| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. 07:31 - Nov 10 with 3014 views | noggin |
In the last 12 months, coffee has risen by 25%, fresh cod by 18%, eggs by 12.5%, bananas 12.8% and the list goes on. (This is in Norway but I presume it's similar in the UK?)
Obviously wages are not rising at anything like those figures, so why are prices continuing to rise so quickly? It must be a huge struggle for many families, lower paid workers and the unemployed. Maybe it's time to return to eating local and seasonal produce, although cod is local here and it's becoming a luxury for most people. |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:00 - Nov 10 with 1579 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
We certainly seem to be working harder to essentially stand still financially (no increase in savings, holidays unaffordable) The hourly rate we would have to charge for gardening to address this situation doesn't sit comfortably with us so for now we are just swallowing it. Only a state pension to look forward to as well so we could do with being able to save. |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:02 - Nov 10 with 1572 views | Zx1988 |
Re the 'why' question:
I know it sounds like the glib, easy answer, but I'm pretty sure it's because retailers know that they can get away with it.
Consumers bore the Covid-inflicted price increases (and those brought about by Russia invading Ukraine) with a few murmurs of discontent, but still carried on regardless.
Now there isn't such upward pressure on prices, retailers know that they can keep nudging things upwards, mutter some weasel words about inflation, and people will still keep on buying. |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:05 - Nov 10 with 1559 views | LutherBlissett |
Seems a pack of beef mince almost doubled in price overnight. I almost swore in front of the other shoppers. Needless to say, I gave that spag bol my undivided attention. | | | |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:06 - Nov 10 with 1539 views | Zx1988 |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:05 - Nov 10 by LutherBlissett |
Seems a pack of beef mince almost doubled in price overnight. I almost swore in front of the other shoppers. Needless to say, I gave that spag bol my undivided attention. |
The weird thing I've found with mince (in Aldi, at least), is that the 3% fat mince is now cheaper than the 5% fat mince (both 500g packs).
It feels completely counter-intuitive. Any idea why that might be the case? | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:08 - Nov 10 with 1528 views | Ely_Blue |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:00 - Nov 10 by BanksterDebtSlave |
We certainly seem to be working harder to essentially stand still financially (no increase in savings, holidays unaffordable) The hourly rate we would have to charge for gardening to address this situation doesn't sit comfortably with us so for now we are just swallowing it. Only a state pension to look forward to as well so we could do with being able to save. |
“ The hourly rate we would have to charge for gardening to address this situation doesn't sit comfortably with us so for now we are just swallowing it “
This is where you are being soft in comparison to the producers of the above said coffee/banana growers/fishermen, if you run a business then you need to cost in everything accordingly, so long as you aren’t making excessive profits then it’s a fact of current life that prices will have to go up and if someone wants your services they will have to pay for them at the “going rate” you are not a charity and it is not your responsibility to sort out the countries financial situation |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:12 - Nov 10 with 1516 views | LutherBlissett |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:06 - Nov 10 by Zx1988 |
The weird thing I've found with mince (in Aldi, at least), is that the 3% fat mince is now cheaper than the 5% fat mince (both 500g packs).
It feels completely counter-intuitive. Any idea why that might be the case? |
I suppose they'd process the fat and lean meat separately and simply put the fat by itself isn't worth much compared to the lean. However, I like you prefer greater fat content for flavour's sake so it makes no bones to me if people want to pay a premium for lean while we get all the fatty goodness for less. Bon ap. | | | |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:13 - Nov 10 with 1504 views | Zx1988 |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:12 - Nov 10 by LutherBlissett |
I suppose they'd process the fat and lean meat separately and simply put the fat by itself isn't worth much compared to the lean. However, I like you prefer greater fat content for flavour's sake so it makes no bones to me if people want to pay a premium for lean while we get all the fatty goodness for less. Bon ap. |
That was my working theory; that 3% fat is so far below the optimal meat/fat ratio that flavour takes a hit and, technically, it's actually a lesser product. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:14 - Nov 10 with 1504 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:00 - Nov 10 by BanksterDebtSlave |
We certainly seem to be working harder to essentially stand still financially (no increase in savings, holidays unaffordable) The hourly rate we would have to charge for gardening to address this situation doesn't sit comfortably with us so for now we are just swallowing it. Only a state pension to look forward to as well so we could do with being able to save. |
Having only the state pension to retire on must be a huge worry, although if you're debt free I guess it's doable. I will retire, age 60, towards the end of next year but I still have a mortgage so will have to move to the country, or out of Norway, to have any standard of living.
