“Tricolor Car” is a fiasco that does not prevent price increases

The “tricolor tram”, the Meloni Government’s anti-inflation initiative to control the prices of basic needs (until December 31, unless extended), does not bring the hoped-for results. Those who tried to simulate normal shopping by putting discounted items in their baskets left the supermarket having saved a few pennies; these savings were, in some cases, much less than those achieved by offers already implemented by large-scale retail chains.

Federconsumatori: “Misleading advertising”

Consumer associations monitoring the initiative in recent weeks have been in a state of war. “The tricolor tram – we read in a note from Federconsumatori – may well have been designed with the best of intentions, but as it was actually created, it would probably be ineffective, except as an advertising spot. In fact, closer to home, perhaps, according to our findings and user reports, most of the participating businesses “Given that it turns out that it does not pay attention to discounts or the composition of the basket, it is misleading advertising, this is very random and is not supported, for example, by conditional support measures.”

Rosario Trefiletti, President of the Italian Consumer Center, is also quite critical: “Given that everything that is done for poor and low-income families is still evaluated positively by us – he explains – we are faced with a strong inadequacy, because when we say that Prices are not maintained and increased until the end of the year, farmers are “It formalizes that everyone, right down to the consumers, will continue to make huge profits from the supply chain.”

Prices are no longer justified

On the other hand, the large increases in consumer goods in recent months have been justified by other increases, especially in energy, caused by the epidemic and the war in Ukraine. Trefiletti explains: “The reasons put forward to explain the increase in prices are linked to two factors: the increase in raw material costs and the increase in energy costs. Both are now falling sharply, although the latter cost is still very high. Now that these justifications are gone, the promise is not to increase prices , should be reduced. I always give an example that sometimes makes you laugh and sometimes makes sense. I say this: The price of carrots, which used to cost around 1 euro per kilo, is now 1.80 euros, so the solution is not to reduce it to 1.70 euros, but again to 1 euro, at least “to bring it to 1.10 euros, buffering the increase in energy prices”.

The head of the Italian Consumer Center claims that the increases are making Italian families’ shopping baskets increasingly heavier than those approved by the National Institute of Statistics. An old problem that resurfaces regularly, namely the criteria used to decide the ‘basket’. “I find it absurd,” Trefiletti continues, “that statistics do not control the criteria for recording agri-food prices: but such an increase of 8 – 10% in the ‘shopping basket’ is definitely a no-no! We have an institute that does this. Weekly and monthly surveys on 61 agri-food products We are doing it and we are seeing increases of at least 35 – 40%, up to 105 – 110%. Istat needs to pay special attention to how the surveys are conducted, which we think are completely ignored compared to reality”.

“Beware of fraud”

In short, the “tricolor tram” already looks like a fiasco. “The consumer representative concludes that the savings are ridiculous: When you are lucky you get a 10% discount; it is nothing compared to the increases that occur. And in any case, I would like to give some advice to consumer citizens regarding these discounts. Those who are preparing to buy these products from this ‘tricolor car’: The first is to look carefully to see if these products have been placed on various shelves before; we don’t want them all to be taken out of the ‘basements’ or to go to the ‘basements’ and put them back there. My second advice is to check expiry dates, because unfortunately this is even when we are talking about promotions that are already active in various stores “We frequently encounter such scams.”

Source: Today IT

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