Current Affairs Cost of living…

[Rita_Poon]

Knit some in your spare time...

 

[Brennan]

No, it doesn't!!! Comparing the the price of cheap ketchup v branded ketchup, and cheap baked beans v branded baked beans is not the same as not having access to life giving essentials such as water!

Honestly, when people are complaining that Tesco ketchup is £3.80 a bottle, but own-brand ketchup is only £1.00 a bottle... this isn't profiteering. This is freedom! This is choice!

Making big profits, in this case, is not because of profiteering... I didn't write the definition! It's because of laziness and ignorance.

Yes it is.

You didn’t write the definition clearly as you don’t know it.

Profiteering is not limited to pricing of goods which can only be attained from that company. Profiteering can simply be seeking to make excessive profits.

Some of the costs being levied by these brands are well above the increases in input costs, therefore it’s profiteering.

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

Yes it is.

You didn’t write the definition clearly as you don’t know it.

Profiteering is not limited to pricing of goods which can only be attained from that company. Profiteering can simply be seeking to make excessive profits.

Some of the costs being levied by these brands are well above the increases in input costs, therefore it’s profiteering.

As someone who works in this trade, I can tell you that transporting/shipping costs have more than doubled alone in the last few years, let alone wage rises, COVID expenditure etc. There's many middle men from production to shelf, and everyone's cut has risen, this is far from profiteering.

 

[Brennan]

As someone who works in this trade, I can tell you that transporting/shipping costs have more than doubled alone in the last few years, let alone wage rises, COVID expenditure etc. There's many middle men from production to shelf, and everyone's cut has risen, this is far from profiteering.

Tropicana orange juice as an example is selling for three to four times the cost of an own brand equivalent which is almost exactly the same product in the carton. In some of these cases the branded product is made in the exact same factory.

There are absolutely some cases in the past twelve months where brands are taking advantage of the situation.

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

Tropicana orange juice as an example is selling for three to four times the cost of an own brand equivalent which is almost exactly the same product in the carton. In some of these cases the branded product is made in the exact same factory.

There are absolutely some cases in the past twelve months where brands are taking advantage of the situation.

Absolutely, stated earlier that "home brand" baked beans are produced in the same factories as brand named products for example. Sometimes the extra markup is used to cover the low cost of the "home brand" as they're locked into commercial deals to make this and must deliver to the supermarket at a contracted price, the big supermarket chains are the ones pocketing the most money.

 

[Rita_Poon]

Double edged sword, people cutting back and knocking the top brands off and buying differently means the top brands want to maintain profitability so with a reduced market share up their cost and is then passed on % wise by the seller (for arguements sake Sainsbury's) and then we see such outrageous pricing. If you can afford it, spend it and be happy. If you are priced out of an awful lot because you were struggling before hand, thats where my sympathy is. And there's been some awful stories being outed in the past few days about the poorest pensioners and the worst off disabled and lone parent households. Was something like good news on Martin Lewis (bless him) as an awful lot of pressure has been applied and the energy help for the poorest appears to have been made allowance for in the coming budget.

I'm not in anyway shape or form onside with 'alright jack (ii)', not one bit.

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

Double edged sword, people cutting back and knocking the top brands off and buying differently means the top brands want to maintain profitability so with a reduced market share up their cost and is then passed on % wise by the seller (for arguements sake Sainsbury's) and then we see such outrageous pricing. If you can afford it, spend it and be happy. If you are priced out of an awful lot because you were struggling before hand, thats where my sympathy is. And there's been some awful stories being outed in the past few days about the poorest pensioners and the worst off disabled and lone parent households. Was something like good news on Martin Lewis (bless him) as an awful lot of pressure has been applied and the energy help for the poorest appears to have been made allowance for in the coming budget.

I'm not in anyway shape or form onside with 'alright jack (ii)', not one bit.

There's so many complicated layers, such as the majority of people working in the grocery industry are also the same people struggling to pay the bills. There's so many layers of bureaucracy involved in the trade now, head office wage bills in these places are insane, there's more staff in the head offices finding ways to justify their existence than staff on the shop or factory floor.

