Baden-Württemberg - Big packaging, small content.
Sham packaging causes frustration among customers and calls consumer protection on the scene.
But: The legal situation is inadequate.
Still happy while shopping, then the big disappointment on the couch - sham packaging always causes customer frustration! And who doesn't know that? The huge bag of chips that is only half full. Or the can of peanuts, which you have to reach deeply into to get to the first nut. Or the detergents, some of which not only contain air, but are also often in liquid form in containers that make us believe that there is more appearance than reality.
But who cares about customer frustration when the money machine is running - and so it happens that even more brazen sham packs are brought onto the market, as HEIDELBERG24 * reports.
Especially in times of the corona virus, some manufacturers took advantage of the hour and increased prices while the content shrank *.
There is probably no improvement in sight, because not only Stiftung Warentest and other test reports * repeatedly uncover fraudulent packaging.
The Hamburg consumer protection department is currently warning of three products in particular.
Trouble about sham packages: three examples of brazen rip-offs when shopping
For example, there is currently a warning against the oatful Fruit Flapjack.
The six bars, which the manufacturer "Hafervoll GmbH" has neatly sorted into a sleeve, is even a double sham package!
On the one hand, the outer packaging is not only filled with the re-packed bars, but also with a lot of nothing.
On the other hand, the bars are not as big as their individual packaging.
For customers this becomes double frustration!
The Manner Snack Minis even have it in their name: the content is “mini”.
A large bag of waffles is pumped up to the brim with contents that consist of a lot of air and few waffles.
It is only after opening that it becomes clear how much edible content was really bought, as yahoo.de writes.
The third Dreist product is a particularly clever sham package: Asbach pralines.
The packaging has a window so that the customer can see all the goodies.
Of course, the impression is given that the pack is full to the brim.
What a nice movie night it will be - until you open the packaging ... Because then what the consumer advice center has been explaining for years happens: The filling limit of the packaging is just above the viewing window.
The rest is air again!
Anger about sham packaging: The legal situation contributes to customer frustration
As in these cases, many other, sometimes well-known, large companies are also ripping off their customers.
"Nestlé" has already received the title of "sham package of the month" *, as reported by HEIDELBERG24 *.
The special thing about the inglorious name: It wasn't just a product, it was half the range.
An end to the cheating does not seem in sight.
The consumer association sees the problem in the legal situation on air packaging.
Surname: | Nestlé |
Founding: | 1866 |
Seat: | Vevey, Switzerland |
Management: | Ulf Mark Schneider |
These sham packs are usually not prohibited.
There is an age-old rule that says that a guideline value of 30 percent air is the limit.
Ancient, because this regulation goes back to an administrative directive that is almost 40 years old.
Consumer advocates are beside themselves and say that this rule is neither contemporary nor legally binding.
Very annoying: If the limit is exceeded, it is probably an air pack, but there are exceptions - so many that each product would have to be examined individually.
A higher proportion of air is created, sometimes due to the product, sometimes for technical reasons.
For cosmetics and chocolates, for example, there are special rules that make things more complicated.
Not a pure customer annoyance: shock numbers for garbage due to sham packaging
As if customer frustration didn't make the sham packaging bad enough, the resulting garbage is another nuisance. Or rather: a shock number from the consumer association of the federal association. The first published a study in September of this year, according to which in Germany 1.4 million garbage cans could be saved annually (!) If manufacturers should refrain from packaging that is too large. Unnecessary packaging waste was also re-calculated in the study, which even increases the result to almost three million garbage cans (240 liters capacity).
Nothing about it will change for the time being.
Customers who shop in Baden-Württemberg * and the rest of Germany are left to their own devices and should, at best, take a closer look at large packages instead of looking forward to the supposed super bargain too early.
(tobi)
* HEIDELBERG24 is an offer from IPPEN.MEDIA.
List of rubric lists: © Oliver Berg
