Rob's Blog

The fluctuating price of... milk?
Nov 6th 2009 13:11

As I was riding into work this morning I couldn't help but swear into my helmet when I noticed that the price of petrol seems to have quietly risen up to almost £1.07 per litre again. Although I'm surprised by the rising cost of petrol I can't exactly claim that I didn't see it coming, much like the way the month of November managed to creep up on me despite the fact that my calendar clearly shows it's been scheduled to occur presently for quite some time.

The reason I saw it coming was because the gradually increasing price is displayed in two-foot high illuminated signs outside the same petrol station that I ride past ever single day. That single fact makes petrol a unique product in my weekly spend. I don't see the price of a pint of milk on a giant billboard outside the same supermarket. But, why?

More importantly, which came first: the requirement to regularly fluctuate the price of petrol, or the boards outside petrol stations which enabled the fluctuation to be displayed so readily?

I'd always assumed that the price of petrol was displayed to ensure that I got the best possible deal. After all, if I'm running low on petrol the last thing that I want to do is to have to drive around looking for the best deal. Or to unnecessarily pull into a petrol station before concluding that the price was too high.

So the prices are displayed for the good of me, the consumer, right? If that's the case then I'm not sure why I can't help but harbor the feeling that if petrol stations couldn't publicly adjust their prices at the touch of a button that they would fluctuate less...

I wondered if there was a legal requirement for petrol stations to display their prices. According to Data Display UK, a company that sell these price towers, there are some legal requirements from "UK Trading Standards for Weights and Measures with respect to displaying prices for goods". I wonder why the prices of a McDonald's drive through aren't similarly regulated? After all, if I'm hungry the last thing I want to happen is to pull into McDonalds only to find I'm not happy with the current price of a Big Mac...

I suppose the question I'm asking is: if the price of a pint of milk was displayed on a large variable message sign outside supermarkets, and we were used to the fluctuating price, would we all be paying more for our milk?