That's a common mistake. I used make the same mistake myself. Don't panic! Tk::pack isn't broken.

Many widgets (including Tk::Label) have an -anchor option (see Tk::options). This option anchors the contents of the widget - typically text or an image. This is what you should be using, i.e. Label(-text => $text, -anchor => 'nw').

Tk::pack also has an -anchor option. pack() operates on the widget as a whole - it doesn't affect the contents of the widget. If, after normal packing, there's was free space to the north-west of the widget, pack(-anchor => 'nw') would move the entire widget in that direction. That's a simplistic description: read the full documentation for details of allocation rectangles, cavities and the packer algorithm.