Question For Uk Shoppers (in General)

[MBOU]

Hey people

I just thought I would post this (these?) question/s as for once I have temporarily been shut up and actually can't weigh up pros and cons in my own mind and actually come to any particular opinion....

I am doing my degree in Psychology with the Open University, tragically... this does mean I am having to do a Social Sciences module... (utterly boring to a point where a lot of people have just quit doing the degree to avoid 9 months of this module!!).

However this section has caught my attention and is at least reasonably interesting! So would like your thoughts!

Main Question (reworded to make it easier to post):

Do you regularly shop at one of the four leading supermarkets (Tescos, Sainsburys, Asda & Morrisons) and what choice do you feel you have about where you shop?


But within your answers, I am also interested in your opinion on the effects of supermarkets, both pros and cons because there are definately both. To include the effect on other retailers and independants, the local environment, jobs etc.

My automatic thought, personally, is that Supermarkets are bad, they have good points... but are generally bad....

I have seen what they have done to the farmers who are practically having to giveaway everything they work for because the supermarkets want to make more and more profits, the buildings are monstrously huge eyesores often in outlying towns and outskirts and previously peaceful areas, they have such huge market power and can force such huge discounts that they can drop their prices until no retailers can compete... by providing such a huge selection of foods... they have encouraged serious laziness and poor eating by providing people with awful unhealthy foods in huge quantities...

It just seemed to have so many negatives I couldn't even begin to see any positives (at least... not that I *wanted* to see!)... but now I need to reconsider how they can redevelop land that has been left to go to unsightly wasteland that could have been used before had people actually bothered, they can attract customers to a town/part of town or city that had become run down and devoid of people, with more people attracted to the area, more shops are likely to want to be in the area! (just not those in direct competition...), they provide a LOT of jobs! they allow people to buy everything they need in one place so its convienient... and I am sure there are many more pros that I can't think of off the top of my head...

I am meant to be weighing up the pros and cons and coming up with my own opinion on Supermarkets and at the moment... my own opinion is that they have pros and cons LOL but I'm meant to be for or against... but meh!

Personally, I live in a beautiful little village about 15 miles from the nearest big town that has both Sainsburys and Tescos and a Lidl and probably Morrisons and Asdas somewhere about... and a huge Sainsburys Savacenter about 10 miles out the other way... but generally, we only shop at a large supermarket every 6-8 weeks max... mainly we use Co-op for regular stuff like milk and eggs and stuff like that, Co-op also has a fresh bakery we use as well but when possible, we have several farm shops locally, an award winning butchers, a grocers, an organics shop etc.... we try to support local businesses, especially now my dads a business coach for a lot of the local businesses lol. But we don't havea lot of money, no more than most and a lot less than some... we all work hard and we all get by... but we eat healthily, use local produce whenever we can andin supporting local growers and farm shops, we get good deals and it often works out a lot cheaper than supermarkets, especially for meat!! I mean.... I could buy a leg of lamb for £8 at the farm shop or £18 in the supermarket... plus we have access to all sorts from duck and pheasant to beef, lamb and pork all locally sourced and butchered on site, not only that but venison from several species of dear and its cheaper to buy then beef or lamb because it is local!! Tastes amazing!!

Maybe I am a country person at heart but I could never live in a city eating ready meals and packed sandwiches and crud from supermarkets with all the preservatives in it because I was too lazy to prepare a meal from scratch (even if you cook batches and freeze it to defrost on days you dont have time to cook!).

I see the good supermarkets bring! But I think I am swaying towards them killing the country... not being good for the country.

I thought this was an interesting 'debate' as in a way... you can see how it relates to big chain aquatic stores and little independants. I am all for supporting local retailers as much as they can possibly support, they bring a lot to the country.

Without thinking too much of this being fish related, what are your opinions?

Thanks for reading if you got this far! You have serious patience there people!

Ermagerrrrrd thats a lot of writing!!!

 

[ColR1948]

The first thing that springs to mind is, are you knocking the supermarkets by naming them yet we can't knock fish shops?

 

[MBOU]

No, its is a statement that they are the four leading supermarkets in the country and they are the four named in my Sociology textbook, it is highly unlikely there will be a lawsuit if they are teaching it through universities that said, the study book put a lot of effort into using Tescos as a main example...

That said, I never intended for anyone to say "i dont like this supermarket because..."....

The question clearly asked if people used "one of the four leading supermarkets" and then their opinion on supermarkets in general, not their thoughts on a specific supermarket or any need to name the supermarket they use because realistically, it makes little difference which one they use, so long as itsone of the four leading supermarkets....

That said, I also asked for the opinions of those who DONT use supermarkets... and why not?

