cost double from whatever it cost...

 

[HAKAPALITA]

It costs me 2k to fill Car. And 5 hundred to get out of bar.?[emoji481]


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[StreetCowboy]

9 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Am i the only one who only knows what Beer and Benzine costs. Mrs buys the rest.?


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I've never been one for cocktails

[sanemax]

13 hours ago, TunnelRat69 said:

I once pulled out a three pack of Chang from the fridge in the new 7/11 in Jom Tien, as I was putting it in my basket, one of the bottles literally flew out of the pack.  They came to clean it up, and I heard a lot of 'farang, farang, farang from the fat supervisor.  I took two more packs to the counter to pay - noticed the charge was different so checked the bill, they charged me for the beer that fell out of their faulty package - I speak a fair amount of thai, and berated them for charging me for an accident that wasn't my fault, then pointed at the fat lady and said 'puht maack' if you don't like farangs, why work here??   They re-rang the charge w/o the broken beer.   it's not the price - its the attitude - and the fact this fat b..ch told them to charge me for it.

That was your fault and you should have paid for the damage that you caused , you probably picked the pack up by the end bottle and swung it around a bit, causing the last bottle to fall out .

   The breakage was caused by inability to pick up a pack of three beers without one falling out , so, you should have paid for it .

  BTW , rather childish of you to use the "If you dont like felangs , why work here" and it makes no sense at all to say that .

  7/11's are not shops for felangs and your disagreement with her had nothing to do with you being a felangs , you played the race card

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, sanemax said:

That was your fault and you should have paid for the damage that you caused , you probably picked the pack up by the end bottle and swung it around a bit, causing the last bottle to fall out .

   The breakage was caused by inability to pick up a pack of three beers without one falling out , so, you should have paid for it .

  BTW , rather childish of you to use the "If you dont like felangs , why work here" and it makes no sense at all to say that .

  7/11's are not shops for felangs and your disagreement with her had nothing to do with you being a felangs , you played the race card

 

Or, it wasn't his fault and the bottles were packaged incorrectly or the package was damaged by the 7-11 staff when loading the fridge... who knows? who really cares?... Business such as 7-11 have 'breakage' built in to their business model & its fairly standard practice globally that when damage occurs before the checkout the store foots the bill under this breakage model. 

 

With regards to the rest of the point the op makes - he was simply responding to the unreasonable negativity from the 7-11 store manager.

[rickudon]

As a long time cheap charlie and someone who has at times worked at all levels in the grocery business, I have been aware of pricing for a long time. Generally speaking, years ago larger sizes in the Uk were nearly always more economical gram for gram or unit. But discounts, buy one get one free and buy 3 for the price of 2 offers means this is not always the case. I have always found comparing value easy as i can work most out in my head - but then most sizes were logical (e.g. double the size or 50% bigger).

 

Here in Thailand sizes are a tortuous comparison, e.g. 3 in one coffee comes in sizes of 27, 60 and 100 sachets. Most Thais are incapable of working out the per sachet price, and therefore never know which size is the best offer.  It does seem that many items are priced at comparatively higher prices for some larger sizes, you just cannot rely on bigger being cheaper. I am sure the shops can get away with it because the customers here just cannot make the comparisons. Customer service? Not if they can get away with it.

[sanemax]

29 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Or, it wasn't his fault and the bottles were packaged incorrectly or the package was damaged by the 7-11 staff when loading the fridge... who knows? who really cares?... Business such as 7-11 have 'breakage' built in to their business model & its fairly standard practice globally that when damage occurs before the checkout the store foots the bill under this breakage model. 

With regards to the rest of the point the op makes - he was simply responding to the unreasonable negativity from the 7-11 store manager.

I know the packs quite well , yes the bottles could be put in there more securely , but even if you pick it up from the middle bottle , the other two dont fall out , its just when people pick the pack up by the end bottle .

