We are 29% dearer than the EU Average

Danno

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0628/prices.html

Still a way to go before we're competitive again. What really stands out here is the fact that we are the biggest exporters of beef and still we are the fifth dearest. England our biggest purchaser of beef are only 2% dearer than the EU average. I think that Irish Meat Producers are using the high margins made here to make exports cheaper. I'd love to see invoices to UK stores and Irish stores from the meat producers... it'd make interesting reading I presume.

goat2

Danno wrote: »

http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0628/prices.html

Still a way to go before we're competitive again. What really stands out here is the fact that we are the biggest exporters of beef and still we are the fifth dearest. England our biggest purchaser of beef are only 2% dearer than the EU average. I think that Irish Meat Producers are using the high margins made here to make exports cheaper. I'd love to see invoices to UK stores and Irish stores from the meat producers... it'd make interesting reading I presume.

this is crazy, no wonder we are coming home with smaller bags of groceries these days,
our government are doing nothing just zilch to help us get by, do we have a price comparison between them and us

rubadub

I would like to see the criteria/methods used in the poll. I remember the National Consumer Agency report on supermarkets which did not take into account special offers! madness.

91011

survey was done a year ago includes all items such as cigarettes, alcohol, food etc.

Another survey shows we're one of the lowest taxed & highest paid too!

Problem is we have a consumptionist tax system where higher taxes (VAT, Duties & Rates) are put on goods rather than on incomes.

g32

91011 wrote: »

survey was done a year ago includes all items such as cigarettes, alcohol, food etc.

Another survey shows we're one of the lowest taxed & highest paid too!

Problem is we have a consumptionist tax system where higher taxes (VAT, Duties & Rates) are put on goods rather than on incomes.

There's also a culture of predatory pricing by greedy retailers.

looksee

g32 wrote: »

There's also a culture of predatory pricing by greedy retailers.

There seems to be an echo round here?

91011

g32 wrote: »

There's also a culture of predatory pricing by greedy retailers.

g32 - you've NEVER shown where retailers are ripping people off. I have shown beyond all doubt verifiable figures showing the actual costs of a business here versus a business in uk using identical rents and very similar population centres..

You have never replied to any post showing your false NI prices, your ridiculous comparisons between ex vat prices in USA & inclusive prices in ireland. Damnit - you don't even know the difference between excise duties & vat!!

You seem to compare a local corner shop with the largest discount supermarket in the world.

Get real - understand business costs, understand we have a different tax system & understand that no matter where your income comes from (social welfare / private sector / publc sector) you get paid MORE than nearly every country in Europe - guess how this has to be paid for??

I couldn't give a sh1te if you shop in NI as the only person you are fooling with your rose tinted glasses is yourself.

g32

looksee wrote: »

There seems to be an echo round here?

Yes and one would likely call it a part of the Irish business model. We are shooting ourselves in the foot and we don't want to face up to our cost base and lower it. It is corporate greed and a monopoly. I did my shopping in Asda last week and when one compares the pricing, it is still 30% more expensive down here.

g32

91011 wrote: »

g32 - you've NEVER shown where retailers are ripping people off. I have shown beyond all doubt verifiable figures showing the actual costs of a business here versus a business in uk using identical rents and very similar population centres..

You have never replied to any post showing your false NI prices, your ridiculous comparisons between ex vat prices in USA & inclusive prices in ireland. Damnit - you don't even know the difference between excise duties & vat!!

You seem to compare a local corner shop with the largest discount supermarket in the world.

Get real - understand business costs, understand we have a different tax system & understand that no matter where your income comes from (social welfare / private sector / publc sector) you get paid MORE than nearly every country in Europe - guess how this has to be paid for??

I couldn't give a sh1te if you shop in NI as the only person you are fooling with your rose tinted glasses is yourself.

Ha ha ha!...The pot calling the kettle black...funny world we live...ha ha ha...People who live in glass houses (Overpriced Retailers on this forum) should not throw stones

91011

g32 wrote: »

Yes and one would likely call it a part of the Irish business model. We are shooting ourselves in the foot and we don't want to face up to our cost base and lower it. It is corporate greed and a monopoly. I did my shopping in Asda last week and when one compares the pricing, it is still 30% more expensive down here.

I presume you have a receipt for your shopping?

I challenge you to list every item on the receipt with the sterling price on it. - You'll find your rose tinted glasses fogging up with the truth of the prices.

