It's not only milk and dairy products

[Larkshall]

The present criticism of the supermarkets regarding the rigged prices for milk and dairy products has only highlighted another area where the farmers have been short changed.

In the early 1960's, wheat was £120 per ton and farm workers wages were around £10 per week. I have been unable to find the price of a loaf of bread then.

Early this year wheat was £70 per ton (and has since risen to £140), the millers and bakers are bleating about the increased cost of wheat. IN the early '60's wheat was the equivalent of 10 weeks wages per ton. So if wages now are around £200 per week the equivalent price should be £2000 a ton (Bread is around 75p average per loaf of 1.75lbs which equates to about 1200 loaves per ton, thus equating to approx. £900 per ton). Who the hell has pocketed the excess profit.

[Larkshall]

[powerspade]

Tescos Asdas Morrisons and  Sainsbury pocket the profit. Its offical on BBC news they have all been ripping us off for years. In one word all these supermarkets are thieves crooks and swindlers

[valmarg]

It gets me when you go into the various supermarkets and there are signs all round the store on branded goods saying 'we check our prices against' and lists other supermarkets they check their prices against.  Usually the prices are the same for the various products, at most a couple of coppers different.

To me all that means they are running a cartel, which is illegal.

valmarg

[RSJK]

Things will not change until there is a mass desertion of people using supermarkets.  They say that they employ a large workforce but how many people have they put out of work by forcing the small shops out of business. Where there is big money to be made there is corruption.

[ninnyscrops]

I drive 10 miles to shop at a butcher who has local meat, buy all my flour, sugar and rice loose from a little shop in town, fruit from the market ('cos there are no greengrocers around), support the local village shop for store cupboard requirements and Ernie delivers my milk  :) The supermarkets only offer loyalty cards so they can use us to show their sales trends, give us a bit off once, then put the prices up on the most popular lines IMHO.

[powerspade]

I popped into Asdas last week there was a big sign above the red peppers with Price reduced now ony £0.63 , the thing is the week before, these peppers were £0.50. So where`s the reduced price ?
Also when council tell us that having a new supermarket will bring in jobs what a lie that is. One of the first supermarkets to open in Cardiff  (Leos on the Penarth Road) brough in 240 new jobs. Within 12 months 500 shops closed

[wilko]

One of the first supermarkets to open in Cardiff  (Leos on the Penarth Road) brough in 240 new jobs. Within 12 months 500 shops closed

Shame on all those who deserted there local shops.

It's no good bleating on when they are gone......is it?

sorry sore subject with me this  >:(

[valmarg]

One of the first supermarkets to open in Cardiff  (Leos on the Penarth Road) brought in 240 new jobs. Within 12 months 500 shops closed

Shame on all those who deserted there local shops.
>:(

I hang my head in shame :-[ :-[.  My parents had a small greengrocery shop.  Most of the produce was seasonal, and dad used to buy from local smallholders at this time of year.  Everything was 'home-grown' fresh.

After they retired, and both OH and I were working, it was just so convenient to get everything under one roof, and that's where they got us!!

Now we're retired its different.  We are Farmers Marketaholics, and would never dream of buying much from supermarkets.  Yes, I've got their loyalty cards, but I very rarely spend enough to get any money off coupons.

valmarg

[RSJK]

I used to run a village greengrocers shop and it was very annoying to have people pull up outside the shop in their cars to buy a 1/2 cwt ( 25 kilo ) bag of potatoes and say can you please put it in the boot for me because I have a bad back, (do not know how they got them out at the other end ) You would get to the boot of their car and see bags full of fruit and veg they had brought from the supermarkets, I was just being used for the large bag of potatoes, what great pleasure it gave me to drop it on top of their bags.
                                                    ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[powerspade]

My Dad was a Grocer, my granddad was the towns Baker, we also ran a cash & carry suppling other small business.When Asdas opened in Merthyr the people went there. Asdas ran four days of free buses from our town. My family had to give up after 90 years trading, between the grocery shop the cash & carry and the bakery 38 men were employed. Out of all the shops that where in our town only 2 now remain I still support local shops but I use Asdas to buy meat as we have`nt any butchers in Town, and the nearest family butcher is about 9 miles away. As for veggies I`m almost self sufficient but if I run short we have a farmers market

[wilko]

I still support local shops but I use Asdas to buy meat as we have`nt any butchers in Town, and the nearest family butcher is about 9 miles away.

Powerspade, check with the butcher, he may deliver, we do  ;)

[OllieC]

On the other hand....

Whilst I don't like supermarkets either, there are a lot of people living on a low household income who shop at supermarkets because they can't afford the luxury of paying more to shop at smaller shops. We may not like this, but they are, in general, cheaper than "local" shops and do play an important role.

I think they're a symptom of where we're going wrong as a society, and not actually the problem themselves. Why do we have people in a country as rich as this, living on such a low income that they need to watch every penny? Why do we insist on buying on the basis of price instead of quality?

[digswell]

I think we have cracked the store card loyalty thing, if you target what you have the points added for, mostly you only get vouchers on what you want. For instance things you have to use a lot, ie. Kitchen towel, shower gel, loo rolls, deodorant etc, etc. Buy them reguarly together and have the loyalty card swiped. All the other times collect the points up and get customer services to put them on in bulk. It screws up their market research and means for the most part you just get vouchers on the essentials rather than italian achovy paste and french mustard!  ;D

As for the fruit, veg, meat, eggs and fish, that comes from local stores, farm shops or the local market. The milkman (local dairy company not national outfit) delivers our milk which is fresher and lasts longer. ;)

[SnooziSuzi]

I was thinking about this subject myself the other day.

I shop online at Tesco's every week (in fact I'm doing my shopping right now from the comfort of my own bed) because I work all week and only have the weekends to do what I want to do, and I'm afraid that shopping isn't what I want to spend my time on.

The days of the housewife who had time during the day to go to the local shop to buy their produce have gone, as most people now work full time in order to pay of their ever accumulating debt mountain.

This led me to thinking that I don't like getting my meat from Tesco's because I like a better cut than they offer, but I don't have the time to go to our local butcher who would supply superior cuts of meat. 

It would be far better for me, and the millions of others who shop online, to be able to buy our local produce online too - ie the butchers and grocers etc could have their own websites to sell from.  My 13 YO has just said to me that it might be too difficult for them to sell online, but I say that if they don't want to 'go under' then they should look at what Tesco's have done and do the same.

I know they can't compete on price but I'd pay more for local meat from my local butcher.

As the old saying goes;  if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!  8)