# Is package-free more expensive? End to speculation!

- Link: https://tomas-shejbal.cz/en/is-package-free-more-expensive-end-to-speculation/
- Published: 2025-07-27T18:44:14+02:00
- Author: tom

# **Is package-free shopping more expensive? End of speculation!**

Finally, the answer to the question of whether package-free shopping is more expensive
than regular stores comes. In this article, we'll look at the topic in more detail.
In my [previous](https://tomas-shejbal.cz/package-free-store-and-how-to-shop-there)
post, I clarified, and in the video showed, how package-free shopping works. Now
I'll answer the second most frequently asked question: "_Is package-free shopping
more expensive?_"

The topic of package-free store prices was touched upon in autumn last year by Wastmanka
on her [blog](https://wastemanka.cz/o-bezobalu-bez-obalu/), where she compared the
price of one package-free store against Rohlík and Košík. I contacted her to see
if she would like to help with the continuation, and instead I got her "blessing"
to continue with the topic.

[⌊Is package-free shopping more expensive? Price survey results are here!⌉⌊Is package-
free shopping more expensive? Price survey results are here!⌉[

_Last update: April 26, 2022_

## Without beating around the bush, is package-free shopping more expensive?

The conducted survey is a fairly comprehensive answer to the question of whether
package-free shopping is more expensive. However, if someone forced me to answer
the question "_Is shopping in a package-free store more expensive?_" with a binary
answer (yes/no), based on the conducted survey I would answer: "_No, it's not_."

If numbers bore you, then maybe skip straight to the conclusion. If you're not satisfied
with just a black-and-white answer (as I hope), or a few sentences in the conclusion,
then continue reading 😉

## Before the actual comparison

The post is structured as follows: introduction to the issue, description of evaluation,
comments on graphical results and final summary.

### Selection of foods for comparison

For comparison, I selected 74 foods from the following categories: flours; grains
and pasta; rice and legumes; seeds; nuts; dried fruit; spices; and others.

Prices of dairy and meat products and baked goods are not compared. The reason is
simple: for these foods, no overlap can be found between package-free stores, let
alone regular stores. Most package-free stores take these foods from local farms,
so I would be comparing prices of individual farms rather than prices of package-
free stores.

### Contacted package-free stores

From the [map](https://mapa.reduca.cz/) of package-free stores, I collected emails
and asked if they would participate in the price survey. I sent 130 emails (not 
only to package-free stores, but also to stores with a package-free section). There
were 116 functional addresses and 17 of them finally filled out the price form. 
Of these 17 stores, 14 are purely package-free. The remaining 3 stores are health
food stores with a package-free section. They don't deviate from the price survey,
so they are kept in it.

[⌊Package-free stores involved in the survey⌉⌊Package-free stores involved in the
survey⌉[

Geographical distribution of package-free stores involved in the survey.

Although package-free stores are all over the Czech Republic (see [map](https://mapa.reduca.cz/)),
it's interesting that no package-free stores from western and southern Bohemia participated
in the survey.
The following stores finally filled out the forms for me (thank you!
🙏❤️):Nosácek (_edit September 2023: no longer operating_), [Šuplík](https://www.facebook.com/SuplikUvaly),
[Bezobalu](https://bezobalu.org/) (_edit September 2023_: _no longer operating_),
[Tišnovská spižírna](https://tisnovskaspizirna.cz/), [Zero Way](https://www.facebook.com/zerowaybrno),
[Biodomov](https://www.biodomov.cz/), [Koloniál beZobalka](http://bezobalka.org/),
[El Bio](http://elbio.cz/), [Bez obalu Frýdek-Místek](http://www.bezobalu.cz/), 
[ŠPAJZ plný dobrot](https://spajz-plny-dobrot.webnode.cz/), [Bylinka](https://www.facebook.com/bylinkalysa),
[Kredenc - bez obalu](https://www.facebook.com/kredenc.frenstat/), [Třinec BEZ obalu](http://www.trinecbezobalu.cz/),
[Bezobalu z Rynku](https://www.stateknarynku.cz/), [REFILL SHOP](http://www.refill-shop.cz/),
[Šumperská Špajzka](http://www.sumperskaspajzka.cz/) and [Krám](https://pardubicebezobalu.cz/)
[ek](https://pardubicebezobalu.cz/)[ bezobalu](https://pardubicebezobalu.cz/).

### Regular stores against which prices are compared

To compare prices of package-free stores with conventional stores, I used e-shops
Rohlik, Tesco and health food store Naturálek.
Of course, it's very difficult to
compare goods of the same quality. For example, in the aforementioned Krámek bez
obalu (Little Shop Without Packaging), poppy seeds are sold from a small grower 
and their quality can be expected to be higher than the quality of the cheapest 
poppy seeds at Tesco. Meanwhile, the cheapest poppy seeds at Naturálek could be 
comparable.However, I assume that the question about prices in package-free stores
is asked rather by those for whom price comes first and quality of the given food
second. Against package-free stores, I thus put the cheapest products found from
the trio of mentioned stores. It's a bit to their disadvantage, so the results are
actually a kind of "worst case". I didn't find another way to conduct and especially
complete the survey. Even so, the comparison is interesting.

