Shopkeepers can make more more money whilst giving less to the manufacturers.
Multi-packs are discounted, so shops make more money selling them individually at full price.
On some of these ‘multipack’ items there’s regulatory info only printed on the outer container (lists of ingredients, allergens etc.). It’s still a bit of a con, but that’s the reason frequently given.
Still remember the recording of a 999 call from around 15 years ago on a tv programme.
This teenager had obviously had some sort of disagreement with an ice cream van man and was trying to get the guy into trouble:
Caller: I’d like to report an ice cream van that’s really dirty. He shouldn’t be selling ice cream as it’s a health hazard.
999 person: That’s not really an emergency, you need to report that to your local council environmental health team.
Caller: Ok, but he was really rude to me and he’s not a very nice person.
999 person: Again that’s not really an emergency. We won’t be sending out a police officer because someone’s been rude to you.
Caller: (*Exasperated that his first two attempts didn’t work so he decides to bring out his trump card*)
Well then I’d like to report that he’s SELLING INDIVIDUAL PACKETS OF CRISPS FROM A MULTIPACK.
It just means this can doesn’t have all the info from the box. Most likely the nutrition facts are not on the can.
They are not the natural cans of the store, but fostered. It’s cruel to split them.
TIL – manufacturers purposely make multipack cans impossible to stack properly so that shopkeepers have to stack them in their original plastic wrapping.
F**k multipack cans as they keep falling out of my cupboards.
There’s a post office that sell them separately and they also have no prices on any of the drinks
Ignored by kebab shops across the country. Lol.
I think my local shop has specially printed tinnies with more expensive brand printed pricing on too.. you look in the fridge and it’s printed £7 or something similar for 4 cans of Fosters… who pays that for 4 cans of Fosters but it’s a fosters branded card round the cans. Could they be printing them themselves??
Regulatory information may be printed only on the outer packaging
I’ll give you a clue. It’s got six letters, the first is P and the last is T.
Tax
Tangential but I’ve noticed that Pepsi Max from Costco, which doesn’t have the multipack disclaimer, tastes leaps and bounds better than the supermarket cans.
I thought I went through phases with it, sometimes I’d drink a few cans a day, others a few a week. But I eventually realised after a particularly long stint without Costco Pepsi, cracking open that first can was magic.
I don’t know what it is. The super market cans taste like they’ve been stored in a hot room for a while. It’s a bit thin tasting, the carbonation is a bit stronger, and the flavour doesn’t come through as much.
Costco Pepsi also like a third of the price.
Also fucking fruit shoots. £2.50 for four at the supermarket. £5.49 for 24 at Costco.
I was told it was a tax thing but I’m not sure.
The wholesale price is much less per can in a multipack.
It’s just the same as in the shop. It’s maybe £1.20 for a single can and £4 for 6 multipack.
Obviously they don’t want the shopkeeper splitting multipacks and selling them at full, single can price.
Only Timmys have to ask
Tax innit?
Surely you would just sell it with something else like a packet of crisps. Technically it’s not sold separately then.
PrOfIT MarGiN bro…
Because fopr small shops they can usually buy a multipack cheaper than they can single items to sell.
It is not legal to sell them as ther is not the full ingrideients list on the individual item. But they can if the put a atickers on it (liek the US stuff that does not meat uk legal labeling requirements).
​
It is mainly to chame the stores however. They used to haver the full info and be legal to sell. I guess it is harder to shame now if they put a stickert over the “warning”.
So i got one in in a shop saw that it wasnt to be sold separetaly ..so i bought a mars bar as well!
> As a consumer you might feel the shop is ripping you off if they are selling for a higher price that what is already on the product – but from a legal point of that is irrelevant. You as the consumer can make the decision on whether to buy the product or not as long as the price is clearly drawn to your attention before you buy.
>
> If a business is splitting multi packs without the required food labelling then they MAY be told to take it off sale – depending on the resourcing at the local Trading Standards.