 

[Rita_Poon]

There's so many complicated layers, such as the majority of people working in the grocery industry are also the same people struggling to pay the bills. There's so many layers of bureaucracy involved in the trade now, head office wage bills in these places are insane, there's more staff in the head offices finding ways to justify their existence than staff on the shop or factory floor.

I know and have seen plenty of inefficiency, 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' '(and suck up to most)'. For so many levels of decision making it's amazing how little accountability there is. Remember when the plight of the uk was only the lack of delivery drivers...

 

[Hinchcliffe's Corner]

I know and have seen plenty of inefficiency, 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' '(and suck up to most)'. For so many levels of decision making it's amazing how little accountability there is. Remember when the plight of the uk was only the lack of delivery drivers...

Companies still have to spend tens of thousands of pounds just to get their product onto the shelves of the big supermarkets, for no reason other than bullying and greed.

 

[summerisle]

Four quid for a bog standard potato masher - charity shops here I come. Shaving foam £1.50, and it's smaller than before.

 

[WA Toffee]

I am convinced some/many brands are making a LOT off extra cash in this. Profiteering.

Heinz baked beans. 80p (down from £1 !)
Sainsburys own brand. 21p.

Heinz ketchup. £3.80
Tesco own brand. £1.00

Cant tell the difference. But there is no way that the fundamental ingredients are 4 times higher for Heinz than whoever makes the own brands. (could well be them anyrate).

The branded stuff was always higher, obvs, but not 4 times higher.

I'm sure there is some profiteering going on, but it's not quite that simple. Supermarket brands have such a low margin for manufacturers (often below or at cost) that they need to increase the margin on their own brands to compensate for the loss of margin.

The way it works is a supermarket approaches the company and tell them "make me x product for y pence per unit" and I can tell you from experience that it is almost impossible to meet the required pricepoint, but if you don't do it, your competitors will.

So because you are making zero margin on supermarket brands, you simply have to make the margin on your own branded products.

 

[WA Toffee]

Heinze have put everything up.
Profiteering Scum.

And yet their profits have been decreasing the past few years

Oh, I don't work for Heinz before anyone asks.

 

[roydo]

I'm sure there is some profiteering going on, but it's not quite that simple. Supermarket brands have such a low margin for manufacturers (often below or at cost) that they need to increase the margin on their own brands to compensate for the loss of margin.

The way it works is a supermarket approaches the company and tell them "make me x product for y pence per unit" and I can tell you from experience that it is almost impossible to meet the required pricepoint, but if you don't do it, your competitors will.

So because you are making zero margin on supermarket brands, you simply have to make the margin on your own branded products.

Maybe I am dead thick. But if I make baked beans or soup for a living under a trusted brand, why would I make an own brand version for someone for zero margin?

 

[NilSatisOptimum]

Double edged sword, people cutting back and knocking the top brands off and buying differently means the top brands want to maintain profitability so with a reduced market share up their cost and is then passed on % wise by the seller (for arguements sake Sainsbury's) and then we see such outrageous pricing. If you can afford it, spend it and be happy. If you are priced out of an awful lot because you were struggling before hand, thats where my sympathy is. And there's been some awful stories being outed in the past few days about the poorest pensioners and the worst off disabled and lone parent households. Was something like good news on Martin Lewis (bless him) as an awful lot of pressure has been applied and the energy help for the poorest appears to have been made allowance for in the coming budget.

I'm not in anyway shape or form onside with 'alright jack (ii)', not one bit.

Food price has been an issue for some years now hence the rise in food banks across the country and the move to supermarkets own brands has been a thing way before pandemic, so many links to put up I can't be bothered. The extent of these recent food rises shows me the cost of living crisis is now gobbling up people higher up on socioeconomic ladder further than ever before. It's why politically the Government is now in deep trouble, too much of its I'm alright Jack's vote base is staring this this cost of living at coal face. They never thought it would them.

 

[Walken]

Even before this disaster happened, our train fares have been an increasing joke, going as far as back as Maggie's privatisation.

Simply build your own trains