### Working with data

All **prices** are stated in **CZK per 100 g**, unless explicitly stated otherwise.
From the collected data, I calculated the difference between regular stores and 
package-free stores. So if the resulting difference is:

 * **Positive →** package-free store is **cheaper**.
 * **Negative →** package-free store is **more expensive**.

Furthermore, I don't work with price differences from all 17 stores individually,
but I always make an average and median from them. For calculating the average and
median, those package-free stores that don't offer the product are not used. For
calculating the average, the sum of prices is not divided by the total number of
package-free stores (17), but always by the corresponding number (theoretically 
1 – 17).

## Is package-free shopping more expensive? Comparison results

### How to "read" the graphical comparison results?

Below are 4 bar charts, each for one selected food category. Each chart contains
three graphs:

 1. Dependence of median price differences (regular store – package-free store) on 
    the given food.
 2. Dependence of average price differences on the given food.
 3. Ratio of cases where the price in package-free stores is higher for the given food.
    Related to the total number of package-free stores that have this item in their
    assortment. Example: food X is more expensive in 3 cases and is offered by 10 package-
    free stores → 3/10 = 30 → N more expensive is therefore 30%.

For further explanation of how to read the charts, I'll take the first image. The
aforementioned trio of graphs shares the x-axis (horizontal axis), where it's always
stated what food it is. Furthermore, the number of package-free stores that have
the food in their assortment is given in brackets (i.e., the number from which the
median, average and N more expensive are determined). Individual colors then distinguish
regular stores against which price differences (and subsequent statistics) were 
performed.

[⌊Is package-free shopping more expensive for rice and legumes?⌉⌊Is package-free
shopping more expensive for rice and legumes?⌉[

Comparison of conventional foods in the "rice, legumes" category.

[⌊Is package-free shopping more expensive for seeds?⌉⌊Is package-free shopping more
expensive for seeds?⌉[

Comparison of conventional foods in the "seeds" category.

[⌊Is package-free shopping more expensive for nuts?⌉⌊Is package-free shopping more
expensive for nuts?⌉[

Comparison of conventional foods in the "nuts" category.

[⌊Is package-free shopping more expensive for sugar, salt and spices?⌉⌊Is package-
free shopping more expensive for sugar, salt and spices?⌉[

Comparison of conventional foods in the "sugar, salt, spices" category.

### Missing colors in bar charts

It may happen that in the charts there will be 1 – 3 colored bars for each food.
However, each food doesn't have to be represented by its color in each of the trio
of charts. So these cases can occur when the color for a given food:

 1. is not present in any of the trio of charts. In such a case, the regular store 
    doesn't offer the food (very common for organic foods compared to Tesco).
 2. is in the N more expensive chart, but not in average and median – this is due to
    display, when smaller differences than 1 CZK (Python) method simply doesn't draw.
 3. is in the N more expensive chart, but missing either in average or median.
 4. is drawn in median and average, but not in N more expensive. The reason is simple:
    such food is not more expensive than regular stores in any of the package-free 
    stores (very common for organic foods).

_Note: When browsing through the charts, I recommend watching all three graphs (
median, average, N more expensive). If some food is more expensive in, say, 60%,
you need to also look at the median and average. It happens that they are indeed
more expensive, but the difference might be, for example, one crown._

### Is package-free shopping more expensive for conventional foods? What do the bar charts say?

So what do the bar charts (for conventional foods shown in the quartet above) say?
In the case of rice and legumes, about 50% of package-free stores are more expensive
than regular stores, but price differences between individual foods are crown-level
in both directions. When buying multiple items, price differences in this category
therefore average out. Exceptions are only red lentils (can be bought cheaper in
package-free stores) and green peas (more expensive in package-free stores).
The
comparison for spices is quite clear. Only Tesco with its low-cost brand "Stockwell&
Co" (a brand actually [owned](https://inews.co.uk/news/consumer/tesco-new-deli-food-161094)
by Tesco) can compete with package-free stores. Other spice brands in Tesco are 
much more expensive. That's why there's such a price difference between Rohlík and
Tesco. For example, basil can be bought for 49 CZK/100 g from the "Stockwell & Co"
brand, while the second cheapest brand is then "Avokádo" with a price of 115 CZK/
100 g. So if the buyer doesn't "recognize" "Tesco Value" hidden behind "Stockwell&
Co", then shopping in package-free stores will always be a saving for them. For 
spices, Rohlík is cheaper than package-free stores only in the case of ground cinnamon(
out of a total of 18 items). So if you're not planning a cinnamon challenge, then
spices are much more advantageous to buy in package-free stores.

### Is package-free shopping more expensive for conventional foods? The histogram will tell.

Bar charts are good for a quick overview of which foods are more expensive/cheaper.
However, they are not very suitable for finding an answer to the question of whether
package-free stores are generally more expensive. It would be necessary to compare
one food after another. In contrast, plotting average price differences in a histogram
gives quite a good overview (see the following image).

