what about shopping local? (2 Viewers)

[ann post]

http://businessetc.thejournal.ie/sp...ld-help-create-over-6000-jobs-217813-Sep2011/

IF HOUSEHOLDS IN Ireland increased their spending on Irish goods and services by €4 a week it could create over 6,200 new jobs according to research.
Analysis by Amarách Research has shown that if household spending of just under €16 on Guaranteed Irish goods was increased to €20 it would create an extra 6,200 jobs in the country.
Research was conducted into the country’s attitudes to buying goods and services with the Guaranteed Irish mark, with almost two-thirds of people who were surveyed saying that buying such goods helps them feel they are supporting Ireland.
One thousand people were surveyed with 41 per cent saying that they buy Irish goods and services as often as they can.
Responding to the findings, Tom Rea, executive director of Guaranteed Irish said: “These figures show just how important it is that we support Guaranteed Irish services and products as much as possible during these tough economic times.”
Thirty-five per cent of young people (16-24 year olds) said they buy Irish because it helps the economy.
This compares to 18 per cent of over 55s who buy Irish for the same economic reasons. However, forty per cent of over 55s said they buy Irish because it makes them feel they are supporting jobs.
Most people (86 per cent) felt that companies should highlight the fact their goods or services are Irish if that is the case.
Amarách adds that the estimated annual turnover of Guaranteed Irish companies is €1.2 billion, with 23,700 employees, equalling €52,000 turnover per employee.

its not a bullet proof article really, the comments make a good job of spotting the holes in it though i like the stats and shit all the same. just putting it here for posterity really. a little googling turns up that the research company's main client is AIB. they probably just read this thread and rolled with it.

 

[ann post]

http://www.broadsheet.ie/2011/09/16/tesco-want-shelf-stackers-for-christmas/

this sorta makes me ill to be honest. we've got to the point where a chain store based in another country is allowed to operate in a way where we subsidize them essentially. tax floors and all that shit is good for getting call centres and all the rest - and necessary when you are an island, but where food supply is concerned its a fucking mess. farmers get fucked by tesco weekly, they could probably be doing with some subsidised workers sharpish but as usual some cock in the government has been walked over by a lobbyist. pricks pricks pricks pricks.

 

[Jim Daniels]

Thats pretty reprehensible alright.

Here's another reason to avoid Tesco at all costs...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2011/sep/16/tesco-shopping-supermarket-prices-check-writing


Now it's illegal to write down prices in a Tesco supermarket
I am nearly arrested for the 'crime' of doing a price check on some bottles of water

I was almost arrested in Tesco this week. My crime? Comparing prices. Evidently, this is such a security issue for Tesco that it wants you booted out of the store. The deputy manager rushed up to me within minutes of my arriving at one of its London supermarkets. The security cameras had spotted me with a pen and paper in hand, noting the prices of goods on the shelves. "Excuse me, what are you doing?" he said. I told him I was, well, writing down prices.

"You're not allowed to do that. It's illegal. Where are you from? Are you from the media?" I don't feel Tesco has any right to demand my employment status, so I just said: "I'm a private individual, I'm buying some stuff here, and I'm comparing prices."

It obviously didn't satisfy him. "It's illegal to write things down and you can't take any photographs, either. If you want to check the prices, take the item to the till and pay for it there. The price will be on the receipt," he said, pointing me to the exit.

A store manager turned up, while another Tesco employee in a suit hovered in the background. "He's writing down prices," the deputy said to his superior, identifying a practice that evidently brings the bosses out in force.

I asked the manager if there had been a law passed which made it illegal to write down Tesco prices.

"Look, it's company policy, you're not allowed to do it," he said, perhaps accepting that Tesco doesn't actually write the laws of the United Kingdom – well, not yet at any rate. I showed him my notebook. Scribbled down were prices for Highland Spring sparkling water on the shelves right in front of me. Three 1.5 litre bottles were £2 (66p a bottle). On the shelf below, a pack of four identical bottles were £3.08 (77p a bottle). In other words, buying in bulk was a worse deal. Can you explain that? I asked. "It's an offer, innit? There's lots of offers in the store. Why do you want to know?" At this point I volunteered that I was doing "market research".

I said I would continue to look around the store at prices, using my eyes only. Would Tesco object to me using my eyes? At this point they left me alone, but, before buying my goods and leaving, I felt I was being followed. Goodness knows what would have happened if I had tried to take a photograph. Perhaps Tesco would have pushed for a custodial sentence.

But there's a serious point here. Consumer journalists should be able to scrutinise prices without being harassed. How else can we be sure of the veracity of "half price" offers? And should it be the case that security staff can throw me out for taking a photograph of a bottle of Highland Spring?

If we on Guardian Money bought every item available in Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons or Asda every day, we would be able to check prices, and see if that bottle of wine, or those washing powder tablets, really are half price. But we can't, and trading standards officers don't have the resources to, either. Spot checks are about the best we can do.

But even that, it appears, is unacceptable to the likes of Tesco. Next time I'll wander round the store speaking the prices into my mobile phone. It's got a record function. Note to Tesco company policy writer: ban customers from speaking into their phones.

 

[Scientician 0.8]

Shower of cunts.

 

[ann post]

yesterday was amazing. the wee shop i get normal shit in gave me cans, smokes and milk for 2.19 because i'm in there all the time. went over to the butcher then and he threw in a few burgers for free cos he though 'i should try them out'. then the vegatable people had fuckloads of home grown carrots and parsnips. carrot soup with the stalks in it is 1000> better than carrot soup without them.

this makes charred things taste great.