Unit Pricing Archives - Page 3 of 8 - Consumers' Federation of Australia

5 September , 2022

Australians make submissions on proposed NZ grocery unit pricing system

Following its decision to require grocery retailers to provide consumers with unit pricing (pricing per unit of measure), the NZ government recently released a wide ranging Discussion Paper seeking views on many aspects of unit pricing, including system design, scope and implementation, prior to releasing draft legislation. It is now considering submissions received. The system…

22 August , 2022

Price transparency and consumers’ right to food

Recently, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) published an interview with Ian Jarratt from the Queensland Consumers Association on the relevance of retail food price transparency to the FAO’s Right to Food Program. In the interview Ian says that food price transparency is extremely relevant to consumers’ right to food because it ensures that…

8 August , 2022

Food and Agruculture Organization interview CFA Executive Ian Jarratt

Ian Jarratt, CFA Executive member and Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) member, was recently interviewed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations about the importance of food transparency, unit pricing, and the role that consumer associations need to play in the transformation of agri-food systems. In this interview, he talks about his experiences from…

16 May , 2022

Inadequate unit pricing risks higher grocery prices, says complaint to ACCC

The Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) has complained to the ACCC about the inadequate display of grocery unit pricing in some supermarkets operated by Woolworths and by Harris Farm Markets. CFA’s CEO Gerard Brody says “it is essential that the unit prices of grocery products are displayed so that they are easy for all consumers…

5 May , 2022

Grocery shoppers advised to look out for “shrinkflation”: hidden grocery price increases caused by package downsizing

The Queensland Consumers Association (QCA) is advising grocery shoppers to look out for hidden price increases caused by reductions in the amount of product in pre-packaged items. This is a media release from Queensland Consumers Association. It was originally published on 10th April, 2022. Unless the selling price is also reduced proportionally, package downsizing means that consumers pay more…

25 March , 2022

Mandatory grocery unit pricing coming to India and New Zealand

The latest edition of the Queensland Consumers Association’s (QCA) newsletter Unit Pricing Global Update reports that: India will require display of the Maximum Retail Price (MRP) per standardised unit of measure (i.e. the unit price) on pre-packaged commodities sold by retailers after 31 March 2022. Currently only the MRP has to be displayed. In New…

18 March , 2022

National Consumer Unit Price Education Campaign

A national media campaign is running from 7 March until 1 April to increase consumer awareness and understanding of grocery unit pricing and how it can help them save money. The campaign is being run by Australia’s consumer protection regulators. There was also a successful campaign in 2020. The social media material changes weekly and…

14 March , 2022

Consumer Policy Agenda 2022 launched ahead of Federal Election

The Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA) has launched its Consumer Policy Agenda 2022. CFA is calling for new consumer policy reforms to be urgently implemented to put consumers in the economy recovery. Competition in key markets is flailing, consumer protections are falling behind best practice, and our institutional arrangements for consumer protection are not supporting…

20 December , 2021

FAO publishes reports on consumer organizations and the Right to Adequate Food

Prepared by CFA Executive Member Ian Jarratt, of Queensland Consumers Association. He can be reached at ijarratt@australiamail.com. Recently, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) published two reports, aimed to support, and showcase the work of Consumer Organizations around the globe on The Right to Adequate Food. The reports are: Consumer Organizations and the Right to…

25 October , 2021

Report finds many food retailers not complying with weights and measures laws

The National Measurement Institute’s (NMI) report on retailer compliance in 2020-21 reveals that 88% of fruit and vegetable retailers, 42% of meat, fish and poultry retailers, and 25% of supermarkets were not complying with their legal requirements when audited during a concentrated period during the year. Much of this post is taken from a media release by Queensland…

4 October , 2021

Peak consumers group calls on supermarkets to use new guidelines to save shoppers money

The nation’s peak body for consumer organisations, the Consumers’ Federation of Australia (CFA), says grocery retailers should use new revised ACCC guidelines on the provision of unit pricing to make it much easier for their customers to notice, read, understand and use unit prices. Effective unit pricing (pricing per unit of measure) greatly assists shoppers…

2 August , 2021

Federal government misses opportunity to help shoppers save at the checkout

The nation’s peak body for consumer organisations, the Consumers Federation of Australia (CFA) says shoppers will miss out on big savings possible when buying groceries, and other packaged products, as a result of federal government not improving the current Unit Pricing Code. The Code requires only large supermarkets and some online grocery retailers to provide…