Is the price of Milk in all the supermarkets a rip off ?

psychward

I was just wondering why the cheapest standard 2 Litres of milk in Aldi, Lidl, Tesco, Dunnes etc is always something like €1.49

Yet the various ethnic stores around Dublin can sell you 2 Litres for much cheaper e.g usually roughly €1.10 for 2 Litres.

Iceland in Moore Street Dublin sells 2 Litres of milk currently for 95 cent. They are unique but they did try to raise their price and then lowered it again as it probably draws custom into the store.

Is it correct that below cost selling is banned in the Republic ? If so this means that Iceland might even be making a profit or that the main supermarkets even ones we rely on to be cheap such as Aldi and Lidl are marking up milk by 50%.
What exactly is the cost price of milk I wonder ? Are we being ripped off by most of the suppliers of milk who seem to refuse to compete on price but stick to €1.49 religiously ?

phasers

Dunnes sell Cool Milk for 1.19

psychward

phasers wrote: »

Dunnes sell Cool Milk for 1.19

Is this 2 Litres of milk straight from the fridge for €1.19 ?

phasers

yep, the brand is called 'cool milk'.

Strangely though, they sell their own brand right next to it for 1.49

psychward

I just picked up a couple of 2 Litre containers of milk for 95 cent each in Iceland but I'll keep an eagle eye out for this ''cool milk'' next time I head to Dunnes. I live in the city centre so usually grab bargains and can compare prices fairly easily due to the large choice of stores. Strange I never noticed this 'cool milk' brand before. Maybe it's either a new thing or they only sell it in stores where the competition has them under pressure.

GerardKeating

psychward wrote: »

Is it correct that below cost selling is banned in the Republic ?

Not any more...

Crann na Beatha

This post has been deleted.

leposean

phasers wrote: »

Dunnes sell Cool Milk for 1.19

Its €1.00 in Dunnes in Bray

jack presley

Milk from the north seems to be cheaper than ours. Check the lable/lid for an IE or UK mark beside the EU bit.

Tails142

Am I right that low fat milk is basically just less fat and more water? If so, why isn't 50% less fat milk, 50% less cost milk!!

ejmaztec

I'm surprised there's still milk in milk now, after all the processing it goes through. It doesn't seem to go sour like it used to, and just turns into a lump inside the container.

coylemj

Tails142 wrote: »

Am I right that low fat milk is basically just less fat and more water? If so, why isn't 50% less fat milk, 50% less cost milk!!

It costs money to remove some or all of the fat and since 99% of the volume is water, reducing the fat content makes virtually no difference to the volume so a litre of reduced fat milk costs more to produce than full cream milk, hence low fat milk costs more on the supermarket shelf.

the groutch

OP, the ban on below cost selling is long gone, so Iceland might be using it as a loss leader.
There are 101 possible reasons for the price differences, and if quality of the product itself is one of them, then I wouldnt consider some shops charging extra being a rip off.

psychward

the groutch wrote: »

There are 101 possible reasons for the price differences, and if quality of the product itself is one of them, then I wouldnt consider some shops charging extra being a rip off.

Quality definitely isn't a problem with the Iceland milk. Not at all. It's exactly the same as the rest of the other milks. I see absolutely no difference between quality of milk between any of the stores at any price.

maxer68

Farmers currently get about 34c per litre.

So 2 litres = 68c from the farm

Add in collection, pasteuristation, pack, cartons, delivery to stores, refridgeration costs, store costs, it quite good value even at 1.49.

at 99c it has to be a loss leader.

Staplor

On the Lidl/Aldi thing, only the 1 litres are Republic of Ireland milk. Which work out a cent dearer, but I wouldn;t disagree with Paul O'Connell and the National Dairy Council

kiki

We get Linwoods Milk from North 2L @ 1 EUR
we are based round dundalk
We use lot of milk a week (probably 10 x 2L) Cartons so it does all add up...

psychward

It looks like Dunnes doesn't sell their cheaper ''Cool Milk'' in Dublin City Centre, Stephens Green, Georges Street etc. Different prices for different suckers I guess.

Hal Emmerich

ejmaztec wrote: »

I'm surprised there's still milk in milk now, after all the processing it goes through. It doesn't seem to go sour like it used to, and just turns into a lump inside the container.

Buy the Organic Milk in Aldi or Lidl.

whelan1

or you can buy raw milk also, real milk! hate the slimline milk, its like pure water

tfitzgerald

Lately dunnes have being selling 3 litres of milk for €2 I think that's good value

Hal Emmerich

whelan1 wrote: »

or you can buy raw milk also, real milk! hate the slimline milk, its like pure water

"They" are trying to ban this though aren't they? Where do you get this???


I read somewhere the other day, not online, that Homogenisation makes the Milk Fat Particles so small that some escape through the Gut Wall into the blood stream and add greatly to blocked Arterys.

I don't know if their is any truth in it.

psychward

tfitzgerald wrote: »

Lately dunnes have being selling 3 litres of milk for €2 I think that's good value

That works out at €1.33 for 2 litres compared to €0.95 in Iceland for 2 Litres.

It's better value than before but fails compared to the inconvenience of carrying a 3 Litre which costs over 33% more per litre.

whelan1

psychward wrote: »

Quality definitely isn't a problem with the Iceland milk. Not at all. It's exactly the same as the rest of the other milks. I see absolutely no difference between quality of milk between any of the stores at any price.

alot of creamerys have different standards for the milk they collect from farmers , glanbia have a limit on tbc- total bacteria count of 30,000 while lakelands is 50,000.... i dont think the standard in imported milk is as good but i stand corrected on that

whelan1

www.glebebrethan.com they do the raw milk

tfitzgerald

psychward wrote: »

That works out at €1.33 for 2 litres compared to €0.95 in Iceland for 2 Litres.

It's better value than before but fails compared to the inconvenience of carrying a 3 Litre which costs over 33% more per litre.

The nearest iceland is 180 kilometres away from me so I think for me anyqay dunnes is going to win:)

james405

Nah, price is reasonable, retailers generally dont compete on milk!

Although as a everyday purchase they need to keep milk cheap to get ya into the store! Even noticed how the milk is always at very back of the store! Hence you walk by all the higher margin foods and generally buy something else! Thus they make back the low cost of milk!

I would think more so of the "quality" of your milk! recently read this article on the history of american dairy farming! Yuk! Factory farming is nasty!

http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/dairy/

Hal Emmerich

^^^^A big Super Diary nearly got the go ahead in the UK earlier in the year.