KEEP YOUR TOWN IN BUSINEES BY KEEPING YOUR BUSINESS IN TOWN.

Rod & Reel

Do your Patriotic Duty


its an auful pity brian lennon came out and said that phrase.

If Bono came out and said we'd all be saying oh yeah he's rite we need to look after are own.

we do need to look after our own.

There is a massive unemployment rise but there is also a massive work force still in this country. 9/1 or so working.

So yes do your patriotic duty and stay close to home.

DonJose

Just came back from the north after spending €1k in Asda Enniskillen (5 shopping trolleys full), did my whole months shopping, got my mothers shopping and a friends shopping. Bought guitar hero world tour for £146 it costs €249 in Argos Ireland. Bought a child car seat fpr £212 it cost €299.99 in Smyths. Bought a Canon printer for £25, the ink alone here costs more than the printer. I have enough groceries and drink to last a month, if I need milk or bread I'll shop in Aldi/Lidl.

I'm just not in the mood to be patriotic.

Rod & Reel

DonJose wrote: »

Just came back from the north after spending €1k in Asda Enniskillen (5 shopping trolleys full), did my whole months shopping, got my mothers shopping and a friends shopping. Bought guitar hero world tour for £146 it costs €249 in Argos Ireland. Bought a child car seat fpr £212 it cost €299.99 in Smyths. Bought a Canon printer for £25, the ink alone here costs more than the printer. I have enough groceries and drink to last a month, if I need milk or bread I'll shop in Aldi/Lidl.

I'm just not in the mood to be patriotic.

yeah ur rite f**k the country let it rot!

ill wave at u in a few when ur in q

blah

Here's the thing, it looks like the price difference is down to just the exchange rate, but we know Irish retailers are ripping off customers:

Guitar hero is €249 in argos ireland

but it's €176 on amazon france

that was just a quick search and I can't be sure I'm comparing like with like, but why is there such a vast difference (they're similar kinds of retailers)

Don't tell me that it costs and extra €75 for shipping/VAT, etc.

I think that people in Ireland have spent quite a few years thinking they were super rich, and money was no object, and retailers priced things accordingly, consumers were a pushover. Now the recession hits and the exchange rate shows up the difference and people really know how much they're being ripped off. I think it's fair for them to head up north and get a better deal.

Business should try reducing prices, costs and wages, Ireland is not the centre of the world, not even the centre of europe but with the price of things you would think so.

Cabaal

There are valid points raised in this thread in relation to supporting the Irish economy and it does make perfect sense in relation to creating and sustaining Irish employement, sadly people don't care until it affects them so most people will continue to shop up north and then bitch and moan about the lack of jobs/loss of jobs in Ireland....oh the irony!

However I can see this thread turning into a train wreck

Lplated

It'll be greater long term support for your town if its businesses find ways to offer real value to customers.

Regardless of the reason/s why prices may be dearer here, people no longer have the inclination nor the resources not to go where prices are best.

jimmmy

Rod & Reel wrote: »

Do your Patriotic Duty


its an auful pity brian lennon came out and said that phrase.

If Bono came out and said we'd all be saying oh yeah he's rite we need to look after are own.

we do need to look after our own.

There is a massive unemployment rise but there is also a massive work force still in this country. 9/1 or so working.

So yes do your patriotic duty and stay close to home.

Agree. Those who are paid by the hard pressed Irish taxpayer ( the public service ) have a special duty to shop in the 26 counties, as taxes paid by the Northern shops ( vat, income tax etc ) go to the uk exchequer.

Tipsy Mac

Rod & Reel wrote: »

Do your Patriotic Duty
we do need to look after our own.

So yes do your patriotic duty and stay close to home.

Republicans consider the whole island their country, that's patriotism. Telling people to shop in the 26 counties is a sell out to a party that's supposed to be the republican party

DonJose

Rod & Reel wrote: »

yeah ur rite f**k the country let it rot!

ill wave at u in a few when ur in q

At least you agree with me Please support the Northern Ireland Bargains Alert forum by clicking on the sig, thanks.

Rod & Reel wrote: »

its an auful pity brian lennon came out and said that phrase.

Who the f*** is Brian Lennon lol

lisbon_lions

I will shop at the local butchers and keep the food local. I will do my groceries at Dunnes also.

But if you think im going to buy electronics or anything else from a cloned high street shop that is cheaper in the north, your mad. Im being patriotic to my pocket first. Rip off shops have been dipping into it long enough. While we are at it, hows about the government being patriotic by bringing the VAT rate in line with the North eh?
Also, there was no moaning when people from the north were coming over the border in their droves to fill up the car with cheap fuel, take the family out to dinner while they visited and bought ice cream and confectionary before heading back up the road. Its their turn now, as it will be ours again..

hellboy99

Rod & Reel wrote: »

So yes do your patriotic duty and stay close to home.

