Angus Kidman – anguskidman.show

On Saturday 13 May, one of ALDI Australia’s special buys themes is laundry. What jumped out at me from the catalogue? The cheapest product on offer: 60 plastic clothes pegs for $2.99.

That means per peg, ALDI is charging 4.98 cents.

Experience shows that ALDI is very often cheaper than its competition, but not invariably. It charges more for Vegemite, for example, and some of its products are demonstrably inferior. So how do the pegs stack up against obvious rivals? Let’s find the cheapest example at other retailers.

• At Coles, a packet of 34 plastic pegs costs $1.85. That’s 5.44 cents per peg, so ALDI is still ahead.
• At Woolworths, 60 plastic pegs will set you back $3.50. That’s 5.83 cents per peg. I’m guessing ALDI primarily had this one in mind when it set its pricing.
• At Woolies-owned Big W, 50 plastic pegs are $3.00. That 6 cents per peg price is still well above the ALDI offer.
• Head to Target and 48 pegs are normally $3, which is 6.25 cents per peg, a bit above Big W. Right now they’re on special for $2.40 though, which takes them down to 5 cents per peg – just marginally above what ALDI is charging. This probably isn’t a coincidence.
• It’s Kmart though which takes the cheapskate prize. It will sell you 48 pegs for $2.00 – just 4.17 cents a peg. And that’s an ongoing deal, not a one-time special.

So ALDI’s deal is plenty cheap, but you can do better if you want to shop around.

I know: the cheapest peg may not be the best peg, and all these stores will sell you more expensive options that bruise your clothes less/don’t rust/will sing the theme from Les Mis while you peg out your washing. You do you.