Inflation

[Greedy Jambo]

8 minutes ago, Lone Striker said:

Sounds plausible.  On the flip side, the petrol stations on the A68  from the bypass down to the Borders almost seem to be operating like a cartel - all have roughly the same price, apart from the ones in Lauder & Earlston with a Co-op food store where diesel was a  whopping 12p cheaper (as at the end of Sept).   Good on them, I say.

 

Wasn't there a time when Supermarkets started selling cheaper petrol  when the rumour was that their petrol was "watered down"  in some way ?   

 

Aye, that was a lot of bollocks though, it has been tested. 

[Greedy Jambo]

On a side note, I know someone that owns a petrol station, a very wealthy man even before all this inflation shit started. 

[will-i-am-a-jambo]

6 hours ago, TallPaul said:

Sadly is the middle man that gets shafted. The wealthy can implement ways to avoid their tax. 150k Scots don't even bother to work and are propped up by the highly taxed PAYE workers. 

True, there has to be better regulation of tax avoidance/evasion (sorry l can't remember which is illegal) so that the wealthy can't avoid paying it. Unfortunately that require a global effort.

Edited October 5, 2023 by will-i-am-a-jambo

[Lone Striker]

35 minutes ago, will-i-am-a-jambo said:

True, there has to be better regulation of tax avoidance/evasion (sorry l can't remember which is illegal) so that the wealthy can't avoid paying it. Unfortunately that require a global effort.

If you're at a loose end for an hour and a bit sometime, watch this -

 

 

 

The concept of  an "offshore tax haven" has its birth explained.  By implication, the BoE was complicit in allowing it to happen.

[Unknown user]

1 hour ago, Lone Striker said:

Sounds plausible.  On the flip side, the petrol stations on the A68  from the bypass down to the Borders almost seem to be operating like a cartel - all have roughly the same price, apart from the ones in Lauder & Earlston with a Co-op food store where diesel was a  whopping 12p cheaper (as at the end of Sept).   Good on them, I say.

 

Wasn't there a time when Supermarkets started selling cheaper petrol  when the rumour was that their petrol was "watered down"  in some way ?   

Fordel's usually pretty cheap

[Lone Striker]

As many of us have long suspected,  supermarkets are using their  loyalty cards (e.g. Nectar or Clubcard) as a tool to raise prices of some items  on the fly .....  initially just for non-card holders, but soon followed  by removal of the loyalty discount  which takes it  up to the new increased price for everyone.

 

LBC reports on the latest Which? findings -

 

 

A row has broken out after Waitrose was unseated as the most expensive supermarket in the UK.

Analysis by Which? shows Sainsbury's is the most expensive supermarket for a big shop in the UK - but only if you do not use a loyalty card.

It is the first time ever that Waitrose has not come out as the most expensive supermarket in the UK.

A large trolley shop containing 131 items cost £359.23 at Sainsbury's, four pounds more expensive than Waitrose.

It is the first time Waitrose has been taken off Which?'s top stop. Picture: Getty

The shop is also £33.52 more than the cheapest shop on the list, which was Asda.

None of the analysis includes the use of loyalty schemes, such as the Nectar Card at Sainsbury's.

 

Sainsbury's is furious at the analysis, which it has labelled as "entirely false".

Read More: Now Tesco shoppers are forced to show their receipts before leaving the store - joining Sainsbury's and Aldi

Read More: Customers risk ‘getting hurt’ if they tackle shoplifters, warns Tesco boss in stand against calls for citizen's arrests

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: "These claims are entirely false and insulting to the millions of savvy customers who choose to shop with us every week. 

"There is an overwhelming amount of independently verified data showing the great value customers get when shopping at Sainsbury's.  

"We are disappointed that Which has refused to share its data with us and has instead chosen to mislead customers by choosing to exclude Nectar Prices promotions in its research.  

Sainsbury's is the most expensive supermarket in the UK when you do not include saver schemes, Which? has said. Picture: Getty

"The vast majority of our customers are shopping with Nectar Prices and have saved £400m million on their shopping in the last six months. Customers can be sure they getting great value every time they shop with us," the supermarket added.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: "As part of our £100m investment we've already lowered hundreds of prices this year, and it's great to see this paying off.

