The misleading price tag of 8,000 VND/kg - Photo: AN VI
The "magic" speakers
It is not difficult to see fruit and vegetable vendors on the street, competing with each other to use loudspeakers to call out to customers. If you hear this for the first time and rush to buy, you will fall for these vendors’ tricks.
Hearing a car shouting "vegetables for 5,000 VND" on Huynh Tan Phat Street (District 7, Ho Chi Minh City), I stopped to ask to buy. When I asked for 5,000 VND for cucumbers, the seller suddenly asked back: "How can you sell 5,000 VND, it's too little!".
It turns out that the "flat price of 5,000 VND" in the speaker is the flat price of 5,000 VND per tael, per fruit, not as people mistakenly thought, 1kg. This man explained that he only recorded the short sound so that passersby could hear it easily, otherwise if he recorded the full sound, people would run right by.
Another equally annoying type of sales pitch from this "magic" speaker is the type where the words are stuck together.
In front of Tan Thuan Export Processing Zone (District 7), there are often many fruit carts selling to workers. Each season has its own fruit, and all kinds of fruit are sold here. Seeing a cart selling eye-catching rambutan, and hearing from the loudspeaker that the price was only 20,000 VND/kg, I stopped by.
But when I got there and bought exactly 1kg and gave the seller 20,000 VND, I was shocked when he said double that. Wondering why the speaker advertised the price as 20,000 VND/kg, he asked me to listen carefully and then realized that 20,000 VND was only "half a kilo".
The problem is that the word "half" is very small, read together with the word "one". Hearing it vaguely, anyone would mistake it for "one kilo", but listening carefully, it is "half a kilo".
The word "half" is written so small that many people cannot see it from a distance.
Ambiguous price list
Some street vendors even incorporate price tags that challenge the buyer's eyesight.
Once, when I stopped at a red light on Tan Hoa Dong Street (Binh Tan District), I came across a seller selling longan with an extremely cheap price tag: 20,000 VND/kg. The distance from the red light to the place of sale was only about 40m, but when I pulled over to ask to buy, I was shocked to see a tiny "half" in the middle.
From a distance, the word "half" is written very thinly, with a faint stroke that looks like a dash. From a distance of a few dozen meters, anyone would mistakenly think that this man's boat label is sold for 20,000 VND/kg, but in reality it is 40,000 VND/kg.
When asked why he wrote the word "half" so small, the man just smiled and did not explain.
On Bui Van Ba Street (District 7), many vegetable vendors use an even more annoying "wordplay" when they write cassava and star fruit for 8,000 VND with a large number 1kg next to it. But in fact, right below the number 1 is a dash and a tiny number 2, meaning 8,000 VND for half a kilo.
Even when parked close to this street vendor's car, it's still hard to see the number 2 underneath, causing many people to think this car is cheap and rush to buy it.
Not to mention many cases intentionally erase the number 2 or the word "half" on the board to fool the buyer, only when paying do they realize the item they just bought costs twice as much.
Many buyers accept to pay because of the awkwardness of returning the item, but are very upset with this way of selling.
Buy it once and that's it.
Many people accidentally stopped by to buy so they had to "bite the bullet" and take the goods, but there were also many people who were frustrated with this way of doing business and immediately returned the package.
As in the case of Ms. Nguyen Thi Kim Ngan (28 years old, District 7) who immediately returned the package when she realized the price was not the same as what was listed on the board. Ms. Ngan said she was willing to buy at the right price and did not like this kind of ambiguity.
"The seller should write the price exactly as it is so that buyers like us can measure our coat according to our cloth. If the product is really good and delicious, we are willing to pay, and if it's not enough, we can buy half," said Ms. Ngan.
According to Ms. Ngan, this "trick" can make many people come to choose products, and if they accidentally buy, it will only be once, and they will not come back again.
Source: https://tuoitre.vn/am-uc-voi-nhung-bang-gia-map-mo-va-chiec-loa-ma-thuat-ben-duong-20240702080346809.htm
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