[⌊Histogram of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across
differences of individual package-free stores) for conventional foods.⌉⌊Histogram
of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across differences
of individual package-free stores) for conventional foods.⌉[

Histogram of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across
differences of individual package-free stores) for conventional foods.

If foods cost the same in regular stores and package-free stores, then the average
price differences would come out to zero. The histogram would therefore show one
bar on the x-axis at position 0. The frequency of such a bar would therefore correspond
to 100%. Of course, this is not the case in reality, because some foods are more
expensive and some are cheaper. Since price differences are calculated as the difference
between regular stores and package-free stores, frequencies to the right of zero
on the x-axis show cheaper package-free stores. Conversely, to the left of 0 (negative
differences), indicates higher prices in package-free stores.

From the histograms, the following can be read:

 * _Rohlík_: package-free stores are slightly cheaper than Rohlík
    - the histogram is more concentrated on the right side of 0 on the x-axis
    - the histogram has occasional extremes (much larger differences with respect
      to the majority of differences concentrated around 0) in favor of package-
      free stores.
 * _Tesco_: package-free stores are more expensive than the cheapest products at
   Tesco. So if someone buys the cheapest "Tesco value" products (or whatever it's
   called today), package-free stores will be more expensive for them.
 * _Naturálek_: the representative of health food stores is almost even with package-
   free stores in terms of price, but package-free stores are still slightly more
   expensive.

### Is package-free shopping more expensive for organic foods?

The same food categories, just for organic, are shown in the following quartet of
charts.

[⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "rice, legumes" category against Rohlík,
Tesco and health food store⌉⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "rice, legumes"
category against Rohlík, Tesco and health food store⌉[

Comparison of organic foods in the "rice, legumes" category.

[[

Comparison of organic foods in the "seeds" category.

[⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "seeds" category against Rohlík, Tesco
and health food store⌉⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "seeds" category
against Rohlík, Tesco and health food store⌉[

Comparison of organic foods in the "nuts" category.

[⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "sugar, salt and spices" category against
Rohlík, Tesco and health food store⌉⌊Comparison of organic food prices in the "sugar,
salt and spices" category against Rohlík, Tesco and health food store⌉[

Comparison of organic foods in the "sugar, salt, spices" category.

And also a histogram.

[⌊Histogram of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across
differences of individual package-free stores) for organic foods - detail.⌉⌊Histogram
of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across differences
of individual package-free stores) for organic foods - detail.⌉[

Histogram of average price differences (price differences of foods, average across
differences of individual package-free stores) for organic foods.

[[

The same as on the left, just zoomed to the centers of the histograms.

In the case of organic foods, package-free stores are cheaper than packaged alternatives.
Again, I summarize only some food categories verbally to keep the article at a reasonable
length. In the case of rice and legumes, you can save around 2 CZK/100 g by shopping
in package-free stores.
The conclusion for nuts is clear: package-free stores are
cheaper by 8 CZK or more, depending on the type of nuts.For seeds, visible savings
in the case of package-free stores are also evident. Average differences between
regular stores and package-free stores show savings (practically for all package-
free stores) around 5, 10 or more CZK - variable on specific types of seeds.Organic
spices are not doing well at Tesco except for exceptions. If they happen to be there,
they are overpriced compared to package-free stores – just like at Rohlík and Naturálek.
At Naturálek, for example, marjoram, oregano, bay leaves and sweet paprika are 2
CZK per 1 g more expensive. For other types of spices, these differences are around
0.5 – 1 CZK per 1 g.

## Conclusion

### Shopping in package-free stores pays off

The price comparison showed that only if the consumer buys the cheapest foods like"
Tesco Value", then shopping in package-free stores doesn't really pay off for them.

Organic foods are cheaper than regular stores in most cases. Conventional foods 
are some more expensive, some cheaper. It therefore pays to shop for a wide range
of foods, which allows you to take advantage of averaging more expensive foods by
purchasing cheaper foods as well. Of course, if someone has a "somehow skewed" diet,
then this averaging can work to their advantage, but also to their detriment.

The biggest price differences are for spices. In the case of organic spices, often
extremely so.

Furthermore, it's necessary to repeat the fact that the price comparison of package-
free stores is done against supermarkets and health food stores. So if you shop 
at a local corner shop, higher savings can be expected.

### Weight of packaging x weight of food: spices lose across the board

If we were to make a ratio between the weight of purchased goods and the weight 
of packaging, spices would come out worst. Although the financial savings in package-
free stores are enormous precisely for spices, it's probably only worth thinking
about for those who buy larger quantities than 10 g. For example, for basil and 
oregano, regular stores are more expensive by more than 1 CZK per 1 g. The same 
goes for ground ginger and whole black pepper comes very close to this limit.

_Thank you for reading to the end. The survey is carried out purely from my own 
initiative, as an environmentally minded individual who has been living the philosophy
of waste reduction (and therefore also shopping in package-free stores) for five
years. **The survey is not** sponsored in any way. **My reward** will be **sharing**
the idea and also expanding the blog's readership. _