5 Things smart shoppers in SA need to know right now

In late 2019, an anonymous man paid off every single outstanding lay-by in a PEP store in Mossel Bay.

That led to the creation of the Pep Lay-by Buddy initiative in June 2020 and by the end of last year, contributions totalled R3.2 million, with most donors choosing to pay off lay-bys of school clothing.

Pep can only track donations made online, and thus urges people to contribute that way, rather than in a Pep store.

Prior to 2022, lay-by “buddies” making a contribution online were not able to specify where they would like their money to go at all, but since then, you can choose both a province and the category of lay-by goods.

2. Your cellphone service provider can’t increase the subscription fee specified on your contract, can they?

Yes, they can, shockingly. Their Ts and Cs allow for it and no regulator is stopping them. 

Someone who signed a Black Friday special posted on X: 

“So that Black Friday ‘discount’ is basically worthless because four months later I now have to pay more per month.”

Of course, we consumers don’t get to unilaterally decide during a cellphone contract that we’re going to pay less than the agreed amount, but there you are. 

Know that the subscription fee you commit to can increase at any time during the contract’s two- or three-year period.

3. Did you know? Gyms make most of their money from the members who don’t work out

In a Twitter (X) post by Joburg-based businessman and social media personality Koshiek Karan- “the Finance Guy” he spilled the beans on what the fitness industry knows all too well - gyms are about 5 times over capacity, which works for them very well.

“Less than 20% of people who signed up actually use the gym,” Karan said. 

Unless you’re already a committed gym-goer, don’t get talked into signing a long-term contract because you’ll have to keep paying should you stop gymming a few months later, or pay a very large cancellation penalty.

4. How sussed consumers compare grocery prices

A Competition Commission-led fresh produce inquiry has recommended that SA's top retailers display the prices of 11 key fruits and vegetables on a per-100g basis to help shoppers make proper price comparisons without having to do the sums.

It’s called a unit price and enables us to get a real price comparison at a glance. 

If one retailer sells tomatoes in 3kg bags while another opts for 1kg bags or 3.5 kg bags, we can make an accurate price comparison by checking out their respective per 100g prices.

Some retailers are doing it already and the rest have been urged to comply by the end of the year on the pricing of apples, oranges, bananas, pears, table grapes, potatoes, onions, carrots, cabbage, tomatoes, and spinach.

5. “The large print giveth and the small print taketh away”

Musician Tom Waits penned those words in a song, and they’re sadly very accurate. 

A woman reached out to me on X, saying she took a pair of shoes for her toddler from a “50% off” bin in a clothing store, but the marked price wasn’t slashed by half, much less.

What she’d failed to spot were the tiny two words above the sign’s giant “50% off” - “up to…”

Sneaky, yes, but also very common. Beware!

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