True, my post was meant to be a bit tounge in cheek. To be fair, these days they're not nearly as bad as they used to be. 20-30 years ago their prices were ridiculous, but back then the supermarkets would close around 6-8pm, so if you were caught out for milk etc you had no choice but to go to them.
Come off it. Food in the UK is for nothing. Go to Europe and have a look round for comparison.
I don`t really feel that £2.3bn profit is excessive on sales of 68.2bn, a little under 3.5%, what would be a "fair" percentage?
Reminds me of a company I once worked for. The sales people got a commission of 2% on the sales they made. The CEO was perfectly happy with that level of commission until the point that the best 3 sales people were making so much in the way of sales that they started being able to afford more expensive cars than him, at which point he changed their commission to 1% so they wouldn't earn as much. That's the mentality of some people, he was totally happy with the company making 98% of the money until the absolute values got to a point that he didn't like his "value" being challenged.
Cars are rather emotive. I know of one place that back in the 90s allowed a lower spec Jag onto the middle managers company car list. That soon changed when the MD saw all the Jags arriving. He soon had them back in Mondeos and 3 series so that his wheels were still the best looking in the car park. Similarly I've a mate who, like me, works in food manufacturing as a consultant, in his case engineering projects. One place had a few in and someone saw fit to spend his money on a 911 that he proudly showed up in. The reaction? MD saw it and exploded, with rants about "how much these f***ing consultants are ripping me off, bastards" and fired them all. My mate was well hacked off. It's one reason why I run older cars (other than simply being tight). Nobody's getting jealous.
I was in a company where the exact same thing happened: the star salesman with all the best key accounts was on commission and ended up making more than the president, who in contrast to his more robust predecessor was a dour, thin-skinned chap. The salesman mysteriously found himself on the next redundancy list a year or two later. The group lost its best salesman, and fairly soon after that started bleeding market share to competitors. It seems this salesman wasn't just picking up orders and was probably worth his fat commission payments. The president was dumped a few years later, but the damage was done.
When my Dad started his engineering firm years ago he used to visit customers in a sensible car because he'd heard the comments about "generous margins" made after sales peeps arrived in a flash motor. He still drives a Mondeo : )
It still happens. I've a mate who is SD for a fish firm. Last month he told me a tale where a couple of years ago he had a VW Passat estate, a nice car but nothing excessive. He went to see a customer for an annual price review with the usual "terribly sorry, prices are rising, operating costs, raw materials, blah blah" and the buyer looked out at the car and said "You can FO, you come here in a £30 grand car and want me to pay for it? No chance." Off he went. A month later he's in again, except this time he shows up on a bike, having parked the car in the supermarket around the corner. Parked the bike right in the middle of Reception. The buyer did his usual routine, where's your car? I haven't got a car, I'm on a bike. Told you times were hard. Bugger off, you're not on a bike. Yes I am. Look, there it is in Reception. When the buyer had finished calling him a cheeky bas**rd he agreed the new prices. Sometimes it's just a game.
That's not a bad thing at all. We've had a good year, your efforts are part of that, here's a 1.5% bonus, or about £300. Go on then.
That’s not a bad thing.
Simple economics dictate that a small shop will have to charge more than a large one. If Tescos shut down the small shops, then the moans would be about leaving local communities in the lurch. They just can't win.
I’m not sure about food being expensive elsewhere. I’m in France at the moment and you can get a fresh massive lettuce for the equivalent of £1.20 which lasts for days and a store baked standard baguette is just 65p. Even bacon (lard fumee) from the local butcher is so much better. Maybe a bit more per kilo but once cooked it stays the same size and doesnt shed twice its weight in water. There does seem a lot of things at home we get ripped off on. Celery may be cheap but its so stringy and pale with no flavour. Hence people end up eating Ultra Processed Food with manufactured flavour and full of stuff that’s no good for you. It’s much easier to “eat the rainbow” here in France and at the local restaurant you can get a three course menu plus coffee for £15 a head. I live in Jeremy Hunt's constituency where fish and chips in a pub is approaching £20 and the chips are frozen and the "pea puree" has no flavour. Quel domage as they say
