Shortchanged

Our consumers are taking a beating from our prolonged bout with elevated inflation rates. It reflects in consumer acceptance of downsized products, aggravating our uneconomical “sachet” culture. It also reflects on the business models of retailers, increasingly replacing traditional brands with cheaper knock-offs.

The changing consumer habits and new retail strategies reflect a distressed market. This requires more vigilant regulatory action by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI).

Recently, a consumer advocacy group, Malayang Konsyumer, wrote the DTI Fair Trade Enforcement Bureau. The pro-consumer group relayed to the DTI complaints from its members as well as social media feedback regarding a grocery chain called Dali Everyday Grocery.

In a nutshell, the consumer group accused Dali of cheating on the price of chicken by inserting rice to increase its weight; the frequent inclusion of items in the receipt that the consumer did not buy; the unsanitary condition of fresh produce sold on the shelves and chronically discourteous staff.

Attached to the complaint is a detailed annex of individual complaints by consumers. The list includes replacement of trusted brands with cheaper items deviously packaged to mislead the buyer. An almost routine shortchanging of consumers and numerous incidents involving mistreatment of customers.

To be sure, grocery budgets become tighter by the day. Because of this, consumers try and experiment with alternative but cheaper brands to somehow stretch their purchasing power. The alternative grocery products offered at Dali are packaged to resemble traditional brands, as if to intentionally mislead buyers. Many of these products have been found to be seriously substandard.

It is bad enough that the prices of goods have moved beyond the reach of ordinary consumers. It is worse if retails outfits exploit the plight of consumers by peddling substantially substandard items that are only marginally cheaper than traditional brands. In the case of Dali, this seems to be the business model for extracting profit from impoverished clientele.

The DTI, if it takes consumer protection seriously, must look into the complaints relayed by