It's getting tough out there. Feeling the pinch?

Woolsery

London_1 said:

I agree and think that the supermarkets ,especially the 'big four' have become complacent over the past few years thinking that their tills will always be jingling with the publics cash.

I think because of the very high increases in fuel and utilities folk are now becoming increasingly aware that food,once bought ,must be eaten and not binned willy nilly.

I read recently that the UK wastes  9.5 million tonnes of food annually with households responsible for about 60% of it, so if tightening belts reduces that, it's one consolation. We had a 40th wedding anniversary party a couple of weeks ago for around 50 people and actually had to put the food waste bin out, but normally it sits there unloved because we  put peelings etc in the compost or freeze bones etc then throw them in someone else's on collection day! We have 15 properties' waste and recycling stacked close to us at collection time, but being country people they are mostly well-behaved.

I resent the way supermarkets reduce tills for people paying with cash, or those like me who just want to keep cashiers in work and have a chat. I won't jump through any hoops I don't agree with and if the queues get too long in a certain one beginning with S I've been known to shout "We need some more staff on the tills here!" It works too.

linz

I've managed to find some good yellow stickered stuff this week which has gone in the freezer. 3 packets of sausages, some chicken breasts, 2 packets of diced chicken breasts (with which i made a curry in the SC) and lots of loaves, baps, hot cross buns etc.

I often wonder why there is still so much stuff in the reduced section though. Given times are hard I thought more people would be looking for discounts but they're still there late on in the day.. Maybe there's different sets of people where i am, ones that don't need to watch their money and can continue as they are, and ones that were being careful already but now have to go to foodbanks/community groups. Thankfully there are a couple of really good ones nearby where people can go and get things for free, like OLIO on steroids. I do worry for those people. My local council hasn't paid the rebates to anyone yet i don't think either. 

Rosa_Damascena

Woolsery said:

ladyholly said:

My heart bleeds for the supermarkets - Not. They have seen record profits in recent years and now is the time for them to realise that the good times may be over.

Without wishing to be rude, it's also time for more people to realise that about a dozen major multinational investment corporations run much of the world's trade, so the supermarkets may be only part of their portfolio. If spending on food is down, maybe armaments or some other sector will be up. If you Google BlackRock, or State Street you'll see what I mean. Of course many of us ordinary mortals have pensions or other investments linked to these multinationals  and the banks.

The people who may really be hit in an economic downturn are those working in low paid jobs like retail, though in the last recession food outlets were not badly hit. In fact there were some surprises, with firms making non-essential foods like chocolate doing well. This was because even people hurt by the bad econmic situation could still afford to give themselves relatively cheap little treats.

Now, if it's not a recession you're thinking might happen, but a depression.....well, we've not been there since the 1930s and that's a completely different ball game!

The signs are there: pandemic, major world war approaching....depression. Aside from novel ways of killing the planet and its population, the world appears not to have learned much in the last 100 years, have we? 

The major supermarkets have pledged to bring down the prices of essentials but kids will still end up going hungry.

London_1

I think its highly possible we may have a depression to be honest, I hope not, but the way the world is at the moment its going to be a very long time before we get back to pre-pandemic days .
So perhaps buying less and throwing away less, recycle and  reuse will become the new 'norm' 

I noticed there is an advert on tv that eschews a certain washing  product so you can wash and  hand down clothes to a younger member of the family as though it was a sudden brilliant idea the ad-men have discovered  

Hand me downs were a way of life back in the 1940-50s and jumble sales were top of housewives Saturday morning trips.

If the supermarkets pledge to bring down prices of essential stuff, that only means that the ones that can afford 'branded goods'will be paying more to compensate

Supermarkets don't like to lose money at all, getting rid of staff and having those awful machines to take your cash means a lower wages bill, I loathe and detest them as I like to speak to a human being when shopping.

The advent of the cheaper stores such as Lidl and Aldi has come as a great shock to the big stores ,alnong with B&M and Pound shops they suddenly have found customers are just unwilling or unable to pay their high prices.

Hang on to your purses chums, they are after your cash :) Have a hard job with me  

JackieO

linz

London_1 said:

Hand me downs were a way of life back in the 1940-50s and jumble sales were top of housewives Saturday morning trips.

My brother and I always had my older cousins' hand me downs - trouble was they were both boys so i was often in boys clothes as a child I remember going round jumble sales too with my mum. WHatever happened to those?! I never see any these days. Maybe car boot sales are modern day jumble sales.

annieb64

I had several older cousins-all girls fortunately-so nearly all my clothes were hand me downs.  My aunt in Canada used to send a box of clothes,  adults as well as children's . It was an exciting day when that arrived as she usually included some Canadian sweets.
Mum did make a few summer dresses as a cousin worked in a cotton mill and could get remnants cheaply. My grandma knitted and crocheted for us .

TheAble

I personally like the self-scan/checkout, and with Sainsbury's for example you get some good discounts with it as well. Pack and scan as you go, quickly through the checkout. It's not for all of course, but for me I find it one of the better aspects of modern living.

One of the downsides of Iceland for instance is they don't have any such machines (in my local store anyway), and rarely enough staff on the checkouts. You might get a "chat" thrown in but it's overall a poor experience in my view.

SadieO

TheAble said:

I personally like the self-scan/checkout, and with Sainsbury's for example you get some good discounts with it as well. Pack and scan as you go, quickly through the checkout. It's not for all of course, but for me I find it one of the better aspects of modern living.

One of the downsides of Iceland for instance is they don't have any such machines (in my local store anyway), and rarely enough staff on the checkouts. You might get a "chat" thrown in but it's overall a poor experience in my view.

I agree. It's so much easier to pack your stuff as you go along and I'm honestly not that struck on having a few minutes chat with the cashier, I'd rather get through the checkout quicker! Also I particularly like it when I've got a voucher for money off if you spend X amount. I take great pleasure in keeping track as I go along and getting it as close to that amount as possible!

nannygladys

Woolsey - what's the simple difference between a recession and depression. I've tried to find a simple explanation but to honest a lot of it goes over my head. I hope you don't mind me asking, I'm not trying to catch you out or anything.

Woolsery

nannygladys said:

Woolsey - what's the simple difference between a recession and depression. I've tried to find a simple explanation but to honest a lot of it goes over my head. I hope you don't mind me asking, I'm not trying to catch you out or anything.

It's a matter of degree and time, I think.  A recession is when there are 2 successive quarters when economic growth falls. For example, we had a recession from Q2 in 2008 to Q2 in 2009. Despite that, there were problems before and after those distinct times. I know because we agreed the sale of our house in October 2007 and lost the buyer when the first problems hit in November. We were still selling it a year later at a much reduced price, but people who wanted it still couldn't get theirs sold.

The economy continued to contract till the 3rd Quarter of 2009, but it was much longer than that till things normalised and a very long time in some economically weak areas.

I'm afraid I wasn't around in the Depressions of 1919-26 and 1930-31, but my Dad told me about them. In around 1929 his work as a shopfitter dried-up completely and he was forced into unskilled work. Eventually he didn't even have that and spent half a year with others camping beside a reservoir. I think they lived on their wits and shared whatever money or food they had. He never went back to shopfitting, but worked rather reluctantly for various mass furniture makers until World War 2 when his skills took him into jobs in an aircraft factory and in building air defences. He always gave me the impression that the War was a turning point for him and that the whole of the 30s had been a very tough time.