Is it just Sainsbury's

iliketosave_2

To those of you saying we are wrong to complain about price rises and saying we spend less on food as a percentage, have you soon what this website is called?
We need to save money, clearly some of you dont and are clearly here to antagonise.
As for the person saying we are moaning about curry sauce going up-get real,this is about many high rises. Read ALL the thread,and the Tesco price rise thread.

competitionscafe

iliketosave wrote: »

To those of you saying we are wrong to complain about price rises and saying we spend less on food as a percentage, have you soon what this website is called?
We need to save money, clearly some of you dont and are clearly here to antagonise.

Having been a member of this site for over 5 years, yes I am aware what it is called, thanks. Just because someone has a different point of view does not mean they "are here to antagonise" - the world would be a very dull place if everyone agreed with each other on everything.

I said in my post that I personally chose not to put food at the bottom of my spending priorities as it was important to me to eat good quality tasty food and therefore I chose to save money in other areas (I have no TV, use a cheap mobile, switched gas/elec to cheapest supplier, use cashback sites, vouchers, travel offers etc etc). I also pointed out that there are ways to save money on food and still eat well (cheaper cuts of meat, local markets and shops, slow cooking, eating more pulses and grains and less meat, buying items like cheese when at sell by date and reduced to clear, avoiding ready meals and takeaways, eating with the seasons, etc). There is a thread on the OS board titled "what are you not prepared to compromise on" (when saving money) and several people on there said that (paraphrasing) as good food was important to health and enjoyment they were not prepared to compromise on quality when it came to meat, poultry eggs etc but also on quality food in general. Clearly it is possible to be moneysaving and still eat well. In the UK we also throw away around a third of all the food we buy (much of it still perfectly fit to eat) and we also eat more ready meals than the rest of Europe combined. Therefore cooking meals from scratch, minimising waste and using leftovers, etc is moneysaving too.

I was merely pointing out that we should not expect food to be ultra cheap or necessarily regard dirt cheap food as a good thing - I didn't justify or support massive price increases or price-fixing and I am certainly no fan of the supermarkets - I try to use them as little as possible and not at all for red meat, fish and most fruit and veg - not just because the quality is not there but they are often no cheaper than and sometimes more expensive than the local fishmonger, butcher, greengrocer, etc.

Stefarno

Yes, how dare we expect something essential to be affordable to those of us on low budgets, and how dare we complain when they dramatically increases in price overnight.

DCFC79

iliketosave wrote: »

And they all pluck the same higher price out of thin air?No way.
Blatant price fixing, yet the powers that be can find no proof of it.

well this is part of the reply i had from sainsburys regarding the price of the tomatoes" I apologise that due to the rising costs in petrol, transportation and raw materials we have increased the price of this product. I can assure you that this decision has not been taken lightly. I have passed your full comments about this issue on to our management team. They will view your feedback when doing their next review on the price of this product. "

take it up with the supermarkets if you dont believe its down to the price of fuel etc. IF you believe it to be price then go and complain to the OFT if they deal with price fixing

Elitist

I can understand why some people like to put food as a higher priority in their budget and possibly go without other things, such as tv/sky, takeaways etc. However, there are people due to the current credit problems that may have cut back to the bare bones within their household and the cheapest food available (be it 4p curry sauce or whatever else) is all they can afford.

I am fortunate not to be in this situation, but I think it unreasonable for anyone to say that people should be prepared to pay more for food and not expect it to be so cheap. I understand that some foods may have been priced unreasonably low. However, if that's the price that people have budgeted for after all other expenditure and there is suddenly a 600% increase across the board then there is every reason for there to be an outcry!

I am not posting this to say that any of the previous comments are right or wrong, I'm only saying that I understand some people would never want to have to buy the cheapest food available if they could possibly avoid it by saving in other areas, but there are others who do have to and it's a shame for these people in society because they are often the ones to suffer most in times like these because they simply cannot make any other cutbacks in other areas.

I also agree if people want to complain, let them complain. The supermarkets don't need to listen but if enough people do bother to complain then something is bound to happen.

shezza

As I started this thread, I feel that it has gone off track somewhat. My complaint initially was about the price rises, not about quality of food etc. I feel that if we don't fight about these price rises, where's the stopping the supermarkets thinking well we got away with that one, lets put the next level of food stuffs up then the next. I think even the most wealthy of people would complain if the price of an organic chicken jumped 70% from £8.00 to £13.60 overnight. I accept the prices of the value range are still low (to some), it is the principle. We have to stop this. There are alot of people out there who rely on basics, pensioners, low income families etc, and these are the people who should not be getting hit. None of the other food stuffs have gone up so I accept that many people may not have noticed, but they will if supermarkets are allowed to get away with it this time and thet hit the next level. I personnally feel that we are morally obliged to fight this, even if you are not personnally affected by it, there are people out there who it does affect and they only have a small voice, but if everyone shouts about it they will get heard.

amcluesent

Supermarkets talk up price cuts... but hike prices by 21%

OK, it's the Mail but this table shows how the supermarkets have whacked up the prices of essentials like rice, pasta, tea bags etc. Assuming they all come in the same lorry, funny how the price of fuel seem to be falling on just some items...

thor

taxiphil wrote: »

I totally agree with these comments about price fixing.

It's an open secret in the industry that nearly all the 'value' range items are price fixed across all 4 major supermarkets. The supermarkets collude by speaking to each other beforehand - that's why the price rises always happen in perfect harmony (8.00am on the same day) by exactly the same amount.

Just like the Utility Companies who always co-ordinate their price rises and then will all reduce their tariffs by a very insignificant amount late next year and then spout BS about how competition is working for the consumer.

taxiphil wrote: »

Price fixing is supposed to be illegal but the impotent and pathetic OFT lets supermarkets get away with anything, thanks to the Labour government's idea of "light touch regulation" of big business.

LOL just wait until the CONservatives get in. Then you will see ZERO regulation for their chums in big business.

spaceman5

iliketosave wrote: »

And they all pluck the same higher price out of thin air?No way.
Blatant price fixing, yet the powers that be can find no proof of it.

how is it price fixing?, prices are kept low by competition, i.e all the main supermarkets do what they can to price match each other, so if one puts the prices up, the others generally follow suit, for example if tesco and asda where selling beans for 40p, would it make sense for sainsburys to sell theres for 20p, knowing they could get 40p for them, not saying it is right, but on day to day products, not promotions all the supermarkets are within a few pence of each other, Dave

taxiphil

spaceman5 wrote: »

how is it price fixing?, prices are kept low by competition, i.e all the main supermarkets do what they can to price match each other, so if one puts the prices up, the others generally follow suit, for example if tesco and asda where selling beans for 40p, would it make sense for sainsburys to sell theres for 20p, knowing they could get 40p for them, not saying it is right, but on day to day products, not promotions all the supermarkets are within a few pence of each other, Dave

It's price fixing because the price rises are not made in a reactionary way like you describe - they are agreed in advance between the big 4 supermarkets.

Illegal price fixing has already been proved in the case of tobacco and dairy products by Tesco, Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons, but only because these were the narrow product areas that the OFT chose to investigate in the first place.

It's not exactly "competition" when 4 huge retailers with a stranglehold on the country's food supply all agree between themselves to put their prices up by the same amount, is it? To me that's the opposite of competition.