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Comment by xyst | Hacker News Reader

Would be nice to have a price transparency of goods. It would make processes like this much more easier to track by store, and region.

For example, compare the price of oat milk at different zip codes and grocery stores. Additionally track “shrinkflation” (same price but smaller portion).

On that note, it seems you are tracking price but are you also checking the cost per gram (or ounce)? Manufacturer or store could keep price the same but offer less to the consumer. Wonder if your tool would catch this.

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I do track the price per unit (kg, lt, etc) and I was a bit on the fence on whether I should show and graph that number instead of the price that someone would pay at the checkout, but I opted for the latter to keep it more "familiar" with the prices people see.

Having said that, that's definitely something that I could add and it would show when the shrinkflation occured if any.

Grocers not putting per unit prices on the label is a pet peeve of mine. I can’t imagine any purpose not rooted in customer hostility.

In my experience, grocers always do include unit prices…at least in the USA. I’ve lived in Florida, Indiana, California, and New York, and in 35 years of life, I can’t remember ever not seeing the price per oz, per pound, per fl oz, etc. right next to the total price for food/drink and most home goods.

There may be some exceptions, but I’m struggling to think of any except things where weight/volume aren’t really relevant to the value — e.g., a sponge.

In Canada I think they are legally required to, but sometimes it can be frustrating if they don’t always compare like units - one product will be price per gram or 100 grams, and another price per kg. I’ve found with online shopping, the unit prices don’t take into account discounts and sale prices, which makes it harder to shop sales (in store seems to be better for this).

I doubt it. Seems totally optional here where I am in BC.

What they often do is put different units on the same type of good. Three chocolate bars? One will be in oz, one in lbs, one in "per unit."

They all are labelled, but it's still customer hostile to create comparison fatigue.

This is such a shame, anywhere this is mandated they should mandate by mass and for medical/vitamins per mass of active ingredient

Worse, I've seen CVS do things like place a 180-count package of generic medication next to an identically-sized 200-count package of the equivalent name brand, with the generic costing a bit less, but with a slightly higher unit price due to the mismatched quantities.

I live in BC, common to not see unit pricing.

It's required by law in Australia, which is nice

Or when they change what unit to display so you can’t easily cross compare.

Imagine mandating transparent cost of goods pricing. I'd love to see farmer was paid X, manufacturer Y, and grocer added Z.

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