"At the same time, we're holding firm on the highest animal welfare standards in the industry, paying our farmers and suppliers fairly, and delivering quality at every price point. The only thing that's changing is the price, so customers can enjoy great value with no compromise."

 

The analysis of big trolley shops did not include budget supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl.

 

 

[Footballfirst]

3 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

As many of us have long suspected,  supermarkets are using their  loyalty cards (e.g. Nectar or Clubcard) as a tool to raise prices of some items  on the fly .....  initially just for non-card holders, but soon followed  by removal of the loyalty discount  which takes it  up to the new increased price for everyone.

I'm not sure that's the case. I'm in a fortunate position of having Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, Asda, Aldi and Lidl all within two or three miles and I use all of them from time to time, depending on my needs. 

 

The Nectar (and Clubcard) discounts do make a difference. The simple accumulation of points is not significant (0.5% - 1%), but the promotional prices do offer decent discounts.  Sainsbury's also offer significant bonus points and price discounts tailored to your own regular shopping habits, e.g.  I may buy a particular pack of cheese at £3 full price.  Sometimes I will get say 60 bonus nectar points (worth 30p/10%), or at other times have a personal discount of 75p (25%) if I use their "smart shop".  If there is no discount I may not buy it there, but surprise surprise, they are likely to offer me a bonus/discount the next week.

 

The secret is obviously to shop around to get the cheapest / best value / personal favourites, if you are in a position to do so.

Edited October 6, 2023 by Footballfirst

[Diadora Van Basten]

4 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

As many of us have long suspected,  supermarkets are using their  loyalty cards (e.g. Nectar or Clubcard) as a tool to raise prices of some items  on the fly .....  initially just for non-card holders, but soon followed  by removal of the loyalty discount  which takes it  up to the new increased price for everyone.

 

LBC reports on the latest Which? findings -

 

 

A row has broken out after Waitrose was unseated as the most expensive supermarket in the UK.

Analysis by Which? shows Sainsbury's is the most expensive supermarket for a big shop in the UK - but only if you do not use a loyalty card.

It is the first time ever that Waitrose has not come out as the most expensive supermarket in the UK.

A large trolley shop containing 131 items cost £359.23 at Sainsbury's, four pounds more expensive than Waitrose.

It is the first time Waitrose has been taken off Which?'s top stop. Picture: Getty

The shop is also £33.52 more than the cheapest shop on the list, which was Asda.

None of the analysis includes the use of loyalty schemes, such as the Nectar Card at Sainsbury's.

 

Sainsbury's is furious at the analysis, which it has labelled as "entirely false".

Read More: Now Tesco shoppers are forced to show their receipts before leaving the store - joining Sainsbury's and Aldi

Read More: Customers risk ‘getting hurt’ if they tackle shoplifters, warns Tesco boss in stand against calls for citizen's arrests

A spokesperson for Sainsbury's said: "These claims are entirely false and insulting to the millions of savvy customers who choose to shop with us every week. 

"There is an overwhelming amount of independently verified data showing the great value customers get when shopping at Sainsbury's.  

"We are disappointed that Which has refused to share its data with us and has instead chosen to mislead customers by choosing to exclude Nectar Prices promotions in its research.  

Sainsbury's is the most expensive supermarket in the UK when you do not include saver schemes, Which? has said. Picture: Getty

"The vast majority of our customers are shopping with Nectar Prices and have saved £400m million on their shopping in the last six months. Customers can be sure they getting great value every time they shop with us," the supermarket added.

A Waitrose spokesperson said: "As part of our £100m investment we've already lowered hundreds of prices this year, and it's great to see this paying off.

"At the same time, we're holding firm on the highest animal welfare standards in the industry, paying our farmers and suppliers fairly, and delivering quality at every price point. The only thing that's changing is the price, so customers can enjoy great value with no compromise."

 

The analysis of big trolley shops did not include budget supermarkets such as Aldi and Lidl.

 

 

There is a problem that inflation figures are being skewed as they are included at the price before the supermarket discounted price.