I do stay close to home, a 15 minute drive across the border.

The whole patriotic duty thing is wearing thin at this stage, why don't our government and Irish businesses do their patriotic thing by the people and help, not putting VAT up, stealth taxes, businesses here robbing us blind etc...

Superquinn done their patriotic duty, they source most of their products from wholesalers in the North rather than the Republic because of costs :rolleyes:

DonJose wrote: »

At least you agree with me Please support the Northern Ireland Bargains Alert forum by clicking on the sig, thanks.

The Boards will be coming under fire next for being unpatriotic :rolleyes:

Rod & Reel

lisbon_lions wrote: »

I will shop at the local butchers and keep the food local. I will do my groceries at Dunnes also.

But if you think im going to buy electronics or anything else from a cloned high street shop that is cheaper in the north, your mad. Im being patriotic to my pocket first. Rip off shops have been dipping into it long enough. While we are at it, hows about the government being patriotic by bringing the VAT rate in line with the North eh?
Also, there was no moaning when people from the north were coming over the border in their droves to fill up the car with cheap fuel, take the family out to dinner while they visited and bought ice cream and confectionary before heading back up the road. Its their turn now, as it will be ours again..

i agree u have to look after ur pocket first. groceries and the like, dunnes local butchers great.
electric items are a pleasure plsma tvs blue ray dvds so on. why not pay the extra little so another can have a little bit of the pleasure too like being able to feed his family or pay his morgage. which he wont be able to do if he has no job cause loss of costumers to the north.

i think the exchequer took at lot less from fuel than british are taking us now. and i dont see going to get petrol as a day out to get dinner and the like. what would be the point in that if there goal was to save money. pointless argument.

Rod & Reel

DonJose wrote: »

At least you agree with me Please support the Northern Ireland Bargains Alert forum by clicking on the sig, thanks.



Who the f*** is Brian Lennon lol

hes the fella be takin u 40% of ur packet in a few. now thats an LOL

eth0_

Rod & Reel wrote: »

electric items are a pleasure plsma tvs blue ray dvds so on. why not pay the extra little so another can have a little bit of the pleasure too like being able to feed his family or pay his morgage. which he wont be able to do if he has no job cause loss of costumers to the north.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Yeah, here you go mister ROI electrical retailer, have an extra 300 euro for this TV so you can feed your kids. WTF - do you think you're living in a Dickensian novel?

Tipsy Mac

Harney should have kept the money in her town when she went for the $400 hair cut paid for by the Irish taxpayer in Florida.

Padraig Mor

Rod & Reel wrote: »

why not pay the extra little ......

Because it's not an "extra little" - it's a great ****ing load extra!

Shelflife

I had a man working for me the other week (i own a shop), for his break he would go to the shop across the road for his coffee and fags, when i pointed out to him that i sold coffee and cigs he said that their coffee was cheaper ( its not, our measures are bigger but thats not the point).

he finished the job and i paid him, i now have more work but he wont be getting it. short term gain long term loss as ill never employ him again.

Rod & Reel

Shelflife wrote: »

I had a man working for me the other week (i own a shop), for his break he would go to the shop across the road for his coffee and fags, when i pointed out to him that i sold coffee and cigs he said that their coffee was cheaper ( its not, our measures are bigger but thats not the point).

he finished the job and i paid him, i now have more work but he wont be getting it. short term gain long term loss as ill never employ him again.

well maybe if u wernt so tight and gave the man a cup of coffe for working for you he might have bought the fags off u.

Rod & Reel

eth0_ wrote: »

:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:
Yeah, here you go mister ROI electrical retailer, have an extra 300 euro for this TV so you can feed your kids. WTF - do you think you're living in a Dickensian novel?

no i dont live in a dickenson novel, but i can see dark times ahead if we dont pull together. ffs we need to help ourselves out of this. will u be so smart in 6 months time if ur on the dole que.

Climate Expert

Shelflife wrote: »

I had a man working for me the other week (i own a shop), for his break he would go to the shop across the road for his coffee and fags, when i pointed out to him that i sold coffee and cigs he said that their coffee was cheaper ( its not, our measures are bigger but thats not the point).

he finished the job and i paid him, i now have more work but he wont be getting it. short term gain long term loss as ill never employ him again.

What you did was petty, tight and possibly illegal punishing an employee for not shopping in your place.
Despicable, would you mind telling me which shop so I can avoid it?

