Morrison's "Farmer's milk"

Lynsey

Morrison's will be branding a "Farmer's milk" soon with the price loaded at 10p per litre, which apparently will go to the farmers.
Will you be buying into this, or do you think it's a publicity stunt??

The Milk for Farmers brand means a four pint bottle (2.27 litres), which now sells for 89p, will cost an extra 23p.

Two types of four pint-packs, side by side, of the same product and one will be 23p more.
Who's next??

If I can buy four pints of milk for 89p, I'll be buying exactly that. Sorry to the farmers. I agree they should get a fair price for their products, but equally, the supermarkets should be able to sell at prices of their choice. Pitch the price too high, or higher than your competitors and you'll struggle.

Lynsey

skintpaul

So, Mo's INCREASING their margin even more?

davetrousers

I'll be buying milk that pays a fair price to British farmers.

JustLikeThat

As there is currently no space left for it to go in I wondered how it would be displayed - presumably cutting down on existing offerings. Except that the spaces have 'trolleys' that wheel in and out with what's already stocked. Then there is a question of variety. Will the dearer milk be offered in skimmed, semi, whole and 1% varieties? If so, where will they find the space. If not then the number of shoppers that will be paying the extra will be greatly reduced.
These are questions that intrigue me and I wait to see what happens.
An alternative would be to have a dairy farmer charity box for shoppers to put money into.

Browntoa

I'm thinking PR

if they meant it they would break ranks and charge more across the board to make the other supermarkets look bad

Lynsey

Browntoa wrote: »

I'm thinking PR

if they meant it they would break ranks and charge more across the board to make the other supermarkets look bad

I agree, a PR stunt.
Same product, side by side and one to !!!!! the conscience of customers. Morrison's will still be paying the same low price per litre across the board.
If another supermarket comes along with a better "stunt", we could end up with a "stunt war".

I'm wondering how much milk will be thrown away?? I can't see the uptake of paying 23p more being popular. It will be interesting to see stock levels, displays and marketing material. There could well be a "fanfare" outside the Morrison's stores.

Crazy, farmers will get more per litre (sometimes), but not at the expense of the supermarkets!!
Again, who is next??

Lynsey

torbrex

Given the choice of the same milk for two different prices, I know which one I will choose

If the supermarkets stop using milk as a 'loss leader' then farmers would get paid what the milk is actually worth.

If the farmers want paid what the milk is actually worth then they should stop selling it to the supermarkets at a lower price, if the supermarkets had no milk to sell then they would soon change their tune and buy it at the market price that the farmers set rather that the price that the supermarkets set.

STIKE, STRIKE, STRIKE

WestonDave

For once Sainsbury's and Tesco (Asda are borderline) are on a better footing on this than other retailers - their massive size means they can have their own processors and contract directly with farmers who supply them. So Tesco can sign Farmer Giles up to supply milk to the Tesco dairy and pay him the magic 30p per litre that he needs to survive. Morrisons on the other hand get their milk via a middle man - in their case Arla but Dairy Crest is another similar operator. The problem there is that those middle men are sourcing supplies from many farmers and supplying milk etc on to many retailers. So if Morrisons pay Arla more for milk it has to ensure that gets passed on to the farmers rather than pocketed by Arla. Presumably this new deal does allow that to get passed on but if Morrisons currently take say 50% of Arla's production, and 50% of their sales are of the premium product it means that farmers supplying Arla will get the higher price for just 25% of their production.


The other complication is that at present Tesco etc absorb their extra cost so as to still offer milk as a loss leader. That means that other stores (including corner shops, Lidl etc) then end up wanting to price at that rate to compete, and they end up looking to pay less for their milk supplies. So whilst Tesco are helping their own farmers, their in store pricing isn't helping the wider market - although arguably if the global price of milk is lower due to overproduction, Tesco stopping milk promotions isn't necessarily going to ensure the price of milk at the farm gate is going to rise anyway.

frugalkid

Don't make me laugh. I am a farmers daughter, when my dad died my brother got 3 million and me and my sisters got nothing. They get so many government subsidies it is unreal, he gets £12,000 a year to not cut his hedges because of wildlife preservation. Farmers also get so much per hectare they own to stay in farming, my brother gets £18,000. Where I am sitting he gets £30,000 a year before he even gets out of bed. I certainly wont be buying any. No way!!!!

thistledome

I despise Morrisons utterly for doing this. Why not just pay a fair price to dairy farmers in the first place and stop selling the cheapo stuff. Retailers are very quick to blow their own trumpets regarding giving farmers in third world countries a fair deal, so why not our own?

I will be buying this milk. This obsession with saving tuppence is driving down standards of quality and animal welfare. I regularly see people in Morrisons buying eggs from caged hens because they're cheap, regardless of the suffering caused. They very often have trollies or baskets filled with treats and expensive items so it's not like they're too hard up to buy free-range, they just don't care - the selfish beasts :mad:

Morrisons currently sell a bag of frozen chicken breasts that are from Poland and very cheap. I was buying them for my dog for a short while, but they are truly horrible. God knows how the chickens are kept over there. The Co-op's chicken is more expensive but at least it doesn't smell like old boiled eggs when you open the packet......:eek:

Lots of traditional dairy farms have had to close in recent years - some of them have been in the same family for years, it's a shame. When we get to a point where we have to import milk because so many dairy farms have gone, you'll be paying a damn sight more than 23p extra for it.

Gigervamp

Why is it costing 23p more when only 10p of that is going to the farmer?