[XB52]

A bottle of Baileys in Tesco. £22 pounds but only £13 with your clubcard. 8 months ago it was £8 clubcard or not. Clubcard savings are a con

[henrysmithsgloves]

11 minutes ago, Diadora Van Basten said:

There is a problem that inflation figures are being skewed as they are included at the price before the supermarket discounted price.

Wife spent £200 quid at Tesco online to feed us both for five days😳 starting to think it would work out cheaper to get takeaways 7 days a week, instead of getting them on Saturday and Sunday.

[TallPaul]

7 minutes ago, XB52 said:

A bottle of Baileys in Tesco. £22 pounds but only £13 with your clubcard. 8 months ago it was £8 clubcard or not. Clubcard savings are a con

Tesco **** me right off with their club card prices. Either pay a slightly high normal price or be mugged right off if you have no club card. 

[Lone Striker]

45 minutes ago, Footballfirst said:

I'm not sure that's the case. I'm in a fortunate position of having Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrison's, Asda, Aldi and Lidl all within two or three miles and I use all of them from time to time, depending on my needs. 

 

The Nectar (and Clubcard) discounts do make a difference. The simple accumulation of points is not significant (0.5% - 1%), but the promotional prices do offer decent discounts.  Sainsbury's also offer significant bonus points and price discounts tailored to your own regular shopping habits, e.g.  I may buy a particular pack of cheese at £3 full price.  Sometimes I will get say 60 bonus nectar points (worth 30p/10%), or at other times have a personal discount of 75p (25%) if I use their "smart shop".  If there is no discount I may not buy it there, but surprise surprise, they are likely to offer me a bonus/discount the next week.

 

The secret is obviously to shop around to get the cheapest / best value / personal favourites, if you are in a position to do so.

The cards do make a difference, yes.   You'll see from the article I posted above that the Sainsbury boss is furious that they're being publicised as the most expensive supermarket for the sample basket of items that WHich?  bases their comparison  on  - despite Which? making it clear that the only level playing field they can use is to use the "Normal" price (non-discount).    His argument is that the majority of his customers have a Nectar card and will be getting lower prices if they buy items which have a time-limited "Nectar price".   

 

My gripe (which I've noted on at least 6 items I bought in the last few weeks  in Sainsbury) is that I got  a decent discount on an item when its got a "Nectar price"  label or is targeted at me specifically - but that hid the fact that the normal price of the item had  gone up.   An example was a 500g bag of dried apricots - used to be £3.40, then a Nectar price appeared on it for £2.70, and when that ended the normal price had risen to £3.70  (about 8% increase)

 

As far as I can see, its a handy smokescreen for Sainsbury when they want to increase prices - customers with a Nectar card don't feel too outraged at a "normal price" increase if they've benefitted from a couple of weeks at a Nectar price.

 

As for the Smart Shop and self-service tills, the demise of human checkout staff is obviously a big saving on the wage bill - but I regularly see a lot of older customers enjoying a chat with the checkout person while they're  doing the packing.   For a lot of older folk living alone, its maybe one of the few opportunities they have to talk to another person face to face.    

 

The modern world is great for  some  people, not so great for others.   

[henrysmithsgloves]

When I get my licence back, and the doc OKs to start driving,farmfoods is my go-to. Can't wait to see the look on the Mrs face🤣

[ArcticJambo]

4 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

When I get my licence back, and the doc OKs to start driving,farmfoods is my go-to. Can't wait to see the look on the Mrs face🤣

 

If you like mature cheddar, this is the absolute daddy! Fiver I think for all this and it's massive, toasted cheese is ...

 

[henrysmithsgloves]

37 minutes ago, ArcticJambo said:

 

If you like mature cheddar, this is the absolute daddy! Fiver I think for all this and it's massive, toasted cheese is ...

 

I like the Young's beer batter fish,three quid cheaper than Asda🤤🤤 steak bakes🤤🤤 and I get money off😁 email me deals and cash off a shop over £25

[ArcticJambo]

3 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

I like the Young's beer batter fish,three quid cheaper than Asda🤤🤤 steak bakes🤤🤤 and I get money off😁 email me deals and cash off a shop over £25

Guess its got more than cheddar then!  Forgot my pic from last post, doh!

