Food price rises

Soldato
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Working in food manufacturing, and we supply the likes of Tesco, and having worked for a company the supermarkets put out of business by constantly wanting to pay less for the products we made, I ****ing hate the lot of them but especially Tesco.

The suppliers, not just farmers, have been shafted left right and center. When the likes of Tesco do a buy one get one free offer they pretty much force the supplier to at least pay a large part of the costs.

**** them.
 
Soldato
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Supermarket pricing is poor for the consumer, with bundled deals and 2 for 1s, 3 for 2s etc often forcing unncessary purchases, consumption and wasted food. They also offer a very narrow range of produce, despite the many brands on the shelves. Much of this is a shaping of existing consumer demand. We as consumers are facilitating them manipulating our habits.
 
Soldato
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Working in food manufacturing, and we supply the likes of Tesco, and having worked for a company the supermarkets put out of business by constantly wanting to pay less for the products we made, I ****ing hate the lot of them but especially Tesco.

The suppliers, not just farmers, have been shafted left right and center. When the likes of Tesco do a buy one get one free offer they pretty much force the supplier to at least pay a large part of the costs.

**** them.

yeah this is what I'm getting at,

Then they say oh yeah we need to raise prices you know to help all British farmers we are supporting them!! yay!!!

Not?
 
Associate
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The pinch point in the food supply chain is the buyers for the supermarkets (not the consumer, but those that control the prices that the farmers get paid for their produce).
 
Man of Honour
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Haven't food prices been raising anyway?
I remember bread costing sub a quid for a decent loaf, now it's like 1.60.

Yes driven in large part by rising price of grain and increased demand in the developing world; however my view was always that food was too cheap to start with. When I was at uni there were price wars and you could get the cheap bread starting at about 7p.

Even looking at the current prices I still think goods like bread represent decent value, I mean for £1.60 that loaf of bread will last you say 4 days so 40p a day for a main staple good (obviously you need other things as well but the point I'm making is that the price of bread doesn't take a disproportionate amount of one's budget).

Realistically I think rising food prices just mean people need to shop smarter; we spend about £300/month on groceries for 2 people but we could probably cut that to £200 if we planned purchases better and threw less away. In other words because food has always been so ridiculously cheap in recent decades many people have developed a very carefree attitude to shopping just fill up the trolley and if 30-50% of it end up in the bin, who cares.
 
Associate
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That article makes out as if the rising price of food is caused solely by population growth and more people in India and China becoming middle-class. It fails to even mention the biofuels farce that I think is a much bigger driver of food price increases. Numerous governments, including the UK's, are giving tax breaks and subsidies for people to produce biofuelds, making it more profitable for farmers to grow fuel than food, all as part of a futile attempt at making a significant reduction to man made CO2 output.

As Philip Clarke is quoted saying in that article
It is the basic law of supply and demand
and the supply is being reduced.
 
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Caporegime
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29 Jan 2008
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It's not like demand for food is going down - people going out of business simply don't have efficient enough businesses. The supermarkets will still source food to sell and if people can't run their operations well enough to compete then that's just life...

It's like an independent bookseller moaning about amazon - if you're going to try and compete using an outdated business model then you're going to have to specialise or find something unique/different else you're going to have to face the reality that there is no such thing as a free lunch and if what you're doing is fairly basic then other people will come along and do it better. There is no inherent right to run a particular business.
 

V F

V F

Soldato
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UK
Tesco can do what it likes.

Sadly they do. I can't get over how small the rolls are now. Burgers nearly hang halfway out of the rolls now.

I haven't shopped in Tesco for god knows how long because most of their food taste so bland due to all the good stuff taken out. Plus so much stuff doesn't last as long as well as so many things are so dried out nowadays. That only lasts for a few days.
 
Permabanned
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Sadly they do. I can't get over how small the rolls are now. Burgers nearly hang halfway out of the rolls now.

I haven't shopped in Tesco for god knows how long because most of their food taste so bland due to all the good stuff taken out. Plus so much stuff doesn't last as long as well as so many things are so dried out nowadays. That only lasts for a few days.

Haha, some lady was in Morrisons today moaning about the size of our baps and rolls too. They are so tiny it's like eating cuisine sized portions.
 
Soldato
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21 Jan 2007
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I can't remember the last time I went into a proper supermarket (aldi and lidl on occasion, costco sometimes).

I mainly shop at local stores, butchers, bakers, greengrocers, cash and carry. It's cheaper half the time and the quality is much better anyway.

Supermarkets are massively detrimental to society, people are lazy though and easily influenced by advertising.

I'd rather support british firms selling british produce and keep the money in the local economy, not in the arse pocket of a tax dodging millionaire in some swedish bank account, further thinning the delicate fabric of our local economy. Diluting the idea of community, and all round promoting abuse in the supply chain.
 
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