An incredible tool made available directly by the Ministry to protect consumers against price increases at the supermarket.
Inflation is not stopping and i commodity prices continue to rise in a reckless manner, a situation that has been going on for five years now and which does not seem destined to cease.
It all starts well before the pandemic: in fact, those who claim that the increase in prices was entirely the fault of the lockdowns are wrong. The first increases were recorded already in 2019 when the possibility of Covid still seemed very distant.
Then came the pandemic, and there was very little that could be done there, especially in the second period when the shortage of some products caused the price to increase. Subsequently, the Russian invasion of Ukraine led to asoaring costs for electricity and gas supplieswith prices skyrocketing in a short time.
The increase in energy costs has triggered a chain reaction, since the increase in bills, as well as families, has also affected entrepreneurs who have seen production costs rise and have tried to unload them as much as possible on the prices of goods for sale.
Crazy receipts at the supermarket
Today again, prices show no signs of decreasing. On the contrary, they appear to continue to increase, albeit with a decreasing increase; this means that they increase more slowly than before, but that they still continue to grow.
Blaming the market alone, however, would be wrong. Many companies have in fact exploited recent events to continue to enrich themselves, starting with gas and electricity companies. During the pandemic period, it was the then Draghi Government that had to put a cap on tariffs to stop the galloping speculation. Today, the Ministry of Industry and Made in Italy makes several available tools for containing prices, such as the Rapid Alert Commission for price surveillance, or the Guarantor for price surveillance and finally the Price Observatory, an information and transparency service on inflationary dynamics. And for them housewives who find themselves with scary bills at the supermarket checkout? Don’t worry: the “Report prices” service was designed for them!
How to report anomalous prices in supermarkets
How can the consumer defend himself from the relentless increases at the supermarket? In addition to the services just mentioned, the citizen can use “Report prices”a tool created by MIMIT that allows consumers to report anomalies in supermarket prices.
The service can be accessed from the Ministry website, by filling out a specific form in which you must enter your name, surname and e-mail address. Once registered you will receive it in your email inbox a link where you can enter the following information: product category and name, shop of purchase (Region, Municipality, name of the business), the price paid and the date of purchase. Furthermore, there is the possibility of attaching the receipt or other tax documents. Once you have accepted the privacy policy the report will be sent to the authorities experts who will analyze the case and evaluate the possibility of intervening.
