Is the Recession over then ???

fc123

vivatifosi wrote: »

I know the answer to that one Tre! Dopester's used the new Labour party poster as his avatar. It's supposed to be David Cameron crossed with Philip Glenister's character from Ashes to Ashes and questions whether we really trust him not to take us back to the 1980s. Quite a clever ad.

I miss the cute doggy looking at himself in the pond (or drinking or both).

DS would never have the swagger of that avatar character in his RL persona...never in a million years.
Pls bring back the dog drawing.

g553

I don't believe it is over. The government needs to make huge cuts and they have already started with budget cuts/ job freezes in further education, healthcare and local government. So all that good work Labour has done (education and improvements to the NHS) will be undone plus a huge loss of jobs. One step forward, two steps back and I can't see Dave C stopping this.

That's just my opinion.

Cleaver

Graham_Devon wrote: »

How many have said Tesco's are too big, a cartel, and could take over the country? Walmart is huge, but hasn't taken over the country. People still shop in other shops. There are still other supermarkets.

It always strikes me as odd Graham that you stick up and fight for the first time buyers out there who struggle against BTL investors and people buying multiple homes, but don't see the parallel with big business.

Go and visit 30 small business owners in an area which has recently had a Tesco, Tesco Extra and a couple of Tesco Metros built nearby, which all employ the usual Tesco underhand tactics, and ask them whether they feel as though they have lost business and are able to compete on a level playing field with Tesco. I imagine 90% will say they have been detrimentally effected by them.

Your paragraph above is akin to me saying 'People can't afford to buy houses? People buy houses all the time, I see them doing so. BTL landlords are out there, yet people still buy houses. What's the problem?'

We both know that there arre acute problems in both of these examples, but you just chose to care more about the plight of the potential homeowner rather than the small business owner. Which is fine of course, but you just don't seem to be able to get that the two situations are quite similar.

StevieJ

Cleaver wrote: »

We both know that there arre acute problems in both of these examples, but you just chose to care more about the plight of the potential homeowner rather than the small business owner. Which is fine of course, but you just don't seem to be able to get that the two situations are quite similar.

Maybe he doesn't care about small business but has a VI in houses, I agree about Tesco they are doing some real damage, it is a shame

treliac

vivatifosi wrote: »

I know the answer to that one Tre! Dopester's used the new Labour party poster as his avatar. It's supposed to be David Cameron crossed with Philip Glenister's character from Ashes to Ashes and questions whether we really trust him not to take us back to the 1980s. Quite a clever ad.

Thanks viva, I've seen it now. Seems to have backfired on Labour though. Apparently, lots of us quite like the character portrayed!

And I think the 80s fared pretty well alongside today anyway.

Wonder what point dopester is making with it?

fc123

StevieJ wrote: »

Maybe he doesn't care about small business but has a VI in houses, I agree about Tesco they are doing some real damage, it is a shame

The problem is Tesco are doing a good job or people wouldn't shop with them....but to have gotton that big, they had to pull a few fast ones on the way up...mainly with some of their supplier base.
They are now almost invincible.

I was thinking about this today and have had such a strange year as I am sort of on the 'other side' now but am still a niche small indie. We are about to 'open' in 2 Northern towns, which would have been impossibly expensive to do as an indie.

I see/have seen both sides now and I am quite stumped to come up with a solution. I guess I just found the right route for us.

Maybe the residents of a town get the shopping area that they indirectly chose? If you don't use it, you lose it and by shopping online or out of town for basics you can't expect the traders in the High st of a town to stay there just to get a few crumbs of convenience trade only. It's not enough to earn a living.

On a positive note (as I am influenced by Hamish's positivity) indie PC and laptop repair shops are booming down here and in SELondon suburb. I imagine DS could sort out most of his own PC/Laptop probs but for us oldie/non techy types, the nice young men in Laptop station Brighton are truly my saviour and worth every penny to someone like me. They are so busy all the time and niether inteneded to set up a business...it just happened and took off for them. Queues out the door some days.

LizEstelle

OP, the recession was over half way through last year. The statistics lag behind.

Cleaver

fc123 wrote: »

The problem is Tesco are doing a good job or people wouldn't shop with them....but to have gotton that big, they had to pull a few fast ones on the way up...mainly with some of their supplier base.

Just as an aside, I was doing some work last week with a company we've recently contracted with. The guy who I spent the day with is a very experienced financial trainer and, amongst other things, does a lot of financial and consultancy work with small and medium size businesses. Some of this is just your standard CIMA qualifications etc., but he also does some bespoke work with finance teams on how they operate and how they could work better.

He was saying that in twenty years he's never seen an organisation with such shoddy treatment of their suppliers as Tesco, to a point where he researched them out of pure interest. He was telling me that it's not uncommon for them to delay payment to suppliers for up to 18 months. It was also interesting to hear about the way the work with regard to contracts and stipulations that mean that suppliers can only sign up to them as long as they agree to completely unworkable clauses: unfair notice periods, the ability to request a change in products (from carrots to potatos, for example) at the drop of a hat, making them not work with other suppliers etc. etc.

When they work with small and medium businesses they often hear that people are unwilling to work with Tesco, or if they have a contract with them already are desparate to get out of it.

It's a free society of course, but with this knowledge I don't really want to buy my food from a company like that.

fc123

Cleaver wrote: »

Just as an aside, I was doing some work last week with a company we've recently contracted with. The guy who I spent the day with is a very experienced financial trainer and, amongst other things, does a lot of financial and consultancy work with small and medium size businesses. Some of this is just your standard CIMA qualifications etc., but he also does some bespoke work with finance teams on how they operate and how they could work better.

He was saying that in twenty years he's never seen an organisation with such shoddy treatment of their suppliers as Tesco, to a point where he researched them out of pure interest. He was telling me that it's not uncommon for them to delay payment to suppliers for up to 18 months. It was also interesting to hear about the way the work with regard to contracts and stipulations that mean that suppliers can only sign up to them as long as they agree to completely unworkable clauses: unfair notice periods, the ability to request a change in products (from carrots to potatos, for example) at the drop of a hat, making them not work with other suppliers etc. etc.

When they work with small and medium businesses they often hear that people are unwilling to work with Tesco, or if they have a contract with them already are desparate to get out of it.

It's a free society of course, but with this knowledge I don't really want to buy my food from a company like that.

The big companies like Unlilever probably give as good as they get but small guys have to be really careful.
The Tyrrels company refused to supply them but Tesco won...then started making their own version.


They are trying to get into my sector and it will be interesting to see how it pans out as everyone knows everyone so gossip spreads quickly. I would guess that the first in do great, word spreads how great it is then more go for it...then once they have more of a monopoly, they turn the screw?

wageslave

I work for a large, extremely well known multi-national who have weathered the recession by basically shafting their suppliers.

They have lengthened their payment terms from 60 days to sometime, never.

Now they know they can get away with it, who wants to bet this continues for the forseeable future?