Pick yer poison......

[Vladimir]

What needs to be done is to employ the same number of people who would work in individual shops, for the same wages, but just under one roof. This could be done by seperating the supermarket into different sections, each with a counter for each type of good, but owned collectively in one indoor place. Like the street except away from the elements and with better parking.

Where is an example of this Comrade?

Nowhere Paladin, the ideas too revolutionary

Its sometimes called an indoor market, but thats way just too naff for some people

[Merlot]

Supermarket = convenience.

Supermarket = cheapest.

Supermarket = open 'til reasonable hours. (or 24hrs for many)

You're right about the convenience but they're not always the cheapest (I'm talking aboot meat, fish & veg). I would not buy meat from a supermarket. The independants buy their stuff in fresh daily. There's no point in the wee shop opening all hours, everybody's at the supermarket.

[My Kitten]

Everyone hasnt got the time to go shopping everyday but really we should do, do you know of a piece of meat that should look that red and fish that can last for a week.

Get a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls book "Meat" and a copy of Joanna Blythman's "shopped - the shocking power of british supermarkets" that'll open your eyes as well as show you what is out there. By all means by the crap from Asda et al but to enjoy food at its best you should buy it on the day you mean to eat it.

Now Im away back to my ready meal!!

[mrlipring]

Hahaha

Well, i'd love to have the time to buy stuff each day. I'm impuslive, and never really know what i want beforehand so i tend to buy a pile of stuff, and hope that i fancy it when teatime comes. Ideally i'd just decide what i wanted, and go buy it. In an ideal world.

Nip round to the butcher for chops, the baker for rolls etc.

Cities are too big these days for small shops to offer as much as supermarkets can, unfortunately.

I remember when Kilmarnock got the Safeway, and the Asda, and all that. The town had grown to a size big enough to be able to support these larger shops. Now, the Safeway's gone (?), there's a Morrisons, a new lidl on the way, an aldi, M&S, two Tescos last time i checked. There's the smaller frozen food places like farmfoods and iceland etc, and that's for a town with 40k-ish residents. Sure, there's the villages all round, but does it really need THAT many supermarkets?

[Captain Brittles]

Get a copy of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls book "Meat" and a copy of Joanna Blythman's "shopped - the shocking power of british supermarkets" that'll open your eyes as well as show you what is out there.

Kitten could you by any chance advise further details of these books so I can get my library to order them in? I know they screw the dairy farmers and drive down vendors prices to increase their own profits but not much more.

[turbozutek]

Sure, there's the villages all round, but does it really need THAT many supermarkets?

Yes, of course! It also requires far more traffic lights, stupid pedestrian crossings and 30mph zones.

/Glad I left.

Chris...

[paladin]

I know they screw the dairy farmers

It's not so much that they 'screw' all the suppliers by driving the price down, it's more to do with the timescale of payments .......some suppliers can go three months or more between payments from the big stores.
Ever tried getting paid quarterly? It's not easy.

[mrlipring]

Sure, there's the villages all round, but does it really need THAT many supermarkets?

Yes, of course! It also requires far more traffic lights, stupid pedestrian crossings and 30mph zones.

/Glad I left.

Chris...

me too mate.

I'd love to say i feel all nostalgic and stuff when i go back (Ha! i never go back) but i really don't. You lived roundabout Loreny Drive, iirc, and i've always lived within 5 minutes of there myself, so you and I know exactly what that area, and the rest of the town, is like.

[turbozutek]

me too mate.

I'd love to say i feel all nostalgic and stuff when i go back (Ha! i never go back) but i really don't. You lived roundabout Loreny Drive, iirc, and i've always lived within 5 minutes of there myself, so you and I know exactly what that area, and the rest of the town, is like.

Dundonald Rd and then WitchHill Place... So I've had the rough and the smooth.

They both sucked.



Chris...

[paladin]

Its sometimes called an indoor market, but thats way just too naff for some people

Something shady about Indoor Markets......I don't like them as you feel compelled to buy.

[Vladimir]

[caine]

I know they screw the dairy farmers

It's not so much that they 'screw' all the suppliers by driving the price down, it's more to do with the timescale of payments .......some suppliers can go three months or more between payments from the big stores.
Ever tried getting paid quarterly? It's not easy.

i'm afraid thats not entirely true, they shaft producers and suppliers rotten, not just with quarterly payments, but by screwing down the prices mid contract, and if the suppliers complain, they get delisted from the supermarkets books.
they also get charged for advertising for the supermrkets, where their products are placed in the supermarkets, and even get charged just to be able to supply the supermarkets! one dairy producer in the uk pays £1 million a year just for the priviledge.

in a classic case by tesco several years ago, they sent a letter to all their suppliers, saying that due to the amazing success of thei advertising for chicken products, all their supplies had to cough up £2000 to pay for their share in the advertising.
one suppler wrote back saying i dont supply chicken, i sell you fish. he was sent a letter back saying they would take the money from his monthly account any way, and once he complained he was delisted, 6 months later a company with £2 million turn over a year went bust cos he couldnt sell enough of his produce after being delisted by tescos.


i urge you all to read "not on the label", its a real eye opener to the shady world of the mutiples.

its available on amazon for 3.99 just now. http://tinyurl.com/alrtd

[Vladimir]

http://www.storewars.org/flash/index.html

Thought Id post this here as well Ladylabobo, it seems relevant

[paladin]

i'm afraid thats not entirely true, they shaft producers and suppliers rotten, not just with quarterly payments, but by screwing down the prices mid contract, and if the suppliers complain, they get delisted from the supermarkets books.
they also get charged for advertising for the supermrkets, where their products are placed in the supermarkets, and even get charged just to be able to supply the supermarkets! one dairy producer in the uk pays £1 million a year just for the priviledge.

Any supporting evidence? Who is the Dairy producer in the UK who pays £1m pa to supply supermarkets (and is it the supermarkets who get the cash?)

Do we, as consumers, play the same game by shopping where the offers are instead of being loyal to one outlet? Do the supermarkets not fall over themselves to get the best products at the best prices to get our custom?

Does anyone begrudge supermarkets making profit? As without profits they wouldn't be in business for long.

I think there is too much choice available and the sad thing is that people continue to choose badly. On top of that, technology is watching every purchase we make so that our present choices will shape the future choices of those that follow behind us.

[duncan]

Any supporting evidence? Who is the Dairy producer in the UK who pays £1m pa to supply supermarkets (and is it the supermarkets who get the cash?) :?:

As regards the second group of practices, relating to suppliers, we received many allegations from suppliers about the behaviour of the main parties in the course of their trading relationships. Most suppliers were unwilling to be named, or to name the main party that was the subject of the allegation. There appeared to us to be a climate of apprehension among many suppliers in their relationship with the main parties. We therefore put a list of 52 alleged practices to the main parties and asked them to tell us which of them they had engaged in during the last five years. We found that a majority of these practices were carried out by many of the main parties. They included requiring or requesting from some of their suppliers various non-cost-related payments or discounts, sometimes retrospectively; imposing charges and making changes to contractual arrangements without adequate notice; and unreasonably transferring risks from the main party to the supplier. We believed that, where the request came from a main party with buyer power, it amounted to the same thing as a requirement.

http://www.competition-commission.org.u ... 6super.htm