SHARP PRACTICES

It pays to be vigilant, warns Derek Lamb

One of the delights of an old newspaper is the adverts, especially the prices. In a November 1963 edition of the Daily Mirror, these are stated precisely. Maltesers are 3d, 7d or 1s, while a 1oz tin of Ogden’s Aintree Mixture tobacco is 5s in all shops and outlets. At that time, manufacturers were able to dictate the retail price, even though some retailers were keen to discount the price and so benefit the consumer.

Since the 1960s there has been considerable legislation to protect consumer interests. The Retail Prices Act of 1964 largely discontinued this longstanding practice of price fixing. Thereafter, advertised prices were “recommended” and by shopping around, the items could usually be bought for less.

These days, sales occur virtually all year round. In the 1950s and 60s, these were mostly confined to the “January sales”. Some shoppers would queue all night outside certain stores to secure the bargains, some of which were sold at prices almost too good to be true. Legislation now requires retailers to give details of where and for how long such a product had been sold at its former price.

The early 1970s posed new challenges to shoppers, with the introduction of decimal currency, the metrification of units and Value Added Tax (VAT). One virtue of decimal currency was it largely killed off the use of the guinea in pricing. Even though the guinea had long since disappeared as a unit of currency, sales prices were often further “lowered” by quoting them in guineas rather than pounds. In fact, 39 guineas amounted to £40 19s.