A No Frills shopper is calling for greater transparency after discovering that a sale item she purchased didn’t show the original price on the digital price tag.
Laura Third said that she was shopping at No Frills in Denman Place Mall in Vancouver on New Year’s Eve. Third, a senior biologist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, recalled that she was searching for strong garbage bags with ties as she prepared to donate clothes, an item she doesn’t usually buy at the store.
“When I found the item I needed, I was happy to see it was on sale for $12, but then surprised and suspicious when the regular price was not listed on the digital price tag. How much of a deal was I getting?” she told Daily Hive in an email.
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Although the box of Glad 24-count black garbage bags was marked on sale on the digital tag, she said that $12 seemed like a regular price, “or even slightly expensive.”
“With my hands full, I wasn’t about to pull my phone out and start googling — and I shouldn’t have to,” said Third. “Consumers deserve to be able to reference sale prices against regular prices in the store.”
Curious, she asked the cashier for the regular price to see how much she had saved, but the cashier informed her that she could only see the $12 amount on her screen.
“I told her it was very surprising to me that there was no way for me to know what my savings were,” said Third.
After paying, they both noticed that the receipt showed neither the regular price nor the savings amount. The cashier then called the manager, who also said they couldn’t give her more information.
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“This is the moment where I wondered, ‘How is this even legal?'” recalled Third.
After going into the store office, the manager returned and told her that the price of the Glad garbage bags had fluctuated three times in the last month: $11.50, $12.50, and $13.99.
Third said that while she’s very grateful that the No Frills manager took the time to answer her questions, the manager said they weren’t required to share that information with her.
However, the Competition Act states that when a business is promoting a sale, “the regular price must be a price the item is genuinely sold at, and businesses must be able to prove it.”
Companies are also required to educate employees on deceptive sales and discount practices and avoid “making ambiguous and unverifiable savings claims even if a promotion doesn’t directly state the regular price.”
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“Digital ‘sale’ pricing at No Frills and other Loblaw stores strips consumers of the ability to make informed choices by eliminating any clear reference price or meaningful way to calculate savings,” Third said. “When prices fluctuate frequently, and neither staff nor receipts can explain what a ‘sale’ really means, the concept becomes misleading rather than informative.”
She decided to share her experience on the Reddit community r/loblawsisoutofcontrol, where she said her post reached 500,000 views in just 24 hours.
A reflection on the erosion of consumer rights at Vancouver No Frills:
byu/A_Murmuration inloblawsisoutofcontrol
“I personally believe this practice is incredibly harmful and confusing, and it takes an enormous amount of power away from the people,” she wrote. “There are better places to shop than this.”
Several commenters shared her sentiments.
“It simply misinforms consumers if there’s no way to know the product’s previous price,” one person wrote.
Another stated, “First time I saw a digital tag, I knew we were extra screwed.”
Erman Gunes/Shutterstock
Another Redditor shared a similar experience, stating that several items marked on sale at a Toronto No Frills store didn’t include the original price on the digital price tag.
“It seems like Canadians know they deserve transparency, fairness, and accountability from the grocery monopolies,” Third stated. “What is happening with this digital pricing at No Frills seems worthy of investigation by the Competition Bureau.”
Daily Hive has reached out to Loblaw for a comment and will update this story when it receives a response.
Have you had a similar experience at your local store? If so, share your story in the comments or email us at trending@dailyhive.com.