Rip Off Britain - We’ll Take What Little You Have Left

I don’t know much about economics on a grand scale, we were given a couple of overview classes in the 6th form, but the subject didn’t ‘grab’ me.

But something the teacher said has stuck with me through the years, going along with life it seemed to hold true, but we were told it was incorrect by the PTB and we just didn’t understand the economics.

What he told us was ( and he may have been quoting )

The difference between doing business in the USA and in Great Britain is this.

In the USA a business will say “How low can we price this product and still make  a profit?”

In Great Britain, they will say “How much can we charge for this product and still get away with it?”

Simplistic I admit, but I think it holds true. (you only have to compare prices on Amazon.com and Amazon UK, is it really a straight Dollar for Pound equivalency)

And here we have some more shenanigans that seem to bear this out..

Food giants cut back on product size but prices remain the same

Supermarkets and leading food companies have reduced the size of their products but failed to pass on cost reductions to their customers.

I am sure there are sound ‘economic’ reasons for this though, lets have a look at the excuses.

“In this instance, the Tesco Value chocolate digestives became an 18-biscuit pack as part of a routine range review. This happened to coincide with an increase in commodity costs.”

cough BULLSHIT cough

As a result we made some changes to the seasoning blend in each pot. The changes represented the majority of the reduction in overall weight of the beef and tomato product.

“At no time this year have we changed the price of Pot Noodle to retailers. Any changes to the prices in stores will have been implemented by retailers.”

Bollocks

.Weight Watchers, which sells a range of low-calorie food, said that it had reduced the weight of its popular Cookies & Cream sundaes after customer requests for smaller pots.

That’s not even trying

Someone with a better knowledge of economics will no doubt fisk me and tell me I’m wrong, but my perception of it, is that we are still being ripped off and the explanations hold no water.

 

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