announcer: attention, shoppers. tonight on the checkout -craig pays the price of convenience, kirsten asks why serving sizesare so self-serving, and water-resistant watchesface the judgement of the gods. (beeping) # theme music i can buy this same drink for - and - and they're all in the same block.
so why do we pay such differentprices for the same product? convenience. excuse me, sir.do you have any convenience for sale? no.that's misleading advertising. there's big moneyin making products more convenient. eureka! i put convenience into rice! it's a clock. it's actually a visualrepresentation of time saving because i couldn't think of a betterway to represent the saving of time
that in itself take too long. there's an all-new,convenient microwaveable rice. this is four times more expensivethan standard rice. you pay that moneyto have it ready in 90 seconds, rather than 25 minutes. hurry up, old man!what's your rush, sonny? when i was a boy,we were told to have patience, wait for our meals. ..and that was my seventh cat.
it's amazing how convenientwe want things to be. you would've thoughtthat quick oats... ..ready in two minutes,would be quick enough. too quick if you ask me. when i was a lad, it took about three hoursto cook a pot of porridge. that's how i got my hat. what, i have to pour honeyon myself? whereas for nearly twice as much...
oats comes in a sachet. ..you can cut out the complex taskof measuring a cup of oats. yeah, and it already comeswith honey in it. i can't put that in myself.convenient. (mutters angrily)both: uff! i wasn't gonna say anything else. and it's not just porridge. we seemto really hate measuring things out. i can't use this. how am i meantto pour this powder into this lid? when for just three timesthe price...
same washing powdercomes in tablets. don't you have to take it outof the wrapper? uh, duh, the wrapper's dissolvable.i don't have time to unwrap things. when it comes to stock,your choices are overwhelming. you can boil your own waterand add in your own stock. i am so sickof all this spoon lifting. whereas for just 2.5 times the price, you can break in a pre-measured cubeinto the water. it's hurting my fingers.
but, for just eight times the cost, you can get a concentrated liquidto pour in with water. why do i have to deal withtwo liquids? it's so splashy! and for just 15 times the price,you can get a pre-made stock. better. so let's take stock of the situation.ugh! the thing is,paying more for convenience isn't necessarily a bad idea. it just depends on the productand your situation.
eugh! i told you the clock is simplymeant to be a visual representation of time saving 'cause i... (mutter angrily) if your boss offered you an extra10 bucks to stay at work for an hour, you'd probably tell himto get stuffed. but you might walk from shop to shopcomparing prices for an hour and only save yourself ten bucks. while others surf the web for hourslooking for a bargain. this could be a massive wasteof your time
unless you've got nothing betterto do. although i guess it's not a wasteof time if you're doing it at work. (knocking)craig. uh, sorry, mark. um, i guess lucky no-one's lookingat the abc's productivity, eh? psychologist dan arielygoes even further. he argues that we're irrational when it comes to how we spendour time and money. if you're looking at a car stereocosting $100,
you'll be very likelyto drive it across town for one that cost only 80. how did he knowi was going to do that? but, if you're going to buy a carfor $30,000, you'll be very, very unlikelyto drive across town, or even a smaller distance,for a discount of $20. of course i wouldn't.i'm not an idiot. the point is your wallet doesn'tknow where the $20 comes from. it could come from saving $20on a stereo,
it could come from $20 savingon an expensive car. $20 is $20. but in one caseyou'd drive to get it, and in the other case you wouldn't. well, what i mean is...humans are essentially irrational. some may call themirrational idiots. hey, this is my segment! so paying less isn't always best. although, if you aregoing to pay more...
this is how you measure out a cup. whoa, that's crazy! ..make you're that the extra cost is worth the time and effortthat you're saving, 'cause you're the one payingfor the price of convenience. i don't have a car.dan ariely: irrational idiot. presenter: woolworths home essentialsespresso glasses - woman: ooh, i can use themwhen distinguished guests drop in. hot beverage, your majesty.woman: hmm.
