Set the starting price reasonably to avoid "scraping the order" too high, which may be suspected of breaking the law

Set the starting price reasonably to avoid "scraping the order" [ Setting the takeaway starting price too high may be suspected of breaking the law, expert advice]

□ Zhao Chenxi, reporter of this newspaper

Originally, I wanted to order two special cold dishes for my mother in a long-established restaurant through the takeaway platform, but in the end, I ordered a table of "hard dishes". Wu Yan, who lives in Beijing's Xicheng district, recently experienced a passive ordering experience, and in order to scrape together the restaurant's starting price of 150 yuan, she finally ordered five dishes.

Many consumers have encountered the problem of ordering takeaway because the unit price of food has not reached the starting price standard, and finally have to order more to make up the order.

"This seemingly common problem should not be underestimated, and if the merchant sets the starting price too 'capricious', it is suspected of breaking the law." Chen Yinjiang, deputy secretary-general of the Consumer Rights Protection Law Research Association of the China Law Society, pointed out in an interview with the "Rule of Law Daily" reporter that the order making behavior caused by the merchant's starting price setting is too high not only damages the legitimate rights and interests of consumers, but also easily brings food waste and other problems, suspected of violating the anti-food waste law, should comprehensively consider the merchant's cost, delivery fees and other factors, and reasonably set the takeaway price.

The starting price is too high, and consumers have no choice but to make up the order

The reporter entered the chain restaurant that Wu Yan was forced to make up for on the takeaway platform and found that each store of the restaurant had a starting price of 150 yuan.

Entering the ordering page, the reporter found that the top three foods sold in the store were shrimp dumplings, durian crisp and steamed phoenix claws, with prices ranging from 36 yuan to 42 yuan, and other staple dishes such as char siu rice and dry fried Niuhe were priced at about 50 yuan.

"Since it is a restaurant famous for all kinds of snacks, is it too unreasonable to set such a high starting price, doesn't this force consumers to buy more?" There are not a few consumers who have had Wu Yan's troubles, and a polling survey recently launched by a media showed that when encountering takeaway not enough starting prices, nearly thirty percent of netizens chose to "generally make up the order".

Is it common for merchants to set a delivery price for takeaway? The reporter's investigation found that most merchants will set a starting price of about 20 yuan, for most fried rice, noodles and other fast food businesses, the price of a meal can exceed the starting standard, but for some merchants with lower single prices, you need to make up the order.

In a cool skin store, the reporter chose the traditional cold skin with the highest sales volume in the store, plus the packaging fee totaled 19.8 yuan, showing that it still takes 0.2 yuan to start delivery, click the "go to the order" option prompted by the system, the merchant recommends buying sauce ingredients ranging from 3 yuan to 5 yuan to meet the delivery standard.

In addition, the reporter noticed that the starting price of milk tea beverage merchants is more than 20 yuan, but most in-store drinks have a unit price of less than 20 yuan, which means that consumers must buy two or more drinks in the store to place an order successfully.

The starting price is too "willful" and may be suspected of being illegal

In today's era where you can enjoy all kinds of food without leaving home at your fingertips, people are familiar with ordering takeaway, and most people "disagree" with the minimum price set by the merchant, but this does not mean that the merchant can "willfully" set the starting price.

Recently, some merchants in Taizhou City, Zhejiang Province were ordered to rectify by the market supervision department because they set unreasonable starting prices and did not guide consumers to order food on demand.

When inspecting online catering stores, law enforcement officers of the Luqiao District Market Supervision Bureau of Taizhou City found that the take-out page of a steakhouse marked with a minimum of 20 yuan, but the unit price of crispy deep-sea cod sticks and New Orleans chicken wings sold by the store did not exceed 20 yuan. In response, the enforcement officers of the bureau issued a notice of rectification to the merchant.

Why is there a penalty for setting a takeaway price? In this regard, the law enforcement officer explained that if the starting price set by the store is higher than the unit price of some foods, consumers will not be able to buy meals on demand, to a certain extent, limiting consumers' right to choose, and excessive purchase will also cause food waste.

"Today, food and beverage waste is no longer a purely ethical issue, but is regulated by law." Chen Yinjiang pointed out that the anti-food waste law, which came into effect on April 2021, 4, clearly requires that food service operators should guide consumers to order the appropriate amount of food according to their needs, and setting too high a starting price is obviously contrary to the spirit of this law.

Article 3 of the Anti-Food Waste Law clearly stipulates that the state strictly practices economy and opposes waste. Article 7 clearly emphasizes that catering service operators must not induce or mislead consumers to order more food. In Chen Yinjiang's view, if the merchant sets a high starting price, it is suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Anti-Food Waste Law.

How do you define whether the offer price is too high? Chen Yinjiang believes that it should be determined in conjunction with the unit price of the food sold by the merchant, and if the unit price of most of the food sold does not reach the minimum price, or the starting price exceeds the selling price of most food in the store by more than twice or even higher, it should be determined that the merchant's starting price setting is unreasonable.

"Article 9 of the Law on the Protection of Rights and Interests of Consumers stipulates that consumers have the right to independently choose goods or services." Chen Yinjiang believes that if the merchant sets a takeaway price higher than the unit price of dine-in, consumers can only passively make unnecessary orders according to the minimum minimum price when purchasing certain foods, which is also suspected of violating the relevant provisions of the Consumer Rights Protection Law and infringing on consumers' right to independent choice and fair trade.

The starting price should be set appropriately and comprehensively

When it comes to starting prices, many merchants are also bitter.

"Not all of the takeaway sales paid by consumers belong to the merchant, which also includes the fees deducted by the platform, the delivery fee of the rider, and the deduction of red envelopes." The owner of a light food store surnamed Liu revealed to reporters that the merchant set the starting price to comprehensively consider the store operating costs, delivery tableware costs, platform commissions, delivery costs and other factors, if the number of orders placed by consumers is too small or the total price amount is too low, a single order, the profits obtained by the merchant may not be enough to make up for the costs.

In addition, in order to be able to obtain certain competitiveness in similar markets, some merchants will reduce the unit price of products, increase the full reduction of promotions, or reduce the delivery fee, and the merchant will deliver by itself.

Some merchants even bluntly told reporters that setting a high starting price is to "block" some low-priced orders.

The owner of a home-cooked restaurant with a price of 88 yuan told reporters bluntly that his shop not only operates dine-in but also opens takeaway, but the store has limited manpower, and he can't be busy at peak times, so he only accepts "big orders" by setting a higher starting price.

"The starting price is not completely impossible to set, but it must be set in combination with the price of the goods sold." Chen Yinjiang pointed out that the interests of businesses should be considered, but consumers' right to order food independently and reasonably needs to be protected. For takeaway services, consumers can independently purchase food on demand by adjusting the corresponding delivery fees in combination with the delivery period, delivery distance, delivery subject, etc., without having to buy food that they do not need in order to make up for it, which ultimately causes unnecessary waste.

In addition, takeaway platforms should also further optimize algorithms, balance the interests of platforms, merchants and consumers, and reasonably adjust the threshold for merchants to send prices from the legal requirements of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and opposing food waste, so as to avoid the occurrence of food waste due to making up prices.

In Chen Yinjiang's view, when the relevant departments supervise, they should also actively and reasonably guide some merchants whose starting prices are slightly higher than some goods in the store in light of the actual situation, and those merchants who intend to set a high threshold for sending prices in an attempt to induce, force consumers to order more, or even prevent consumers from ordering food, should be severely punished.

Rule of Law Daily