Dhe gummy bears cause problems. Andreas Maurer has “chewing gum or other sweets” on his long list, but which one should he take now? A whole wall is full of the most diverse bags of gummy bears, some with juice, some sour, some as dinosaurs, large bags with the family portion, small bags sorted by color, from well-known brands and lesser-known ones. After a short search, he decides on the classic, the gold bears, in the standard size.
But Andreas Maurer didn’t come to the big supermarket on the outskirts of Wiesbaden to shop. He came for the prizes. That’s why he doesn’t have a shopping basket with him, just his mobile phone. There he now types in the price for the gold bears, 0.99 euros. “I think they’ve reduced the size of the pack,” he says suddenly when he takes a closer look at the pack, from 200 grams to 175 grams. That is at least a hidden price increase of twelve percent. A few days later, this price, which Maurer entered on the gummy bear shelf, is offset against thousands of others and combined into a single number at the end of the month: the inflation rate for Hesse.
Thousands of prices are checked
Probably no other figure from the State Statistical Office is currently being discussed as intensively as this rate, which is intended to show concisely and clearly how much consumer prices have risen in the past twelve months. It had recently increased to 8.0 percent. Sellers in shops, landlords with their rental prices and trade unions with their wage demands are guided by this – it is no coincidence that the Hessian IG Metall demands exactly eight percent higher wages. But until this simple number can be published at the end of the month, price investigators are needed. Around 50 are in use every month in Hesse alone, each of them then visits 20 to 80 shops and enters dozens or hundreds of prices into the statistics app on the cell phone, depending on the size of the shop.
For Maurer, the list is long that day, because the mega supermarket he is visiting has almost everything that needs to be recorded. Fruit, sweets, noodles, coffee machines, blank CDs, printer paper, postcards, photo albums – the app gives you all of that here. Maurer says he will need about two hours for his tour. When he’s fast.
A change of sides
Getting into this job was a kind of change of sides for him. A few years ago he was the deputy manager of a supermarket and set prices himself. But the working hours in the market were not for him in the long run, especially when he became a father. So he had switched to state service. And there he had heard from colleagues that you can earn some extra money as a price collector. At least occasionally he wanted to come into contact with concrete products instead of just abstract numbers in the agency, he says. So he applied. An afternoon class later, he was a prize finder. Since August he has had to visit 51 stores every month and enter prices into the app, which he does after work and on Saturdays, 20 hours a month. Price investigators like him receive eleven to 18 euros gross per hour.
He doesn’t always have it as easy as in the huge supermarket, where the prices and packaging sizes are clearly marked on price tags. For example, there is a kitchen on his itinerary, and he should also record the prices there every month so that the development can be tracked and included in the inflation rate. “But you can’t just go in there and look at the price tag.” That’s why a model kitchen is stored at the studio, for which monthly calculations are made of how much it would currently cost.
Browse the women’s section
In car dealerships, on the other hand, he has to research how repair and maintenance costs have changed. He also has to record fuel prices at a gas station every time. In this way, a total of 300,000 prices are included in the inflation calculation. From rent to travel expenses to concert tickets. “I actually always thought I knew how the inflation rate came about,” says Maurer. But he never found out anywhere that it is so complex and price investigators are necessary.
And sometimes it can overwhelm him. For example in the drugstore. Sure, he says, men have heard of lipsticks too. But then you stand in front of the shelf and see a wide variety of colours, brands and models. “And I first had to ask what a kajal pencil actually is.” He doesn’t find it embarrassing that a man stares at the lipstick shelf for minutes or asks about kajal pencils, says Maurer. That’s his job now. “You just have to put on blinders and go through with it.”
Looking for the same product
He has to think carefully about which lipstick or gummy bear he is considering the price of. Because if possible, he should take exactly the same product again in the month after and the following one, in order to be able to compare the same prices in each case – and not in one month the mini pack from Haribo and then the large pack from Ökovital and then again from Albio, Dennree or any other brand.
Of course he’s also aware that a lot of things have become more expensive, says Maurer as he stands between the fruit shelves. Not only as a price investigator, but also privately. “We’re talking a lot about money at home right now,” he says. He and his wife are currently on parental part-time work, so they are currently getting less money. At the same time, says Maurer, it is estimated that they would have to spend significantly more on their groceries. Exactly how much, he couldn’t say. “When I shop myself, I don’t pay as much attention to the individual prices as I do as a price investigator.”
