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The great dried herb rip-off: Leading supermarkets charge £2,000 PER KILO for chives – more than the cost of silver!
A Daily Mail investigation has found that some of Britain's leading supermarkets are charging the equivalent of more than £2,000 per kilogram for dried chives when priced per gram in small jars, a sum that exceeds the current market price of silver. The findings highlight how everyday dried herbs, typically bought in small quantities for a few pounds, can carry a startling mark-up once their true per-kilo cost is calculated, raising fresh questions about value for money on supermarket shelves.
The comparison contrasts the price of tiny jars of dried chives sold in major UK supermarkets with the cost of silver, a precious metal, to illustrate just how disproportionate the pricing of small packaged goods can be. While shoppers may not notice the mark-up on an individual jar costing only a few pounds, scaling the price up to a per-kilo basis exposes chives and similar dried herbs as significantly more expensive by weight than a traded commodity metal, underscoring how packaging small items in tiny quantities can obscure steep effective prices.
In short
- Dried chives priced per kilo can exceed £2,000, report finds.
- That is more expensive by weight than silver.
- Highlights hidden mark-ups on small supermarket herb jars.
Steelman: both sides, in good faith
The strongest fair case each way — we don't pick a winner.
The case for
Supermarkets exploit consumer psychology by selling herbs in inconveniently small quantities that obscure true costs. Few shoppers calculate per-kilo prices when reaching for a modest jar, allowing retailers to charge premiums that belie poor value. Supermarkets could offer better-value bulk options but profit from the opacity, using convenience as cover for extracting disproportionate margins.
The case against
Small herb packaging reflects legitimate retail economics rather than unfair practice. Consumers buy modest quantities because they need modest amounts and prefer not to waste opened jars; a kilo of chives would spoil unused in most kitchens. The higher per-unit cost covers genuine expenses—packaging, quality control, distribution, retail overhead—that don't apply to bulk commodity metals. Comparing retail convenience goods to industrial commodities is a false equivalence; smaller portions naturally cost more per unit across all retail sectors.
Explained simply
An investigation has found that the cost of dried herbs, when calculated per kilogram, can be high. Supermarkets sell these items in small jars for a few pounds, but when the price is scaled to a per-kilogram basis, some dried herbs cost more than precious metals such as silver.
Small packaged items tend to have higher unit costs than bulk alternatives, but shoppers may not notice because they only see the price of individual jars. This means consumers can unknowingly pay more per unit weight than they might expect without actively calculating the true cost.
Understanding unit pricing helps consumers evaluate whether products offer good value. This investigation highlights how package size and presentation can obscure the actual cost of items consumers purchase, making it useful for shoppers to check per-kilogram or per-gram prices when comparing products.