I'd hope that people are mature enough to consider their opinions without turning it into a slagging match because it is something that effects the whole country and the economy. It is also a very important factor in social sciences.

Anyone that does feel the need to gripe or name and shame or talk specifically about one particular shop will findtheir post is simply removed as it does not answer my question and is therefore irrelevent and just cluttering up the post.

 

[Livewire88]

The missus shops at Asda regularly because it is convienient, 95% of what is needed is all under one roof so it saves time not having to go travel round different shops.

She has the choice to shop whereever she wants but Asda seems to be her choice, we have a Sainsburys near by which she will use if in need of a few things rather than needing to do a full shop. Obviousley the majority of people just want convienience along with cheap prices so that is the reason why supermarkets are such huge busineses.

Pros; cheap prices, convienient, huge varity on offer & force local shops to lower prices.
Cons; none

Reason I put cons as none is because I am not realy bothered if small local shops go out of business because of the big superstores, thats just life.

Merry Christmas

 

[techen]

I dislike almost all supermarkets and my father refuses to shop at half at them. We've had a tesco manager come into our small store to look at our prices then adjust there's and undercut us. I find that large supermarket are killing the small stores and something should be done about it.

 

[the_lock_man]

Reason I put cons as none is because I am not realy bothered if small local shops go out of business because of the big superstores, thats just life.

A rather callous statement and rather ironic to then put

Merry Christmas

Let's hope you never have cause to need a local shop

The problem with large stores is that people assume that they are cheaper on everything.

In my line of work, I compete with the DIY Superstores. I know from my own research that they are more expensive on probably 85-90% of our stock lines, but because they are super-cheap on the lines that they promote (and often on these lines, they are cheaper than my own purchase price), people assume that everything is cheap. It isn't.

The other problem is that the large stores reduce your choice on what's available. They use their size to coerce manufacturers and suppliers into trading practices which aren't beneficial to them - they also either end up going broke, or having to stop dealing with the large stores in order to survive. That means that only the large manufacturers can sell to the large retailers - limiting the choice of product available.

Apply that scenario to fishkeeping - can you imagine what our tanks would be like if the only place we could buy fish was Pets At Home?

 

[NickBFC]

I live on the coast, and in a 7-8 mile radius we have two Tesco superstores, an Asda superstore, countless Tesco express, and a Sainsburys store which is being converted into a mega store next year. I hate supermarkets, they kill the local traders, are greedy with their pricing structures, not to mention opening their own banking/holiday/insurance services - killing off farmers etc etc with their demand for lower pricing. If I have to use one then we use Sainsburys as I find their food/image nicer than Asda and Tesco. We support out local butcher as the meat is way nicer than processed super market rubbish and I believe in helping the little guy, heck if nobody did then Tesco etc would take over the world and the consumer wouldn't have freedom of choice in anything. If there was a local grocers we would probably buy our fruit/veg there too. Sorry - final thing, the consumer ISN'T excused from this either, a lot of people are lazy and price conscious. If people were happy to pay a little extra for quality, then the farmer etc would get a better deal from the supermarkets. They are heavily to blame, but society is too with the want it now/don't want to pay for it culture.

 

[Livewire88]

Reason I put cons as none is because I am not realy bothered if small local shops go out of business because of the big superstores, thats just life.

A rather callous statement and rather ironic to then put

Merry Christmas

Let's hope you never have cause to need a local shop

The problem with large stores is that people assume that they are cheaper on everything.

In my line of work, I compete with the DIY Superstores. I know from my own research that they are more expensive on probably 85-90% of our stock lines, but because they are super-cheap on the lines that they promote (and often on these lines, they are cheaper than my own purchase price), people assume that everything is cheap. It isn't.

The other problem is that the large stores reduce your choice on what's available. They use their size to coerce manufacturers and suppliers into trading practices which aren't beneficial to them - they also either end up going broke, or having to stop dealing with the large stores in order to survive. That means that only the large manufacturers can sell to the large retailers - limiting the choice of product available.

Apply that scenario to fishkeeping - can you imagine what our tanks would be like if the only place we could buy fish was Pets At Home?

Sorry if I offended you, I was just voicing my opinion.

In this day in age people look to save money where ever possible, so if a local shop shuts because a super store is selling goods for less than them it does not boher me in the slightest. Its a dog eat dog world and people/busineses need to adapt in order to survive.

An example; Sometimes pay £1.50 for 2 litres of milk at my local store when I could get 4 litres at my local superstore for £2. It depends how soon I want the milk, so I shop where it suites me at that particular time.

