money-grabbing, profit-hungry, greedy, capitalist... (angry)

[Rosendula]

You guessed it! I'm angry!

Over the last year we have gone from visiting various supermarkets 3 or 4 times a week, to visiting them no more than once a week, sometimes only once in a fortnight. And the less I go there, the more angry I feel.

First, every time I go to a certain 'super' market, I am amazed at how many of the few items I buy shoot up in price for a few weeks and then are brought down again, but only reduced by half of the increase, and it's called 'roll back'.

~About a year ago, I started to notice an increase in the cost of toilet rolls - I bought the huge packs because that way they cost less than 40p a roll. They went up a couple of pence over the year until I got there today and they're very suddenly 57p a roll!!!


~ I buy a lot of tomato puree and noticed a while back that the tubes (which were cheaper) had gone up in price, whereas the tins hadn't, making the tins now cheaper at 17p each. Now, today, the tins have gone up to 27p each!!! And the tubes are on a 'roll back' at 24p, which is more than they were before they went up. They're just playing on the fact that most people only check the prices occasionally and just buy the same thing week after week without bothering to look at the label. Well not me! I look at the label every time.


~ Then I got to the crisps! Although I hate to admit it, my family do get through a lot of these. I have always thought these things were terribly over-priced, but my attempts to make them (nice enough) have failed, and I certainly couldn't make enough of them to satisfy my hungry lot. Anyway, due to the price, I always buy the ones that are on offer. For several weeks now this has been things like the Square crisps and Nik Naks which have been on a '3 for £3' offer. NOW!!!! TODAY!!! They are still 'on offer', but the ticket has been craftily changed to '2 for £3'. At a glance, it looks like it's the same offer and I very nearly fell for it.

I'm just getting so sick of all the scams that the supermarkets are dreaming up in order to get more money off us. I'm really trying hard to cut down on how much I spend in these awful places, but we just don't have any decent local alternatives. Even over in the next village where there is a good mix of shops, the prices are beyond what I can afford. Please, someone, anyone, can you spare a few acres?

[invisiblepiper]

whoah! never seen so many angry icons in one post!
Went to Asda tonight for the first time in over a year ( usually go to a small local supermarket)
I can see why it makes you mad! It was like shopping in a cold barn - I could find nothing I wanted and pre packed food was everywhere. Eventually i asked for the 'home baking ' section to be taken to a tiny stand right at the back - and told - and I quote "nobody bakes any more you know ".....................

[LBR]

Happens at shops here, too. Both large and small.

Greed is frustrating.

Is "capitalist" a general swear word? Our choices seem to be capitalism and communism. I've been to communist countries. I'll take living in capitalist ones any day. Greed and dishonesty are just as prevalent in communist countries.

I've started buying my produce from someone about five miles from me. I just buy whatever he has. It means I'm eating locally grown food, in season. All his produce is $2 per pound. He uses fewer chemicals than most, and I very much appreciate his work.

I'm scouting around for a place to buy raw goat's milk nearby, too.

[invisiblepiper]

I don't think true communism could ever work - it flies in the face of human avarice. Perhaps we are genetically programmed to get what we can for ourselves - there isn't much altruism in nature either.

On a lighter note - its bulk glace cherries I need! Giving everyone cakes for Christmas - the farmer's markets don't do those, sadly! Got plenty of goat's milk - but its a bit far to send.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Is "capitalist" a general swear word?

Not really - but when used in certain contexts it can mean "mean-spirited, conniving, lying, dishonest, money-grubbing, exploitative, amoral, tight-fisted bastards”. But “capitalist” is shorter.

I don’t think many people would seriously entertain communism as a serious way of running an economy these days, but I think it is fair to say that in Europe we’ve been gradually moving away from more managed economies towards a free market situation for a couple of decades now and many people are coming to the conclusion that unfettered, unregulated competitive capitalism is not a panacea either.

Look at the UK: the greater part of the grocery market is carved up between four retailers. That is not competition; that is oligopoly. The extent to which they control prices is unclear, and certainly I’m not pointing any fingers, but given that the volume of food being sold is dropping and yet their profits and prices continue rising, it is clear that the competition between them is not functioning well to the benefit of the consumer. That needs explanation.

The situation here in France is a little better (more retailers and a government with attitude), but here also we are seeing “consolidation” of chains.

It seems that the logical conclusion of free competition is monopoly.

[jim]

Have you noticed what is deemed "product shrinkage"? I'm told it's an American marketing strategy that's taking off in the UK as one group of Capitalists (OMG! I swore!) grabs super wheezes for further exploitation from another group of medeaval brigands.

What happens is that a product, for example, bread or fish, is sold for a few months in packaging labelled 500g. After a while the same product is sold in the same packaging, AT THE SAME PRICE, but now, mysteriously, there is only 450g inside. Over the course of several million loaves or fishes this adds up to one hell of a profit. (Profit? Wasn't it the blind pursuit of profit that got us into the present credit crunch?) Source BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme.

Have you noticed there are fewer polos in a packet of mints lately?

Love and Peace
Jim

[Shirley]

On a lighter note - its bulk glace cherries I need! Giving everyone cakes for Christmas - the farmer's markets don't do those, sadly! Got plenty of goat's milk - but its a bit far to send.

We buy ours through Suma Wholefoods - I can't remember quite where you are in Scotland but you could consider setting up a food co-op if you can find someone that will deliver to you. Highland Wholefoods are in Inverness, Suma is in Yorkshire, and Green City in Glasgow.

[Rosendula]

Good morning
Just thought I'd let you know that after a good night's sleep I'm feeling much better and much more calm :angel1:

Have you noticed what is deemed "product shrinkage"? I'm told it's an American marketing strategy that's taking off in the UK as one group of Capitalists (OMG! I swore!) grabs super wheezes for further exploitation from another group of medeaval brigands.

