Bars of chocolate prices

mad m

Just happen to go into a well know place near Stephens Green as i was looking for a particular bar my son likes.So ended up just buying a Yorkie raisin&biscuit.So not more than 10 yards on i went into another shop to see if they had bar son likes.And same yorkie i bought not 5minutes previous was 14 cents cheaper.The Bar i bought in first shop was 89cents.

Why is this,is there not a sort of fixed price?Just thought if you got munchies one day and went into that shop and you didnt have the 89cents but had 75cents(oh its a mini rant)

idontknowmyname

Welcome to Rip-Off Ireland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Gurgle

idontknowmyname wrote:

Welcome to Rip-Off Ireland!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I went past two petrol stations beside each other coming home, checked the prices in both, as I always do (I'm a cheapskate).

One was 92.9c per litre, the other was 98.9c.

There were 4 cars being filled at the one for 98.9c, 2 cars at the other one.

The moral of the story: The Irish are ripped off by everyone because (on average) we're so bloody stupid we deserve it.

sceptre

mad m wrote:

Why is this,is there not a sort of fixed price?

There may be an RRP that the shop can feel free to ignore but price-fixing would be illegal. Mind you, tell that to Sony and Nintendo.

Ph3n0m

Just wondering aswell - why is that leading outlets, such as Centra, Spar - depending on which one you go to - you could be charged different prices? Is this illegal? If not, why isnt?

Trojan

A free market is a free market. Stop buying the expensive stuff and maybe the retailers will get the hint.

A trip to Berlin will enlighten folk about how to actually spend money properly.

Saruman

I go out of my way to get petrol cheap.. like in Tesco etc.
I notice all kinds of different prices which is why i never shop all at once in one place.

Stark

I still can't believe how expensive they are in the first place. I mean 10 years ago you could get a bar for 25p! They keep jacking up the price knowing all the "chocoholics" will have to pay it, like "What are you going to do? Give up chocolate?".

idontknowmyname

Its like the price of drink in town....€6 for a bottle of smirnoff ice, well it was a few months ago....wouldn't be surprised if its gone up again. I never drink in town anymore....cant afford it

Blisterman

Where could you get a bar for 25p 10 years ago?
35 maybe.

Neuro

Gurgle wrote:

I went past two petrol stations beside each other coming home, checked the prices in both, as I always do (I'm a cheapskate).
One was 92.9c per litre, the other was 98.9c.

There were 4 cars being filled at the one for 98.9c, 2 cars at the other one.

The moral of the story: The Irish are ripped off by everyone because (on average) we're so bloody stupid we deserve it.

Gurgle has head the nail on the head. If there are a number of suppliers in the market and one supplier can still run a business while charging significantly more than a neighboring competitor this does not mean that the more expensive supplier is "ripping you off". After all, the more expensive supplier is not forcing you to purchase their products. The problem is, and I believe Mary Hearney mentioned this, on the consumer side. Basic economic theory assumes that consumers are rational individuals and will not pay more than they have to for a product or service.

But consumers are not 100% rational, they're probably 80% rational i.e. while most of them will look for the best price most of the time, they won't all look for the best price all of the time. Furthermore, the time spent determining, recording and comparing prices may be more costly than the difference in price of the product from the cheapest and dearest supplier! These are the reasons the price variations outlined by the original poster exist.

Perfect markets only exist in textbooks and require an infinite number of rational suppliers selling goods to an infinite number of rational consumers.

As long as consumers purchase products/services from suppliers who do not have a monopoly or are not part of an oligopoly, they can never claim that they are being ripped off. It's up to consumers as a group to become more price-conscious if they wish to see less variation in prices.

Neuro

Stark wrote:

I still can't believe how expensive they are in the first place. I mean 10 years ago you could get a bar for 25p! They keep jacking up the price knowing all the "chocoholics" will have to pay it, like "What are you going to do? Give up chocolate?".

