Woolworths customer shocked by wild pricing fail: 'New level inflation'

A Woolworths shopper has shared her shock at discovering a number of typically inexpensive household products in her local supermarket priced hundreds of dollars above what she'd usually expect to pay.

"You for real Woolies?" the Aussie mum captioned her TikTok video, which shows shelf tickets advertising dishwashing gloves for $389, scourers for $285 and $438, muffin trays for $240, cookie trays for $120, wash cloths for $236, and dishwashing brushes for a whopping $600, among other bizarre prices.

While a number of TikTok users guessed the tags were simply missing a decimal point, several viewers claiming to be Woolworths employees suggested another reason for the errors. "They have scanned the box not the individual item. That's the price of the whole box," commented one staffer. "But why still put it up is beyond me."

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Another Woolies team member echoed this theory, noting the tickets include the initials "SRT", which he said stand for shelf ready tray. "Price is for the whole carton. Someone scanned the wrong barcode when printing tickets," he stated.

A Woolworths representative confirmed the prices are indeed mistakes isolated to the store in question and said they've likely already been amended. "Customers are encouraged to raise in-store issues with our store teams in-person to ensure they're fixed as soon as possible," the spokesperson told Yahoo News.

'Need a loan'

Whatever the reason for the errors, viewers jumped at the chance to make light of the situation, with many a gag made about cost-of-living pressures on Aussie households.

"Inflation reaching new levels daily," joked one user. "That's just ready for next week's price increases," laughed someone else. "Need to take out a loan for a scrubbing brush," wrote another, while a fourth said the tags represented "2030 prices". "Never seen a better excuse to give up cleaning," added a fifth.

Woolworths drops hundreds of prices

In pricing news that Woolworths customers will welcome with open arms, the retailer announced this week that it's slashing the cost of more than 400 essential products as part of its autumn Prices Dropped program. Included are discounts on healthy seasonal staples like muesli, frozen veggies, and yoghurt.

Woolies noted that the reduced prices will remain in place throughout the autumn months. "We understand that cost-of-living pressures are being felt by our customers and our team, particularly as the school year kicks into gear and families plan for the Easter holidays," said Woolworths Chief Commercial Officer, Paul Harker, of why the program has been implemented.

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