"Arfa Daily" wrote in message
...
I was in Dunelm today. By the checkouts, were rack upon rack of those
little pieces of the devil's work known as CFLs. A large sign at each rack
proclaimed "11W CFL 99p each or 5 for 50p".

My immediate thought was that some little work experience erk had got this
wrong, and it should have read "or 5 for 50p *each* ". But no, it was
correct. Buy one for 99p. Buy five for 10p each. Now I can accept that at
99p each, costs of manufacture, shipping, distribution, and everyone
making their cut, might juuuusssst about work, but at 10p, we're
talking plain ludicrous. I'm pretty sure that even if these things are
being slave-made in China by the million, 10p is only going to cover the
costs of the materials, manufacturing process, and maybe first point
shipping. Clearly, the whole thing is a scam to get people buying these
hateful devices, as the ban on some types of incandescent lamps doesn't
seem to have done the trick.

Obviously, there is some heavy duty subsidisation going on here somewhere.
I think we can be reasonably certain that Dunelm and their suppliers are
not going to be losing out on their profits, so at what point in the chain
is this subsidy being injected, and by whom ?

The primary suspects would have to be either our government, or some
faceless eurobollox department in Brussels, but where is the money coming
from ? Out of our taxes ?

Arfa
They are subsidised by the Energy companies. I bought some Phillips branded
ones, 5/50p, 'In partnership with British Gas'. Presumably the government
is using some form of persuasion on these companies. Can't see them doing it
out of pure altruism .

mark