[henrysmithsgloves]

Just now, ArcticJambo said:

Guess its got more than cheddar then!  Forgot my pic from last post, doh!

 

[Tommy Brown]

7 hours ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

I like the Young's beer batter fish,three quid cheaper than Asda🤤🤤 steak bakes🤤🤤 and I get money off😁 email me deals and cash off a shop over £25

Hmm... might be £50 now before any discount. Leaflet I got had no £25 discounts on it.

[henrysmithsgloves]

2 hours ago, Tommy Brown said:

Hmm... might be £50 now before any discount. Leaflet I got had no £25 discounts on it.

Starts £25 spend if on email list👍🏻

[Tommy Brown]

14 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

Starts £25 spend if on email list👍🏻

👍

[skinnybob72]

13 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

The cards do make a difference, yes.   You'll see from the article I posted above that the Sainsbury boss is furious that they're being publicised as the most expensive supermarket for the sample basket of items that WHich?  bases their comparison  on  - despite Which? making it clear that the only level playing field they can use is to use the "Normal" price (non-discount).    His argument is that the majority of his customers have a Nectar card and will be getting lower prices if they buy items which have a time-limited "Nectar price".   

 

My gripe (which I've noted on at least 6 items I bought in the last few weeks  in Sainsbury) is that I got  a decent discount on an item when its got a "Nectar price"  label or is targeted at me specifically - but that hid the fact that the normal price of the item had  gone up.   An example was a 500g bag of dried apricots - used to be £3.40, then a Nectar price appeared on it for £2.70, and when that ended the normal price had risen to £3.70  (about 8% increase)

 

As far as I can see, its a handy smokescreen for Sainsbury when they want to increase prices - customers with a Nectar card don't feel too outraged at a "normal price" increase if they've benefitted from a couple of weeks at a Nectar price.

 

As for the Smart Shop and self-service tills, the demise of human checkout staff is obviously a big saving on the wage bill - but I regularly see a lot of older customers enjoying a chat with the checkout person while they're  doing the packing.   For a lot of older folk living alone, its maybe one of the few opportunities they have to talk to another person face to face.    

 

The modern world is great for  some  people, not so great for others.   

I was in Sainsbury’s at Cameron Toll recently and the self scan now has a gate to get out - you need to scan your receipt to open said gate. 
 

Basically saying, scan you own stuff but we don’t trust you! They can FRO - won’t be back there anytime soon. 

[Statts1976uk]

2 minutes ago, skinnybob72 said:

I was in Sainsbury’s at Cameron Toll recently and the self scan now has a gate to get out - you need to scan your receipt to open said gate. 
 

Basically saying, scan you own stuff but we don’t trust you! They can FRO - won’t be back there anytime soon. 

In Asda Glenrothes they don't trust you to scan your own carrier bags at the self service tills. I saw one customer just leave his trolley at the till when he had finished and when the customer assistant tried telling him to put his trolley away he remarked "if you don't trust me with a carrier bag then you don't trust me with a trolley". The actual language was a little more industrial though!

[JudyJudyJudy]

14 hours ago, Lone Striker said:

The cards do make a difference, yes.   You'll see from the article I posted above that the Sainsbury boss is furious that they're being publicised as the most expensive supermarket for the sample basket of items that WHich?  bases their comparison  on  - despite Which? making it clear that the only level playing field they can use is to use the "Normal" price (non-discount).    His argument is that the majority of his customers have a Nectar card and will be getting lower prices if they buy items which have a time-limited "Nectar price".   

 

My gripe (which I've noted on at least 6 items I bought in the last few weeks  in Sainsbury) is that I got  a decent discount on an item when its got a "Nectar price"  label or is targeted at me specifically - but that hid the fact that the normal price of the item had  gone up.   An example was a 500g bag of dried apricots - used to be £3.40, then a Nectar price appeared on it for £2.70, and when that ended the normal price had risen to £3.70  (about 8% increase)

 

As far as I can see, its a handy smokescreen for Sainsbury when they want to increase prices - customers with a Nectar card don't feel too outraged at a "normal price" increase if they've benefitted from a couple of weeks at a Nectar price.

