Another way being poor is keeping you poor: BULK PRICING.
Did you ever do the math on product prices between the smaller units and the larger units of the exact same product? Does not add up does it?
Somehow the 100g coffee does not cost half of what the 200g unit costs.
A 100g jar of coffee at the moment I’m writing this is R129.99. The same brand from the same store that comes in a 200g jar is R204.99. So that is R1.30/g versus R1.03/g. So it would make sense to buy the bigger jar because in the end it would actually cost you less. But now we are on the lower end of the scale when it comes to our bank balance and we have other stuff we need to buy as well. So we buy the smaller jar because it is less money we have to spend now. So now the poor man’s cup of coffee actually costs more than the rich man’s.
And it’s not just packaging size that is costing you. More and more I am seeing these buy two and get a third one free offers. Or buy 2 and save 10%. Of course it would make sense to make use of these offers if you could save even more. Let’s take the coffee example. Say there is a 3 for 2 promotion on the 200g jars. So you pay R409.98 for 3 jars and a gram of coffee ends up costing you even less at R0.68/g. Wouldn’t you rather pay R0.68 for something than R1.03 if it is the exact same thing? It does not always work that well on perishable products of course. A lot of fresh produce also comes in a buy two and save 10% offers, but I would not buy two lettuce for myself because it would most likely go bad before I can use it all, and that is just a waste of food and money! But if you’re a standard family of four, go ahead! Make use of such a saving.
Conclusion : A lack of money is costing you more money in the long run is because smaller units of items are more expensive