Does NTUC Fairprice give good value?

Dear Mr Tan,

I am an avid reader of your enlightening blog. I remember that you once cited that NTUC Fairprice offers the most economical pricings. What is your comment on the article below:

Price chart figures can be misleading
I refer to last Sunday's table titled 'At the shops', which compared the prices of food products in various supermarkets and wet markets in Singapore.

I have issues with the way in which the food prices were presented. At best, the figures require the readers to do some calculations to arrive at the right conclusions. At worst, the numbers mislead the readers into thinking that NTUC FairPrice always offers the most competitive prices.

For example, in citing the prices of kai lan, the table displayed FairPrice's pricing as $1/200g. This works out to $5/kg, which is higher than that in Sheng Siong supermarket ($2.50/kg) and Chung Ling Wet Market ($3/kg).

The comparative prices of cucumber and cai xin were also presented using sometimes different units of measure.

It turned out that in these instances, FairPrice's prices were the least competitive. From the table, it seemed FairPrice offered the most competitive pricing only for a carton of 10 eggs.

Most readers just want a quick look at the comparative prices. This being the case, the way the figures were presented can easily mislead the readers into thinking that FairPrice products are priced the lowest, when that may not be the case.

REPLY
It is a matter of opinion. Generally, Fairprice offers good value. Sheng Siong gives good value as well.

Increase in motor insurance premiums

Motor insurance premiums will continue to increase, until the authority act to prevent inflated claims. The reasons are contained in this letter:
http://www.tankinlian.com/articles/puncturing.html

Laywers and workshops are happy with the current situation, as it gives them a lot of business in litigation and inflated repair cost. The higher cost have to be paid by consumers. This situation will continue, until suitable action is taken.

Joke: class conscious

Henry used to go out with a girl was was very class conscious. He didn't have any class and she was very conscious of it.

Avoid being twisted

A reader of my blog asked my advice about terminating his investment-linked policy. His friend advised him that the policy has a "time bomb" and give a poor return. I learned later that the friend was an insurance agent, trying to sell him a whole life policy with premium payable for 25 years.

The conduct of the insurance agent "friend" is considered to be unethical. This practice is called "twisting" and is to the disadvantage of the customer. The distribution cost of the whole life policy is about two years of the premium, amounting to about $3,000. This is an additional cost to be incurred by the customer in switching the policy.

In the USA, this practice is considered to be illegal. In Singapore, there is a warning in the benefit illustration to warn consumers about "twisting" but many consumers are not aware that they are being "twisted".