Walmart shopper reveals hidden costs in 'value packs' and explains why they're not always cheaper

People try to look for the most pocket-friendly deals when they are grocery shopping. In today's harsh economic climate, such practices become necessary to make sure that you get more for less money. But for big corporations, it is all about creating higher profit margins and sometimes they do so by fooling customers into thinking that they are getting a good deal when they are really not. TikTok user @bjones4545 recently shared a video where she exposed the tricky pricing at a Walmart store. The video has got 14.3k views on the platform with 25 comments.

The woman starts the video by pointing her camera at the cereal aisle at the store. Viewers get to see a text overlay that reads, "They try to trick you." She says, "So, I'm at Walmart buying granola bars for my daughters' lunch." She then reads out the price of the small pack of 10, which happens to be $1.78. Viewers then get to see the 24-pack one, which costs $3.84.

Finally, she showcases the biggest box of 48, which is priced at $6.47. She says, "You have to look at the unit price." After this, she goes through each unit pricing, which happens to be quite different. The unit pricing of the box of 48 is revealed to be 15.9, the box of 24 at 16 and the pack of 10 at 14.8. This clearly indicated that the store was overcharging customers for the bigger packs and the woman decides to pick up the box of 10, which had the lowest unit pricing.

Individuals on the platform were quick to point out that the unit pricing was not entirely correct all the time. @amber_and_oreo said, "Always check the math! I've noticed recently it's often not correct." @dezi714 shared, "They always do this. I had taken a picture and posted strawberry said x amount and I was charged 10 cents more, but x's 1000's of people that buy strawberry."

The woman then proceeded to make another video when she realized that the unit pricing was actually false. She says in the video: "Someone pointed out to me in the comments that the tickets are wrong." She talks about how putting up inaccurate pricing was even worse than pushing customers to get the big box. She concludes the video, saying: "So mad. Like, that's evil. Class action lawsuit. Let's go."

According to the Connecticut State Department of Consumer Protection, unit pricing acts as a way for consumers to compare the "actual costs between brands and sizes of grocery items." In many states across the country, grocery items will have two prices next to them. The more prominent one tends to be the amount the customer pays while checking out. But there is another number that is not very noticeable, which is the unit price of the item.

The unit price is essentially what consumers pay for each "unit" of an item. This "unit" can be measured in multiple ways, including pounds, ounces, quarts or gallons. The pricing is made known to customers so that they can make informed choices when there are many brands and sizes of the same item. The woman's video highlights how the unit pricing shown at stores may not be accurate, leaving customers with no choice but to calculate it themselves.