Lets see the 30% savings in black & white. Considering Newry is reports dramatic drops in southern shoppers, surely all these shoppers are wrong if you're so right.

Yet again you spout rubbish without ANY HARD EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!

- As for me - yes I'm involved in working with a retailer but I'm not an actual retailer. - The item that sells the most in the company is $21.99 + sales tax in USA, €18.50 incl 21% vat in the company I do work for (and in many other outlets in Ireland) & £16.99 incl vat in the UK. The product is made in USA and has worldwide sales of about $1.6billion

rubadub

91011 wrote: »

survey was done a year ago includes all items such as cigarettes, alcohol, food etc.

Another survey shows we're one of the lowest taxed & highest paid too

Surveys can easily be skewed, if you had some self deprecating guy taking down Irish prices, like some ripoff forum regulars, then I would expect to see high prices.

g32 wrote: »

There's also a culture of predatory pricing by greedy retailers.

There are loads of high prices out there, no doubt about it, pay them if you're a fool, but there are some incredible bargains too. If you had a bargain alerts regular listing the prices they could be a lot lower. In any surveys like these I have seen I have always been shocked at some of the prices quoted -i.e. they were very expensive and certainly not what I pay.

I get 3L of milk for €1.50 in the local green grocer, and get 18 eggs for €2.50, I would not be surprised if the survey had double those prices.

91011 wrote: »

I challenge you to list every item on the receipt with the sterling price on it. - You'll find your rose tinted glasses fogging up with the truth of the prices.

Lets see the 30% savings in black & white.

Well a common trick is that people buy what is on offer up north and then compare it to a shop selling it at a high price down here. So if you did the same trick you could easily "prove" that NI is more expensive. A guy in work came back with a load of staropramen from up north saying he saved a fortune since it is €2.80 a bottle here, thing is he had never heard of the beer before, and would usually only buy €1 beers down here. But he convinced himself he saved over €2 per bottle! Staropramen was €1 a bottle a few months later down here.

91011

Here's the full report.

http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-10-030/EN/KS-SF-10-030-EN.PDF

Now take out the countries that have recently come into the EU & non EU countries where wages & cost of labour is 70% below Irish levels.

From a quick calculation, Ireland will be about 4% above average for food amongst eurozone countries.



The survey used prices from Spring 2009 (15 months ago) and includes EVERY european country. - We really can't compare price in coutries that pay €1.50 / hour!

Within the framework of the Eurostat-OECD
Purchasing Power Parities (PPP) program, surveys
on prices of household goods and services are
carried out cyclically by the National Statistical
Institutes (NSIs) of 37 countries: the 27 EU
Member States, 3 Candidate Countries (Croatia,
the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and
Turkey), 3 EFTA countries (Iceland, Norway and
Switzerland) and 4 Western Balkan countries
(Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro
and Serbia).
Each survey cycle comprises 6 surveys, each
related to a particular group of household
consumption products. As 2 surveys are run per
year, the whole survey cycle takes 3 years to
conclude, before the next cycle starts. The prices
used for this publication were collected in spring
2009. The PLIs presented in this article are based on annual
national average prices for about 500 goods in

total.

91011

rubadub wrote: »

A guy in work came back with a load of staropramen from up north saying he saved a fortune since it is €2.80 a bottle here, thing is he had never heard of the beer before, and would usually only buy €1 beers down here. But he convinced himself he saved over €2 per bottle! Staropramen was €1 a bottle a few months later down here.

Had similar last December - guy had bought 12 bottles of vodka & whiskey and claimed he had saved €12 a bottle compared to standard off license price - pity he didn't check his local supermarket who were selling the same bottles for €16.99, - his total savings were under €30 which was wiped out by the fill of diesel he got as he assumed the diesel was cheaper. - He had a very long face!

goat2

91011 wrote: »

survey was done a year ago includes all items such as cigarettes, alcohol, food etc.

Another survey shows we're one of the lowest taxed & highest paid too!

Problem is we have a consumptionist tax system where higher taxes (VAT, Duties & Rates) are put on goods rather than on incomes.

does not matter when it was done, we were always scrwed, and still being screwed,
i bought an item in engalnd for 2 pounds 2 yrs ago, i seen the same thing in a shop here for 14.99, i guess that is not being screwed

keithclancy

Go work in Germany,

In the words of Eddie Murphy "They take half"

Plus i'm paying catholic tax straight out of my pay.