Many shops do this, selling multi pack products as singles. It’s totally legal as long as it has all the correct information on. Like ingredients
Often, it’s not even cheaper for the retailer. Its done, so they dont have to spend so much to give a larger variety, especially if they have no stock room.
lt also stops them wasting product, as there not left with a load that expires.
Imagine a small mobile catering van, needing to buy 10 x 24 packs of cans. So they now need to store 240 cans and pay close to £100 to provide a little variety. Again, same with Chrisps, you’d need to buy 480 packets to offer 10 flavours. For many small business’s its not practical. It’s a system deisigned to scam the business, not the customer, and to presume, you pay less for cans with mutlipack on them than they do for a tray of 24, is ridiculous The exception to this is price marked goods, which are often cheaper to buy.
Because one is poised and one is an antidote.
If they are sold separately the seller can make a higher profit than the packs of cans cost.
This would be great question for The Mystery Hour.
Taxes brah
It’s to stop shops ripping the customer off, by buying cheap muti packs and then selling them at full price.
I live in France nowadays. Over here it’s really common in supermarkets that people will just rip open the multipack stuff and take just one item if there’s none of the single variety on the shelf. They do it for bottles of drink all the time.
I used to be worried I’d get told off at the till or that the barcode wouldn’t scan, but I joined them after realising literally everybody does it.
I’ve worked for a water company and the reason why promo 6-pack bottles couldn’t be sold seperately is because the barcode on each of the bottles would scan the price for the whole promo pack. Meaning if you took only one bottle you would still get charged for all 6.
Pricing
Money lol
If you sell these individually, they can explode if you put fireworks inside them.
So if you split them from the multipack, apparently they can leak (if pierced with a sharp object).
I think I read somewhere if they’re sold separately and then kept for years, they’re eventually beyond their use-by date.
Yes, something like that I think.
36 comments
Shopkeepers can make more more money whilst giving less to the manufacturers.
Multi-packs are discounted, so shops make more money selling them individually at full price.
On some of these ‘multipack’ items there’s regulatory info only printed on the outer container (lists of ingredients, allergens etc.). It’s still a bit of a con, but that’s the reason frequently given.
Still remember the recording of a 999 call from around 15 years ago on a tv programme.
This teenager had obviously had some sort of disagreement with an ice cream van man and was trying to get the guy into trouble:
Caller: I’d like to report an ice cream van that’s really dirty. He shouldn’t be selling ice cream as it’s a health hazard.
999 person: That’s not really an emergency, you need to report that to your local council environmental health team.
Caller: Ok, but he was really rude to me and he’s not a very nice person.
999 person: Again that’s not really an emergency. We won’t be sending out a police officer because someone’s been rude to you.
Caller: (*Exasperated that his first two attempts didn’t work so he decides to bring out his trump card*)
Well then I’d like to report that he’s SELLING INDIVIDUAL PACKETS OF CRISPS FROM A MULTIPACK.
It just means this can doesn’t have all the info from the box. Most likely the nutrition facts are not on the can.
They are not the natural cans of the store, but fostered. It’s cruel to split them.
TIL – manufacturers purposely make multipack cans impossible to stack properly so that shopkeepers have to stack them in their original plastic wrapping.
F**k multipack cans as they keep falling out of my cupboards.
There’s a post office that sell them separately and they also have no prices on any of the drinks
Ignored by kebab shops across the country. Lol.
I think my local shop has specially printed tinnies with more expensive brand printed pricing on too.. you look in the fridge and it’s printed £7 or something similar for 4 cans of Fosters… who pays that for 4 cans of Fosters but it’s a fosters branded card round the cans. Could they be printing them themselves??
Regulatory information may be printed only on the outer packaging
I’ll give you a clue. It’s got six letters, the first is P and the last is T.
Tax
Tangential but I’ve noticed that Pepsi Max from Costco, which doesn’t have the multipack disclaimer, tastes leaps and bounds better than the supermarket cans.
