Guidelines for shopping:

1. Read the labels.
2. Check the dates.
3. Do the calculations.
4. Don't believe every sticker.
5. Don't assume: sometimes (but not always) larger packages, or buy-two bundles are cheaper, sometimes they are not.
6. If you don't think the deal is fair, just walk on by and choose a regular product.
7. In general: don't bother querying the prices with the supermarket staff (other than, perhaps, for really large non-food items). They work hard and don't earn a fortune, they deal with customer's expectations and complaints all day long, some of the prices are computerised and some are not, and most especially, since they don't get to decide how the store is run, if you start the discussion you will end up using your time waiting for the supervisor who, when she gets to you, will either generously override the system to give you the extra Fr. 1.35 discount or will tell you "Sorry, computer says No."

Or: start out modestly and, within the range you've set, spend freely, and get a general sense of what's in your typical shopping basket, and whether it pleases you, and whether you can afford it, and if need be after some weeks or months make some adjustments.

Another way to get a general feel of what things cost, is to check the online home-delivery sites.
Coop: https://www.coop.ch/en/, and
Migros: https://www.leshop.ch/de/supermarket/home
and there you can learn quite a lot about the pricing, by re-arranging products by kg price, or your shopping cart by price per items, etc.

The only price I put that level of attention is beef or lamb. When it says 40% it's 40%, because that's the largest discount

Just for curiosity. I've seen those per 100 gram prices but never understood why. What's the point of knowing the price of 100 grams of beef? You can't do anything with 100 grams, kilograms are unit closer to what you actually buy. I don't imagine gas stations displaying the fuel price per milliliter.

Psychology? It sounds far cheaper to pay 9.90 per 100g than 99.00 per kilo, even though it's really the same.

Also maybe you shop for a family or you like meat more than I do. We almost never buy kilos of meat at a time. Even if you add up all we purchase in a week among fish, chicken, beef, lamb, sausages, whatever - it's probably all together max 1-2 kilos unless we're going to have guests.

It's not about how much you buy, but a more universal measure. Sure, it's easy enough to convert, but it's just odd, given that every other country will show prices per kilo.

And it's not just meat, but many things where a kilo is a much more obvious round measure, like potatoes or onions.

You're right about the psychology though, especially for meat which is just so ridiculously expensive.

Ah life in the comfortable duopoly that is Coop and Migros.

In Coop I have seen Gordons gin in 75cl bottles sold at a cheaper rate per cl than the 1 litre bottles.

Also, watch out for AKTUELL signs. What are these about if not to confuse the sort sighted into thinking it is an AKTION...

Placement is also interesting, the more expensive product is placed in eye hight while the cheaper variant is in the lower part.

That is everywhere, not only in CH

Ok

You know the 50% is taken off at the till, right?

One would expect both items to be xx/kg on the packet but you're saying one was xx/kg and one was yy/kg where xx is circa 2*yy ?

Ooooh, I love a good Coop sale. We rarely buy meat at full price, and having a chest freezer, take advantage of every meat sale we can. I watch the meat prices like the proverbial hawk, so know that those specials are usually genuine, and scoop up all the relevant 50% items whenever possible. Of course, 50% off something that is usually 120 p/kg is a different type of special to something that is usually 48 p/kg. And Coop's own brand for meat is usually very well priced, and cheaper than the advertised weekly sales anyway - which works out well for stewing steak/chicken etc.

I've found that some Coops have regular clear out days, when the 50% stickers are frequently about for meat and all fridge items - usually perishables approaching or on their expiry date. For Einsiedeln large Coop, between 4 and 6pm on Saturdays is full of bargains. For Seewen Centre, large Coop, Wednesday early afternoons. I'm guessing that is linked somehow to their supply chain process?

I've have historically been caught out where I see an advertised special on multi-items (eg: 3 cans of tinned fruit for price of 2) at the end of the aisle, grabbed them without checking closely, and unpacked them at home to find I've just purchased beans! Easy enough to do given the cans are bundled together with nasty plastic packaging. It happened to me several times, so I've since been watching how those display ends are stacked - and found that it is common for additional but similar looking (and differently priced) products to be stored on those aisle ends!

smileygreebins beat me to it. 40-50% discount in meat and a freezer are the perfect pairing.

Next time, please grab photos of the price tags. Context is everything.

The one I like at Coop is the 40% discount on pre-packed meat items that are then sold at 50% off on the last sell date combined with a freezer. Makes a huge difference in the meat part of the food budget.

Coop often has the same "issue" with the packages of smoked salmon that they sell at 40% off that in the stores where I go they often end up selling it with the additional 25-50% off due to the sell before date.

Actually less so in CH than in other countries.

In CH it happens for more luxury stuff like wine and chocolate. Pop over the border to Germany and they do it with toilet paper.

TP was a luxury item in some areas not long ago.

Yes, you're right. And, in fact, it still is, everywhere. There are sensible alternatives that work just as well or better. Economically and dermatologically preferable, and probably economically, too.

Actually there was an article on this on Beobachter:

https://www.beobachter.ch/konsum/fur...-angeschrieben

It goes on how a 3 pack of fish sticks is being sold as having a 33% discount, when in reality (comparing to individual packages), the discount is below 11%.

Migros gives an excuse (the price has gone down on the product since the promotion came out and we haven't updated all tags...).


Seeing as this is not exactly an isolated event, buyer beware of "AKTION!". Especially on tempting giant packs of chocolate assortments

__________________
Leonor
ZuerichGitarrenUnterricht.ch

Exactly.

One more notorious thing about Coop - do check your receipts every time because what they advertise as being discounted on the shelves appears in full price on your receipt. It's just not worth buying discounted stuff from Coop, I gave up. I don't feel like checking out every single item on the receipt, every single time.