Off Topic What grinds your gears

Tesco tripled theirs and their spokesperson said they were working hard to bring down prices for the benefit of their customers !! Lying tw***

 

There's many more companies to critisise before we get to supermarkets.

 

Don’t resent it at all more than happy for companies to be profitable , but ask them to be honest . A small percentage can be an enormous amount so it’s misleading , the motor industry used to work on less than that . But you have the Asda guys profiteering on fuel when others weren’t but then ‘ hiring and re firing staff on poorer contract and standing before the trade committee and saying they weren’t doing it - ‘ but then admitting only as a last resort ‘
I’ve worked for and told several owners that they can make as much as they like as long as they treat me and staff fairly . I guess you do or have done that ? Trouble is to be fair you need to value the job and make sure the staff know what’s expected , not much more and nothing less . I’ve worked for a guy who bought a new Range Rover and his wife a new Jag , at the same time and then told me to tell the staff there was no pay rise for the second year running - it’s not easy , leased or bought . Actually what’s worse is people like one of the coffee chains maybe Cafe Nero not paying tax for about 10 years declaring he hadn’t made a profit - expansion or not he wouldn’t have been viable would he ?

 

The phrase ‘forever home’ (or ‘forever whatever’) unless you are;

a) a ****ing good psychic

or

b) immortal.

 

Few years back Tescos on North Hull were selling 5 litre tins of Dulux emulsion, just before the Easter Bank Holiday, which was known then as THE busy weekend for DIY shops. They were selling it at less then the trade could buy it for by the pallet load. Even Dulux themselves tried to prevent them doing it, or so they claimed.
I had a DIY shop in those days and went into this branch and was stopped from buying more than, from memory, six tins, by the manager. I asked where the sign was restricitng the numbers a customer could buy, when I could buy a many tins of beans or bottles of wine as I liked from the same store, so why was paint a special case? He said 'Tesco are just a small grocers shop and have to be fair to all their customers'???
They where selling the paint at a loss to get people through the door on Easter weekend, everyone in the trade knew that and everyone in the trade locally took a hit to line Tescos pockets. When I was selling paint cheaper then B@Q and other leading sheds, bought locally from a Hull firm, ( and I was a one man band) The Big Boys approached the same supplier and told them if they didnt stop supplying me they would lose their accounts. The firm stopped supplying me, everytime I went for my paint order, it was 'out of stock'. Another big supplier pulled the same stunt with a particular brand and colour of fence pain during Covid, not just to me but to all small independents.
I deplore their trading principles of the Big Boys. Tesco move into an area, as they did on North Hull, sell all the everyday items at cost or even less then cost therefore closing down the local independents, then the prices gradually creep up. A friend of mine had a family newsagents on North Hull, long before Tesco knew where North Hull was, they also had a genuine small grocers shop, Tesco closed them both down and my friend died a broken man before he was 50.
At the time they were also employing people on 16 hours contracts ( no meal breaks etc) so they could still qualify for some ort of state handout, which was basically a way of subsidising Tescos payroll.
I wonder if OLM would post so sympathetically about them if they suddenly moved in to his market of clothing and undercut everyone?
Of course some would say 'thats business' but is it ethical and is it right?

 

To be fair to OLM, didnt UK supermarkets move into clothing two decades ago?

 

Have you seen tesco clothes.....

So not really.

 

Pardon?

 

****ing auto correct!!!!

Tesco!!!!!

 

True but mostly the cheaper, everyday stuff, school uniform and so on. I know an ex manager of Gordon Clarks in Hull City centre and you should listen to his views on the supermarkets moving into the school inform market. Its a race to the bottom, look at the state of retail in Hull City centre.

 

No-one is disputing that and so is everyone else. The likes of tesco want the lot though, they will be doing funerals next, selling cars and moving into the property market, it's just a matter of time.

 

Shouldnt be able to profit from food
We literally need it to stay alive

 

Someone remind us how much the Water Companies profits and dividens to their shareholders are?

 

On the other hand, when I was at school a long time ago I got a new pair of trousers at the start of the school year, they cost my mam a fortune and had to last the whole school year. Bearing that in mind they had the bottoms rolled up two or three times at the start and were gradually unrolled through the year. If in the first week you managed to put a hole in the knee it would be patched up not replaced with a new pair.
Move on to today when supermarket school clothes are cheap as chips we have parents saying they can't afford it and rely on (use) charity.

 

Who care so much about profits
They dont fix leaks

 

Tesco and the like will always look after their own interests. I know that Tesco (and probably the others aswell) provide help when their fresh produce supply chains are threatened. So in times of poor weather, poor crops, etc farmers, growers and packers do get some level of support to keep going. Self interest though, not philanthropy.