BBC NEWS | Business | Family food shop up '£15 a week' No s**t - nice of them to tell us what we already know :frusty: And yet the supermarkets are reporting massive profits :mad2:
Tesco unveils record profits of £2.8bn | Business | guardian.co.uk BBC NEWS | Business | Sainsbury profits jump to £380m and in light of this type of behaviour: BBC NEWS | Business | Supermarkets admit milk price fix
Big bakers push supermarkets to increase bread price in face of world wheat shortage | Business | The Guardian Associated British Foods, who own Kingsmill, made a profit of £282 million last year!!!!
We're getting the same here. After comments that interest rates have levelled out, it was announced today that inflation had spiked so now we can't rule out another interest rate increase. Add to that the petrol jump and...mind you, our fuel prices are still below the UK and other places.
Ah yes, those insane fuel prices at work again... at least that's the supermarket's usual excuse. "Shipping costs more now"... "Fertiliser costs more now"... et cetera and soforth. I had the pleasure of refueling our family car today for the first time in about a week. Last time (maybe five days ago) when I fuelled up I was whingeing about paying A$1.35 a litre. Now it's up to A$1.49 a litre here in Cairns. I should probably move this to the rants and raves thread, but riddle me this: Oil price peaks a few days ago. This is the price for a barrel of crude, unrefined oil. Within about a day, fuel stations across the country have insane fuel prices. They must be airdropping the crude to the refineries these days and then using an uber-secret Star Trek style transporter to get the refined product to the bowser for the price at the pump to jump so much in such a short amount of time. Simple profiteering or market forces in action? If we are nearing the end of the Age of Oil, I say bring it on. The sooner the better because going to work via an electric or even horse drawn bus has gotta be better than death by a thousand cuts. It will be interesting to see if the supermarket prices drop even after "dead dinosaur"-based fuels have fallen out of general agricultural and transport usage. I'm guessing they won't because it's really quite pleasant for them or their suppliers to be able to charge too much for staple foods and other necessities and get away with it. We should re-title this one "Dig for Survival"
Then you have our newly elected government saying how hard it is for Australian families and there are forces at work beyond their control. Not quite what they said before the election and I haven't seen any of the fuel tax come be reduced yet to ease the pain or other government revenue "sacrifices" made for the sake of the public. They'd rather have a big talk fest over the weekend which has achieved next to nothing beyond stir up some old ideas that would not benefit the country's future. Having said all of that, I prefer us to have strong banks which we have and the freedom to be able to whinge that our earnings get frittered away by every day living expenses. At least we have earnings to spend on every day living expenses!
Ya can't trust them. I remember sitting in both Brendan Nelson's (then Defence Minister - now leader of the opposition) and Robert McLelland's (then Shadow Minister for Defence and Homeland Security - now Federal Attorney General) offices in Parliament House in March 2005 expressing our concerns over the Bundy Bunker. We spent about an hour with each of them going over the full info packet - aerial imagery, archives and Defence files, the lot - and received assurances from Nelson that Defence would make it a priority to work with us to survey and make the site safe. Mclelland basically told us what a bad boy the Defence Minister was for not doing anything sooner and that he wouldn't let the bugger sweep it under the carpet. He'd bring it up in parliament question time, by God. Result: Defence department is ignoring the issue still and the issue never was brought up at question time. It felt like a bit of a wasted trip. At least the free coffee and danish in the parliamentary cafeteria was nice. Andy, you're absolutely right about us having the freedom to whinge. It's not that bad yet that we are all going to be destitute from oil and potato prices. I just hope that my kids can grow up in a similar world to the one I've been lucky enough to enjoy. I reckon we are living in an historic time right now, or at least the start of it. Hopefully the transition from the "Oil" Age to the "Whatever replaces Oil" Age over the next couple of decades will be smooth and positive. Getting back to supermarket bills for a second, I am not old enough to remember when greengrocers and butchers were the norm rather than the exception. Was it that inconvenient to have to go to several shops one after the other rather than get all your shopping done under one roof (supermarket)? My Dad came home from Viet Nam and went straight into the supermarket retail biz where he worked until he retired last year. According to the Old Man, there is so much price-fixing and collusion between the major supermarket chains driving up the prices that it's a wonder we didn't all boycott them years ago. I'm glad that on Saturday I'm moving to a town that's got an Aldi, and a butcher, and a farmer's market, (and a War Memorial Research Centre and a National Archives office).
Gentlemen, please stop whinging about fuel prices. You pay the equivalent of about 70p a litre for fuel right now. we are paying about $2.50 for a litre (and thats assuming my rather dodgy mathematics) Today i saw diesel at £1.18 a litre. And the government is hiking the tax again here, so christ knows what it will hit. Oh and our weekly shop in the last 3 months has gone form about £80 to near £120 with tesco. Currently trying to find cheaper alternatives.
We have to look at it in relevance to wages earnt! You have to look at average wage rates to get a better idea. (closer) Average wage in Australia 2007 was $1,102 = £526 UK weekly full time wage average 2007 was £457 = $958 Now How much do you pay for a Big Mac at McDonalds? AUD $4.85 How much do you pay for a litre (35 ounces) of full cream milk? AUD $1.20 How much do you pay for a loaf of sliced bread? AUD $2.10 How much do you pay for a litre of petrol? This will give you a better idea. £1 = $2.10 $1 = 48P eg: How many litres of petrol can you purchase with your "average" weekly age - not your wage? ?? Now do the same with Big Mac Milk Bread Have fun!
Good luck with the move, ABMM. AWM...mmmm. We're looking forward to hitting Aldi ourselves when we get to Melbourne.
Just another interest! I can buy a 2 litre bottle of Coke for $2.20 (or less) every week in any of the major grocery stores in Melbourne. What do you pay in the UK?
How much do you pay for a Big Mac at McDonalds? AUD $4.85 Don't know, but I think it's about £2 ($4.20) How much do you pay for a litre (35 ounces) of full cream milk? AUD $1.20 2 pints in Sainsburys is 75p (approx $1.50) 2 pints = about 1.1 litres How much do you pay for a loaf of sliced bread? AUD $2.10 Branded white sliced is about £1.15, supermarket own is about half that How much do you pay for a litre of petrol? In Bristol it's (average) 108.2p for unleaded, 118.0p for diesal, but it varies a lot across the country This will give you a better idea. £1 = $2.10 $1 = 48P
Dad, that 'average' wage is in the south around London, which seriously skews the average of anything in this country. Anywhere over 50 miles from London and the average weekly wage is much more likely to be £250. Around here its more like £200. All before Tax. I'm sure its the same in Oz with the big cities skewing out the average wage too. :frusty:
I normally use ASDA but today when I was in doing my shopping or as we scots from the west coast call it, the messages. I noticed a major hike the prices of the stuff that I consider to be basic items of my diet!
I had the same. Went shopping after posting the above and noticed a big leap (since my last shop on Saturday) - bread up by 15p, pack of sliced chicken up by 20p, sugar, eggs and pasta up, and I didn't even bother with the fresh meats.
"Home Brand" milk we can purchase for 99 cents a litre 48p. "Supermarket own bread here is about $1.80 or 86p?
Did I hear correctly today that the Petrol folks are going on strike in two weeks again? Cant wait for those long tailbacks at the stations waiting to put £2 in the tank to make sure its briming full
