Time to tighten yer belts!

Relevant · 03-12-2008 12:19PM

Dinter wrote: »

What makes people think by spending your money in the South you are in any way going to contribute to a successful economy?

You have only to look at the disaster that arose from the biggest tax takes in the history of the State to realise that the bunch of buffoons in charge of spending it have as much natural ability as a quadraplegic goalie.

Save yourselves money by going where ever you have to because anything you pay to the state you might as well just throw in a fire and burn.

Do you work for a company that has customers? What happens when those customers no longer have the money to spend as they have lost their jobs due to people going to northern ireland rather than them? It won't be long before your company goes bust too. Then what will you do?

big b · 03-12-2008 12:21PM

quad_red wrote: »

Fair enough. But does your family own a business here? Do your friends work in shops here? Do your family or friends work for companies that supply services to businesses down here?

Are any of your friends who are working in retail or supply services to retail outlets going north to make their money go further?

Are any of those who save money by going north maybe going to spend some of that saving in restaurants, pubs etc down here?

I'm all for buying Irish too, on a level playing field, but:
some of the differences are just too big to ignore
the retail market here hasn't exactly helped itself over the years
I'll be fecked if I'm going to feel guilty for careful shopping during a recession

PauloMN · 03-12-2008 12:22PM

So the folks on here who are against people going to Newry for a Christmas shop - have you never shopped online? Never ever? And you are happy to pay inflated Irish prices for everything?

Sorry, but anyone who answers "yes" to those questions I simply do not believe.

NI shopping is only an issue right now because of the time of year and the fact that it's so visible due to traffic volumes. Online shopping is there all year long, and saves people hundreds in one go. Why have I not heard the anti-Newry brigade kicking up a fuss about online shopping? Probably because they are all on their PCs all year long picking up the bargains. There is your hypocracy.

Vegeta · 03-12-2008 12:27PM

Relevant wrote: »

Do you work for a company that has customers? What happens when those customers no longer have the money to spend as they have lost their jobs due to people going to northern ireland rather than them? It won't be long before your company goes bust too. Then what will you do?

Move it to Newry

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:28PM

PauloMN wrote: »

So the folks on here who are against people going to Newry for a Christmas shop - have you never shopped online? Never ever? And you are happy to pay inflated Irish prices for everything?

Sorry, but anyone who answers "yes" to those questions I simply do not believe.

NI shopping is only an issue right now because of the time of year and the fact that it's so visible due to traffic volumes. Online shopping is there all year long, and saves people hundreds in one go. Why have I not heard the anti-Newry brigade kicking up a fuss about online shopping? Probably because they are all on their PCs all year long picking up the bargains. There is your hypocracy.

You can justify it to yourself anyway you want.

Bit of a difference between ordering a few books off amazon and heading up to Newry once every few weeks to do all your grocery shopping.

Relevant · 03-12-2008 12:30PM

Vegeta wrote: »

Move it to Newry

Do us all a favour and go now then!

Dinter · 03-12-2008 12:31PM

Relevant wrote: »

Do you work for a company that has customers? What happens when those customers no longer have the money to spend as they have lost their jobs due to people going to northern ireland rather than them?

Tbh you can't force people to shop down here. However I don't think the Government is thinking this through (again). Basically they won't increase the standard PAYE levels because they like to point at them when the opposition bothers to question them on their success rate.

They instead increase the shadow taxes, VAT, income levy etc. This makes the North far more attractive to anyone and is of course going to have an impact on people's shopping patterns. If the situation is so serious then the Government needs to bite the bullet and ram up direct taxation and stop it's dependence on shadow taxes that as we can all see have the potential to fail miserably.

If people were giving more money to the State directly then VAT etc could be decreased which would make shopping at home far more attractive.

Relevant wrote: »

It won't be long before your company goes bust too. Then what will you do?

I'm not sure but I'll have a little bit more saved by not wasting my money down South supporting a cabal of shops that see fit to spending the last decade over charging me.

Vegeta · 03-12-2008 12:32PM

SheroN wrote: »

You can justify it to yourself anyway you want.

Bit of a difference between ordering a few books off amazon and heading up to Newry once every few weeks to do all your grocery shopping.

To quote your very good self

"You can justify it to yourself anyway you want."

Ahhh I got a good laugh out of that one cheers

thelordofcheese · 03-12-2008 12:33PM

SheroN wrote: »

I wouldn't bother wasting your time.

People are making savings in the short term. They don't care about the long term, they can blame the government (or whoever) once things get worse over the coming year(s).

and they'll happily blame the government for thinking and acting in the short term, not the long term.

Ohh the ironing, it is delicious.

PauloMN · 03-12-2008 12:33PM

Vegeta wrote: »

To quote your very good self

"You can justify it to yourself anyway you want."

Ahhh I got a good laugh out of that one cheers

As Meat Loaf once said.... "you took the words right out of my mouth".