To honest i get a bit angry when i see "Greedy Irish retailers"
Its more to do with having more in your net pay, more spending power hence high prices.

davo10

g32, you really are a clutz, you said VAT would not go up in Uk, it did, a number of posters pointed out the changes in exchange rate which have increased prices in the North, but you seem unable to comprehend this, you seem not to understand the concept of Government tarrifs on alcohol, cigarettes and fuel and the difference between it and VAT, you will not back up your posts even when prompted to do so and we might as well be talking in a foreign language when we try to inform you of the difference in operating costs/pay rates between countries. Again, just to prove my point and try to show you the difference, would you please post the sector you work in, be it industrial, civil servant, trades man etc, it doesn't matter, make one up if you like. I will do some research and post the rates of pay in various countries, I gaurantee you there will be more than 29% difference in most cases and hundreds of percentage points differences in some cases.

91011

Lets look at the survey in another way.

take away the non eurozone countries

add in 8.6% food & drink deflation in Ireland since the survey was done in spring 2009. add in the 1.2 average inflation in other eurozone countries.

Taking a revised mid point of 113.8, it leaves Irish food & drink prices at 0.5% above eurozone average. - surely this is a more fairer way of doing a survey instead of adding in countries with €2 / hour wage levels?

91011

goat2 wrote: »

does not matter when it was done, we were always scrwed, and still being screwed,
i bought an item in engalnd for 2 pounds 2 yrs ago, i seen the same thing in a shop here for 14.99, i guess that is not being screwed

unless the uk price was a clearance abnormal price then you're talking bsh1t.

why are people like you always afraid of actually naming the amazing price difference product? - do you really think people will belive your exageration?

again - I've yet to see any concrete evidence from anyone saying NI / Uk everyday standard pricing for normal everyday goods is seriously cheaper than similar goods here. There will always be exceptions both ways, but for a general weekly shop the savings simply are not there anymore.

g32

I am displaying my Asda receipt for illustration of price comparisons indicative of the huge profits of Irish Grocers. Since there is no Asda in the Irish Republic (or Rip-Off Ireland), one cannot compare the prices directly but comparing them indirectly to Tesco & Dunnes equivalent.


Look at the ‘be chicken’ (Birds Eye 2 Cracked Pepper Chicken 184g) on the receipt – GBP 1.00 (EUR 1.23). Normal price is GBP 1.24 (EUR 1.52)

Tesco Ireland – EUR 2.60 for same (Normal price).

Asda: EUR 1.23

Tesco: EUR 2.60

= 52% higher in the republic of rip-off Ireland.

rubadub wrote: »

Well a common trick is that people buy what is on offer up north and then compare it to a shop selling it at a high price down here. So if you did the same trick you could easily "prove" that NI is more expensive. A guy in work came back with a load of staropramen from up north saying he saved a fortune since it is €2.80 a bottle here, thing is he had never heard of the beer before, and would usually only buy €1 beers down here. But he convinced himself he saved over €2 per bottle! Staropramen was €1 a bottle a few months later down here.

I am comparing offer to offer. Dunnes Stores currently have an ‘offer’ of EUR 2.00 on a Good Fellas Pizza. Asda also have an offer of 1 GBP (EUR 1.23) for the same product. It is ‘deep pizza’ on the receipt. That is a 38.5% price difference tag between rip off republic and the north of Ireland.

Asda: EUR 1.23

Dunnes Stores: EUR 2.00

= 38.5% higher in the republic of rip-off Ireland.

Despite VAT rises and recent currency changes, still bigger savings to be made by shopping up north.

g32

91011 wrote: »

dramatic drops in southern shoppers, surely all these shoppers are wrong if you're so right.

Yet again you spout rubbish without ANY HARD EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER!

Someone is lying because I counted 40 ROI licence plates at the Asda Enniskillen car park out of 94 in total. Commercial Vans with Dublin business addresses were also among the Vehicles.

Not to mention that you blame the consumers for the financial ruin of your greedy foots made of glass.

rubadub

g32 wrote: »

Look at the ‘be chicken’ (Birds Eye 2 Cracked Pepper Chicken 184g) on the receipt – GBP 1.00 (EUR 1.23). Normal price is GBP 1.24 (EUR 1.52)

Tesco Ireland – EUR 2.60 for same (Normal price).