(glass shatters) one's face!oh, my god! oh. woolworths espresso glasses - woman: urgent!man: hurry, limited stock! buy now! why? what's the rush? once $475, now $475. 0% off. i'm on my way! (presenters read)
woman: just like jesus! man: maybe not all the time. doesn't that free gift cost $5? plus, receive a free gift! no, don't you get it? the same thing costs $5! plus receive a free gift! we'll be back soon.plus receive a free gift. as a guilty mum, i knowthe natural discomfort of teething
should be solved by a natural remedy,like - since it's basically water,it's so mild. you can use it from birthup to nine times a day. (baby cries) which means she'll behomoeopathically cured by the time she actually startsteething in six months. and when i want a remedywith an active ingredient, i turn to bonjela. it's got choline salicylate,
which is so active that in the uk even bonjela have warned children under 16 years of age not to use it. but don't worry, that warningis just for british children. and it can't be that bad. the medical journal of australia says there's little evidence itrelieves teething discomfort anyway. teething toys are anythingbut child's play, which is why i demand -
from may apple - suri and friends. sure, they're fourtimes more expensive than a regular teething toy, but you have to pay extrafor delicious translucence. that's what babies want, unless of course, they wantthe pigeon teething trainer. it promotes natural jaw development,which wouldn't happen naturally. and as a guilty mum, i'm not taking any chancesthat my baby won't develop a jaw.
it even encourages babyto close her lips. see? it's a miracle! i don't have to sacrifice styleduring my baby's teething days. not with this $230 sterling silverteething necklace from momma's jewels. no, no! use the teething necklacei bought you. that's better. but there really is no substitutefor the wisdom of experts, like miranda and giselle,
which is why i use theseamber teething beads. amber's powers were discoveredby the ancient greeks, well before scientific testing. i just can't take my eyes off my babywhen she's wearing amber, which is good,'cause they say that i shouldn't. even the accc's talking about amber. well, if it's a choking hazardgood enough for miranda kerr, it's good enough for me. man: the universe is a bountyof mysteries.
who let the dogs out? why is a mouse when it spins,and what is a serving size? the answer is nobody knows. and how could we when the numbersfood manufacturers put on labels are do darn nebulous. depending on how it's packaged, thereare five different serving sizes of john west tuna in olive oil,ranging 64g to 83g. this is one serve of goulburn valleydiced fruit salad, and so is this,
depending on which package you buy. and this is one serveof vaalia french vanilla yoghurt, and this is one serve,and so is this. well, i guess that helpsexplain their ads. vaalia gives me the added vitalityi need for everything i do. or as vaalia themselves put it - now, if you're the sort of personwho relies on these daily intake guide figureswhen you go shopping, then this is a major flawin the system
because these numbers are basedon the serving size of a product. so this tub here can seem healthierthan this tub just because its serving sizeis smaller. and by setting their serving sizeat 30g, coco pops can keep theirnutrition numbers looking like this. even though most peoplewould pour themselves a bowl of crunchy chocolate milkshakemore like this - closer to two serves - which does thisto their daily intake guide numbers.
some people get a little cynicalabout this situation suggesting... these serving sizes are beingmanipulated to mislead consumers. that is just a myth. according to the food industry'slobby group, the food and grocery council,who championed the system. and to prove it,they cited this example. so if i want a single serve of coke,i get this much from this bottle, or this much from this bottle. does that clear things up?huh?
damn, these guys are good. hey, australian foodand grocery council, have your people call our people. now, the food and grocery councilwould say that the reason this bottle of coke is only one serveis for a bottle that size you'd expect someoneto drink the whole thing. fair enough, and yetthis campbell's go soup in a convenient microwaveable pouch which can't be reheated or resealed,
contains two serves. are they seriously expecting thisto feed two people? not while i'm around. and this man-sized chunkyfully loaded pub greats lamb curry - # fully-loaded man'sgot balls of meat # time to slam a fully-loaded can # a fully-crammed dinner feast. # it actually containstwo serves per can, which, oddly enough, are exactlythe same size as the sissy version.
woman: campbell's country ladle, with deliciousfarm-picked vegetables. but there's more. according tothe food and grocery council - so why does this man-sized bagof smith's maxx chips contain 3.7 servings per package? is it 3.7 man size?hey! oh, and if serving portionsshould be realistic, why is it that there are eightservings per pizza at domino's?
uh, 'cause there are eight slicesin a pizza? finally something that makes sense. yeah, but domino's also say thata person normally eats half a pizza. now that's a realistic assessment, but it doesn't do great thingsfor their nutritional numbers. so calling one slice a serveworks out well for domino's, but not so well for you. oi!no wonder. man: at domino'swe're always hungry.