I realise that I'm fortunate to have public sector pensions that I can claim at 60 and I could continue working, but after 39 years of military and public service, I really don't want to. It just seems that for every year, those pensions become less attractive as the cost of living increases.
It looks like a lot of people are going to have to work until they drop, just to survive. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:16 - Nov 10 with 1486 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:06 - Nov 10 by Zx1988 |
The weird thing I've found with mince (in Aldi, at least), is that the 3% fat mince is now cheaper than the 5% fat mince (both 500g packs).
It feels completely counter-intuitive. Any idea why that might be the case? |
3% fat mince? Is there even any flavour in that? Isn't mince normally around 14%? | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:18 - Nov 10 with 1468 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:08 - Nov 10 by Ely_Blue |
“ The hourly rate we would have to charge for gardening to address this situation doesn't sit comfortably with us so for now we are just swallowing it “
This is where you are being soft in comparison to the producers of the above said coffee/banana growers/fishermen, if you run a business then you need to cost in everything accordingly, so long as you aren’t making excessive profits then it’s a fact of current life that prices will have to go up and if someone wants your services they will have to pay for them at the “going rate” you are not a charity and it is not your responsibility to sort out the countries financial situation |
"This is where you are being soft in comparison to the producers of the above said coffee/banana growers/fishermen"
I'm pretty sure it's not them that are increasing their profits. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:29 - Nov 10 with 1432 views | DJR |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:16 - Nov 10 by noggin |
3% fat mince? Is there even any flavour in that? Isn't mince normally around 14%? |
As someone who used to make mince from very lean beef at a time when lean mince wasn't a thing, I am not sure fat has much in the way of taste. |  | | |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:33 - Nov 10 with 1396 views | Benters |
Yep it’s gone up and the food portion has got smaller.
I purchased a box of Viennese whirls from the local Tescos Express the other day,and each whirl was not much bigger than a £2 coin! |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:34 - Nov 10 with 1393 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:29 - Nov 10 by DJR |
As someone who used to make mince from very lean beef at a time when lean mince wasn't a thing, I am not sure fat has much in the way of taste. |
I don't know about that. Chips fried in beef fat definitely taste better, although that might be due to the alternative of seed oils degrading the flavour? | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:34 - Nov 10 with 1392 views | EdwardStone |
Our thoughts and prayers reach out to Ken Murphy, the CEO of Tesco. He is struggling to get by on a measly £ 9.23 million this year
His basic wage is a slender £ 1.65 mil, the remainder being made up of various "performance bonuses" which I'm guessing means raising prices and driving down costs by shafting suppliers
Assuming he puts in an average shift of 40 hours per week for a 48 week year.... that would give him an hourly rate of £4800
I'm not usually a great fan of "politics of envy" but this does strike me as somewhat excessive
# Every Lidl Helps |  | | |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:43 - Nov 10 with 1336 views | baxterbasics |
And just to make things even worse, the government is prepping us for some combination - possibly all- of the following: increases in income tax, possibly VAT, per-mile road charging (at least on electric vehicles), and a move against salary sacrifice pension schemes. Every single one of which would make me poorer, just as I was getting to a point in life where I feel like I might be able to keep my head above water and be ok. |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:52 - Nov 10 with 1298 views | MrPotatoHead |
Global wholesale commodity prices of coffee & cacao have been very volatile (and high) in the past couple of years which really is a case of supply and demand. Demand increases and owing to particularly dry weather in some of the growing regions supply is down and yields have been poor. The markets are also notoriously dodgy with a lot of government influence in some of the growing regions.