What happens is that a product, for example, bread or fish, is sold for a few months in packaging labelled 500g. After a while the same product is sold in the same packaging, AT THE SAME PRICE, but now, mysteriously, there is only 450g inside. Over the course of several million loaves or fishes this adds up to one hell of a profit. (Profit? Wasn't it the blind pursuit of profit that got us into the present credit crunch?) Source BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme.

Have you noticed there are fewer polos in a packet of mints lately?

Love and Peace
Jim

Hi Jim,
Yes, I have noticed that in some things. The toilet rolls I get (Velvet) used to have 240 sheets per roll. I remember once when one of the supermarket staff who was at one of them silly little promo stalls in store tried to get me to buy Charmin on the grounds that it was cheaper. You should have seen her face when I told her there were 60 more sheets in a roll in the Velvet which means Charmin were far more expensive . Now, Velvet only have 200 sheets per roll

[Helsbells]

Its all very caniving and upsetting I think. Unfortunatley it is just so convenient to go the the supermarket. There are alternatives where I live such as farmers markets and a lcal organic food co-op, but when you have forgotten something that you need its so much easier to go to the super market. With a little planning this could be avoided, but I feel I am so used to convenience it is hard to get out of this habit.

[LBR]

Its all very caniving and upsetting I think. Unfortunatley it is just so convenient to go the the supermarket. There are alternatives where I live such as farmers markets and a lcal organic food co-op, but when you have forgotten something that you need its so much easier to go to the super market. With a little planning this could be avoided, but I feel I am so used to convenience it is hard to get out of this habit.

Helsbells, that just might be the crux of much. While living in Germany, and having to go without many things that were "normal" and familiar to me, I found I gradually adapted. My habits changed: shopping, planning, bookkeeping, eating, cooking, walking, dressing....

The change that occurred while I was out of the country is sad. What used to be considered special treats are now viewed as daily fare.
What was once recognized as a desire, or a wish, is now addiction to self-gratification, and folks consider these things, "their rights".
There is so much self-indulgence around, it's hard to be near it. It's similar to being at one of those all-you-can-eat places and there being so much food, it makes one feel ill.

Riffraffelement: I figured as much. It's just that the words we choose reveal a frame of reference. What's been happening isn't really free enterprise. The government just handed certain people a great deal of power, and license to be very greedy. Free enterprise works very well without greed, graft, deceit, etc.

For many decades in America, when someone helped him- or herself to something that didn't belong to her, or him, that person was often called a "commie, pinko" or "commie b-----d", or similar. It was just heard many places. Because, it was in the general consciousness that individual responsibility, self-government, and self-sufficiency are right.

The socialist/communist mindset has taken over so much, that now people say "capitalist" when they wish to denounce someone.
It's shocking, and very dangerous.

Multi-national corporations, international bankers, and high level politicians are in such cahoots.
When people were less self-indulgent, and more self-sufficient, the politicians/bankers/multi-national-boards didn't wield so much power.

Here's to being more self-sufficient, helping each other, and to being less dependent on what's at the stores.

[The Riff-Raff Element]

Indeed, LBR, indeed.

I'm all for free enteprise - we run our own business and are self employed and I wouldn't want it any other way, even if it does get a little hairy sometimes.

But you are entirely right; the fault lines appear when govts. allow too much commercial power to accumulate in too few hands. And that is what has happened and what is starting to fall down around our ears.

Still, you've got to smile!

[LBR]

RiffraffEl: you're right. Here's to enjoying life, regardless of what the high rolling criminals are doing.

[invisiblepiper]

Well said! LBR & RRE

and Green City in Glasgow.

I should have thought of this! In a previous life I worked for Roots & Fruits in Glasgow, but that was 28 years ago!
I am in Troon on the West coast of Ayrshire.

[Shirley]

Good morning
Just thought I'd let you know that after a good night's sleep I'm feeling much better and much more calm :angel1:

Have you noticed what is deemed "product shrinkage"? I'm told it's an American marketing strategy that's taking off in the UK as one group of Capitalists (OMG! I swore!) grabs super wheezes for further exploitation from another group of medeaval brigands.

What happens is that a product, for example, bread or fish, is sold for a few months in packaging labelled 500g. After a while the same product is sold in the same packaging, AT THE SAME PRICE, but now, mysteriously, there is only 450g inside. Over the course of several million loaves or fishes this adds up to one hell of a profit. (Profit? Wasn't it the blind pursuit of profit that got us into the present credit crunch?) Source BBC Radio 4 Moneybox programme.

Have you noticed there are fewer polos in a packet of mints lately?

Love and Peace
Jim

Hi Jim,
Yes, I have noticed that in some things. The toilet rolls I get (Velvet) used to have 240 sheets per roll. I remember once when one of the supermarket staff who was at one of them silly little promo stalls in store tried to get me to buy Charmin on the grounds that it was cheaper. You should have seen her face when I told her there were 60 more sheets in a roll in the Velvet which means Charmin were far more expensive . Now, Velvet only have 200 sheets per roll

Don't forget to measure the sheets :D !!

product shrinkage has been happening for years. Look at wagon wheels (showing my age - and I wouldn't eat them now anyway) - they used to be much bigger... mars bars too... then all of a sudden they bring out a slightly bigger than original and call it jumbo or something like that, and charge lots more for it.

[Shirley]

Well said! LBR & RRE

and Green City in Glasgow.

I should have thought of this! In a previous life I worked for Roots & Fruits in Glasgow, but that was 28 years ago!
I am in Troon on the West coast of Ayrshire.

Nice place to live! I bet it was fun working at Roots & Fruits