and finally,the food and grocery council say that the single serve in a multi packshould bear some relation to the single serving sizeof a single serve pack, which is strange, because both thesingle serves are different sizes, and both of them are different from the serving sizeof the bigger packet. while according to mandms,there are two funs to a party, and the only more fun than a partyis sitting alone, eating a whole pack of mandms.
what?she's right, you know. we're not sayingthis is a giant conspiracy, or even a fun-sized conspiracy. it's just that serving sizesare complicated and confusing, and that can make it harder to keeptrack of your actual consumption. if you do want to knowwhat you should be consuming, a good place to start arethe australian dietary guidelines, although they can bea little bit depressing. your australian dietary guidelineserve, madam.
that's why i don't go to the australian dietary guideline'schristmas party. but if you want to eat healthy,they're the serves for you. the serving sizesthe food companies choose, well, they should be takenwith a serve of salt. what? # put me in the water. # ha! that fish is hilarious. hello there. i'm poseidon,king of the sea,
here with an important messageabout water and watches. you know, if there are two thingsi love, it's swimming and knowingwhat the time is, which is why i wear thishandsome diving watch. but not all watchesare safe to get wet, and it can be confusing tellingwhich watch is which... watch. for example, take a look atcraig's fancy man watch. it's rated to 30m water resistant.what do you think that means, craig? um, you can go 30m under water.well, let's see.
oh! jesus!wrong religion. now, craig, do you have the time? my watch is broken. ha! well, of course it is. you see, a 30m water-resistant watch isn't designed to go 30munder the water. bye!what? oh! ho, ho-ho-ho! we asked our friends at swatchto clear up this confusion for us,
and they let us knowthat when a watch has a water resistant rating on it,then - by which they mean to saythat craig's watch was tested sitting perfectly still in a lab under pressures you'd find30m under the water. in this case three atmospheres, or atms. and i don't need to tell youthat there's a huge difference between sitting here perfectly still,brand new in a lab
and splashing aboutin the briny deep. hello? so, if like craig here, you have a new watchthat's just water resistant, well, what kind of adventurescan you go on? let's consult this handy chartfrom casio. if your watch is water resistant,then you can - or maybe read a book...hang on, what's that got...? ..while being hit with water bombs. wheeee!
if you want to splash around a reallyfun water park with your friends, then you'll need a watch that's50m water resistant or higher, which is why craigcan't come with us today. oh, and by the way, craig,i forgot to tell you, you can't use detergent in that sink. oh! bloody poseidon! if you want to do any serious diving, make sure you get a properdiver's watch, and always ask the retailer exactlywhat the guarantee is good for.
that way you'll avoidany nasty surprises. ha! ha! you're wet. i'm dr ken harvey, public healthphysician and consumer advocate. if i can say one thing,it would be don't trust the claims made by many companies who sellcomplementary medicines. australia has a two-tiered systemto regulate therapeutic drugs. high-risk medicines mostly prescribed by a doctorare registered, while lower risk ones, includingmost complementary medicines,
are listed with thetherapeutic goods administration. but the tga listing systemis flawed. it's trust based, and there's no assessmentof a product's effectiveness before it goes to market. some complementary medicinesare even sold without going through the tga systemat all. they lack this aust l number. in others, the content shownon the bottle can be different
to what the tga was toldat the time if listing. these listed medicinesprobably won't kill you, but more often though than not, there's no proofthat will help you either. aggressive marketingusing hype and celebrities is a reason why so many consumersbuy these products, despite the lackof scientific evidence. but most australia have no need for multivitaminsand other complementary medicines.
