Tesco aaaaaargh!

CopperPlate_2

E-coli outbreaks have been found all over the place - inlcuding childrens' nurseries so targetting small businesses as the only place of outbreak is not representative of the spread of the risk. And, yes, it would be higher profile. Just like the outbreak in the nursery in Scotland last year.

Retailers want it all. They want the multi million pound sales, the best supply terms, low overhead costs, and as a separate cost, the lowest possible ratio of staff:customers. How much work can be squeezed out of the staff that work in X store? "Okay, lets not replace Mr B who left last week, see if we can manage without them"...sound familiar?

All I'm saying is that people should think beyond just the price of the goods on the shelf and think about the wider implications. I know that this is easy to say and can be impossible to put into practice. The £10 jeans or £4 shirts that the supermarkets sell - what did they pay for them in the first place? How much did the supplier pay the manufacturer for them? How much did the manufacturer pay the machinists who made the garment? How many pence?

You can bet the supermarket will be making the biggest mark-up.

RedOnRed

CopperPlate wrote:

E-coli outbreaks have been found all over the place - inlcuding childrens' nurseries so targetting small businesses as the only place of outbreak is not representative of the spread of the risk.

The outbreaks have been proven to come from either small independent butchers or trade catering food wholesalers.

My point is that there has been (as far as i'm aware) no proven outbreak to a supermarket chain as yet and that small independent butchers don't bring good publicity on themselves by having random outbreaks accross the country.

CopperPlate_2

That's fine. But you are focusing on one single aspect - butchers. What about bakers, grocers, greengrocers, fish shops, cafes, deli's, etc? Small businesses maintain local communities - supermarkets destroy choice (even though they promote huge ranges of products- it is their choice what you can or cannot buy) and dictate what is on offer to the consumer.

RedOnRed

CopperPlate wrote:

That's fine. But you are focusing on one single aspect - butchers. What about bakers, grocers, greengrocers, fish shops, cafes, deli's, etc? Small businesses maintain local communities - supermarkets destroy choice (even though they promote huge ranges of products- it is their choice what you can or cannot buy) and dictate what is on offer to the consumer.

Fifty years ago perhaps your average housewife could spend the time going around half a dozen shops getting the weekly shopping and having a natter in each one with all the time in the world.

It's a different faster paced world now and generally better for it.

Germeze

I was wondering about toilet roll the other day. The SEL breaks the cost down per sheets but having bought some I found some of the rolls to be a bit mangled so some got wasted. Anyway I wonderd if anyone had unravelled a toilet roll and counted the number of sheet as if they were all a couple of sheets short this would add up to nice saving for Tesco's:mad:

I bought a multi pack of twixes only to find three of them missing from the pack but I couldn't prove I hadn't pigged them myself

ben500

I once knew a retailer who upon receiving stock of smarties would take 5 smarties from each tube and put them into a jar and sell them loose, weight for weight they were more expensive than buying them in a tube plus they cost him nothing because his cutomers unwittingly supplied him with them, moneysaver ,thief , or both?

CopperPlate_2

ben500 wrote:

I once knew a retailer who upon receiving stock of smarties would take 5 smarties from each tube and put them into a jar and sell them loose, weight for weight they were more expensive than buying them in a tube plus they cost him nothing because his cutomers unwittingly supplied him with them, moneysaver ,thief , or both?

Both

Clever as a fox, but illegal nontheless.

CopperPlate_2

RedOnRed wrote:

Fifty years ago perhaps your average housewife could spend the time going around half a dozen shops getting the weekly shopping and having a natter in each one with all the time in the world.

It's a different faster paced world now and generally better for it.

Ok, I accept that the world has moved on from the 1960's...and an idyllic and stereotypical world at that...

But lets face it, as I've said in the previous posts - and points which, lets be fair RedOnRed, you've chosen not to come back to me on - would you be happy with only 2 or 3 supermarkets to choose from. Each with their own agenda on what you can buy and for how much. They will dictate the prices at which they source the products from suppliers; suppliers which don't comply are delisted and may ultimately go out of business due to their reliance on supermarket contracts over prolonged periods of time. These suppliers can't supply a supermarket chain AND other buyers at the same time I would imagine. Their contract would probably restrict this anyway, and besides would they have enough to go around? What I'm saying is that, yes it's nice to get cheap goods but someone is paying for our cheap goods. Is it us in the long term as the more we buy and support the supermarkets, the stronger they become on the high street and eventually have a third of it each; or is it the suppliers who end up taking on supermarket contracts just to survive even though they know that they are going to have no negotiation in price? Or is it the machinist in the Far East or some far flung part of the world who is paid pence for every ten sweatshirts, shirts or skirts they produce in a day?

Maybe this should be on the Green and Ethical Board :cool:

CopperPlate_2

Germeze wrote:

I was wondering about toilet roll the other day. The SEL breaks the cost down per sheets but having bought some I found some of the rolls to be a bit mangled so some got wasted. Anyway I wonderd if anyone had unravelled a toilet roll and counted the number of sheet as if they were all a couple of sheets short this would add up to nice saving for Tesco's:mad:

I bought a multi pack of twixes only to find three of them missing from the pack but I couldn't prove I hadn't pigged them myself

I wouldn't be surprised. Every little helps doesn't it?

libitina_2

Saucepot wrote:

Sainsburys eh ? I've long thought Morrisons had the best offers. My shopping bills are always lower than tesco and sainsbury when I shop there, and the stuff is better.

theres regional differences all over I guess.

Asda have won the 'Grocer' award for 9 years running for being the cheapest supermarket. The basket is varied each year too so that the supermarkets can't just reduce those prices.
If I won the lottery, I'd shop at M & S and Sainsburys though