    Theres also a sign in my local 7/11 about this very pack with a drawing of how to pick the pack up and warning people not to swing the pack around and that all breakages must be paid for

[sanemax]

In my local Big C , that had pringles crisps for 40 Baht a pack , they then had two joined packs for the special price of 90 Baht .

    A few days later the single pack price went up to 50 Baht , so, there was a few days when the double pack was more expensive than two individual packs

[richard_smith237]

Just now, sanemax said:

I know the packs quite well , yes the bottles could be put in there more securely , but even if you pick it up from the middle bottle , the other two dont fall out , its just when people pick the pack up by the end bottle .

    Theres also a sign in my local 7/11 about this very pack with a drawing of how to pick the pack up and warning people not to swing the pack around and that all breakages must be paid for

 

Then it would seem that 7-11 are admitting knowledge of the faulty packaging and expecting customers to pay for the consequential breakage as a result of this error.... i.e. expecting customers to pay for damage because they haven't picked up a package in precisely the way 7-11 wants them to...  I think anyone would be well within their rights not to have to pay under such circumstances.... (and really, apart from yourself of course, who reads the signs in a 7-11 ??)

 

But, fear not, there is a simple solution solution at hand !!!... 7-11 could sell the bottles separately so that people are not led into a false sense of security by the poorly designed packaging.... its all too simple.

 

This of course is all a little off topic, but could perhaps be shoehorned in when making the point against illogical pricing... in this case charing the customer for the consequences of poor management (in accepting poorly packaged products). 

 

 

[sanemax]

1 minute ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Then it would seem that 7-11 are admitting knowledge of the faulty packaging and expecting customers to pay for the consequential breakage as a result of this error.... i.e. expecting customers to pay for damage because they haven't picked up a package in precisely the way 7-11 wants them to...  I think anyone would be well within their rights not to have to pay under such circumstances.... (and really, apart from yourself of course, who reads the signs in a 7-11 ??)

But, fear not, there is a simple solution solution at hand !!!... 7-11 could sell the bottles separately so that people are not led into a false sense of security by the poorly designed packaging.... its all too simple.

This of course is all a little off topic, but could perhaps be shoehorned in when making the point against illogical pricing... in this case charing the customer for the consequences of poor management (in accepting poorly packaged products). 

 

 

I didnt need the sign , I picked a pack up and noticed that the packaging wasnt secure , so, I put my hand underneath to support it , the bottles are indeed sold separately and also in pairs , just the conjoined packs are cheaper (per bottle) .

    I did feel that it was unnecessary for the guy to mention about "not liking felangs" , as this was nothing to do with whether she liked felangs or not , it was an issue about broken goods and who should pay for them

[richard_smith237]

I'm not sure it falls into illogical pricing, however, this was on an offer... (a popular sandwich shop - ABP)...

 

The offer.. Sandwich & Iced coffee...  I wanted a sandwich + Hot coffee - "cannot !"... 

The cost for the 'Sandwich + hot coffee' was greater than the 'Sandwich & Iced coffee' promotion...  Ah ha !!!... we have a situation... the skullduggerous being that I am I was in just the right frame of mind for an entertaining bit of confrontation combined with a dollop of expat righteousness and one-up-manship.... Arise the 'coffee-shop-warrior'...  Oh, but I can !!!... Oh, but alas you cannot, but alas I can...  well, not quite, but a version of that in broken Thai and pidgin English... (these situations are always played back in a much more favorable manner in my mind)...

 

"oh princess barista... do tell, How do you make your coffee iced?" I ask.... 

"Make the coffee, then add Ice!" responded the countess at the counter... 

 

"Great !!!!.... I'll have one 'Sandwich & Iced coffee' promotion, Please"....  and the sandwich and 'iced' coffee making commences... 

 

"Stop right there !!!" I exclaim...  "thats fine, perfect, perfezionare".... "no need to add the ice !!"... "I'll take that Iced coffee without Ice !!!".....

