South West shoppers hopeful new legal action against Coles and Woolworths will ease shopping pain

South West shoppers are holding out hope new legal action launched against Coles and Woolworths will help ease the pain grocery shopping is causing their wallets. On Monday, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission announced it intends to take Coles and Woolworths to court over price gouging — allegedly deceiving shoppers over the price of hundreds of products. The ACCC alleges the misleading conduct took place over 20 months as part of the Woolworths “Prices Dropped” and Coles’ “Down, Down” promotional campaigns. The ACCC launched the legal action claiming consumers had been misled through discount pricing claims at a time when inflation was at its highest, adding to the cost-of-living crisis. The misconduct allegedly involved 266 products for Woolworths across 20 months and 245 products for Coles across 15 months. South West shoppers spoke with the Times outside of Coles and Woolworths in Eaton about the announcement and whether they believe the ACCC’s legal action will improve price pain at the registers. COLES Trina Calder, whose small bag of groceries came to a little more than $68, said the community needed all the help it could get in the current economic climate. “It’s just too hard to live — the price of food is just making it even harder,” she said. “I hope this goes ahead because something needs to be done.” Another Coles shopper Ruth Phillips said while prices were not fair, she would be prepared to keep paying more if farmers were being given a fair price for their products. “I think it’s (legal action) all overdue ... and not just groceries, but also just everyday items, people are struggling,” she said. “Particularly if you’re on a pension, you’re on a fixed income, and you know that the money is going to dwindle away, you do have to economise. “It’s basically Coles or Woolworths because there isn’t anywhere else — you don’t have a choice unless you can find an independent grocer somewhere, and most of those are in small towns and they have their own issues.” Ms Phillips said the ACCC should have good look at the supermarket’s policies as well as their practices. “I don’t think the practice actually matches the policy in some cases,” she said. “It’s not fair as it is at the moment — if what’s being reported is actually what’s going on, then I think that’s a fraud. “I don’t mind paying extra if the farmers are actually paid extra, but where it’s all just going into the corporate pocket, I have a problem with that.” Steve Beckett said he felt the legal action wouldn’t help the immediate problem, but could be a benefit in the long run. “It’s crazy, they put the prices up and nobody’s wages go up — they reckon they’re trying to help us,” he said. “A lot of people are struggling. They’re supposed to be here to help everyone, and they don’t seem to.” Coles told the ASX it intends to “defend the proceedings”. WOOLWORTHS Woolworths shoppers Daniel Beros and James Downe said prices were higher than they used to be, now costing twice as much for a handful of meals. “I find the prices just to be shocking,” Mr Beros said. “Back when I was younger, you (could) get a whole shop for a whole week under 50 bucks, but now I’m spending up to 100 bucks. “These aren’t bad meals, these are full meals. You get one steak dinner, a few pastas in there and a few rice dishes, and it’s still just shocking. “Even if you’re just going for lunch, if you want to get a sandwich — so basic bread, a bit of lettuce, bit of ham and tomatoes — it can cost you up to 30 bucks. “I’m not too impressed by how it’s going and you don’t have any other choices for it.” Mr Beros, 18, said he hoped the ACCC action would make a dent, but also said farmers needed to be paid better for their produce. “They’re giving the farmers next to no money for this and selling things at prices that are through the roof,” he said. Elena Cooper said prices were unreasonable — and noticed they often changed from week to week. “They should have their groceries at a reasonable price,” she said. “To me, their vegetables are ridiculous in their pricing, and their meat prices aren’t the best either, so that’s what I really feel I’d like to see a more reasonable price for. “I can give you an example. You pay $12 for a cooked chook here, to me it’s just an average sized chook. You can go to Costco and pay $7 for a big cooked chook — that’s a big difference of $5 so if you’re shopping around, it’s worth doing.” Woolworths said it was “carefully” reviewing the ACCC’s claims.