Merry Christmas

 

[tribalbrit]

We have all 4 of the main supermarkets at equal distance from where we live. My wife regularly use's each of them. These supermarkets have been born out of public demand... If we didn't want them they would not exist.
In this age of higher taxes, lower incomes, convenience and the ever increasing demand for choice is what makes these stores successful.
As for poor farmers, I live in the country and there aren't many poor farmers around here, quite the opposite!
Supermarkets are purely supplying for the demand, like it or not.

 

[MBOU]

Bahhh dang nammit!! I just wrote another really long reply and my stupid broser did the whole "IE just had to restart your browser" thing and I lost it. Gahh I hate that!!

Basically... lol... I was thanking everyone for their replies! It is interesting to hear everyone's opinions, whatever they are! And if anyone was concerned, none of this is actually being used for my coursework, it was just a "consider this and ask the thoughts of those around you" task in my text book, my coursework is later on and on a different question anyway which obviously, I wouldn't be asking other people to do my coursework for me!

Will have to come up with my post in a big,completely forgot what I said now

 

[the_lock_man]

Livewire, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and to voice it. If I'm offended, that's my problem.

You've fallen into the trap of assuming the supermarkets are cheaper on everything. Yes, of course they are on milk & bread.What about other stuff? Have you actually ever checked? My company used to be a little old-fashioned hardware store (Four Candles and all that!). I guarantee you that the screws that we sold at that point were cheaper than what the DIY Superstores sold. And we sold them singly, you didn't have to buy a packet of 20, 18 of which you don't need. We found that the market share for indies like us was diminishing too far, so we adapted to survive. Plenty haven't. One bloke once said to me that he didn't understand why the little places were closing down - he was always popping into us for his odd bits & pieces. Yeah, not the regular stuff at all, but the odd bits that he couldn't get from the superstores.

So you don't care if the little shops go? Fine, let's explore that scenario. There are very very few independant petrol stations left, the big companies have a virtual monopoly on the market. Are they competing with each other, do you think? Cos it's amazing how little difference there is in price between these places. None of those big companies ever says, "Look, we want bigger market share, we're gonna cut our prices by 10p/litre."

Do you really think that when and if the big 4 supermarkets have no significant competition, that this will be good for the consumer? Do you really think that, although illegal, there won't be any price fixing going on? Do you really think prices will stay low, when they don't have to?

Therein lies the best reason I can think of for using independent stores - without them, you'll be paying their prices anyway.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Do you regularly shop at one of the four leading supermarkets (Tescos, Sainsburys, Asda & Morrisons) and what choice do you feel you have about where you shop?


But within your answers, I am also interested in your opinion on the effects of supermarkets, both pros and cons because there are definately both. To include the effect on other retailers and independants, the local environment, jobs etc.

I shop at two of the "main supermarkets" because they are convenient and overall save me money. I don't own a car, therefore putting in the effort to shop far and wide from supermarket to mom and pop's shop would cost me more, especially since I am not hooked on popular brands. I am also not British and its easier to get the odd specialty item at the main supermarkets than try and search them out elsewhere.

As for the effects...

Pro's.... people want convenience and the appearance of bargains (whether or not they get them), a big retailer is more likely to offer specialty items at a cheaper cost.

Con's... economic I suppose, they are forcing farmers to sell their products at the price of dirt or at a loss, they sell pretty food rather than the best food (such as when it comes to fruit and veg), they sell what they think you want and offer little chance of that changing as sometimes we'd like something different.

 

[Livewire88]

Livewire, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and to voice it. If I'm offended, that's my problem.

You've fallen into the trap of assuming the supermarkets are cheaper on everything. Yes, of course they are on milk & bread.What about other stuff? Have you actually ever checked? My company used to be a little old-fashioned hardware store (Four Candles and all that!). I guarantee you that the screws that we sold at that point were cheaper than what the DIY Superstores sold. And we sold them singly, you didn't have to buy a packet of 20, 18 of which you don't need. We found that the market share for indies like us was diminishing too far, so we adapted to survive. Plenty haven't. One bloke once said to me that he didn't understand why the little places were closing down - he was always popping into us for his odd bits & pieces. Yeah, not the regular stuff at all, but the odd bits that he couldn't get from the superstores.

So you don't care if the little shops go? Fine, let's explore that scenario. There are very very few independant petrol stations left, the big companies have a virtual monopoly on the market. Are they competing with each other, do you think? Cos it's amazing how little difference there is in price between these places. None of those big companies ever says, "Look, we want bigger market share, we're gonna cut our prices by 10p/litre."

Do you really think that when and if the big 4 supermarkets have no significant competition, that this will be good for the consumer? Do you really think that, although illegal, there won't be any price fixing going on? Do you really think prices will stay low, when they don't have to?

Therein lies the best reason I can think of for using independent stores - without them, you'll be paying their prices anyway.

