Savings under our noses

THOUSANDS of motorists each week pass the nearest petrol station and drive out of their way to use fuel vouchers for a meagre $2 saving on an average fuel tank.

THOUSANDS of motorists each week pass the nearest petrol station and drive out of their way to use fuel vouchers for a meagre $2 saving on an average fuel tank.

"The brilliance of the fuel voucher is that it taps into our desire to feel we are making a saving," says Deakin Business School consumer behaviour lecturer Dr Paul Harrison.

Critics argue the 4c discount is built into the price of groceries, but you can make 10 times the savings - within the supermarket itself.

Value Hunter asked busy mother-of-one Michelle Shannon to consider going a little out of her way to buy chicken breast from the deli section, instead of her usual buy - chicken breast packaged in a meat tray.

The breast in the tray is $15.49/kg, but just 10m away, in the deli section, it's only $10.95/kg.

The amount in the tray cost $9.45 and Value Hunter bought exactly the same dollar amount at the deli. Side-by-side (above), you can see that convenience comes at a high price.

The same goes for bacon. A 175g Hans short-cut bacon pack cost $4.35, but the same dollar amount spent in the deli section on the same brand and cut and you get twice as much. Not only that, the deli bacon is pinker, fresher and less fatty.

"I was really surprised," she said. "I thought the deli items would cost a lot more just because a person has to serve you, but you pretty much get double the product."

Another example: 200g of lettuce in a bag costs $3.94, yet a whole lettuce three times bigger costs only $2.88 - a 300 per cent mark-up.

The big supermarket chains have an army of marketing and consumer behaviourists, who advise on consumer vulnerability and this is exploited.

Dr Harrison says: "They know more about our brains than we do. A lot of marketing goes into getting consumers to spend more than they have to."

More examples: brushed potatoes sell for $3.78/kg, unbrushed potatoes $2.98/kg.

A 250g packet of unsliced Bega Tasty cheese is $4.29, yet the same packet sliced is $4.96.

Tasty skinless chicken thigh fillets cost $13.99/kg, but chicken lovely legs - exactly the same cut, with the bone left in - is $6.99/kg.

Simply buying the cheaper, less convenient option in these examples saves a total of $19.24 a week, or $1000.48 a year. Puts the fuel voucher into perspective, doesn't it?