 

My moment of serendipitous genius evaporated as the '<deleted> cow charged me for a coffee and sandwich separately !!!... Not all was lost though, the encounter was well worth the 2 baht difference purely to exercise my 'god-given-expat-right' to be a 'stuck-up-thumb-in-my-bum-pain-in-the-arse' when it really shouldn't have mattered !!!!.... 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 9, 2018 by richard_smith237

[hobz]

On 8/8/2018 at 9:33 AM, hakancnx said:

They cheating simple people who can not calculate. It's very well planned....

Yes, sure, but there are people in Sweden that are too lazy or dumb to calculate too. Yet this does not go on there. WHY?

[hobz]

On 8/8/2018 at 10:19 AM, Retiredandhappyhere said:

Perhaps the big stores take advantage of the fact that mathematics is not necessarily a Thai strong point, and that most customers would automatically assume that the larger item would be better value.  Surely not?

 

You only have to watch assistants or even the owners in the smaller stores, without up-to-date cash registers, using a calculator to work out the change required from a 100 baht note for a 70 baht purchase.  

And Swedish people are presumed to be strong in Math and that's why store owners in Sweden don't try this?

I still think it's more about that Swedes complain and Thais have mai pen rai. 

[hobz]

On 8/8/2018 at 10:22 AM, LukKrueng said:

maybe it's not errors. Maybe it's marketing issue based on local buying habits. The fact that it's not like in Sweden and not logical to you means nothing. 

Means nothing? 

I think it's because Swedes love complaining and Thais are the opposite. "Mai pen rai".

This has huge impact on society, nothing gets fixed even though its obviously broken.

[hobz]

On 8/8/2018 at 10:32 AM, jgarbo said:

As for the Swede's complaint: The chips are cheaper in the bigger bag -  Bt2.5/gm vs Bt2.65/gm the smaller. Standard discount for volume. The beer price I'd guess is a labeling mistake. Buy singles.

I watch for "arbtrage" at supermarkets, eg a black rice vinegar I like is Bt28.90/625ml (big) vs Bt26.90/250ml. Crazy. A packaging/ barcode error. I buy as many big bottles as they have, when on sale. Seller's mistake. Caveat Venditor. HTH

You miss the whole point. The point is that mistakes like this happen way more frequently in Sweden than in Thailand. As for individual cases, cool... 

 

As for your advice "buy singles" .. Really? You mean I should buy the cheaper one? WOW, great advice. Your post really brings value to this place....

[hobz]

On 8/8/2018 at 5:49 PM, khunPer said:

I don't know about Sweden, but in neighboring Denmark it happens same as in Thailand, so keeping eyes open and checking prices comes with me from my home country, where it sometimes were cheaper to buy a number of small packs, than a "discounted" bigger pack.

 

Has to do with psychological prices; or easy prices, like the 20 baht and 30 baht chips, even 3 x 20-baht packs are slightly cheaper than 2 x 30-baht packs, as you get 9 gram more.

 

And your beer bottles, you might pay little extra for the 4-pack carton sleeve with a handle.

 

Always check content when comparing prices, for example some times the smaller 500 ml bottle might be relative cheaper than the "discounted" 750 ml bottle...?

Dude, you are preaching to the quire, you think I would start a discussion like this if I didn't study prices constantly? ? hehe

[hobz]

12 hours ago, stephenterry said:

Probably more convenient to pick up a four pack and a large bag of crisps than logical. Also, new supplies coming in could be more expensive than the older stock, which I suspect is the main reason for price variances. 

 

 

Another one that completely misses the point..

So In Sweden large bags of crisps are not convenient? And In Sweden new supplies coming in are never more expensive than older stock? 

 

[Damrongsak]

On 8/7/2018 at 5:52 AM, hobz said:

Tesco might be doing it on purpose. Retail trick. People expect the bigger pack to be cheaper and are too lazy to make the calculation.

Happens here in the US.  Some grocery stores list the unit price per kg/liter on the shelf label but people are probably too lazy to read.