Rod & Reel

Padraig Mor wrote: »

Because it's not an "extra little" - it's a great ****ing load extra!

fair point and i know its cheaper, never bought elecs up north myself have to say.
but have we not had a public sector pay deal in operation in this country for the past 5/6 yrs which rises in accordance with inflation. an average low income wage here 8.68 in the north its 6.09. therefore on balance its the same price. just people thinking there gettin a bargain but in the long run there screwed over by what looks like a great deal!!
13000 in tha last 5/7 weeks unemployed.

Climate Expert

Rod & Reel wrote: »

fair point and i know its cheaper, never bought elecs up north myself have to say.
but have we not had a public sector pay deal in operation in this country for the past 5/6 yrs which rises in accordance with inflation. an average low income wage here 8.68 in the north its 6.09. therefore on balance its the same price. just people thinking there gettin a bargain but in the long run there screwed over by what looks like a great deal!!
13000 in tha last 5/7 weeks unemployed.

Shopping in the North and unemployment will do wonders for this country in the long run. We might then get our competitiveness back in line with the rest of the world and then we can all enjoying shopping here at a reasonable cost when the foreign investment comes back.

DonJose

Shoppers in South pay 51% more for non-grocery goods

"IRISH CONSUMERS are paying a mark-up of 51 per cent on goods such as clothing, houseware and electrical goods compared to UK prices, according to a new survey by the National Consumer Agency (NCA).

The margin on a basket of 45 non-grocery items purchased in 11 stores is even greater than the 30 per cent price difference for grocery prices on both sides of the Border recorded in an NCA survey published last year. The euro is currently worth about 7 per cent less than sterling.

An all-party Oireachtas group yesterday visited Dundalk to see the effects of the cross-Border shopping exodus on the town, where Superquinn recently announced it was closing its store.

The biggest mark-up found by NCA officials was on a Laura Ashley cushion costing £28 sterling but €49 in the Republic.

In Argos a 32” Hitachi television costs £372 but is marked up to €586. A patio set is marked up from £717 to €1,052 here.

Other items with big mark-ups included a Miss Selfridge dress at £60/€91, a Monsoon girl’s dress at £50/€78, and five pairs of Marks and Spencer socks at £5/€7.50.

NCA chief executive Ann Fitzgerald said its research also showed that retailers had made huge efforts to disguise or scratch out the sterling price where this appeared on goods imported through the UK.

She told a Checkout retailing conference yesterday that the NCA had been seeking explanations for the past nine months from retailers for the huge price differential that existed between here and the UK.

Various excuses had been offered. It was always “someone else’s fault”. The first excuse related to hedging costs on advance purchases, but she said this did not “wash” anymore.

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan again called on retailers to explain the price differentials between North and South. “While clearly the cost environment in the South is having some impact on retail prices, it does not explain the reality of the magnitude of the North-South price differentials that continue to exist.”

She said a significant number of retailers had yet to reflect the benefits of the euro’s appreciation and had failed to give any credible reasons for the differences in price.

When it was put to her that she had expressed these concerns before, Ms Coughlan said she wanted to proceed by consensus but if prices were not reduced she would have to consider a legislative response.

Ms Fitzgerald said retailers had argued that it was more expensive to do business in the Republic. The recent Forfás report had put the extra cost at 5-6 per cent but even a difference of 10 per cent in costs “doesn’t go anywhere towards explaining these differences”.

She cited a number of recent examples of price mark-ups provided to her office, including a 40 per cent difference between North and South on the price of furniture and a €600 margin in the price of camera equipment quoted by two different retailers in Dublin.

Ms Fitzgerald said she was stunned by the results of the NCA grocery price surveys, which showed that retailers were “in a comfortable place” and were price-matching rather than competing on price. Some retailers has suggested the agency was “upsetting the natural order of things” but she saw this as her job.

She questioned whether retailers were looking for unrealistic rates of return on sales. Was someone squeezing everyone else, perhaps to keep shareholders happy? Were Irish prices being set in the UK or by local management?

“Whatever the approach, a change in approach is needed.”

Retailers who gave their customers a fair deal with good service would win custom, she predicted. Consumers were happy to shop locally and to pay an acceptable premium for doing so, but they did not want to be ripped off."

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2009/0128/1232923369655.html?via=mr

rubadub

blah wrote: »

Here's the thing, it looks like the price difference is down to just the exchange rate, but we know Irish retailers are ripping off customers:
Guitar hero is €249 in argos ireland
but it's €176 on amazon france

A lot of wholesale prices for stuff like games & consoles are fixed by the manufacturers. I expect many retailers pay more wholesale than many UK guys can sell to a customer. It is simply an uncompetitive market, they just have to find different work or something different to sell which is competitive. It is stupid to expect people to pay for what is in effect charity to these uncompetitive businesses who could well be working at tiny margins.