Asda: EUR 1.23

Tesco: EUR 2.60

Yes, so you got an offer, the price is €2.60 in tescos but as I said before you should really be comparing like with like -i.e. stuff on offer. Tescos Irish site have Birds Eye 2 Reggae Reggae Chicken Chargrills 184G €1.30

Tesco UK sell them for average £1.50 sainsburys is £1.63 at normal non offer prices.

As I said before I tend to only buy what is on offer, tesco in particular have prices high on many items so when they have sales they can appear to really slash prices.

davo10

g32, when cleaning your ears with cotton buds, stop pushing when you feel resistence. Profit is the amount of money left over on the sale of goods after outgoings are paid. If the costs of goods are higher here and outgoings are higher the profit is X, if the cost of the same goods in the North are lower and the outgoings are also lower then the profit may also be X, profits are similar. This is not difficult to understand.

borderlinemeath

g32 wrote: »

I am displaying my Asda receipt for illustration of price comparisons indicative of the huge profits of Irish Grocers. Since there is no Asda in the Irish Republic (or Rip-Off Ireland), one cannot compare the prices directly but comparing them indirectly to Tesco & Dunnes equivalent.


Look at the ‘be chicken’ (Birds Eye 2 Cracked Pepper Chicken 184g) on the receipt – GBP 1.00 (EUR 1.23). Normal price is GBP 1.24 (EUR 1.52)

Tesco Ireland – EUR 2.60 for same (Normal price).

Asda: EUR 1.23

Tesco: EUR 2.60

= 52% higher in the republic of rip-off Ireland.






I am comparing offer to offer. Dunnes Stores currently have an ‘offer’ of EUR 2.00 on a Good Fellas Pizza. Asda also have an offer of 1 GBP (EUR 1.23) for the same product. It is ‘deep pizza’ on the receipt. That is a 38.5% price difference tag between rip off republic and the north of Ireland.

Asda: EUR 1.23

Dunnes Stores: EUR 2.00

= 38.5% higher in the republic of rip-off Ireland.

Despite VAT rises and recent currency changes, still bigger savings to be made by shopping up north.

The pizzas are on offer, almost half price.
The dunnes ones are not advertised as being half price.

I see you only bought selective items, a very nutritious shopping basket (not!) - and only special offers. Not exactly the bulk buying shopping trip that saves a fortune.

Did you add your fuel in? I think not.

And why isn't there a date on your receipt???

Pacing Mule

g32 wrote: »

I am comparing offer to offer. Dunnes Stores currently have an ‘offer’ of EUR 2.00 on a Good Fellas Pizza. Asda also have an offer of 1 GBP (EUR 1.23) for the same product. It is ‘deep pizza’ on the receipt. That is a 38.5% price difference tag between rip off republic and the north of Ireland.

Asda: EUR 1.23

Dunnes Stores: EUR 2.00

= 38.5% higher in the republic of rip-off Ireland.

Despite VAT rises and recent currency changes, still bigger savings to be made by shopping up north.

What's the standard price for the pizza in Asda versus Dunnes / Tesco etc here.

Also VAT on Pizza here is 21% - Vat on pizza in the UK = 0%.

goat2

borderlinemeath wrote: »

The pizzas are on offer, almost half price.
The dunnes ones are not advertised as being half price.

I see you only bought selective items, a very nutritious shopping basket (not!) - and only special offers. Not exactly the bulk buying shopping trip that saves a fortune.

Did you add your fuel in? I think not.

And why isn't there a date on your receipt???

it has gone that bad here, the price of a small bag of potatoes 4 euro, the same size bag of new potatoes 10 euro, thank god i started out this year with my own veg garden, at least i will have them fresh organic and in the pot within an hour of picking, and costing me very little for the layout in the first place, that is one expense i have cut from bill for this year, i only buy offer goods with the past 12 months, special offers, half price,
buy my fruit and milk in aldi

91011

g32 - looking at your receipt, I notice that the standard price for a 2l coke is £1.66 in Asda.

The standard price of 2l coke in tesco / dunnes / supervalue here is €1.99.

So coke & other minerals are 5% more expensive in Asda compared to any of the Irish supermarkets.

Now check out the regular prices of a basket of say 100 ordinary everyday groceries. - I challenge you by not buying temporary offers in either north / south, to find an overall difference of more than 5%.