 

As for the Smart Shop and self-service tills, the demise of human checkout staff is obviously a big saving on the wage bill - but I regularly see a lot of older customers enjoying a chat with the checkout person while they're  doing the packing.   For a lot of older folk living alone, its maybe one of the few opportunities they have to talk to another person face to face.    

 

The modern world is great for  some  people, not so great for others.   

Yes very good points about the self check outs and the  elderly . 

[inspector]

On 04/10/2023 at 19:55, ArcticJambo said:

Why is unleaded 10p cheaper at the Tesco in Dingwall than it is in Musselburgh?  Same with Sainsbury's just outside Kilmarnock. They're ripping the piss out of us here.

Was in Edinburgh at the weekend. Tesco Dalkeith 157.9, Tesco Firhill 152.9. They're at it

[ri Alban]

Maybe it's better we go into recession,  get these prices down. 

[Psychedelicropcircle]

Wonder if the Labour Party will reinstate the markets & competition authority. 
 

They’ve disappeared under Tory rool 

[Gizmo]

17 hours ago, Psychedelicropcircle said:

Wonder if the Labour Party will reinstate the markets & competition authority. 
 

They’ve disappeared under Tory rool 

Every trip to tesco lately you can see another 30p on usual items. It's profiteering and all of the supermarkets collude in price fixing. Infact, there was a develper in Austria who wrote a tool to scrape supermarket APIs to prove it: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/heisse-preise-food-prices 

We have some comparison websites in the UK but his was precisely aimed at exposing the collusion.

"Zechner and others say, shows there can be little difference in prices at some major supermarkets, and within days of an item changing price, competitors can mirror the change."

This isn't new really as you'd see the price checkers in supermarkets pre-internet days, noting them down. 

Letting the "market play out" is just code for monopolizing, anti-competition profiteering. Will Starmer do anything? On the face of his offerings so far, he seems determined to do **** all. 

[Tommy Brown]

On 05/10/2023 at 08:58, Tommy Brown said:

Shop in Bathgate and work in Livingston.

Tesco are generally the cheapest, BP & Shell are always dearer than the supermarkets (Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury & Morrisons)

Today, Bathgate Tesco dearer than BP and Jet by 2p.

1.629 in 3 garages.

I know Garages in Almodvale are all dearer than that.

App telling me Bathgate Morrisons is also 1.627, I didn't turn off to check.

 

Anyone from Polbeth or West Calder, confirm their price

 

 

 

[joondalupjambo]

12 minutes ago, Tommy Brown said:

Today, Bathgate Tesco dearer than BP and Jet by 2p.

1.629 in 3 garages.

I know Garages in Almodvale are all dearer than that.

App telling me Bathgate Morrisons is also 1.627, I didn't turn off to check.

 

Anyone from Polbeth or West Calder, confirm their price

 

 

 

Just looks like NP WC are asleep at the wheel.  

[JudyJudyJudy]

Its actually getting to the point that Marks and Sparks food is cheaper than so called lower class supermarkets.  Thats how bad it is getting. 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

3 hours ago, Gizmo said:

Every trip to tesco lately you can see another 30p on usual items. It's profiteering and all of the supermarkets collude in price fixing. Infact, there was a develper in Austria who wrote a tool to scrape supermarket APIs to prove it: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/heisse-preise-food-prices 

We have some comparison websites in the UK but his was precisely aimed at exposing the collusion.

"Zechner and others say, shows there can be little difference in prices at some major supermarkets, and within days of an item changing price, competitors can mirror the change."

This isn't new really as you'd see the price checkers in supermarkets pre-internet days, noting them down. 

Letting the "market play out" is just code for monopolizing, anti-competition profiteering. Will Starmer do anything? On the face of his offerings so far, he seems determined to do **** all. 

 

Not just supermarkets that are colluding, insurance companies as well I suspect.

I've just taken out new house insurance and on 2 comparision sites there wasn't much more than £20 or £30 between the top dozen or so (apart from the ones which wanted £000's), I'm sure folks were saying car insurance was the same recently, and we're the mugs getting fleeced rotten by this lot, but we haven't got much other choice.

[DALLY JAMBO]

23 hours ago, JudyJudyJudy said:

Its actually getting to the point that Marks and Sparks food is cheaper than so called lower class supermarkets.  Thats how bad it is getting. 

