[jezza]

Hello I noticed that my local shop have raised their  prices again,3rd price rise since December eg baked beans in December 60p January 78p this morning 93p ,I asked if it was new stock no said the load on the till prices at the wholesaler have gone up ,and theres me thinking that shops could only put prices up when new stock came in    jezza

[rowlandwells]

yes your rite Jez most things are on going up in price and will continue to do so I'm afraid my car tax is up my compost's I buy is up where it was £12.00 for 3 bags now £15.00 for 3 bags Lucky I bought before the price rise saved several quid on that purchase

the one thing I'm not sure of if we all buy Electric cars how are they going to cover the loss of fuel revenue 

and then there's all this inner city charges for cars wanting to go into the cities or pollution tax because I think other towns will cotton onto this as a way of raising monies and keeping traffic out of the town
centres  more online shopping comes to mind or out of town shopping and I haven't even touched on fuel increases there's more to come on that subject sooner rather than later your going to need you long Johns and your thermal nickers next winter when you see your fuel bill

[DanielCoffey]

Jezza - if the price is printed on the label/wrapping of the product then they MUST charge that price but if it has been hand applied via a sticky label or just a tag on the shelf then they are free to change the price at any time. We, of course, are free to try to shop elsewhere or online.

[Christine]

There's a lot of it about. Trouble is that corner shops don't have the quantity buying power. If prices stay low too long you should be looking at the best before date of course.

[Hampshire Hog]

I’m afraid having worked in marketing I know that the only real method used to determine a price is what price the market ie customer will pay. That’s the reason why the same basic ingredients will be sold at dramatically different prices if sold in Harrods or Lidl. Unfortunately with a lot of the things we buy we have no choice Council Tax, Water rates, Car Tax, heating, food etc. Only choice is to move to a smaller house, sell your car and rely on the non existent bus service. Probably the only realistic options these days are to trade down with food to a cheaper supermarket and buy some more jumpers!!

[rowlandwells]

as I said in my previous replies some of these town councils will jump on the band wagon to make charges for pollution taxes parking space and most other things they can think of to raise monies because there is definitely changes ahead to get cars of the road one way or another especially older cars

we could be going back to the days when my mother used to go on the bus into town shopping once a week then carry bags of shopping back to the bus station to catch the bus home in those days the bus was packed in those days good old public transport

I suppose we are one of the lucky ones in our village a good bus service a train station linking us to most parts of the country a couple of large shops including Costcutters and the co op and Daventry is only a ten minuet car ride and its free town parking but the down side  for those who haven't got a car we only have one day a week bus service to Daventry?

however if you what to go to Northampton by car and park daily to work or pleasure a bank loan would be advisable we always go to Rugby shopping sometimes by car and sometimes on the bus town centre parking pennies out of town shopping like most shopping centres no charge

but I'm afraid as I've said before its inevitable price rises will be on the cards I just want to run this past you after WW2 farmers where made to increase arable growing lets say wheat production and the land leas was introduced to supply  farmers with more modern machinery to increase food production as food was still in short supply and with so many ships sunk during the war years we needed to rely on our own food production where possible

now the table have turned because we are becoming more and more dependant on food imports on a daily basis  and the cost of transporting these goods are in my opinion driving the cost up because our suppliers know we are dependant on these food imports being delivered by ship or air and as gardeners we know most of our cut flowers are brought in the country of cause they can blame the price rises on the increased in fuel that's always a good excuse to put the prices up

I must say its a job to think just how these price rises will effect us in this  country for those who can afford to pay and those that can't 

[jezza]

Hello the local shop is supplied by Safeway,(Morrisons)all prices are supposed to be on par with the supermarkets when I enquired with the head office    jezza

[Growster...]

Your post says a lot, Rowland, and there are many points to note, but mainly, the towns' centres will dry up if they keep up with excessive parking costs, and charging high rates for shops. I really can see that the old 'High Streets' won't be around for many more years, and we'll all be either shopping out of town, or online!

Although we're supposed to be a big village here, (Tunbridge Wells once tried to 'class' us as a town, until we all told them all to get stuffed), and we have two small supermarkets at either end of the spectrum, i.e. Waitrose and Tesco. Both are fabulous places and we regularly use both for different reasons. Why I'm mentioning this is, as long ago as the early eighties, my company was heavily involved in developing and building the 'new' out-of-town shops. One of the ideas was that a smaller shop (like we have), would cater for all the villages within a certain radius, and Budgen were the first to understand this!

Budgen did indeed become the first to come here, several years ago, but they didn't seem to fit in well for some reason, their marketing was abysmal and they tried franchising with a local firm, Jempsons, which is a fabulous independent around here. That didn't work, so the site eventually went to Waitrose (although the site freehold is owned by Sainsbury's - work that one out!), and when Tesco came in over the road, the idyll was complete!

The upshot is that we never even go to Tunbridge Wells nowadays, except for the out of town BandQ, Currys etc, and we really don't want to park for too much dosh and trawl the place ever again!

[GraciesGran]

Growster, why on earth would you want to go into Tunbridge Wells?  There are no decent shops and the whole place is run down.

[rowlandwells]

 we are very much the same as you from what your saying Growster as I said we have an excellent bus service here but the numbers catching these buses has diminished over the past years maybe because of covid could be or as I've been told catching the bus is not for them they prefer to travel by car even if the fuel rises to £2.00 a litre is it something of a class thing traveling by bus these days by some people 

of cause most of them I spoke to have a bus pass and say it comes in handy encase of emergencies like the car wont start or one mite get the car dirty going town shopping

and of cause there's some talk about reopening some of the old railways that Mr Beaching decided to close many years ago well its a nice thought if it ever happened well it mite if they want to reduce the cars belching out all those toxic fumes but then what about the loss of all that fuel tax or congestion charges or town parking fees what will they  do then well they could introduce a rail tax or a walking tax any silly suggestions how to raise monies is are always welcome by governments or town councils the mind boggles 

[jaydig]

Does anyone else remember the potato shortage many years ago, when the chip shops rapidly increased the price of chips.  The price never came down again once the shortage was over, though, did it?  I very much suspect that many of the increases we are being subjected to at the moment are a case of profiteering and feel so sorry for those that struggle from one week's end to the next without having any added pressure on their finances.  Those of us with gardens, can, of course, dig some of it up and convert to a small veg patch to help out. It's surprising what can be produced in a very small space. Those who live in flats, or properties without any outside space don't have this opportunity, however.

[Growster...]

Growster, why on earth would you want to go into Tunbridge Wells?  There are no decent shops and the whole place is run down.

Spot on GrGr! We haven't been there together for at least five years, probably longer!

I used to get my glasses at Boots, but we both now go to an independent in Tenterden which is a delightful town!

[grinling]

hubby looking at electricity and shall we go fixed now, but cost of elec not going up too much per unit, but daily charge is doubling, so cutting back on elec use will not save a lot. we are having a smart meter fitted though.My elec costs more as no gas. As for buying out of season fruit and veg, that is a personal choice. I have 4 supermarket and a coop in the local town, only accessible by car, so shop by preference. I am cutting back,but also have a daughter going to uni offer days, I can do 15 hour round trips. Elec use should plummet when she goes to uni.