Tess Nichol discovers buying from supermarket bulk bins might not be the bargain consumers think.
Buyer beware - bulk bins are not the bargain you may believe.
Despite what many consumers may assume, newspaper investigations have found packaged products are almost always cheaper than their brandless, bulk bin counterparts and some are just a fraction of the price.
Of the products compared at Dunedin's New World Centre City, Countdown central and Pak'n Save and a similar check of prices at Auckland's New World Victoria Park, Pak'n Save Mt Albert and Countdown Ponsonby, only sunflower seeds were cheaper loose and only at Countdown.
While Dunedin supermarket bulk bins do not sell oats, in Auckland at 27 cents/100g, packaged Pams oats at New World are less than half the price of loose oats.
Pams red lentils are nearly two-thirds cheaper to buy in a packet (36c/100g) in Auckland, and in Dunedin the cheapest packet lentils are 43c/100g at Pak'n Save.
At Countdown, red lentils are a third cheaper pre-packed: 66c in Auckland and 53c in Dunedin/100g compared to 99c/100g loose.
In each case, the Herald and the Otago Daily Times sought out the cheapest packaged option available. Where different sizes were available, smaller packets tended to have higher prices per 100g.
Wellington woman Patricia Thompson was shocked to discover the price difference when she embarked on a zero-waste lifestyle earlier this year.
Each week, she tries to buy her basic groceries in bulk and take them home in reusable containers.
She had always assumed this would be the cheaper option, but after comparing prices realised this was not the case.
Every product she had checked so far was more expensive from a bulk bin.
''I was very surprised,'' Ms Thompson said.
''You assume if you're doing your own packaging it's not going to be as expensive.''
Ms Thompson thought supermarkets should bring down the cost of loose food to make buying unpackaged goods ''an even playing field''.
''If they're going to be serious about reducing waste, they need to not be charging people more for loose items,'' she said.
Zero waste campaigner Hannah Blumhardt said although she could see why people would assume bulk food was cheaper, bulk-buying was not a competitive market and so prices did not need to be low.
Ms Blumhardt and her partner, Liam Prince, have been waste-free for two and a-half years and teach others, like Ms Thompson, how to live waste-free as well.
''One thing [we] have found, after living without throwing rubbish away, is how thoroughly normalised disposability is in our society,'' she said.
''As a result, major grocery outlets have little incentive to really encourage or cater to less wasteful shopping.''
Representatives for both supermarket brands said prices reflected the fact that the quality in bulk bins was often higher than packaged items, and self-service-style added extra hygiene costs.
''With bulk bins, there are additional costs for supermarkets to maintain health and safety, manage product wastage due to cross-contamination between bins and the spills arising from self-service,'' said Countdown spokesman James Walker.
Foodstuffs NZ spokeswoman Catherine Reiss said nowadays people shopping in so-called bulk bins were usually looking to buy in small quantities for recipes or single servings.
''It's one reason the bins are [now] more commonly referred to as self selection.''
Others liked to be able to inspect loose products and these shoppers valued quality over price, she said.
Foodstuffs owns New World and Pak'n Save supermarkets.
-The New Zealand Herald with additional reporting by the Otago Daily Times
-By Tess Nichol