Wider point still remains about increasing costs, I don’t necessarily think it’s retailers being opportunistic but there’s probably an element of that. Huge cost rises by way of NI, NMW, rent and rates also contribute, as well as ingredients for manufacturers. That leaves 2 choices, pass it on to the shopper or suck it up, or somewhere between the 2. It’s very difficult and rises certainly seem to be far in excess of wage growth in many areas.
On a personal level what can one do about it? I have tried to manage cost through usage, traded down to cheaper alternatives in a few areas, cut back on 1 or 2 things I would've bought previously and probably a bit less alcohol which is an expensive balancing item. I'm stubborn, £100 was always a (somewhat arbitrary) weekly shop figure for us, and when that became £120 like for like I've tried to maintain £100, albeit obviously getting less for my money. Similar situation with energy prices, being more mindful over usage which is no bad thing. In £ terms I'm probably not spending a huge amount more than I would've been at a normal level of inflation, I'm just getting 10%+ less for my money I guess.
EDIT: Appreciate that's easy to do when there's 'fat' in the shopping basket no pun intend. If you're already on the breadline and buying the bare minimum there's much less you can do other than suck up paying more for your basics. Its a horrible situation for so many and with winter approaching those have my sympathies. Nobody should have to choose between heating or eating. [Post edited 10 Nov 9:09]
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:10 - Nov 10 with 1208 views | BanksterDebtSlave |
Presumably all those price rises due to covid, pressure on shipping containers and whatever, say in the cost of building materials have been reversed now? | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:17 - Nov 10 with 1165 views | LutherBlissett |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:29 - Nov 10 by DJR |
As someone who used to make mince from very lean beef at a time when lean mince wasn't a thing, I am not sure fat has much in the way of taste. |
This is where we will have to part ways. Fat is the key to flavour, and a little extra lubrication never hurt anyone - in fact, quite the opposite. | | | |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:38 - Nov 10 with 1086 views | J2BLUE |
It's the new asset economy (credit Gary Stevenson)
I calculated that in a three year period we lost 21% of purchasing power in the UK. My salary in that time went up 3%. It's a joke.
Meanwhile, look at gold, bitcoin, stocks etc. |  |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:55 - Nov 10 with 1011 views | baxterbasics |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:38 - Nov 10 by J2BLUE |
It's the new asset economy (credit Gary Stevenson)
I calculated that in a three year period we lost 21% of purchasing power in the UK. My salary in that time went up 3%. It's a joke.
Meanwhile, look at gold, bitcoin, stocks etc. |
This is also the situation discussed in "How to Own the World" by Andrew Craig.
Because governments are addicted to borrow/tax and spend, inflation is a perpetual destroyer of our cash. The only way to beat it is investing in actual finite "stuff" - stocks and shares, gold, property, yes bitcoin too (not actual stuff but supply is still finite). Anything government can't just print more of. Do everything you can to get out of the 'living paycheque to paycheque" life and start putting what you can aside into some kind of investment. We should be teaching our kids to do this from day 1 too. Even if all they can save is £20 a month from their McDonalds wages. Got to start somewhere.
Whish I had figured this out before I hit 40 and already had family bills to pay. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:58 - Nov 10 with 999 views | Ely_Blue |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 08:18 - Nov 10 by noggin |
"This is where you are being soft in comparison to the producers of the above said coffee/banana growers/fishermen"
I'm pretty sure it's not them that are increasing their profits. |
Their costs are increasing/yields are down so of course they have to cover their costs!
Don’t be so blind | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:00 - Nov 10 with 992 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 09:58 - Nov 10 by Ely_Blue |
Their costs are increasing/yields are down so of course they have to cover their costs!
Don’t be so blind |
Covering their costs is not increasing their profits. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:02 - Nov 10 with 987 views | Ely_Blue |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:00 - Nov 10 by noggin |
Covering their costs is not increasing their profits. |
No but it’s increasing your costs! | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:03 - Nov 10 with 979 views | noggin |
| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:02 - Nov 10 by Ely_Blue |
No but it’s increasing your costs! |
But someone, somewhere is increasing their profits. | |
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| The "cost of living crisis" just continues. on 10:09 - Nov 10 with 944 views | bracknell_blue |
Another Brexit benefit? Sure looks like it. |  |
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