People taking responsibility

[Guest Gertie100]

This refers specifically to a news item I saw on GMTV this morning:

 

Tescos have a huge extra store (out of town I believe) in Pontyclun, South Wales. They are now proposing to build an express store in the village (not sure exactly where as I was drying my hair at the time )

As usual the local people are up in arms (quite rightly so) about Tescos domination of all things retail and saying it will kill off the local trade etc.

 

BUT

who will shop there once the express opens? If you really value your local economy you have to support it!

 

Example:

my sister used to run a children's clothes shop in South Wales, after a few years they had to close because they were losing money. When they announced they were closing for the last month they had so many customers going into the shop asking them how they were going to survive without them, where would they buy their kids clothes from etc...

my sis started asking where the hell they had been for the last 6 months when they weren't selling the clothes!

 

For god sakes vote with your feet - if you don't agree with a company's ethics, morals, or the way they treat you then don't give them your money!!!!! :-x

 

(by the way, yes it is easy for me as I am not on low income and need to watch pennies so I can support my local traders etc rather than going to big superstores, but I wonder if everyone who can does....)

 

Sorry - needed to get off chest.........thank you, back to work...

[LittleMissSunshine]

I agree totally

 

We are going to get a large Tesco close by in an area which is flooded with local foreign food shops (you name it and its probably there) and some small Coop stores.

 

As I am against the power of Tesco I will not go shopping there and keep supporting these local shops. Hopefully a lot of people in the area will do the same otherwise a quite nice and diverse area will completely change. But depending on Tescos I dont think it will be much of a threat (apart from Coop) as they probably wont stock all the exotic and strange food labels you can find in these local stores

[indebtstudent]

You know the title of your topic could be used in another context. I am not one of the people of the opinion that bank charges are the fault of the account holder sine they have no say in how (un?) reasonable the charges are.

 

I do think though that some kind of law is required to give some companies a little lee way. I don't think it is unreasonable, in priniciple, for a company like Virgin Media (if we imagine they were themsevles competent!) making a small charge for late payment. People have after all agreed to take the services and part of that agreement is paying for them!!!

 

I think if we get too overzealous, kicking up a fuss about every charge, there is a risk people might see us as too extreme.

[MattyH]

You know the title of your topic could be used in another context. I am not one of the people of the opinion that bank charges are the fault of the account holder sine they have no say in how (un?) reasonable the charges are.

 

I do think though that some kind of law is required to give some companies a little lee way. I don't think it is unreasonable, in priniciple, for a company like Virgin Media (if we imagine they were themsevles competent!) making a small charge for late payment. People have after all agreed to take the services and part of that agreement is paying for them!!!

 

I think if we get too overzealous, kicking up a fuss about every charge, there is a risk people might see us as too extreme.

 

I don't think it's about giving a little leeway to be fair.. companies are allowed to charge a fee for late payments etc, they're just not allowed to profit from them!

 

Matt

[indebtstudent]

But how far do we take it? If I don't pay a bill for say 12 months alright they record it on my credit file but they have been depreived of the funds after they have provided the services...

[indebtstudent]

Re Tesco I live in a town where Tesco tried to get a store but public opinion was against it.

 

I would say, though, that the people objecting took a different approach to usual. Basically everywhere in town you now have to pay to park and you have to pay in advance (which IMO is very stupid indeed). A supermarket would pay for a large car park and thus have an advantage the market we have is not allowed.

[Guest Bert52]

I rarely shop at any local store simply because of the prices.

 

In my village there are numerous small shops including a sports shop and a footwear one. The mark up of these stores compared to the bigger retailers is a joke-some items are almost double the price.

 

It amazes me how they remain open as I never see anybody in them.

 

I stopped having milk delivered years ago because I buy it in bulk at the supermarket each week for about half the price.

 

Local shops are poorly stocked and overpriced and I don't use them.

[indebtstudent]

"In my village there are numerous small shops including a sports shop and a footwear one. The mark up of these stores compared to the bigger retailers is a joke-some items are almost double the price.

 

Local shops are poorly stocked and overpriced and I don't use them."

 

I'm no economist but your arguments are self defeating. Everytime you go to the larger organisations you put another nail in the cofifn of the smaller retailer. Tesco's and the like can offer low prices by buying products in HUGE quantities. Why only recently farmers were complaining that they were being paid LESS that it costs to produce milk by the big supermarkets.

 

The mark up of smaller retailers is not huge since they cannot achieve the cost savings the supermarkets can.

 

Look at Petrol, it's heavily taxed we know, but there is a large price difference if you go to a station somewhere in the sticks because the supermarkets are shifting goodness knows how many liters per day.

 

Think of th environmental consequences too, local goods used to be transported a short distance and sold locally. Now, buying in bulk, huge retailers move goods from wherever they're cheapest to thier stores.

 

The packaging is excessive and tremendously wasteful.

 

That's my 2 cents worth.

[rosiecotton]

I completely agree.

 

I honestly am in a fair bit of debt and can't really afford to buy from smaller shops but I do try whenever I can. I tend to get my meat from farmers markets etc. as it really is fresher and better quality and you know the money is going direct to the producers.

 

When I am in a better financial position, I shall do far more of my shopping in smaller local outlets.

[patdavies]

But how far do we take it? If I don't pay a bill for say 12 months alright they record it on my credit file but they have been depreived of the funds after they have provided the services...

 

A late payment fee that turns the company a profit is unlawful - that is the basis of the bank charges reclaims that this site stands for.

 

However, providing it was a contracted term in the T&Cs, it would not IMO, be unreasonable for a company to charge interest on late payments. This is what happens in the commercial world.

[Guest Gertie100]

My point was that we are all responsible for our actions - whether it be supporting local trade, or treating people the way in which we want to be treated -

 

The news item annoyed me and I know from this site that a lot of people do not like Tescos and delibrately don't shop there.

If all people who could afford to support local economy did, Tescos might think again...

[therafalution]

I won't shop in tescos because i don't want to help the bitter people build a new stadium in kirkby. We have an asda that overnight put a respected local butcher out of business literally overnight. He couldn't compete with their lower prices and his regulars deserted him. He lost his business and his home. We try to shop in local shops but some of the mark-up i ridiculous. For instance a bag of sugar in one shop costs 78p but in our local garage it £1.09. My dad calls this country rip-off britain and he is right. We accepted bank charges for years, we accept poor local services, poor transport with ever increasing ticket price. There is a definite them and us situation developing. Consumers are seen as a cash cow and everyone wants a piece and will do anything to get our money, legal or illegal and no-one in government gives a stuff. For that reason we should fight back, support local traders but don't let them rip us off, oppose developments that are not beneficial to our community. We should refuse to deal with some of these clowns who operate dcas, force the accounts back onto the creditors.If you get harrassed give it back make their jobs difficult. Rant over.

[StormWarrior]

Unfortunatly it's simple case of economies of scale !

Nothing more, nothing less.

People want to pay less, tesco buy more and so can sell cheaper.

I used to pay the extra at my local store (co-op) simply because they were open when I wanted to shop (after 8pm) but 24hr opening has changed that. (asda)

However, I still get my milk from the co-op, because I pass it on the way home, and if it's later I go to the nearest all night garage.

I pay more but I am paying for the convienience.

 

Years ago you paid more at the local 'Paki' shop, cause they were the only people to stay open late at night. And to be honest I'd still rather use them than the big supermarkets.

 

NOTE: the use of the word 'paki' is in no way meant to be derogatory, racist, etc. It's used purely so everyone knows what I mean, it's use is now part of english culture, so please don't bitch !