Say some new battery pack was invented which created enough electricity to power your house & car for a year for €10. Do you really expect me to keep buying petrol & electricity to keep the petrol stations & ESB going? is that my patriotic duty? If your business is no longer competitive you simply have to accept it and move with the times.

Should I still by buying VHS tapes so all the poor companies who invested in VHS production lines can still make a profit?

Agriculture is big here, yet many fruit & veg is shipped in, it is simply not worthwhile growing and selling it here, this is known for years yet people still cannot seem to apply the same logic to other goods.

Shelflife wrote: »

he finished the job and i paid him, i now have more work but he wont be getting it. short term gain long term loss as ill never employ him again.

I would say he wouldn't want to go back! Did you charge him to go to the toilet too? or chip in for the heating?

DonJose wrote: »

Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment Mary Coughlan again called on retailers to explain the price differentials between North and South. “While clearly the cost environment in the South is having some impact on retail prices, it does not explain the reality of the magnitude of the North-South price differentials that continue to exist.”

why would a retailer waste time & money replying? they are not on trial its a free market.

DonJose wrote: »

Ms Fitzgerald said she was stunned by the results of the NCA grocery price surveys, which showed that retailers were “in a comfortable place” and were price-matching rather than competing on price.

Do they really think all these shops are being controlled by some mafia type organisation? if there was profit to be made then there are a whole load of freshly redundant people, and cheap empty newly closed shops where they could start up. Obviously there is not that much money in it.

DonJose wrote: »

Ms Fitzgerald said retailers had argued that it was more expensive to do business in the Republic. The recent Forfás report had put the extra cost at 5-6 per cent but even a difference of 10 per cent in costs “doesn’t go anywhere towards explaining these differences”.

You would think a journalist in the Irish times would actually be required to be literate, yet they were unable to read that report correctly, they keep inferring it the consumer should hand over 5-6% more, yet the report never said this.

asdasd

Keep Poles in retail jobs. Support your local shop!

Rod & Reel

asdasd wrote: »

Keep Poles in retail jobs. Support your local shop!

My local supermarket is open 8/10 monday to sat 9/9 on sunday.
the morning rota has 2 irish women working there. the rest polish. the butchers is run my philipines (well they think there butchers) the deli is also run by polish. the evening staff has to indians as managment and they have all there mates working there packing shelves and so forth.
weekend also has 2 irish working there.
there is an average of 40 people between the 2 shifts. 10% are irish.

this is an issue that needs to be but cannot be addressed.

richardn

"Shoppers in South pay 51% more for non-grocery goods"

From my experience that figure is out of date and wrong - more like 100% from my most recent UK purchases, ie 42" LCD TV, Blu Ray Player and Holiday to Turkey

I shop around in UK on Internet as there are savings to be had from one retailer to another, it's called competition in the UK don't think there is a word for competition in the ROI

Climate Expert

Sure whats 50% even 100%, the guys in the shops here have families to feed you selfish fiends.

prendy

Climate Expert wrote: »

Shopping in the North and unemployment will do wonders for this country in the long run. We might then get our competitiveness back in line with the rest of the world and then we can all enjoying shopping here at a reasonable cost when the foreign investment comes back.

lol at this post. how could unemployment possibly be good for a country? some people's naiveness dumbfounds me.

I agree with the OP, best way to beat a depression is to buy Irish and shop local.


someone mentioned GB's VAT rate, if this recession turns into a depression lasting more than 2 years they are up the proverbial creek. The Brittish Govt have attempted to buy themselves out of this mess, so far it hasnt worked and if this continues they are going to be in worse state than they were 20 years ago.

talkingclock

Rod & Reel wrote: »

My local supermarket is open 8/10 monday to sat 9/9 on sunday.
the morning rota has 2 irish women working there. the rest polish. the butchers is run my philipines (well they think there butchers) the deli is also run by polish. the evening staff has to indians as managment and they have all there mates working there packing shelves and so forth.
weekend also has 2 irish working there.
there is an average of 40 people between the 2 shifts. 10% are irish.

this is an issue that needs to be but cannot be addressed.

the irish still to snobby to do the shíte jobs? is that what you want to address and cannot?

asdasd

the irish still to snobby to do the shíte jobs? is that what you want to address and cannot?

The thousands of Irish people who have been made unemployed recently would, no doubt, love those jobs were they not taken. The working classes of this country have no reason to worry about the small business classes - patriotism my arse. Works both ways.