Work for m&s good value on most food deals that are still available.

[DALLY JAMBO]

On 15/10/2023 at 18:12, Tommy Brown said:

Today, Bathgate Tesco dearer than BP and Jet by 2p.

1.629 in 3 garages.

I know Garages in Almodvale are all dearer than that.

App telling me Bathgate Morrisons is also 1.627, I didn't turn off to check.

 

Anyone from Polbeth or West Calder, confirm their price

 

 

 

Sainsburys craiglieth today unleaded 151.9p per ltr. Signs not been working for weeks but have paper signs on pumps.

[JudyJudyJudy]

1 hour ago, DALLY JAMBO said:

Work for m&s good value on most food deals that are still available.

Yes I was pleasantly surprised 

[The Mighty Thor]

18 hours ago, DALLY JAMBO said:

Sainsburys craiglieth today unleaded 151.9p per ltr. Signs not been working for weeks but have paper signs on pumps.

Costco 142.9 for unleaded.

 

Somebody is ripping the piss. 

[manaliveits105]

Wages outstrip inflation for first time in 2 years - onwards and upwards 

[Jambo-Jimbo]

8 minutes ago, The Mighty Thor said:

Costco 142.9 for unleaded.

 

Somebody is ripping the piss. 

 

There is often about 8p per litre difference between Asda (Bilston) & Costco (100 yds away).

We always fill up at Costco every month when we are through there.

 

[mrcrisps]

Fuelled up at Costco before heading up north. Costco 142.9, Aviemore BP 157.9.

[ArcticJambo]

Was up to Dyce today then down coast through Montrose Arbroath Dundee Fife. Cheapest I saw unleaded was the Jet station just leaving Dundee for Aberdeen on A90 @ 1.497, then Arbroath Asda @ 1.499

[mrmarkus1981_1]

Bump. Down to 4.6% apparently

[henrysmithsgloves]

Just noticed in my area the amount of log burners now in my area. Sign of the times? It's like when I was going to primary school in the 1970s ,the smell of folk kindling the fires in the morning 😌

[jamb0_1874]

Will be interesting to see what happens to the headline inflation rate come Jan/Feb

[OBE]

23 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

Just noticed in my area the amount of log burners now in my area. Sign of the times? It's like when I was going to primary school in the 1970s ,the smell of folk kindling the fires in the morning 😌

 

Not good when there's a south westerly..down wind of two of them...stinking!

[henrysmithsgloves]

4 minutes ago, OBE said:

 

Not good when there's a south westerly..down wind of two of them...stinking!

That'll be 99% of the time🤔 what gets me though is the log burners are being fitted into houses that had coal fires years ago.they all went for cheaper heating at the time,now they are going back to solid fuel. 

[il Duce McTarkin]

19 minutes ago, OBE said:

 

Not good when there's a south westerly..down wind of two of them...stinking!

 

There's nowt like coming down the street on a cold winter's night to the reek o' yer ain lum, OBE.

 

[JudyJudyJudy]

14 minutes ago, henrysmithsgloves said:

That'll be 99% of the time🤔 what gets me though is the log burners are being fitted into houses that had coal fires years ago.they all went for cheaper heating at the time,now they are going back to solid fuel. 

I love a coal fire . Can’t beat it 

[OBE]

2 minutes ago, il Duce McTarkin said:

 

There's nowt like coming down the street on a cold winter's night to the reek o' yer ain lum, OBE.

 

 

Father was a miner, shitpence for a tonne of coal. Spoilt growing up, shorts and tee's (inside) throughout the dark months, fire was never off, burnt the arse out a few back boilers. Old man used to go radge if the dug was able to lie in front of the dying coals...

[joondalupjambo]

Been found out by the Watchdog mob that supermarkets increasing costs of non branded items have been marking up higher than needed and therefore more profits out of those lines.

 

Less profit on branded but obviously they knew that would be the case so ramped up other prices to cover it all.

 

Little scamps.

 

 

[Cade]

Eurozone is down to 2.4%

 

[Greedy Jambo]

6 minutes ago, Cade said:

Eurozone is down to 2.4%

 

So is my petrol tank.