What with it being the bank holiday and all we thought we’d return to our entirely random and incredibly occasional Ask Us Anything series. In the past we have confirmed that neither tomatoes or eggs have any place in our fridges while women’s clothes sizes are – by and large – nonsensical. But what other consumer mysteries can we solve?
Why does a new car smell so good?
Does it really smell good or do you just think it does? The smell of a new car is almost intoxicating and kind of toxic but it does brings to mind newness and opportunity and – let’s be honest here – money. When you sit into a new car you are hit by the smell of vinyl and plastic and glue, smells which have yet been diluted by human odours and the smell of that half-eaten tub of yoghurt your infant child has thoughtfully hidden under the driver’s seat.
The smell is made of more than 50 volatile organic compounds which while are not exactly bad for you, are not entirely wholesome either. These compounds break down at a rate of about 20 per cent per week so after month they will have all but disappeared. The new car smell might disappear for good in the years ahead as carmakers are busy working out ways to make cars without all the sealants and solvents that give new cars their unique odour. We will miss the smell when it’s gone.
How does sun cream work?
It acts as a barrier to stop skin absorbing ultraviolet (UV) rays which age and burn our skin. They are made of two active ingredients and an emulsion. The UV absorbers absorb – obviously – radiation after which it is converted into a low heat. Reflectors meanwhile scatter radiation and then the emulsion – the actual lotion or cream – helps us spread the active ingredient over our bodies.
Sun protection factor was the brainchild of Swiss chemist Franz Greiter. His first standardised suncream released almost 50 years ago had an SPF of 2. SPF measures a sunscreen's ability to prevent UVB from damaging your skin. If it takes 20 minutes for your unprotected skin to start going red, an SPF of 15 sunscreen should stop you burning for 15 times 20 minutes, or about five hours. SPFs can also be viewed through a percentage prism. So 15 filters out 93 per cent of UVB , 30 keeps out 97 per cent and SPF 50 keeps out 98 per cent.
Why are the fruit and veg and flowers always the first things we see in a supermarket?
Their presence at the start of the shopping journey is not an accident that’s for sure. It has long been established by clever retailers that the bright colours of fresh fruit and vegetables and flowers and their wholesome smells improve our form and when we are in better form we are more inclined to spend money.
But there is more to it than that. The smells off all that fresh food – coupled with the fresh bread which is inevitably found in the same general area – will make us hungry and hungry shoppers put more into their trolleys than ones which are full. And there is still more. Retailers know that once we have put all the healthy stuff in our trolleys were are more inclined to put biscuits, booze and all the less healthy stuff in afterwards.
Why does food in freezers have to be eaten within a few months of being frozen?
It doesn’t really. While most food guidelines suggest that food which is frozen should be consumed within three months or sometimes a little bit longer, the reality is it is grand for a lot longer than the official advice might suggest. According to the people at safefood, when food is properly frozen there are “no food safety concerns and the maximum length of time for storage of food in the freezer is a quality and not a food safety issue”. It also outlines the steps to freeze food safely. Don’t put food in the freezer when it’s still hot. Keep the freezer door properly closed and only open when necessary. Do not freeze any foods after their use-by date.
Does milk stay fresher for longer nowadays and if so why?
If by nowadays you mean over the last 20 years or so then you are probably right, its shelf life is longer now than it used to be. Milk sours because of the lactic acid formed when lactobacillus gets energy from lactose. When milk is pasteurised the number of lactobacillus falls so milk is slower to sour and as techniques improve the shelf life gets stretched out.
If I break something in a shop can I be made buy it?
Yes and no . . . but mostly no. Signs suggesting that “if you break it you buy it” are often seen, particularly in small shops selling expensive things. Such signs fill parents of small children with dread – they certainly fill Pricewatch with dread.
It is not, however, as simple as the signs suggest. If you break something in a shop and it is a genuine accident, then a shop will struggle to make you pay for it. Even if they do manage to convince you to pay for it, under absolutely no circumstances can they demand you pay for the item before you leave the shop. Nor can they demand that you pay the full retail price. At very most you would have to pay the cost price.
If a shop can prove you were negligent in handling the goods, then the law may compel you to make restitution, but this would be capped by the court at the replacement cost and not the retail cost. Bear in mind that breakages are a cost associated with being in business so shops are not unaccustomed to such things happening. Having said that, if you let your infant run riot in a shop and they smash a thousand euro china plate as a result, it is probably your fault.
Can I automatically buy a product at the price displayed on the shelf even if it is wrong and much cheaper than it should be?