As for 40 cars in the car park - this is nothing. (there were 15+ NI cars in bridgend fuel station last week) There are many people in the republic where enniskillen is their nearest shopping town and they shop there for convienence. - It used to be 80% southern reg cars - even I shopped in the north early last year & in 2008. - But from my own experience (I go through NI at least once every 3 weeks) there is virtually no price difference between the 2 areas on a general shop and still you have not given any proof that changes this.

borderlinemeath

goat2 wrote: »

it has gone that bad here, the price of a small bag of potatoes 4 euro, the same size bag of new potatoes 10 euro, thank god i started out this year with my own veg garden, at least i will have them fresh organic and in the pot within an hour of picking, and costing me very little for the layout in the first place, that is one expense i have cut from bill for this year, i only buy offer goods with the past 12 months, special offers, half price,
buy my fruit and milk in aldi

I got a 7.5kg bag of spuds in Tesco last Sunday week for €3, great value if you look around.
Aldi are great for the veg, particularly the super 6.
One thing I did notice when shopping around last week was a large cauliflower in Tesco - was €1.49 - then they had smaller ones at the weekend for €1.09 - but I thought it was too small and I didn't bother with it. Was in Dunnes on Sunday evening and their large cauliflowers were €2.29!!
But I always find other offers in Dunnes so I shop between them all.

keithclancy

I don't get this at all, you think this stuff is specific to Ireland.

I buy my booze in Germany and some food products (such as Kerrygold)

There are major price differences between Germany and Holland too, I wouldn't go out of my way to drive to Germany to save a few euro anyway unless i worked there,

ejmaztec

keithclancy wrote: »

I don't get this at all, you think this stuff is specific to Ireland.

I buy my booze in Germany and some food products (such as Kerrygold)

There are major price differences between Germany and Holland too, I wouldn't go out of my way to drive to Germany to save a few euro anyway unless i worked there,

I bet a large number of Danes get their shopping in Germany, as do Austrians living in border country, whereas some Germans might head over to Poland or the Czech Republic to get theirs, depending on exchange rates of course.

Some people here like to believe that there's a conspiracy going on, whereby we're the only ones in Europe getting robbed. They also seem to assume that prices are identical across the entire Eurozone, when in fact they're all completely different.

g32

91011 wrote: »

g32 - looking at your receipt, I notice that the standard price for a 2l coke is £1.66 in Asda.

The standard price of 2l coke in tesco / dunnes / supervalue here is €1.99.

So coke & other minerals are 5% more expensive in Asda compared to any of the Irish supermarkets.

Look at the bottom of the receipt:

-3.96GBP saved on Coca Cola.

I have told you once: Asda offer 3 two Litre bottles of Coca Cola for GBP3.00:

http://groceries.asda.com/asda-estore/catalog/sectionpagecontainer.jsp?departmentid=1214921923747


...Please think twice before you speak about that in order not to make a fool of your self.

Pacing Mule

How has he made a fool of himself ? It's a special multi buy offer which also exists down here too.

If you go into ASDA today and want to buy one 2Ltr bottle of Coke you will pay £1.66

goat2

eddie hobbs was on radio today, saying we are paying the highest prices in europe
also he says the offers the shops get, they do not always pass on to customers, so we are being screwed right left and centre
firstly our biggest payout in this country is tax, we are heavily taxed on everything we buy, also there is a huge tax cut on our wages, it is the government all the way who should be coming down, and also bringing down the price of everything, our wages have taken a huge slash lately, we still have the same bills, electric, gas, petrol, tax is gone up on the cars, they are bringing in water charges, tv licence is astronomical, bin charges are way too high
it is a never ending struggle.
i do dread what this end of year will bring

Ghandee

I Too heard Eddie Hobbs clearly say shops do NOT always pass on their offers to the Irish consumers, Eddie Hobbs, a real man of the people and consumer, and when Eddie says it, It more than likely is true, as he is a real genius about retail and consumer law.

It seems to me that the same select few folk to attack the same select few (mostly us who point out the rip offs)
Unsurprisingly these select few 'just happen' to be retailers (ahem....) or involved in retail. So defending the rip offs is obviously in their best interest.

Reading through some previous posts you may actually see (in my eyes anyway) a slight bit of bullying/ganging up on an individual(s), even more surprising to me is one of the perpetrators is a moderator????

They are so bloody arrogant, their actually refusing to acknowledge the latest reports published in yesterdays news, and their usual stupid excuses are actually boring now!

