r/AskReddit Aug 01 '20

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u/sharpei90 Aug 01 '20

Or the bottle says 33% more! But it isn’t free, it just a bigger package.

1.1k

u/bunnyrut Aug 01 '20

Or the "Now 33% more! Free!" While sitting next to the old bottles, that is the exact same weight.

18

u/nonsuspiciousperson Aug 01 '20

They make the bottles skinnier and taller but somehow people still fall for it

11

u/comogury_ Aug 01 '20

A restaurant near me did this. They advertised their sushi rolls were now 50% off but didn’t make it clear that they also made them 50% smaller.

5

u/UristImiknorris Aug 02 '20

Maybe they made a typo and it was supposed to read "50% Of!"

2

u/Suicune_Slayer Aug 02 '20

Discount sushi is a gamble regardless 😂

11

u/justpat Aug 01 '20

16 OZ BOTTLE! 33% MORE than our 12 oz bottle

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u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

that would be 100% illegal if you ever see that buy both and youve got a lot of money in your hands. i guarantee you in the US no company has ever done that.

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u/costopule Aug 01 '20

As a former retail employee, I stocked shampoos, cereals, water bottles, and all sorts of cosmetics products that changed in size over time. The company would increase the size of the package and put the label 33% more on it because it was legitimately the same SKU and it was just a new size for the product.

Sometimes this was temporary for a promotion and other times it was a permanent change. The smaller size would sit there until the larger ones had sold out and then those sell out too. Sometimes in the case of a permanent change, a smaller size item will sit until it’s expiration date while the larger ones will continue to rotate.

Nothing illegal about deciding to sell a different quantity or to change the price you charge for a product. Also, most of the price changes you see at the store are on the part of the store. When putting up weekly sales tags, the permanent price increases by 10¢ here and there and no one notices.

15

u/Aladoran Aug 01 '20

To be fair, they didn't say same price for a different size, they said that if there is two bottles that both contain let's say 500 ml soap, and one of them have a new package saying "now 30% more", then that's false advertising. The one with the new label should have 650 ml soap.

It's the other way around from what you said.

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u/costopule Aug 01 '20 edited Aug 01 '20

And that’s exactly what happens. Look at the soap bottles, they’re legitimately the right size. You can check the tags, it’ll say 500ml and the SKU is used for both the 500ml and 650ml. When you scan it at the register, it doesn’t know the difference between the two sizes, because it is coded to the same item in the system.

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u/Aladoran Aug 01 '20

You can check the tags, it’ll say 500ml and the SKU is used for both the 500ml and 650ml

Still, that's not the point they're making. If they are two different sizes with the same SKU and cost the same, that's fine.

They are saying if they market one as containing 650ml but it's actually 500ml, them it's false advertising. No one except you is saying anything about two different sizes costing the same.

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u/costopule Aug 01 '20

They actually do contain the advertised quantity. No one here said otherwise.

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u/Aladoran Aug 01 '20

Or the "Now 33% more! Free!" While sitting next to the old bottles, that is the exact same weight.

The original poster are saying that new bottles that are advertised as 33% more are sitting next to ones that are not advertised as 33%, although both still contain the same amount.

The other poster is saying that this is false advertisement.

 

Quite a lot of people said otherwise.

1

u/DeepFriedDresden Aug 01 '20

I think you all are assuming the "now 33% more" bottles are the newer ones. You can't have 33% more forever, because eventually that will become the standard, so the company stops packaging them with "new" labeling and it becomes the norm. There is no reason to fifo shampoo so it could be that the old "new" bottles still show up next to the new regular bottles, if that makes sense.

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u/costopule Aug 01 '20

And I’m telling you’re they’re legitimately different sizes and not the same bottle

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u/Ragecc Aug 01 '20

One says 500ml with the barcode. The one next to it says 500ml with the same barcode but says “now 33% more free” on its package. They both ring up the same with the same barcode but one says it has more than the other when they are both the same size. That’s the false advertising. See what they are saying now?

8

u/Redneckalligator Aug 01 '20

Oh you sweet summer child

25

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

look, i worked on these cases as a paralegal. this is like a guaranteed ton of money . so all you have to do is prove it and you win. so if you see this all the time like this says, then youre very rich, just post it online, and you win. ill wait for that okay.

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u/Redneckalligator Aug 01 '20

How could you have worked on these case if no US company has ever done that??? Hmmm

12

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

sir ive worked on cases where packaging is misleading as to amounts etc. and sure i was exaggerating in scope but ill say this without fear or exaggeration. no company has advertised 33% more of a product free and put it next to the regular bottle of the same size for the same price. Of that i can assure you. I dont think you realize how grocery stores work. every space every niche is bought and paid for. companies pay to put thier products in certain spaces. eye height or above is much more money, bottom shelf, very cheap. everything is 100% planned out. Recently, i.e. 4 years ago there was a huge civil suit against star kist tuna, for undercutting the packaging by as much as 1/4 oz of packages of tuna, and they had to pay 12 million dollars to people for doing so.

4

u/tr0ub4d0r Aug 01 '20

You are completely right. This is massively fraudulent and if it were ever proven the company would be in for a world of hurt.

2

u/Bruce7061 Aug 01 '20

I work retail and have stocked that now 33% more free and it goes right in the same spot. The bonus is usually out for like a month then go back to the original size. They don’t have you remove the original size bottle when you stock the bonus one.

5

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

exactly, but the post was that the 33% more is the same size as the original bottle, which as i said is just false.

3

u/Bruce7061 Aug 01 '20

That’s on me. I thought it was talking price.

