If lots of high street shops go out of business.....

sb44

purplevamp wrote: »

If I was working f/t I'd only get just over £15K, as it is my p/t wages are just scraping by on £7K gross.

It's possible that £14K is an average, if you take away the overly inflated wages of those people who haven't a clue about the "real world". Perhaps sb44 is including people on p/t wages.

I was assuming my husbands wage which is just over 14k (full time) was an average wage, obv I was wrong.

mitchaa

This may help some of you with the average wage in the UK..

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1288451&highlight=average+salary

Currently at £26,020 as of Nov 2008.

(There is a breakdown in the links for every major area in the UK)

The median wage (50% below, 50% above) is £20,800. Some may find this to be more useful as it takes out the high earning £100k+ bunch but then again it also takes into account those PT workers on lower earnings. The median FT wage to discount all the low paid PT workers stands at £25,123

So estimations of £14k are way off the mark, at this level of earnings you would qualify for tax credits due to low pay, i.e working tax credit.

hethmar

fc123 wrote: »

I haven't done the rest of the thread yet but 'Yes'....but you will also relative price increases too...it's all back to the 1970's guys.

Damn, I only just chucked out OH's flares too.

whathavewedone

Yes I was thinking about the tax credit thing too. That takes 14k earnings above 14k anyway.

I don't know. 14k just seems very low to me given that I was earning 16k as a young inexperienced secretary way back in the depths of the last recession (even though in London)

Sapphire

!!!!!!? wrote: »

For those whose savings are only a little above the cutoff point for benefits (£16k I think with anything over 6k affecting how much you get) I think it would be a smart move to spend the excess on buying 'desired' stuff and laying in large stocks of something useful like fuel or tinned food, so as to get the max benefit from your tax and NI contributions over the years should you become unemployed.

Of course, if you have a couple of thousand quid salted away in cash it's highly unlikely anyone would find out if you forgot to mention it on your JSA claim. Not that I would condone doing that of course, so be extra careful to remember and declare it if you should find yourself in that position..... hmmmkay?

Unfortunately, my savings are more than just a few thousand above the £16K cut-off point, but not substantial enough if there is a prolonged and serious depression. I could end up losing much that I've squirreled away through a lot of hard graft.

If I could get away with claiming JSA should I lose my job, I would do so. Never taken a penny of benefit and worked hard for years, and seeing so many indigenes who are work-shy and economic migrants (ditto) having my money donated to them really rankles. (I have no objection to those who are truly disabled or pensioners receiving taxpayers' help.)

Sapphire

Pennywise wrote: »

Don't forget that demand hasn't fallen by that much. We aren't seeing 10% or more falls in sales - more like 2.5%. Trouble is that many big retailers went through relatively recent "buyouts" at over-inflated bubble prices, so the owners paid over the odds, which was borrowed "funny money" and has to be paid back, with interest. Many big retailers have been financial head-cases for years, only surviving because of the artificially high demand caused by easy credit and the 2006-2008 bubble. The fittest will survive and flourish - there will be many new entrants into the market. The High Street will survive, hopefully with more interest and diversity. The internet won't masacre the High Street - it will just change the way we shop - High Street stores will adapt to embrace the internet - Tesco and Argos are already showing the future - i.e. store and internet prices the same - easy to buy online and return to a store in person - no "pretend" differences in store names or between stores and internet - their business model makes the Dixons group look quite ridiculous where they are still artificially trying to separate out the store and internet sales and even have different store names - they're competing with themselves which is a surefire way to disaster. The High Street won't go away - even internet-savvy people still like to shop and an awful lot of people don't have the internet (or won't use it) anyway - and it will take another generation or two before everyone is comfortable with internet shopping. The High Street already looks different from ten years ago - it will look different again in ten years time - its evolution - a recession speeds it up, but it would happen anyway. I don't think we'll see much change in pricing and range - what I think, and hope, is that we'll see far better customer service in shops - it's no surprise to me to see the stores where I have experienced the worst service to be the ones going under.

There are several things I can think of that I wouldn't buy on the Internet, though I use it all the time at work and at home:

1. Clothes – have to try those on because I am very fussy about the way my clothes fit.

2. Food.

3. Often books – I feel I have to browse in bookshops in order to discover new authors. Can't do that by browsing Amazon, etc., since it wouldn't give me sufficient information compared to an actual book held in the hand. I do sometime buy out-of-print or unavailable books through Amazon, though.

Also delivery can be a pain if you are out at work all day…

hethmar

Ive been buying shoes on the net for over a year now - no problem with them fitting and if I dont like the style back they go, usually picked up by the courier. You can also get very big reductions on the price and you dont have to sit waiting half an hour for an assistant who then tells you they dont have your size or the colour you want. I find it very easy and stress free. Ditto clothes, M and S and Debenhams - even got some brill underwear from Asda! If you dont like the jumper/jeans whatever, you just put them back in the wrapping, selotape it down with the returns note and ring your local courier to come and collect them.