Scores of grocery shoppers are missing out on saving money because they are straining to see unit prices in tiny print on supermarket shelves.
Consumer advocates say unit pricing - the cost of products by weight, volume or number - should be clearer to make it easier to compare items.
Bigger writing, bold colours and better positioning are among some suggested improvements that should be investigated, a federal treasury review has been told.
Declaring costs by measurement - such as per 100ml, 100g, kilogram, metre or number - has been compulsory for most products sold through the nation's big grocery retailers since December 2009.
Unit prices can be used to assess the value of different package sizes or brands, the cost of packaged versus loose items, and goods on special versus regular prices.
Coles and Woolworths said customers were comfortable with how unit pricing operated.
"Woolworths proactively worked with the government to bring about the successful introduction of unit pricing in 2009," a store spokesman said. "The feedback we've had from customers has been tremendously positive with many now using unit pricing as an everyday tool to help with the shopping."
But consumer champion Ian Jarratt believed many shoppers were not getting the full benefit because of the puny size and position of details on price tags.
Aldi was first to voluntarily adopt unit pricing years before it became law. But a visit to one of the chain's stores this month revealed unit pricing was either partially or wholly obscured on dozens of signs. An Aldi spokeswoman said the problem was an isolated incident that was the result of a printing error and was in the process of being fixed.
She said Aldi believed the unit pricing code was working well but had made some recommendations for improvement.
Other examples of poor unit pricing included unit prices displayed at the bottom of the price tag away from the retail price and in small print on tickets advertising specials at a Coles store.
Surry Hills mother Carly Peel, 36, said while she checked unit prices for some bulk-buy items such as nappies, baby wipes and toilet rolls, it would make shopping much easier if they were displayed in larger font.
"I tend to have to look closer," Ms Peel said.
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