Thai Dept. of Internal Trade to regulate consumer product sizes

[webfact]

DIT to regulate product sizes

BANGKOK, 24 April 2014, (NNT) – The Department of Internal Trade (DIT) is set to control the methods of product distribution from consumer product manufacturers in order to prevent unfair trading.

Santichai Santhawanpaet, the Deputy Director-General of the DIT, revealed that consumers have made several complaints about manufacturing companies of daily consumer products such as soap, champoo, and detergents.

According to the Director-General, the manufacturers have released at least 20 to 30 different sizes of the same product across the market, which has caused great confusion among buyers. Therefore, he has sent a team to inspect the Big-C Department Store at Rattana Tibet, in order to verify those claims before consulting with the manufacturers.

Mr. Santichai said a meeting has been scheduled with the Thai Soap and Detergents Manufacturers' Association next Monday, where he would ask the manufacturers to cut back their products. He also ensured the public that his agency would continue to probe into consumer products to prevent companies from practicing unfair trading.

Violators could face at least seven years of imprisonment or a 140,000 baht fine, or both.


-- NNT 2014-04-24

[rkidlad]

20-30 different sizes of the same product? Very confusing because it's too much choice?

[WoopyDoo]

20-30 different sizes of the same product? Very confusing because it's too much choice?

I find that figure very difficult to believe.

[gabruce]

20-30 different sizes of the same product? Very confusing because it's too much choice?

I find that figure very difficult to believe.

Maybe they include samplers, testers, multiple units packaged together. That might come close.

I think the whole thing is nonsense and shouldn't be something government is involved in. Mislabeling sizes, okay, that needs to be truthful.

I suppose it could be confusing if they introduce a 120ml package where the competition is selling 125ml packages, but so what?

[tomyummer]

Funny. It's the markets themselves that don't know crap about pricing. Many times the smaller packed items are cheaper (per ml or oz) than when buying in big sizes. I've seen this in bottles of shampoo, soft drinks, toilet paper and even candies.

[h90]

20-30 different sizes of the same product? Very confusing because it's too much choice?

thing is that you can't compare the prices if one pack has 187 gram then other 194 gram the third 257 without calculator. And who want to spend 5 hours in the supermarket till everything is figured out?

If you allow only 100, 125, 150, 200, 250, 300, 400 gram than it gets much easier.

If it is worth to make some more laws is a other question.

[bigbamboo]

20-30 different sizes of the same product? Very confusing because it's too much choice?

I find that figure very difficult to believe.

Maybe they sent the man from TAT round to count them?

[WhizBang]

Department of INTERNAL Trade?

I am not stupid. I can figure it out.

[Prbkk]

Yes, we can all work it out but in a price controlled market ( in which every consumer product needs approval for pricing) , producers try to circumvent the requirement by decreasing the size of the item without increasing the price. Something very common in western markets. I gather this is some kind of ham-fisted attempt to deal with the same issue

[bigbamboo]

Yes, we can all work it out but in a price controlled market ( in which every consumer product needs approval for pricing) , producers try to circumvent the requirement by decreasing the size of the item without increasing the price. Something very common in western markets. I gather this is some kind of ham-fisted attempt to deal with the same issue

Ah yes, the 'New Size' syndrome..... one of my bête noirs I'm afraid.

I remember the last time I went back to England thinking that if the Wagon Wheels got any smaller instead of a half time snack they one were you could use them for the coin toss instead.

[surangw]

does that indicate the thai brand condoms will be even smaller?

[focus27]

Shame, I thought the article would be about something useful, such as the almost random sizes of clothes and shoes.

My daughter has a pair of standard Thai school shoes size 31 that are smaller than the ones size 29.

That's not just annoying but a widespread lack of any quality control.

Different bottle sizes? So long as the numbers printed are correct, who cares - learn some maths.

[rfukata]

Funny. It's the markets themselves that don't know crap about pricing. Many times the smaller packed items are cheaper (per ml or oz) than when buying in big sizes. I've seen this in bottles of shampoo, soft drinks, toilet paper and even candies.

yes your'e right. I find smaller packings cheaper than the larger ones which makes no sense. One example was a roll of electric wiring at home hub,

the smaller roll was cheaper by meter versus the larger roll.

[rreddin]

Funny. It's the markets themselves that don't know crap about pricing. Many times the smaller packed items are cheaper (per ml or oz) than when buying in big sizes. I've seen this in bottles of shampoo, soft drinks, toilet paper and even candies.

yes your'e right. I find smaller packings cheaper than the larger ones which makes no sense. One example was a roll of electric wiring at home hub,

the smaller roll was cheaper by meter versus the larger roll.

You are mnissing the trick. The most popular size is the most expensive by unit of weight, length or volume as the case may be, and thereby has the highest prifit margin.

[Thai at Heart]

Just force the retailers to place per ml pricing on all the labels.

[tomyummer]

Funny. It's the markets themselves that don't know crap about pricing. Many times the smaller packed items are cheaper (per ml or oz) than when buying in big sizes. I've seen this in bottles of shampoo, soft drinks, toilet paper and even candies.

yes your'e right. I find smaller packings cheaper than the larger ones which makes no sense. One example was a roll of electric wiring at home hub,

the smaller roll was cheaper by meter versus the larger roll.

You are mnissing the trick. The most popular size is the most expensive by unit of weight, length or volume as the case may be, and thereby has the highest prifit margin.

The trick starts at the Thai educational institutions where they purposely don't teach proper math, logic, or common sense to be able to figure out where you're being tricked and cheated. Not only in the consumer markets but also by the government. Buyer beware!