What can we do about supermarket prices?

G-G_4

I think old people nowdays are very distrusting of people offering to help them.. which makes helping them awkward.

I have a co-op here, it is expensive, but they have some great reduced stuff.. tend to go tesco though, even cheaper.

shopping online isn't too hard, but most old people prob won't have internet yet..

Butlers1982

The only way is to STOP shoping at the big supermarkets.

100 or even 200 people stopping shopping at a supermarket isnt going to make one bit of difference. even if a 1000 people stopped it wouldnt make an impact.
We have to face facts, they are too big, nothing we can do will make them change prices.

Nomad25

The supermarkets aren't immune to wage/fuel/etc. price hikes you know - and they pass it on to us [and yes I know they make big profits]. What you have to ask yourself where the initially increases are generated - industry fat cats and HMG. Maybe the only way to help pensioners is to join a lobby group to get them more money [and be prepared for another tax hike].

chuckles1066

elljay wrote: »

I need to feel I'm doing something political about this and not just accepting it.
Sorry for the rant

Liz

Why?

If you've got pent-up energy inside and free time on your hands, maybe some charity work might be beneficial to you?

Supermarkets are good news surely

Go to your local grocer and buy a pint of milk............now go to your local Tesco and I'll bet the same pint of milk will be substantially cheaper. Multiply that by 40 items in your basket and you save a packet by shopping at supermarkets.

Yes, I know it's not very pc to champion the causes of big business but facts are facts.

Blacksheep1979

You shouldn't be asking supermarkets to lower their prices when they are raping farmers and producers for every penny. People can afford products these days that 20 years ago would have been a rare luxary.

chuckles1066

Blacksheep1979 wrote: »

You shouldn't be asking supermarkets to lower their prices when they are raping farmers

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

If I were cynical, I'd remark on the widely held belief that the top of the range 4x4s they drive illegally on red diesel just fell out of the showroom.......

And, equally, I will permit myself no comment on the common knowledge that they illegally disconnect their tractor odometer cables to avoid having to pay vehicle excise duty.......

elljay

I live in a farming (mostly sheep) area and I don't know a single farmer who isn't really pushed for funds, they can't get a decent amount for lambs, and wool isn't worth thinking about. They use their initiative to diversify into whatever they can, my nearest neighbour has a burger and icecream van run by his wife set up on a road used by weekend bikers, and he also does bits of building work, chops and sells firewood and looks after his sheep. It's really hard work. I think generalising about farmers is as bad as me generalising about little old ladies!!

I already am involved in voluntary work, as well as full time paid work (2 jobs) and running a house and growing veg and my own cooking and hens and walking the dog - it's what life in the country is about realistically these days. I'm rethinking the vol work a bit, I think it would be more beneficial to get involved in something like a food co-op which reaches people who really need it. Sadly I have no idea who this lady was, or where she lives or whatever though this isn't really about her, it's about the whole principle.

Political action by governments is the only way to deal with these things it seems to me, and that's not going to happen, governments have as little power as a few hundred people boycotting supermarkets. Big business runs the world.

chuckles 1066, that's exactly what I said, the supermarkets are fleecing customers and suppliers alike and if you're a farmer it's likely you're a customer as well as a supplier, so you're hit both ways. I agree also that shopping at supermarkets is still cheaper than local grocers (what's one of those?) but at what cost in other ways?

Liz

Blacksheep1979

chuckles1066 wrote: »

:rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:

If I were cynical, I'd remark on the widely held belief that the top of the range 4x4s they drive illegally on red diesel just fell out of the showroom.......

Yes because all farmers everywhere all have brand spanking new top end cars.

taxiphil

unrich wrote: »

Now. If you have to have a supermarket I think the Co-op is the right one. As they at least have ethical policies in place, a thriving range of fair trade things. They may not be the best (by what criterion? price?) but I'd rather the Co-op than tesco, sainsbury, asda, morrisons etc

As much as I would dearly love to agree with this statement, the Co-op are actually the worst kind of hypocrites and often engage in retail methods which even Tesco would draw the line at.

For example, it is quite despicable how the Co-op have downsized all their fresh milk sizes to the nearest 500ml, without a pro-rata reduction in price. Eg, a pint (568ml) has become 500ml, two pints (1.136 litres) has now become 1 litre, etc, throughout their entire range of own brand fresh milk.

This equates to a 13.6% price increase by stealth, on top of the fact that their milk prices were already much dearer than all the other supermarkets!

OK, legally, their noses are clean because the bottles do state the new metric volume (albeit not very prominently). But morally speaking, I wonder how many of the Co-op's customers actually know they're not getting a pint when they pick up what appears to be a pint bottle off the shelf. I bet not many do.

Especially as they have a large customer base amongst the elderly, to whom Co-op convenience stores are a lifeline. Like the OP correctly says, lots of old people trust the Co-op, so how many of them would even think to get out their reading glasses and check that it's actually a pint?

What kind of "ethical" retailer messes around with centuries of British tradition and downsizes the traditional pint by pulling a mean, cynical, grubby little trick like that?

What possible justification can there be for it? I'm sure if they'd asked their customers if they wanted to pay the same price for less milk, there would only have been one answer.

Tesco would have been absolutely crucified if they'd done that, and rightly so.

But because it's the Co-op, it seems to have slipped beneath the radar, probably because everyone thinks they're paragons of virtue and above suspicion.

It makes you wonder if the Co-op are hoodwinking us in other ways too.

pinkshoes

Are there any web pages so you can locate your nearest farm shop, and buy direct from the farmer rather than at a supermarket?

I would love to cut out the middleman (supermarkets) for my groceries, although not really sure where to look.

They have websites for locating cheapest petrol stations etc..., so there must be one for meat and veg??

I tried on of those veg boxes, but it was inconvenient delivery times, and I didn't want it sitting on my doorstep all day. Would love to be able to call in somewhere on my way home from work.

I'm all for supporting farmers and giving THEM the profit rather than the supermarket!