The days of the 5.38 NIS bread or 1.99 NIS special are about to come to an end in Israel for beginning on January 1, 2014, stores will have to round off a price, either higher or lower. While consumers will not receive change on an item selling for 1.97, 8, or 9, NIS, stores still use the old proven practice to attract shoppers with the lower price, preferring not to write 2.00 NIS.

Economy Minister (Bayit Yehudi) Naftali Bennett decided enough of the game, and the time has come to advertise the true selling price towards giving consumers a fairer view of the cost of an item.

This will not include the price of ‘metered’ items such as water, electricity, gasoline, and telephone use, all determined by the government. Bennett feels the law to protect consumers should have been amended back in the day the 1 agorot coin was removed from the state’s currency for continuing to advertise prices in a coin that does not exist is an unfair consumer practice.

The one agorot and five agorot coins were eliminated by the Bank of Israel back in the early 1990s. However, today, some two decades later, the pricing still reflects the use of these coins. Bennett feels the stores will have to decide to round off prices higher or lower but whatever is decided, consumers know the true price of an item.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)