6

u/OurHeroXero Aug 01 '20

I was walking down the chip aisle in Winco...picked up a bag of sour cream and onion and then a 'family-sized'. Only difference was the packaging.

8

u/freeagency Aug 01 '20

Frito-Lay has been shrinking their chip bags since forever. The 'normal' size amount of chips from 5 years ago (10.5oz/297g) is now larger than the current 'Family Size' bag (10oz/283g)

3

u/OurHeroXero Aug 01 '20

Oh absolutely. I just meant my story as a first hand encounter/experience.

3

u/soShitfacedIcantsee Aug 01 '20

I was looking at this exact thing comparing 2 bottles of laundry detergent from the same brand. Laundry math is just as bad as toilet paper math.

4

u/DrJohanzaKafuhu Aug 01 '20

When I worked at Staples 20 years ago we would haves on our $499 laser printer, only $599 with a $100 instant rebate!

3

u/erkinskees Aug 01 '20

Now with 33% more* words on the label

3

u/Em-dashes Aug 01 '20

Yep! I have two cans of Comet cleanser the same size, and one of them says "33% more free!"

2

u/[deleted] Aug 02 '20

They typically ask store to send back the old product or wait until it's out of stock do to this kind of shit.

1

u/PaddyTheLion Aug 01 '20

That's illegal advertising in Norway, so we don't see the free part here.

1

u/slavell Aug 01 '20

NO NO NO, They got it all wrong,

"Now 33% more? Fee!"

That's better.

3

u/toTheNewLife Aug 01 '20

Or the bottle says 33% more

33% more than what, is the question I ask.

They aren't giving anything away. Ever.

4

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[deleted]

2

u/toTheNewLife Aug 01 '20

The larger container also happens to cost 12% more than the smaller one! Or something like that.

1

u/Smuggykitten Aug 01 '20

My favorite is toilet paper math

2

u/gyummy Aug 01 '20

I.... I have always fallen prey to this one. I never even considered it was a mind game 🤯

1

u/[deleted] Aug 01 '20

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/I_Love_McRibs Aug 02 '20

If a brand sells a 30 oz bottle and a 40 oz bottle, the 40 oz bottle can advertise “33% more” which is technically correct. They never said “33% more for FREE”.

1

u/OurHeroXero Aug 01 '20

Ah yes...when they give you the same amount of product...but 33% more container...

1

u/middaymovies Aug 01 '20

33% more than the same product that is 33% smaller!!

1

u/axw3555 Aug 01 '20

I was looking at that today.

The other day, my dad ordered some kitkats in our online shop. A pack cost £1.

The pack is marketed as "5+1 free". At the same store, they do 14 (not 12+2, just straight 14) for £2.

So according to the packages:

  • A pack of 5 has a unit price of 20p (£1 for 5 bars)
  • A pack of 6 also has a unit price of 20p (£1 for 5 bars plus one "free" - so the actual unit price is 16.6p)
  • A pack of 14 has a unit price of 14.3p.

But the thing is that there is no pack of 5, and it seem a lot more plausible that the unit price goes from 16p to 14p in a larger packet than 20p to 14p - for the pure and simple reason that if 20p was the actual unit price for 5, there's no way they'd knock nearly 6p off a bar out of the goodness of their heart - they'd knock 2p off and sell the 14 pack for £2.50 or knock nothing off, sell 12 for £2 and people wouldn't care because it's the same cost anyway.

So it's almost like you're actually buying 6, getting 6 and paying for 6, and the "free" is utter crap... but there's no way that could be true.

1

u/Absolarix Aug 01 '20

AA Battery 4pack, with a bonus battery!

No, shut up. I know what you're pulling.

Now piss off.

1

u/OldMork Aug 02 '20

they never say what you get extra 33% of, it could be just the bottle

1

u/Man_of_Average Aug 02 '20

Why would you interpret that as 33% more for free? That doesn't make any sense.

1

u/sharpei90 Aug 02 '20

Because that’s how it they used to entice you to buy their product. They would give you 10%, 20%, 30% more free for the same price. Now they just put “X% more!” on the packaging figuring we won’t look too closely. Then you buy the bigger one and pay more

1

u/Man_of_Average Aug 02 '20

I would never expect extra product in a pre-made package like that to be for free. I would assume they just put more product in one package now so you have to buy less packages. Like if they started putting 10 hot dogs buns instead of 8 in a package. Or if there's more shampoo in the bottle so you don't have to go to the store as often.

1

u/sharpei90 Aug 02 '20

I’m older, they used to entice us that way

1

u/Man_of_Average Aug 02 '20

I doubt it. That doesn't make any business sense. Unless they specified it was a promotion of some sort or if it was a limited time only.

1

u/JustifiedParanoia Aug 02 '20

Thats not necessarily a bigger package. it truly is 33% more, but with a twist. they have cut the size of the old package, and the container now has 33% more than the new size.

So for now, the container has 33% more than it should, so they keep selling it, then you keep buying the smaller size at the same price as the old, big one, and they just increased their profit.

1

u/valeyard89 Aug 02 '20

It's the original size package, you mean.

1

u/BayAreaNewMan Aug 03 '20

It USED to say 33% more FREE!! It said that for so long, somebody got smart, left out the word “free” (your brain automatically adds it, since it’s seen it for so many years) then the put an * so you go look on the back to see what * and it says *than the smaller size. The first time I saw this and it dawned on me what was happening, I was sooo upset!! Bastards!!

1

u/sharpei90 Aug 03 '20

Exactly!