Small apples are often better the bigger apple of their type for juiciness and flavour, the Cox apple which we only see for a very short time, being an example of this. The packs of little apples on the shop shelf - sadly not Cox's - looked like a good alternative to the non-existent Cox. I would need two bags because of the size of the apples. I checked the price, thought they would be okay, and then thought again. I wondered what the total weight of the purchase would be, so, went in search of weighing scales and weighed the pack.

Twenty per cent difference...never! I studied the pre-wrapped wee apples, about six of them in the bag, that were now sitting on the scales. I weighed them again, just in case I had misread the dial. The fruits really were perfectly formed, they were also very small. Each bag was a fixed price of £1.35p.

Just below the pre-packed apples, on another shelf, the same apple was sold loose. These were larger pieces of fruit priced at £1.37p per kilo. The pre-packed bag of small apples weighed 800grms. The loose apples I could weigh up to the kilo,and obtain the weight value.

There is so much shopping psychology at play today, which to a large extent relies on people who do not take the time to make comparisons.