I have often walked around our supermarkets and been amazed by the ridiculous number of products which are basically the same but take up so much room on the shelves.

How many varieties of  deodorants and shampoos and toilet paper do we really need?  Entire double aisles are taken up with pet food.  Organic,  gluten-free blah blah dog and cat food. It’s absolutely disgraceful  that we spoil our pets,  or more truthfully,  the pet owners to such an extent while many of the hungry people in impoverished countries  would be grateful to consume  the packaged processed food that we provide  for our pets.

Aldi has fewer lines and is doing very well in the real world. And now, mercifully,  so has Coles who have just announced that they are cutting down on superfluous lines such as multiple varieties of garbage bags and pasta sauce.

And guess what?  As a result of some sensible decisions by Coles sales in garbage bags and sauces have actually increased!

I applaud them for that decision. Not only do they limit conspicuous consumption but they also make life easier for those of us who are fed up with the paradox of choice.  I have often found,  when faced with a plethora of choices,  that I keep on walking past them unable to decide which of the products to buy.  Let’s face it,  there’s no benefit to all this variety when most of those products are pretty much the same stuff anyway  in different colour packaging.

Here’s hoping Woolworths follows suit.