The noose is firmly around the rip off retailers necks folks! Your a dying breed. Get used to it!

davo10

As someone you knows Eddie Hobbs quite well, I can honestly say he will always look for the sound bite rather than the reality of the situation. Someone as intelligent as him would see right through this report. Its a spoilt report as it does not reflect current market conditions (more than 6 months old), it may reflect offers in some stores and is regional (they compare prices in the capital of one country with the country regions of another), economic conditions have changed in all countries most notably in Ireland where prices have dropped, it does not break down the Government tariffs placed on items etc. The next time Eddie is lecturing on the cost of things and the way people are ripped off, I think someone should ask him about his investment vehicle, Brendan Investments.

Gucky I can assure you I am not a retailer but I do know a little bit about business economics.

Pacing Mule

Gucky wrote: »

The noose is firmly around the rip off retailers necks folks! Your a dying breed. Get used to it!

And why are retailers a dying breed if the profit levels are so high across the board ? Surely if the profits as a result of your perceived ripping off are as high as you think they are why are countless shops and businesses going bust and shutting down ?

Ghandee

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

And why are retailers a dying breed if the profit levels are so high across the board ? Surely if the profits as a result of your perceived ripping off are as high as you think they are why are countless shops and businesses going bust and shutting down ?

Look, I'm not getting into another slanging match, but perhaps loads of them are shutting down because of (and thanks to) threads like these! Were refusing to shop where we are being fleeced..... Simple!

Their all at it, whether it be general stores (groceries etc) DIY stores, Argos, Next, and don't even get me started on Halfords and O2 Ireland not to mention the other mobile operators in this country!

Just today I got a leaflet from Wimax through the door exclaiming we pay the highest landline rental charges in the WORLD!

Petrol stations charging 3€ and up for a cup of coffee.... 6€ for a sandwich in a pub? Feckin chippers charging 3€ for onion rings???? (you get THREE in the bag) makes an onion worth about 30€ at that rate haha!
Get real folks, the boom is as dead as a dodo! The days of us lads buying and not questioning prices is over!

I myself am in the retail game, I sell commercial parts, and during the recession I have stepped up to the Mark!
I have REDUCED my prices across the board, and as a result the recession is one of the best things to happen my business! Where folk use to just trade in a wagon, due to lack of finance they are now repairing and my sales doubled in 2008, and doubled again in 2009! The reason I get angry though is watching other businesses around me, that (in my eyes) are refusing to reduce prices! Yet they moan whinge and cry that sales are down!
Get the 40-50% Mark ups out of your heads lads! Get your margins down, stay in business! No one wants to see you go out of business, but in this day and age no one wants to see you rob us blind either!

davo10

Gucky, if a commercial parts shop in the North or Poland or Hungary sells the same parts as you at a lower price, will you accept that you are in fact ripping off your customers?. Post the prices of a couple of parts so we can see if we can buy them cheaper elsewhere.

g32

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

How has he made a fool of himself ? It's a special multi buy offer which also exists down here too.

If you go into ASDA today and want to buy one 2Ltr bottle of Coke you will pay £1.66

Read the asda receipt again.

When an item on offer gets scanned, it appears on the receipt as the normal price. Then at end, you see the actual add-ups subtracting the offer price differences.

It is also clearly mentioned at the bottom of the receipt: 'Snacks/Drinks 3F £3'

Savings made at Asda Enniskillen.

Pacing Mule

Gucky wrote: »

Look, I'm not getting into another slanging match, but perhaps loads of them are shutting down because of (and thanks to) threads like these! Were refusing to shop where we are being fleeced..... Simple!

Their all at it, whether it be general stores (groceries etc) DIY stores, Argos, Next, and don't even get me started on Halfords and O2 Ireland not to mention the other mobile operators in this country!

Just today I got a leaflet from Wimax through the door exclaiming we pay the highest landline rental charges in the WORLD!

Petrol stations charging 3€ and up for a cup of coffee.... 6€ for a sandwich in a pub? Feckin chippers charging 3€ for onion rings???? (you get THREE in the bag) makes an onion worth about 30€ at that rate haha!
Get real folks, the boom is as dead as a dodo! The days of us lads buying and not questioning prices is over!

I myself am in the retail game, I sell commercial parts, and during the recession I have stepped up to the Mark!
I have REDUCED my prices across the board, and as a result the recession is one of the best things to happen my business! Where folk use to just trade in a wagon, due to lack of finance they are now repairing and my sales doubled in 2008, and doubled again in 2009! The reason I get angry though is watching other businesses around me, that (in my eyes) are refusing to reduce prices! Yet they moan whinge and cry that sales are down!
Get the 40-50% Mark ups out of your heads lads! Get your margins down, stay in business! No one wants to see you go out of business, but in this day and age no one wants to see you rob us blind either!