[tfc]

I have no idea about marketing strategies in Sweden.  In Australia I remember McDonalds combo meals, burger, fries and drink being cheaper than if I just wanted to buy the burger and fries, as I was never much into sodas even as a teenager.  I'd just buy the combo meal and tell them to keep the soda.  Years later when I was at university one of my compulsory minor subjects was marketing and the discussion came up because you'd not uncommonly see similar strategies at Woolworths or Coles where "family packs" were cheaper than the regular.  My marketing professor said it was a good way to get people "hooked."  They perceive that they're getting a good deal but the company or supermarket is still making a profit not a loss overall.  Perhaps street vendors don't use the same strategy because they never learned it.  

[sanemax]

3 minutes ago, hobz said:

Another one that completely misses the point..

So In Sweden large bags of crisps are not convenient? And In Sweden new supplies coming in are never more expensive than older stock? 

 

You have asked that question numerous times throughout this thread .

I expect the reason is because things are more organised in Sweden

[hobz]

17 minutes ago, sanemax said:

You have asked that question numerous times throughout this thread .

I expect the reason is because things are more organised in Sweden

Yeah, sorry, I get frustrated because so many replies ignore what I view as the essence of the question.

 

But thank you for answering with something original. Swedes look up to Germany as being "very organised", so If your theory is correct, then we would rarely see illogical pricing in Germany either. 

 

Anyone from Germany can confirm / deny? 

 

Thanks again and sorry for frustration ?

[Damrongsak]

12 hours ago, HAKAPALITA said:

Am i the only one who only knows what Beer and Benzine costs. ...

Is that a beer and a shot of E85 on the side, or a mixed drink?

[hobz]

29 minutes ago, tfc said:

I have no idea about marketing strategies in Sweden.  In Australia I remember McDonalds combo meals, burger, fries and drink being cheaper than if I just wanted to buy the burger and fries, as I was never much into sodas even as a teenager.  I'd just buy the combo meal and tell them to keep the soda.  Years later when I was at university one of my compulsory minor subjects was marketing and the discussion came up because you'd not uncommonly see similar strategies at Woolworths or Coles where "family packs" were cheaper than the regular.  My marketing professor said it was a good way to get people "hooked."  They perceive that they're getting a good deal but the company or supermarket is still making a profit not a loss overall.  Perhaps street vendors don't use the same strategy because they never learned it.  

I think every seller want to increase their quantity of sales. Even if it's at a slightly lower profit margin as long as net profits are higher and the organizational costs for the increased volume is not too high..(which would dip into net profits, so kind of redundant point..).

 

McDonalds are drug dealers.... ;D

[Vacuum]

On 8/8/2018 at 8:18 AM, Cyclone88 said:

 

Customers always tend to go for the larger pack as they automatically believe that it will save them money.

This is normal practice throughout the world not just Thailand.

And we all know where it started..

[Zendo]

To start with, going to a supermarket like tesco  is already a big show off for many locals.. and buying single items is not as good as buying Specials "Value ?" Pack.. and have no problem paying for that, after all the package should cost too and many times it's well decorated like a 4 pack of chang in 7/11.. lol

 

Buying in small portions on the local market is normal, to have a price you need to be a Big player, But buying BIG packs of manufactured products in modern shops just help your reputation of being wealthy and will impress your guest when you'll bring chips and beers, that has a cost that people are willing to pay ?

 

That's why here I buy my dry nuts in small metal pack instead of big sachet, more convenient and cheaper ?

[StreetCowboy]

49 minutes ago, hobz said:

I think every seller want to increase their quantity of sales. Even if it's at a slightly lower profit margin as long as net profits are higher and the organizational costs for the increased volume is not too high..(which would dip into net profits, so kind of redundant point..).

 

McDonalds are drug dealers.... ;D

And vice versa, if you had read “Freakonomics” - the author’s name eludes me