instead, buy nutritious foods. man: statistically, the average time taken to drive to workin new south wales is 34 minutes. the average new south wales familyspends 2.3 hours driving the kids to and from sportevery week, and 85.4% of all their tripsare essential. which is why we automaticallyprovide... gio, it's a trust thing. here at fu tube,we receive so many messages
about airlines and poor service that we've got our ownmile high club. just not a very fun one. first up is anna, who was goingto book a singapore airlines flight through webjet 'cause the ticketsseemed cheaper than on the airline's site. it was important to me to know whether the fare rules allowdate changes to be made. but i couldn't findany specific information
about ticket's terms and conditionson the webjet site. seems like a reasonable concern'cause... you never knowwhat's gonna happen in life. that's the case for everyone,but as anna knows - children: especially whenyou've got kids. so anna started a live online chatsession with webjet customer service, and they told her - (woman reads in harsh german accent) it might not have soundedexactly like that,
probably more like this - (ding!) to which anna replied - and webjet said - it might not have lookedexactly like that, (sighs) anna didn't proceed with the bookingand maybe that's a good thing. webjet's terms and conditions say - team anna reckons -children: no fair, webjet!
we asked webjet about anna's fu. they say they have a robust displayof fare rules for domestic and new zealand flights,which is 90% of their business. but, for international bookings, fares and conditionsare more complicated, and the information webjet getsis hard to distil. and our online support teamdoesn't work in spas. webjet says fishing out that info for each international fareisn't practical.
so they give a generic summaryon their site with agents trained to provide morespecific information if asked for it. to their credit, in anna's case,they acknowledged a - they say they'll train support staffbetter on how to access that info if customers ask for it. but if you're bookinginternational flights on webjet, take extra care. and remember,webjet's rule or the airline's can't overrideyour consumer law rights.
isn't that right? next up is a complaint from a ladywho had some trouble flying to bali. but she doesn't wantto be acknowledged. she says that for flights to bali,jetstar heavily promotes fares like - but aren't so clearabout conditions like - she asks - what's drip pricing again? well, when the head of the acccwas asked that recently, he said - so you're on the right track, shap...anonymous person.
let's say you buy a flight to bali,only to find that it'll cost between $80 and $180to take a bag with you. then that might be a concern. but then even if you arethe kind of person who carries less than 10kg of luggage with youwhen you go overseas, you could still get stung ifthat airline charged $5 per person to guarantee that you can sitnext to the people you booked your flight with, and then again, if that airlinecharged booking fees
of $8.50 to $12.50per passenger per fare for using a normal credit cardto pay. so we've asked the accc, 'givenyour concerns about drip pricing, when are you closing down jetstar?' look, this is the business modelof all discount airlines, not just jetstar. they offer you discount ratesfor your seat and then charge youfor everything else. it's just what they do.complaining about this is like -
hello, deadly snake-r-us?i'd like to complain. so, the next time you seean amazing jetstar promotion, remember the one thing their adsare spot on about. woman: at jetstar, low faresare just part of the story. our next high altitude fucame from emma louise to virgin. on my flight from la to brisbane,they lost one of my suitcases. well, hey, at leastthey let you take one. not the suitcase full of souvenirsi bought for friends and family. thank god for that.
but they did lose a suitcasethat had all my clothes in it. not all your clothes. i'm asking for just $800 to replaceall the clothes i lost, which was, coincidentally,all my winter clothes. well, you could probably geta decent fur coat or two out of that giant bearon the bed behind you. look, most of us understand there areoccasionally mishaps with luggage, and that can be annoying. but it took an awfully long timefor virgin to compensate emma.
i submitted my claimat the start of the year, and i've been waitingand i've been calling and emailing. # and hoping and thinkingand praying. # in any case, a few days ago, virginfinally did offer emma some money, possibly because they could see hergrassroots social media campaign was turning public opinionagainst them. unfortunately, they also made hersign a confidentiality agreement as part of the settlement,so she can't say how it was resolved. what we can tell you is thatmost airlines give compensation
if they lose your luggage. it's outlined in the conditionsof carriage. and remember, they all say you haveto make a claim in writing within three to seven days. too bad consumers can't imposethe same time frames on getting their claims processed. eh, emma?(mumbles) and that's it for our fu tubeairline special. apart from air asia forcing youto pay for more expensive seats
when you change your flight times, ryanair charging $125 if you don'tbring your boarding pass with you, jetstar requiring you to be sickfor over six months to refund a ticket on medicalgrounds, tigerair charging one group of flyersover $1,400 for excess baggage, and tigerair charging someone else $239 worth of fees for a $6 ticket. not to mention the changesto the qantas frequent flyer program. thank you, qantas.i feel ripped off.
so be careful out there. goodnight. captions by csi australia
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