Do you honestly believe a retailer would be as naieve / stubborn or stupid as to prefer to lose sales, lose money and lose their business rather than cut prices and make smaller margin but maintain profitabillity ????

You're in a business that is benefiting from the recession because of the shift towards repairing rather than replacing. Granted you say you have cut your prices a bit in line with getting your overheads down etc and that's prudent business tactics and genuine congratulations for a successful business.

But you have to accept that there are certain retailers particularily the smaller independent retailers who have cut prices to the bone, are trying to compete with bigger players who are in effect loss leading, and can't cut those prices any more or else they will be selling at a loss which they can't afford to. There are many businesses out there going belly up and it's not because they have blindly held out for higher margins.

Pacing Mule

g32 wrote: »

Read the asda receipt again.

When an item on offer gets scanned, it appears on the receipt as the normal price. Then at end, you see the actual add-ups subtracting the offer price differences.

It is also clearly mentioned at the bottom of the receipt: 'Snacks/Drinks 3F £3'

Savings made at Asda Enniskillen.

Read my post again.

Ghandee

davo10 wrote: »

Gucky, if a commercial parts shop in the North or Poland or Hungary sells the same parts as you at a lower price, will you accept that you are in fact ripping off your customers?. Post the prices of a couple of parts so we can see if we can buy them cheaper elsewhere.

Lol!

I actually export parts to Poland!!!!!
Don't believe me, if you wish but I'm 100% telling the truth!

O could give you a few parts (real fast moving items) but you'd prob never be able to A find them or B come close to the prices I sell at!
We buy our stuff at OE prices (manufacturers rates) and as a result I we are one of the keenest I. Europe.

Here is a little challenge for you if you like, call a few motor factors tomorrow and get a price on two fast moving items.

Load sensing valve p/no 602005001 from me 135€ (most competitors in Dublin 200 +)
Scania genuine brake pads (must be genuine!) 70€ from me, again competitors 90+
jost landing legs model 0201 my price 258€, competitors all in the 320+ range.

I have provided you with part numbers that ANY motor factor in the hgv section will recognise!

I doubt you will post your prices here as I'm 99% confident I won't be beaten.

Of course you could come back and tell me I'm spoofing, but I can assure you I ain't! And if you wish to pm me a fax no or email address I'd gladly provide you with a recent flier we had made up.

g32

davo10 wrote: »

g32, you really are a clutz, you said VAT would not go up in Uk, it did, a number of posters pointed out the changes in exchange rate which have increased prices in the North, but you seem unable to comprehend this, you seem not to understand the concept of Government tarrifs on alcohol, cigarettes and fuel and the difference between it and VAT, you will not back up your posts even when prompted to do so and we might as well be talking in a foreign language when we try to inform you of the difference in operating costs/pay rates between countries. Again, just to prove my point and try to show you the difference, would you please post the sector you work in, be it industrial, civil servant, trades man etc, it doesn't matter, make one up if you like. I will do some research and post the rates of pay in various countries, I gaurantee you there will be more than 29% difference in most cases and hundreds of percentage points differences in some cases.

Two words: gs

davo10

Gucky, I'll take your word you are the cheapest in this country, but if I can find them cheaper in other countries will you admit that you are in fact ripping your customers off?, after all this is the crux of the discussion, the price of goods here relative to other countries.

Incidently, if I cannot find references to these parts on the internet, then what conclusion should I draw?

Come on g32, have the courage of your conviction, if you say the world is flat and refuse to back it up with evidence then you should expect to be pilloried, post the proof of your statements about rates/rent/costs/ etc in the particular stores you put up as examples.

Ghandee

Pageant Messiah wrote: »

Do you honestly believe a retailer would be as naieve / stubborn or stupid as to prefer to lose sales, lose money and lose their business rather than cut prices and make smaller margin but maintain profitabillity ????

You're in a business that is benefiting from the recession because of the shift towards repairing rather than replacing. Granted you say you have cut your prices a bit in line with getting your overheads down etc and that's prudent business tactics and genuine congratulations for a successful business.

