Buying Products in Bulk Quantities

The large economy size of a product is always cheaper than a smaller size - true or false?

I'm Shirley Rooker for the Federal Trade Commission.

You may be surprised to learn that the answer is false. "Bigger is not always cheaper," says Tufts University Diet and Nutrition letter.

For example, in a supermarket survey, tuna fish, peanut butter, ketchup, canned coffee, and frozen orange juice were some of the products that frequently turned out to be more expensive in larger containers.

Food marketers get away with this type of pricing because most people don’t make price comparisons. There is a general assumption that buying in bulk is automatically cheaper, an assumption reinforced by the fact that large packages are often discounted. But if saving money is your goal, spend a few extra seconds and compare prices. It’s easy to do - most store list a unit price or per pound price, right beside the actual price of virtually every item.

I'm Shirley Rooker, director of WTOP radio's Call For Action for the Federal Trade Commission.

January 2002