We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
Debate House Prices
In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non MoneySaving matters are no longer permitted. This includes wider debates about general house prices, the economy and politics. As a result, we have taken the decision to keep this board permanently closed, but it remains viewable for users who may find some useful information in it. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
US Government faces partial shutdown
Comments
-
grizzly1911 wrote: »That is fine when their is a cost to be minimised.
I doubt any business is 100% efficient or operating in the absence of change so there are always costs that can be reduced. Not easy but the reward is a competitive advantage.
Needs to be tempered with suitable controls to ensure that the advantage being gained isn't as a result of unfair practices. The horsemeat example is a good example of what happens when a company (Tesco) cares too much about paying the lowest price over the correct price. There came a point where the honest people in the supply chain were driven out - the rest is history.
Being profitable and responsible/ ethical don't have to be mutually exclusive and usually aren't.0 -
Being profitable and responsible/ ethical don't have to be mutually exclusive and usually aren't.
I agree they shouldn't be mutually exclusive but they usually end up being so until they are found out. Good intentions just don't prevail once the £/$/E signs start rolling.
Bangladesh clothing factory employees probably have a view on it. Think Mr Ratner might had few words to say about it too, not to mention the SSE salesperson."If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....
"big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham0 -
Too right! The last thing you need is a supplier knowing what you pay another supplier.
In the UK we can account for nearly every penny that accompanies the price of a pint of milk or loaf of bread. Is that perfect price discovery or indicative of a monopoly?
Very good point.
Given the profits supermarkets make there's a very good argument to be made that they are at least a partial monopsony.0 -
Interestingly branded goods rarely seem to go head to head in Supermarkets
They often seem to take it in turns, COke/Pepsi - Cleansing product of P&G or Unilever.:think:"If you act like an illiterate man, your learning will never stop... Being uneducated, you have no fear of the future.".....
"big business is parasitic, like a mosquito, whereas I prefer the lighter touch, like that of a butterfly. "A butterfly can suck honey from the flower without damaging it," "Arunachalam Muruganantham0 -
grizzly1911 wrote: »Interestingly branded goods rarely seem to go head to head in Supermarkets
They often seem to take it in turns, COke/Pepsi - Cleansing product of P&G or Unilever.:think:
I suspect that's at the behest of the supermarkets. The supermarkets' model these days is seen by many to be to rent shelf space to brands. Even companies like P&G and Gillette have lost most of their power to the big supermarket chains.
In Aus we have 2 supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles who between them sell 80% of groceries! The prices are as eye watering as you'd expect.0 -
grizzly1911 wrote: »Interestingly branded goods rarely seem to go head to head in Supermarkets
They often seem to take it in turns, COke/Pepsi - Cleansing product of P&G or Unilever.:think:
That's because of savage competition between the brands played out under the direction of the retailers.
The UK market is fully developed as far as cola is concerned therefore the only way to gain market share is take it from a competitor. Brands tend to guarantee cash margins during promotions so bogof's are great for retailers and they'll run Pepsi then Coke then Pepsi etc.
The brands work on the premise that if you buy their product you won't buy someone else's. Different if you're building a brand because promotions need to encourage trial rather than reward existing customers.
Tesco, for example, love it. They make the same cash on a can sold at half price as full price. If they see Coke being sold cheaper at Asda they'll also 'ask' the account manager to fund a price match.
All this is done without retail price being mentioned in the commercial meetings (all retailers are paranoid about price fixing).
If Coke know they've got a promotion in Tesco they can be sure Pepsi haven't but that's it. In the same way they won't be letting on when Asda have a promotion because Tesco would try to spoil it or ask for a price match.
Go to any 'processor' meeting and the customer (retailer and consumer) will be mentioned constantly. Good luck hearing the word 'customer' at a retailer meeting. Current balance of power is with the big retailers - why do we have more expensive food than Europe - simple; the consumer is happy for retailers to make bigger margins.0 -
In Aus we have 2 supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles who between them sell 80% of groceries! The prices are as eye watering as you'd expect.
Not quite so bad here but if you're a manufacturer of retail goods and you aren't in Tesco you're missing out on 30% of he market.
The horsemeat scandal is a natural progression of what happens when company policy is to be cheaper than Asda at all costs whilst maintaining margins. Sainsburys allow themselves to compete on quality and value rather than just price - currently looking at 35 straight MoM sales increases and unaffected by horsemeat.0 -
Unexpected humour from the shutdown #1:
http://www.adn.com/2013/10/04/3109670/alaska-weather-service-workers.html0 -
Not quite so bad here but if you're a manufacturer of retail goods and you aren't in Tesco you're missing out on 30% of he market.
The horsemeat scandal is a natural progression of what happens when company policy is to be cheaper than Asda at all costs whilst maintaining margins. Sainsburys allow themselves to compete on quality and value rather than just price - currently looking at 35 straight MoM sales increases and unaffected by horsemeat.
I think you will find that is 30% of the grocery market, about 15% of total retail.
I do shop at Tesco because they buy a small ammount of my spend using vouchers, there prices are not nearly as cheap as they would like you to think and they certainly do not compete with Asda on basic pre-promotion pricing and actually with their 'smart' pricing model they are often more expensive than Sainsburies on products they don't think people will notice.
Our resident banker who called the US revival has not yet suggested how we hedge a potential US default?Unexpected humour from the shutdown #1:
http://www.adn.com/2013/10/04/3109670/alaska-weather-service-workers.htmlI think....0 -
Our resident banker
I'm not a banker any more, I'm an Asset Manager.who called the US revival
I've been right about that so far.has not yet suggested how we hedge a potential US default?
I didn't realise I'd been asked to do so. I'm visiting a bit less right now.
Normally the hedge against bad stuff is US Treasuries (T-Bills): when the US got downgraded T-Bills went up in price! Clearly the same thing would be less likely in case of an actual default.
The most direct forms of hedge would be a short T-Bill ETF or a CDF (you probably can't buy the latter thanks to Brussels). The trouble is that if the US defaults properly, that is doesn't just miss a coupon payment but fails to roll over the next lot of debt which I think happens in November then counterparty risk will rise quickly as a Government that can't fund itself can't backstop the banking system and the banking system uses T-Bills as a large part of its reserves, especially in the US. It's useless having insurance if your insurer is bust.
So what to do?
It's a toughie. There's the obvious beans 'n' guns 'n' land prepper stuff. If you measure wealth as potential output then land always retains the same value if unimproved/unspoiled. If you measure wealth as potential future utility then tins of beans are a good store of utility.
Gold? Well it's priced in dollars and if dollars go down gold will go up but then so will pounds and Euros and Yen and Dong. Gold simply isn't a hedge against bad stuff happening any more. I suspect it's strongly correlated with Asia GDP FWIW.
There really isn't a hedge against the end of a system and the start of a new one as the range of possible outcomes make the whole thing too unpredictable. There is no risk free asset. Even land can be seized without compensation and indeed has been countless times in the past from the Norman Conquests to the Communist Revolutions of the C20th.
Always remember: there are few situations that a fistful of Kruggerands, a pistol, a carton of cigarettes and a case of decent whisky won't get you out of.
That's just some ramblings really. In the long run we're all dead so enjoy it while you can. Have lots of sex and don't commute much.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.5K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.2K Spending & Discounts
- 245K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.6K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.4K Life & Family
- 258.8K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.6K Read-Only Boards