Supermarket price wars
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
You're listening to a more or less podcast from the BBC. For more information about the programme, please go to the website bbc.co.uk slash radio4. Hello and welcome to More or Less, the programme that takes a closer look at the numbers in the news and in life. Today we'll explain how all supermarkets can claim to be cheaper than each other at the same time without being slapped down for false advertising. And once you've done your weekly shop and got busy in the kitchen, what are the odds of cracking four double-yolked eggs one after another? We continue to scrutinise the enormous numbers emerging from the Eurozone crisis. Do Italian taxpayers really pay €2 billion a year for their politicians to be chauffeured around?
But first, the National Literacy Trust said this week that one in three children doesn't own a book. Listener Helen from Nottingham wasn't convinced.
I heard the National Literacy Research that says that now one in three children don't own a book. And in 2005, it was one in ten children. Well, this seems quite shocking, but I wondered what actually is going on. Does it matter if you don't own a book? How significant is that for your reading?
If you also heard the news this week that a third of children don't own books, you might have pictured little children who have no opportunity to get into reading because they have no books at home. But on closer reading, this report isn't talking about little children. The research mainly surveyed children of secondary school age. And what about the reading skills of children who don't own books? The report's findings show that if you have books, you are more likely to be good at reading. But of the children who are identified as reading above the level expected for their age, still 25% said they didn't own books. And while a third of children said they didn't personally own a book, only 3% of children said they lived in houses with no books.
What's more, although the survey suggests things are getting worse, it's actually the younger children who are more likely to own books. So perhaps this report is really saying something more about teenagers' attitudes to books. Another statistical story in the news this week has been the supermarket price wars. An investigation by BBC's Panorama programme has revealed that not all bargains are quite what they seem. Among their findings were that bigger pack, better value is not always true, that a label that boasts now £2 neglected to mention that this actually represented a price rise, and that it can be impossible to compare costs when pre-packed fruit and veg is priced per unit while loose produce is
is priced per kilo.
At Sainsbury's, five bananas in a packet were one pound. Buying five loose cost 42 pence. So they turned out to be almost a pound more expensive per kilo simply for being pre-packed. It was the same with red onions in Asda. Just 86 pence per kilo for the loose ones on rollback, but £2.85 per kilo in a net.
Well, that'll be a surprise to some and perhaps not a surprise to everybody. But, you know, I think there's something a bit more fundamental going on here. Amongst these price wars, the supermarkets are fiercely proud of their low prices. In fact, sometimes it seems that they're all claiming to be offering the lowest prices. But how can that be true? Anthony Rubin's here from the BBC's online business team. Anthony, is that a supermarket barcode scanner in your pocket or are you just pleased to see me? Neither, Tim. It's a smartphone, but you can use it as a price-checking device, and I can use it to check the barcode on this packet of chocolate biscuits that I brought in to endear myself with the more or less team.
Yeah, they look delicious. OK, so you're just photographing the barcode, and what does it tell you? Well, it tells me that I could have bought it for £1 in one supermarket, or I could have got it for £2.50 in two other supermarkets. Oh gosh, that's all very thrifty.
What does the National Literacy Trust claim about children owning books?
Do you get out much, Anthony? Of course not. I have small children.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:59
2
What does the National Literacy Trust claim about children owning books?
3:59–6:57
3
How do ownership and household book availability differ in literacy statistics?
6:57–10:27
4
What did Panorama reveal about supermarket pricing tricks?
10:27–15:46
5
How can multiple supermarkets all claim to be the cheapest?
15:46–29:28