No. There is a common assumption that we are entitled to get a product at whatever price it is marked at, even if it is wildly below the true price. This is not the case. The price is viewed in law as an “invitation to treat” – effectively the retailer is asking you to offer that price for their product. When you do, the retailer can choose to accept it or not. If the shop notices the mistake before cash changes hands no contract is in place and they can simply take it off you despite your protests. If they don’t notice the mistake and the sale goes through, however, the transaction stands.
Speaking of shelves, who determines the shelf life of a product?
It is a combination of maths, experience and testing. Manufacturers have multiple ways of working out when food will go bad. Sometimes pure maths and complex equations are used to work out when food will turn based on a predicted rate of bacteria growth.
Alternatively manufacturers rely on their previous experience with products of that nature while sometimes they just pick a date at random (sort of) knowing that the product – an item sold in a sterilised airless can for example – will probably be grand until the end of time so by selecting a date 18 months after manufacture, it will be okay.
When it comes to physically testing a product to establish a shelf life, a manufacturer will put the product through whatever conditions it is likely to experience when it enters the retail chain and see what impact light, temperature, and all the rest will have on it. It will test the product repeatedly and then when it has gone bad, it will have a certain date. It will then take off a few days off that to give it a safety net and that then becomes its the use-by or best-before date.
Did Mr Tayto invent cheese and onion crisps?
Yes. Before Mr Tayto set up shop in a small premise on Dublin's Moore St the crisp came unflavoured and devotees had to sprinkle them with sachets of salt. But then Joe Murphy started out. He had just 500 quid and a van full of crisps and an employee called Séamus Burke. It was Burkes's job to perfect the cheese and onion flavour and perfect it he did. In its first year, Tayto sold fewer than 350 bags a day; today it sells more than 500 bags every minute.
What is the whirring noise made by an ATM?
You probably think that the sound you hear just as the ATM is about to give you your cash is the machine counting out your notes. And it might be. But equally the whirring sound the ATM makes could be artificial and only there to make us feel more comfortable about the process.
The internet has conflicting views on the issue. There are some sites which swear blind that the noise is produced by a speaker so users will be assured their money is on the way and in the absence of the noise, the machine would be silent. And there are others who say that is nonsense and the whirring is the sound of little cogs counting out our money.
We'll leave the last word on this topic to Jerry Seinfeld. "They really got us trained to use that cash machine now, don't they? We're just like chickens in an experiment waiting for that pellet to come down the chute. You see people at the cash machine; they're just there. Just, dit dit dit dit dit dit dit, they're waiting for the sound, you know the sound, you're waiting for the sound. That's what we're trained to hear, the 'here comes the money' sound, ya know? Flip flip flip flip flip flip flip. It's exciting, don't you get excited? It's coming! It's coming! They're giving me money!"
Why don’t airport monitors say what gate people need to be at until minutes before boarding?
It is not because they don’t know where planes are due to park. They like to keep us in suspense because they want to keep us shopping for longer. If we don’t know where we have to go then we have to stay in the shops for more time and spend more money.
Why do we still have telephone boxes?
The relevance of the payphone has diminished but they still have a role to play. A large number of calls made from them are to freephone numbers including domestic violence agencies and homeless shelters. Having said that their number has declined dramatically of the last decade and there are just 468 left, compared to close to 4,000 little more than a decade ago.
Why do petrol station prices vary so wildly?
The price of a litre of diesel or petrol can vary by as much as 10 cent between forecourts despite the fact that they are all – by and large – selling exactly the same product. There are, however, all manner of factors to include. The location of the petrol station is one. Prices tend to be lower in areas where there is a large number of petrol stations competing for the same business or where a huge supermarket chain is in the market.
By contrast garages in remote locations which sell low volumes tend to charge higher prices just to make ends meet. Petrol stations on motorways tend to be a little bit dearer because they have a captive market – when you are running out of fuel on the road to Galway you might find your options are limited to the forecourts close to the motorway.
It also depends on when a garage has bought its fuel. International markets are volatile and buying a large amount of petrol and diesel, the day before a slump in prices might see a retailer having to charge more than their neighbour for a period.
How does toothpaste work and why are there so many types?
The first question is much easier to answer than the second one. Toothpastes are made with abrasive materials which help remove stains and plaque. They all walk a fine line between cleaning your teeth and not damaging them. The foaming action helps with the cleaning process while the flavourings make it minty or fruity or whatever.
Given that toothpastes all work in the same way, the presence of dozens of options on our supermarket shelves can be mystifying. Colgate has in excess of 50 different types of toothpaste in our local Tesco. And that is just one brand. Some are for whitening, some are for cleaning, some are minty fresh and some are made with charcoal. They come in old-school tubes and pump-action devices. They promise to protect enamel and fend off cavities. There are toothpastes for babies and for children and special pearls to pasty goodness to keep our smiles gleaming. Is it all a marketing wheeze? We couldn't possibly comment.