But you have to accept that there are certain retailers particularily the smaller independent retailers who have cut prices to the bone, are trying to compete with bigger players who are in effect loss leading, and can't cut those prices any more or else they will be selling at a loss which they can't afford to. There are many businesses out there going belly up and it's not because they have blindly held out for higher margins.

I understand that, and I'm sorry if my anger seems to be directed at the small retailers!
Tbh imhave posted in an earlier thread that I'd actually PREFER to give my money to theocal Eurospar or Centra than the robbing feckers in Tescos etc!

I don't single out the small retailers far from it actually!

I named a few examples like o2, Argos here v Argos the North.
Chippers here (vs Europe!)
B and Q and Woodies RIP OFF
coffee in petrol stations
Pubs here.........

The list is endless!

Ghandee

davo10 wrote: »

Gucky, I'll take your word you are the cheapest in this country, but if I can find them cheaper in other countries will you admit that you are in fact ripping your customers off?, after all this is the crux of the discussion, the price of goods here relative to other countries.

Incidently, if I cannot find references to these parts on the internet, then what conclusion should I draw?

Come on g32, have the courage of your conviction, if you say the world is flat and refuse to back it up with evidence then you should expect to be pilloried, post the proof of your statements about rates/rent/costs/ etc in the particular stores you put up as examples.

The valve is manufactured by Haldex should be easily found via google.
Scania pads, genuine only manufacturers are Knorr Bremse or Textar (any other make is spurious!)
The 0201 legs are manufactured by Jost (the Market leader in the world)

They should all be easily found on the net!

Pacing Mule

Gucky wrote: »

I understand that, and I'm sorry if my anger seems to be directed at the small retailers!
Tbh imhave posted in an earlier thread that I'd actually PREFER to give my money to theocal Eurospar or Centra than the robbing feckers in Tescos etc!

I don't single out the small retailers far from it actually!

I named a few examples like o2, Argos here v Argos the North.
Chippers here (vs Europe!)
B and Q and Woodies RIP OFF
coffee in petrol stations
Pubs here.........

The list is endless!

I don't necessarily disagree with you there it's just that the majority of people here spouting on about rip off ireland etc tarnish all retail with the same brush. I'm sick to death of being told to cut prices I can't afford to or being told that item X is cheaper elsewhere when it is cheaper for the most part because of different cost structures or tax systems.

davo10

They are Gucky, you are an export business with sales to Poland which means it would be inconcievable that you would not have a website, now I can find no results for "Heldex load sensing valve 602005001 Ireland €135", why is that?. Is the €135 the bulk buy cost or the single item cost?, Do you have a warehouse with employees or is it an internet based business?.

Gucky you may be offerring great value here but the issue is the price here relative to abroad and you have been adament about being ripped off here, again if your parts can be bought cheaper elsewhere will you admit to being a ripoff merchant?

Ghandee

davo10 wrote: »

They are Gucky, you are an export business with sales to Poland which means it would be inconcievable that you would not have a website, now I can find no results for "Heldex load sensing valve 602005001 Ireland €135", why is that?. Is the €135 the bulk buy cost or the single item cost?, Do you have a warehouse with employees or is it an internet based business?

It should be Haldex, not heldex.
I operate from a warehouse with two other lads on the road, one picks/packs orders.

I actually worked in one of my competitors for a few years and KNOW their costs vs mine! Nothing in it only the end selling result/profit margin

Pacing Mule

@ Gucky,

Just as an aside from this debate how come the poles don't source the items from the same distributors you do ? I'm assuming you're not manufacturing them so why can't the poles source these cheaper elsewhere ?

Ghandee

davo10 wrote: »

They are Gucky, you are an export business with sales to Poland which means it would be inconcievable that you would not have a website, now I can find no results for "Heldex load sensing valve 602005001 Ireland €135", why is that?. Is the €135 the bulk buy cost or the single item cost?, Do you have a warehouse with employees or is it an internet based business?.

Gucky you may be offerring great value here but the issue is the price here relative to abroad and you have been adament about being ripped off here, again if your parts can be bought cheaper elsewhere will you admit to being a ripoff merchant?

My prices wouldn't be on the Internet (NONE OF OUR PRICES ARE)
simply because we have pricing structures in place, and so customer A wouldn't be sold something at the same price as customer B (due purely to bought and discount applicable to account)

Were slightly going off track here anyway guys! This isn't about spare parts for heavy good vehicles lol!

Danno

What about the beef lads? We make the stuff here... why is it so dear?