Dinter · 03-12-2008 12:35PM

thelordofcheese wrote: »

and they'll happily blame the government for thinking and acting in the short term, not the long term.

Ohh the ironing, it is delicious.

There's no irony when the Governemnt has a history of having no strategic plan in the long or short term.

Instead it's one blundering, meandering mess.

Terry · 03-12-2008 12:35PM

Biggins wrote: »

Before we even think about crossing the border, we have paid tax on our petrol to get there, paid tax on our vehicles to take us there, paid tax on our insurance to cover us for the trip, paid tax on the clothes to cover us while travelling, paid tax on the food that filled us up as we got our breakfast that morning, paid tax on the ESB to heat the food, we even have paid tax on the newspapers we read while stuck in the vehicle queues at the border!

Don't let anyone mention we are not doing our bit for our own country!

But you would be paying all those taxes anyway.

bill_ashmount · 03-12-2008 12:35PM

It's great to see so many people heading north to shop. Long may it continue.

For the shopkeepers and politicians down south, change your way of business or bye-bye.

PauloMN · 03-12-2008 12:36PM

SheroN wrote: »

You can justify it to yourself anyway you want.

Bit of a difference between ordering a few books off amazon and heading up to Newry once every few weeks to do all your grocery shopping.

So, seeing as you obviously have a clearly defined yardstick as to who's just getting a small bargain and who's bringing the country to it's knees, would you care to tell us what that yardstick is? €10 saved? €100 saved? €1000 saved? €10000 saved?

It is quite incredible to me that there are people who'll happily shop online and smugly sit there in front of their PCs with their Amazon book castigating those who drive up to Newry to essentially do the same thing.

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:37PM

Terry wrote: »

But you would be paying all those taxes anyway.

No point in pointing out such things. People are giving the government/shop ownders two fingers they don't seem to realise that they're ****ing themselves over too though.

Vegeta · 03-12-2008 12:40PM

SheroN wrote: »

No point in pointing out such things. People are giving the government/shop ownders two fingers they don't seem to realise that they're ****ing themselves over too though.

Says the guy who happily shops on-line all year round.

You're killing me here, keep these coming they're golden.

kf1920 · 03-12-2008 12:40PM

If Mary Harney can tighten a 30" Belt around her waist,
then ill start tightening mine and spending less!

If she can afford to stay that fat, we can afford to spend frivolously.

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:41PM

PauloMN wrote: »

So, seeing as you obviously have a clearly defined yardstick as to who's just getting a small bargain and who's bringing the country to it's knees, would you care to tell us what that yardstick is? €10 saved? €100 saved? €1000 saved? €10000 saved?

It is quite incredible to me that there are people who'll happily shop online and smugly sit there in front of their PCs with their Amazon book castigating those who drive up to Newry to essentially do the same thing.

Going up north every few weeks to do *all* your shopping is very different to ordering a few books online wouldn't you say?

Turd Ferguson · 03-12-2008 12:41PM

I blame the Large Hadron Collider for all of this.

Biggins · 03-12-2008 12:41PM

Terry wrote: »

But you would be paying all those taxes anyway.

Thats partly my point. We have been paying them for the last year, not just on our trip up north.
We have been paying them since the day we were born in Ireland, we have being paying them through the good times of the Celtic Tiger and now we are still paying them through the bad times still.

We take a trip up north to save on food for our kids and all of a sudden the shops that have been ripping us off are giving out!

Shame on them, I see nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.
If they hadn't and continue even now, to fleece us at the tills, we might still hand them our money.
As it is, once in a while to buy even basics, we will go where it is cheapest, to feed our kids - and that makes us terrible people? Well shame on us!

...for the sake of my kids, I'll gladly live with the shame!

Dinter · 03-12-2008 12:42PM

SheroN wrote: »

No point in pointing out such things. People are giving the government/shop ownders two fingers they don't seem to realise that they're ****ing themselves over too though.

What do you think will happen if people do shop down South though?

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:44PM

Vegeta wrote: »

Says the guy who happily shops on-line all year round.

You're killing me here, keep these coming they're golden.

I don't shop online all year round. Out of the 12 books i've bought in the past year maybe 2 or 3 were ordered from amazon. I bought those mainly because I couldn't find them in the book shops here.

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:45PM

Dinter wrote: »

What do you think will happen if people do shop down South though?

It won't solve the problem but I'm sure it will go some way to lessening the blow of the recession.

Relevant · 03-12-2008 12:46PM

Dinter wrote: »

What do you think will happen if people do shop down South though?

It will promote employment & job creation.
It will increase the tax take
It will decrease National Debt
It will boost consumer confidence

PauloMN · 03-12-2008 12:47PM

SheroN wrote: »

Going up north every few weeks to do *all* your shopping is very different to ordering a few books online wouldn't you say?