This is an overly simplistic comparison. You fail to take into account two things:
- Purchasing power (i.e. how much time does the average employee have to work in order to afford the chocolate bar compared to an average employee ten years ago).
- Inflation.

mad m

Well just to add on this,the expensive shop i went into when i was looking for the bar as it happened i seen a bar my daughter wanted so i just bought it(the 89cents bar).But when i went into the shop down the road they had all the bars of chocolates labeled with prices,were as the other one didnt.They must of know shops around were more expensive?

ChickateePoo2

Recently went on furlough to a nearby town in search for cheap booze. Made my way to Aldi initially and picked up cheap 6 Wicked styling drinks at €1.50 a bottle each compared to the rip off atrocious prices that pubs charge for such drinks. The funny thing is I went down the road to a filling station to buy a bottle of coke 500ml you guessed it, it cost more €1.90. Also visted two off licences on my trip roughly about a mile in distance from each other. Noted the price of a case of 24 (330mls) of Rolling Rock which was €19.99. Wandered down to the other off licence at the other side of the town and the price was €29.99. Crazy stuff!

Kingsize

i hate centra & spar they really are rip off ****, i wouldnt bother with them anymore theyre a ****ing joke, i'll bet the staff are paid shyte wages too.

D!ve^Bomb!

best just to stock up on your bars and soft drinks on a weekly shoppin trip.. i mean in any normal shop you'd be payin 1.30 for a 500ml bottle coke!! i was actually charged 1.20 for a CAN, i remember when i could get a can of coke for 29p!! fúckin bastards..

anyway, you can get a bottle of coke in dunnes for about 90c? afaik..

oomph

69 Cent for a double decker in statoil, not too bad.

AARRRGH

One of the biggest scams shops now pull is the use of barcodes to read the price on an item.

Sure, I understand it makes things easier FOR THEM, but for us, there are now no prices. We cannot easily see how much we are paying.

It's sick.

kenmc

is it not illegal for them not to have prices up? i thought that everything had to have a price per <chose your unit> displayed?? part of mary harney's initiative....

PADDYPOKER

Good point dublindude
I've noticed that happening more and more nowadays especially where the shop has 7 or 8 codes on top of each other where there's only room for 1 or 2.

_blank_

Bar of Chocolate in the Bar Machine here is 70c, and a 500ml Bottle of Coke is 80c (the sign says €1, but it always spits back 20c change).

Not too shabby at all.

Neuro

kenmc wrote:

is it not illegal for them not to have prices up? i thought that everything had to have a price per <chose your unit> displayed?? part of mary harney's initiative....

Yes, shops are required to display the price of all items on sale. These days, many convenience stores are displaying the prices of all their confectionary on a single A4 sheet mounted at the back of the shelf.

Shops that don't display prices are breaking the law, but as with many things, it's not enforced to any serious degree.

Kingsize

yes and anoyone who bothers to point out a discrepancy between displayed prices & the scanned price is usually treated to a blank stare/shoulder shrug or some pathetic excuse,(thats of course if the poor bugger behind the counter can actually speak english.)

woosaysdan

yeah its the same in pubs as well,all pubs have to have the prices of all their drinks displayed!!! the director of consumer affairs is looking into this matter though, well with pubs anyway!!! hopfully they will look at shops as well!!!

mad m

seansouth wrote:

Bar of Chocolate in the Bar Machine here is 70c, and a 500ml Bottle of Coke is 80c (the sign says €1, but it always spits back 20c change).

Not too shabby at all.

Haha.Viva La Revolution.

spudster101

ohh the days of the 10p chomp

dearg_doom

remember the uproar when Mars and Snickers dared to increase their prices to 32p

W boycotted any shop that wouldn't sell them to us for 30p at the time!!

Victor

kenmc wrote:

is it not illegal for them not to have prices up? i thought that everything had to have a price per <chose your unit> displayed?? part of mary harney's initiative....

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=79725

Victor

Trojan wrote:

A free market is a free market. Stop buying the expensive stuff and maybe the retailers will get the hint.

A trip to Berlin will enlighten folk about how to actually spend money properly.

Yeah, spend €100bn+ rebuilding a country and end up with 20% unemployment.