Albert Heijn, the largest Dutch supermarket chain, is piloting a true pricing initiative at three of its 'AH to go' convenience stores.
When customers buy a self-service cup of coffee in Groningen, Wageningen or Zaandam, they'll see two prices: the standard retail price and the true price. The latter factors in CO2 emissions, water use, resource consumption and labor conditions related to the production of coffee, cow's milk and oat milk. For example, the regular price for a double espresso is EUR 2.25; when priced using the True Price methodology, that same jolt of caffeine comes to EUR 2.33.
Notably, after years of paying a premium for alt-milks, customers actually pay a lower true price for oat milk than cow's milk, courtesy of oat milk's smaller environmental footprint. Albert Heijn developed the pilot in partnership with independent organization True Price to promote sustainable choices by revealing externalized social and ecological costs throughout a product's supply chain. All extra revenue generated by the experiment will be invested in Rainforest Alliance projects.