I thought I went through phases with it, sometimes I’d drink a few cans a day, others a few a week. But I eventually realised after a particularly long stint without Costco Pepsi, cracking open that first can was magic.
I don’t know what it is. The super market cans taste like they’ve been stored in a hot room for a while. It’s a bit thin tasting, the carbonation is a bit stronger, and the flavour doesn’t come through as much.
Costco Pepsi also like a third of the price.
Also fucking fruit shoots. £2.50 for four at the supermarket. £5.49 for 24 at Costco.
I was told it was a tax thing but I’m not sure.
The wholesale price is much less per can in a multipack.
It’s just the same as in the shop. It’s maybe £1.20 for a single can and £4 for 6 multipack.
Obviously they don’t want the shopkeeper splitting multipacks and selling them at full, single can price.
Only Timmys have to ask
Tax innit?
Surely you would just sell it with something else like a packet of crisps. Technically it’s not sold separately then.
PrOfIT MarGiN bro…
Because fopr small shops they can usually buy a multipack cheaper than they can single items to sell.
It is not legal to sell them as ther is not the full ingrideients list on the individual item. But they can if the put a atickers on it (liek the US stuff that does not meat uk legal labeling requirements).
​
It is mainly to chame the stores however. They used to haver the full info and be legal to sell. I guess it is harder to shame now if they put a stickert over the “warning”.
So i got one in in a shop saw that it wasnt to be sold separetaly ..so i bought a mars bar as well!
Shop by my house sells these 3 for 2 pound
Trading Standards [have a page all about this](http://tradingstandardsblog.co.uk/splitting-multipacks-and-selling-items-separately) and they explain how it’s perfectly legal.
> As a consumer you might feel the shop is ripping you off if they are selling for a higher price that what is already on the product – but from a legal point of that is irrelevant. You as the consumer can make the decision on whether to buy the product or not as long as the price is clearly drawn to your attention before you buy.
>
> If a business is splitting multi packs without the required food labelling then they MAY be told to take it off sale – depending on the resourcing at the local Trading Standards.
Many shops do this, selling multi pack products as singles. It’s totally legal as long as it has all the correct information on. Like ingredients
Often, it’s not even cheaper for the retailer. Its done, so they dont have to spend so much to give a larger variety, especially if they have no stock room.
lt also stops them wasting product, as there not left with a load that expires.
Imagine a small mobile catering van, needing to buy 10 x 24 packs of cans. So they now need to store 240 cans and pay close to £100 to provide a little variety. Again, same with Chrisps, you’d need to buy 480 packets to offer 10 flavours. For many small business’s its not practical. It’s a system deisigned to scam the business, not the customer, and to presume, you pay less for cans with mutlipack on them than they do for a tray of 24, is ridiculous The exception to this is price marked goods, which are often cheaper to buy.
Because one is poised and one is an antidote.
If they are sold separately the seller can make a higher profit than the packs of cans cost.
This would be great question for The Mystery Hour.
Taxes brah
It’s to stop shops ripping the customer off, by buying cheap muti packs and then selling them at full price.
I live in France nowadays. Over here it’s really common in supermarkets that people will just rip open the multipack stuff and take just one item if there’s none of the single variety on the shelf. They do it for bottles of drink all the time.
I used to be worried I’d get told off at the till or that the barcode wouldn’t scan, but I joined them after realising literally everybody does it.
I’ve worked for a water company and the reason why promo 6-pack bottles couldn’t be sold seperately is because the barcode on each of the bottles would scan the price for the whole promo pack. Meaning if you took only one bottle you would still get charged for all 6.
Pricing
Money lol
If you sell these individually, they can explode if you put fireworks inside them.
So if you split them from the multipack, apparently they can leak (if pierced with a sharp object).
I think I read somewhere if they’re sold separately and then kept for years, they’re eventually beyond their use-by date.
Yes, something like that I think.
Laws and that, innit?