What you are saying is correct and I agree with you, but unfortunatly there is not much that can be done against the big corperations that tend to dominate their chosen market places, and as the old saying goes "if you cant beat them join them"

All I know is that the shop that is 100 yards from my home does not sell anything cheaper than any big superstore, it marks its prices up and just relys on people to pay the extra because the dont have time to go to the supermarket to buy 1 or 2 items.

I can remember years ago when there were various shops near my house, ie; flower shop, veg shop, butchers, iron mongers (I think that was what they were called) and a salon. It was great for the community because people seemed to stop and speak to eachother, I dont see that much anymore.

 

[the_lock_man]

Livewire, you are perfectly entitled to your opinion, and to voice it. If I'm offended, that's my problem.

You've fallen into the trap of assuming the supermarkets are cheaper on everything. Yes, of course they are on milk & bread.What about other stuff? Have you actually ever checked? My company used to be a little old-fashioned hardware store (Four Candles and all that!). I guarantee you that the screws that we sold at that point were cheaper than what the DIY Superstores sold. And we sold them singly, you didn't have to buy a packet of 20, 18 of which you don't need. We found that the market share for indies like us was diminishing too far, so we adapted to survive. Plenty haven't. One bloke once said to me that he didn't understand why the little places were closing down - he was always popping into us for his odd bits & pieces. Yeah, not the regular stuff at all, but the odd bits that he couldn't get from the superstores.

So you don't care if the little shops go? Fine, let's explore that scenario. There are very very few independant petrol stations left, the big companies have a virtual monopoly on the market. Are they competing with each other, do you think? Cos it's amazing how little difference there is in price between these places. None of those big companies ever says, "Look, we want bigger market share, we're gonna cut our prices by 10p/litre."

Do you really think that when and if the big 4 supermarkets have no significant competition, that this will be good for the consumer? Do you really think that, although illegal, there won't be any price fixing going on? Do you really think prices will stay low, when they don't have to?

Therein lies the best reason I can think of for using independent stores - without them, you'll be paying their prices anyway.

What you are saying is correct and I agree with you, but unfortunatly there is not much that can be done against the big corperations that tend to dominate their chosen market places, and as the old saying goes "if you cant beat them join them"

All I know is that the shop that is 100 yards from my home does not sell anything cheaper than any big superstore, it marks its prices up and just relys on people to pay the extra because the dont have time to go to the supermarket to buy 1 or 2 items.

I can remember years ago when there were various shops near my house, ie; flower shop, veg shop, butchers, iron mongers (I think that was what they were called) and a salon. It was great for the community because people seemed to stop and speak to eachother, I dont see that much anymore.

Sad but true.

 

[MBOU]

I'm still really annoyed, it was a really good post I lost!! Typical isnt it!!

Another point I remember I made was something that really infuriates me about Supermarkets was something they touched on in the TV series 'Jimmy's Farm'. Or something like that...

Is how the Supermarkets are dodging the laws and decieving/not being honest with their customers about a lot of their imported products! Again, meat is the most obvious example...

When you all buy bacon, do you check to see if it is Danish Bacon or British Bacon? Because actually, the welfare standards of the poor pigs kept in Europe are so low that in this country, you would never get away with treating animals like that!! And yet... these supermarkets are supposedly all ethical and promoting ethical treatment of all their food sources etc... but are promoting and pushing foods from poorly cared for animals in other countries and ignoring the farmers that could supply them in this country.

Pigs in Europe are generally kept in farrowing pens, its cruel, the female pig is stuck laying down on a grill so all waste falls through and she cant move whilst piglets are latched on to her.

Farrowing Pens
http/www.epa.gov/oecaagct/images/farrowing1.jpg

UK Farrowing Pen
http/www.bbsrc.ac.uk/web/MultimediaFiles/farrowing-pen.jpg

See the difference?

On Jimmy's Farm, his case was about Veal, I believe it was Tescos he was dealing with but they sourced and imported awful European Veal from calves tied to rails on a grid for waste to drop through and unable to move or see daylight until they are killed (at 6 months I believe?) whereas in the UK, because the young male calves have no use, they are just shot and sent over to Europe (hang on a minute!?) to be boiled down into glue, make pet foods and so on.... but said calves in the UK at very least are free to roam in large barns and some with paddocks to roam in... so why were they not using UK sources until someone went out of the way to prove they were so wrong?

But its the same with lots of products that could and would be produced in the UK but the supermarkets arent interested... wines, cheeses, fruits and vegetables... plants!! Asda have been selling a lovely festive Poinsettia plants for £2.50... they have been hacked back and masacred and tend to die very quickly as they arent potted up properly, Poinsettias that are UK grown in Garden Centers are about £5.99 and survive ages and can be grown and look so much healthier!

Loads of stuff...

Once again I lost all train of thought LOL