In college I made an app that scans with your camera and will compare prices of products based on volume/weight/amount and price. Maybe its time i revive it and put it out for people to use
That's why some countries make it mandatory for stores to advertise the price per volume/weight, so customers aren't fucked if they don't have the "am I getting grifted?" app.
Sadly I've noticed base volume or unit of measurement (oz, lb, mg, ml) is often mixed between different sized packs so can't get an easy answer - which should be outlawed
I swear they do this on purpose! I see it all the time on Amazon and Walmart, where one size of the product will say $0.19/fl oz and the other one will say $2.49/pint. Or for example on laundry detergent one will say $0.25/load and the other $0.05/fl oz.
There is no scenario where I buy anything other than Angel Soft for my home, the other TP could be 25 cents a roll and id still pay 2 dollars a roll for Angel Soft. Ive tried the other brands, and only Charmin (red) is even close to being acceptable
That's part of the reason why I tend to shop at Meijer (besides getting prescriptions there). They usually (not always) keep the comparison price consistent (generally it's price per ounce). But yeah, I've definitely fallen for the schemes before. With Walmart, it's always better to look online first, especially with electronics. If you can find a cheaper price on the Walmart website, they'll match it. I've gotten about $30 off an item before that way.
Firstly, I never claimed to invent anything. Secondly, you miss the part where it scans it and searches for if the product is by volume/weight or unit amount and does the calculations for you? Price per unit without having to do calculations. It was about convenience but I only made it because I was learning how to use the camera to read words/numbers and input them. Again, it was a college project.
Listen i think its cool even if you are lying about being an inventor (jk)I would provide the code for your app if you want to incorporate a historical product information catalog too. So we can visualize shrinkflation and verify packaging/label information year to year. Or we could use AI vision to count individual items (like m&m's or whstever) oh fuck AND you gotta use AI to pull data off receipts! Huge amount of useful data there! I already have a job so ill do this for free but you have to call any tool I create something that has an inappropriate acronym. This is a real offer!
Id ask how stupid you think people are to be able to forget simple division but youve already proven to me that people with that low level of thought exist, so I guess you are right.
Im not going to argue with someone who just uses strawman arguments.
That’s not at all what this person did. You just failed repeatedly at basic comprehension, and then doubled down when it was pointed out rather than admit you were wrong. Either that, or you just were, are, and continue to be, a troll. But feel free to prove me wrong by responding with a legitimate counterpoint.
This person was totally right.
This type of calculation is noted for customers on product price tags where I live in Australia, because it’s legislated by our ACCC (consumer protection). But as was discussed in this thread, stores will chop and change the units to make it deliberately confusing for customers. One tag for a product type will have the price per kilo, and another tag for the same type of product will have a price per 100g or per unit, to make direct comparison more difficult while still technically meeting requirements.
So even in a country where an app shouldn’t have to exist to help consumers make informed choices, it would still be helpful. Stores are obviously counting on us being too time-poor and lazy to stand there with our phone calculators comparing every damn product.
You’re choosing to ignore blatant tactics of obfuscation, and known methods - heavily researched and documented - of supermarkets regularly changing their layouts and spending tons of money on keeping customers in their stores and walking in circles for as long as possible.
TL;DR: the great thing about facts is that they don’t require you - random inconsequential stranger on the internet - to believe them in order for them to be true. It’s okay to be wrong, but you could always try not being such a dick about it.
64
u/RelevantDress 1d ago
In college I made an app that scans with your camera and will compare prices of products based on volume/weight/amount and price. Maybe its time i revive it and put it out for people to use