So you're only partially damaging the economy here then?

Well done you.

I haven't seen anybody post that they do *all* their shopping up North. Maybe some who live close to the border do. I do plenty of shopping here and I do some up there at Christmas. I spend much more online though. I saved about €150 buying a camera on Pixmania than in Harvey Normans. Should I have spent the extra €150 in Harvey Normans supporting an Australian franchise with their Australian staff though?

Terry · 03-12-2008 12:49PM

kf1920 wrote: »

If Mary Harney can tighten a 30" Belt around her waist,
then ill start tightening mine and spending less!

If she can afford to stay that fat, we can afford to spend frivolously.

Dude. It's a glandular disorder. Not cool.

Biggins wrote: »

Thats partly my point. We have been paying them for the last year, not just on our trip up north.
We have been paying them since the day we were born in Ireland, we have being paying them through the good times of the Celtic Tiger and now we are still paying them through the bad times still.

We take a trip up north to save on food for our kids and all of a sudden the shops that have been ripping us off are giving out!

Shame on them, I see nothing but a bunch of hypocrites.
If they hadn't and continue even now, to fleece us at the tills, we might still hand them our money.
As it is, once in a while to buy even basics, we will go where it is cheapest, to feed our kids - and that makes us terrible people? Well shame on us!

...for the sake of my kids, I'll gladly live with the shame!

My point is that you pay these taxes to keep the country afloat.
Using the fact that you pay taxes as an excuse to pay VAT in another country isn't really a good justification.

SheroN · 03-12-2008 12:53PM

PauloMN wrote: »

So you're only partially damaging the economy here then?

Well done you.

I haven't seen anybody post that they do *all* their shopping up North. Maybe some who live close to the border do. I do plenty of shopping here and I do some up there at Christmas. I spend much more online though. I saved about €150 buying a camera on Pixmania than in Harvey Normans. Should I have spent the extra €150 in Harvey Normans supporting an Australian franchise with their Australian staff though?

If you'd bought the camera in Harvy Norman the VAT on the purchase would have went to the Irish government. Not to mention the Irish people's jobs you would have been supporting. Not saying you should have bought it there but at least be aware of how the system works. It's not like because Harvey Norman's parent company is Australian that all monies end up in Sydney.

If you can't see the difference between ordering the odd item on line and spending the majority of your disposable income in a different economy. There's no point in carrying on this conversation.

m5ex9oqjawdg2i · 03-12-2008 12:54PM

PauloMN wrote: »

So you're only partially damaging the economy here then?

Well done you.

I haven't seen anybody post that they do *all* their shopping up North. Maybe some who live close to the border do. I do plenty of shopping here and I do some up there at Christmas. I spend much more online though. I saved about €150 buying a camera on Pixmania than in Harvey Normans. Should I have spent the extra €150 in Harvey Normans supporting an Australian franchise with their Australian staff though?

What's everyones problem with shopping online? Jesus the ignorance of some.

If I buy something online that is cheaper than in the shops, i am wrong? You call me unpatriotic? How dare you... I should buy something that is more expensive in super quinn because it is irish? Fcuk that, i shop in aldi, i do not care where the money goes, but I know one thing, I can have 3 meals a day if I shop there and still pay the bills. I will not spend double or tripple for the same food just to save our economy. There is a reason we have all these choices, consumers have more purchasing power now. The government should be the ones trying to keep the money in the economy, not the average joe. Don't blame the average people of Ireland for this, blame the fcuking government...

We suffer while they are feasting on gormet food and fine wines, spending millions of TAX MONEY on their lifestyle... Tell me now that I am wrong.

kmick · 03-12-2008 12:59PM

People would stop shopping up North if the government had put an end to the large price differences between the North and the South where companies were creaming it down here. It has been highlighted for years but ignored. In fact Mary Harney told us to shop around and thats what people are essentially doing.

Secondly it could all be sorted out very quickly by a small device in a car park in Newry as proposed by my boss. However I dont agree with this approach personally.

PauloMN · 03-12-2008 01:00PM

SheroN wrote: »

If you'd bought the camera in Harvy Norman the VAT on the purchase would have went to the Irish government. Not to mention the Irish people's jobs you would have been supporting. Not saying you should have bought it there but at least be aware of how the system works. It's not like because Harvey Norman's parent company is Australian that all monies end up in Sydney.

If you can't see the difference between ordering the odd item on line and spending the majority of your disposable income in a different economy. There's no point in carrying on this conversation.

But then what about the Irish courier who delivered the camera to me? Poor fella would be jobless if I drove to HN and bought it there.

Swings and roundabouts.

Anyway, there's no way I'd fork out €150 extra just to buy a camera here from a shop. If you are happy to do so, that's your business. All I am saying is that the guilt trip some people are dishing out is ridiculous.

Time to tighten yer belts!

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