Saw a battery operated hand held fan with rows of LEDs at the check-out
today. I wondered who thought that a Chinese factory should bother making
such a daft thing and then ship it half way around the world so that we end
up putting it in our land-fill sites.

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources - yet we appear to be encouraging ridiculous production that uses up
resources without adding to the value of life of the person buying it. We
should be putting resources (including transportation) into useful things -
not tat.



John

"John" wrote

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources -

If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have Tescos
etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.
Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and families
doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account, they are not
that much more expensive (if used with caution).

Tescos would have us believe that a local shop is defined as one that is
reachable by women in 4x4s in under half an hour!

Similarly OT rant over

Phil

TheScullster wrote:
"John" wrote

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources -

If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of
business.

People do not *have* to shop in Tesco.

Si

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

People do not *have* to shop in Tesco.

And for those that want to, they will deliver. One van, 20 customers is
way better than one car per customer.

--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

"John Rumm" wrote in message
...
Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:

People do not *have* to shop in Tesco.

And for those that want to, they will deliver. One van, 20 customers is
way better than one car per customer.

Unless, like me, going to Tesco adds about 200 yards to a journey I make
every day anyway.

Colin Bignell

"TheScullster" wrote in message
news

"John" wrote

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources -

If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.
Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and
families doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account,
they are not that much more expensive (if used with caution).

Tescos would have us believe that a local shop is defined as one that is
reachable by women in 4x4s in under half an hour!

Similarly OT rant over

Phil


....and once the local shops have disappeared Tesco will start increasing
their prices. This is certainly what happened with DIY shops when B&Q, Focus
and others muscled the local shop out of business. (although I still have an
excellent one near me)

On May 14, 5:48 pm, "John" wrote:
"TheScullster" wrote in message

news






"John" wrote

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources -

If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.
Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and
families doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account,
they are not that much more expensive (if used with caution).

Tescos would have us believe that a local shop is defined as one that is
reachable by women in 4x4s in under half an hour!

Similarly OT rant over

Phil

...and once the local shops have disappeared Tesco will start increasing
their prices. This is certainly what happened with DIY shops when B&Q, Focus
and others muscled the local shop out of business. (although I still have an
excellent one near me)-

So then you go shop at Sainsbury or somewhere else. Competition isn't
just against the local shops.

There are still plenty of local "happy shopper" type places around but
they do not even attempt to compete on price with supermarkets.

MBQ

On Mon, 14 May 2007 17:24:42 +0100 TheScullster wrote :
If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.

Local people put local shops out of business when they stop using them.

Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and
families doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account,
they are not that much more expensive (if used with caution).

On the sorts of things I buy the local shop is 20-30% more expensive than
Tesco.

--
Tony Bryer SDA UK 'Software to build on' http://www.sda.co.uk

In article ,
Tony Bryer wrote:
On Mon, 14 May 2007 17:24:42 +0100 TheScullster wrote :
If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.

Local people put local shops out of business when they stop using them.

Out of the several that used to be round here, few provided a pleasant
shopping experience - mainly through surly staff on the till. The local
small Tesco types seem to manage a smile. I'd have thought that more
difficult for an employee than owner.

Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and
families doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account,
they are not that much more expensive (if used with caution).

On the sorts of things I buy the local shop is 20-30% more expensive
than Tesco.

My main complaint was of poor selection and quality. In the 'convenience'
stores. Sure if you had the time to traipse round several specialist shops
- baker, greengrocer, butcher, etc you could get decent quality. But
generally I can't be bothered.

--
*Remember not to forget that which you do not need to know.*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

In article ,
TheScullster wrote:
If any of said people were serious about the issue, we wouldn't have
Tescos etc using strong arm methods to put local shops out of business.
Local shops provide excellent service for single/retire people and
families doing in-between shops. Taking travelling cost into account,
they are not that much more expensive (if used with caution).

Strangely it wasn't the large supermarkets that killed off my local
grocer type shops but the Tesco Metro. It's no larger than some of the
previous competition, but provides exactly what I, as a single person,
want. Ignoring price too. Previously, the local shops seemed only to sell
what they wanted to sell rather than what I actually wanted to buy.

What do I want from this sort of shop? A selection of decent fresh
produce. Possibly ready made main courses of good quality if I'm in a
hurry. And the fact they have a car park is a big plus.

--
*7up is good for you, signed snow white*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Strangely it wasn't the large supermarkets that killed off my local
grocer type shops but the Tesco Metro. It's no larger than some of the
previous competition, but provides exactly what I, as a single person,
want. Ignoring price too. Previously, the local shops seemed only to
sell what they wanted to sell rather than what I actually wanted to
buy.

What do I want from this sort of shop? A selection of decent fresh
produce. Possibly ready made main courses of good quality if I'm in a
hurry. And the fact they have a car park is a big plus.

Supermarkets just do things right. Owners of all small shops had the
opportunity to do that too, but only a few of them did. Jack Cohen, for one,
who started with a market stall.

Si

Mungo "Two Sheds" Toadfoot wrote:
Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

Strangely it wasn't the large supermarkets that killed off my local
grocer type shops but the Tesco Metro. It's no larger than some of
the previous competition, but provides exactly what I, as a single
person, want. Ignoring price too. Previously, the local shops seemed
only to sell what they wanted to sell rather than what I actually
wanted to buy.

What do I want from this sort of shop? A selection of decent fresh
produce. Possibly ready made main courses of good quality if I'm in a
hurry. And the fact they have a car park is a big plus.

Supermarkets just do things right. Owners of all small shops had the
opportunity to do that too, but only a few of them did. Jack Cohen,
for one, who started with a market stall.

At last the voice of reason! Why are Tesco et al so successful? They give
the punters what they want.

We had a 'corner shop'. Closed on Wednesday arvo, hugely expensive, very
basic stock - mostly past its sell by date, surly staff, smelled like a
Turkish Brothel (alledgedly). It closed a few years ago.

Since January we have a Tesco Metro 300 yards away - open 6am till midnight,
fresh produce, good selection, ample parking, cheap petrol, wide variety,
nice staff, good prices.

Simple innit?

--
Dave
The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk
01634 717930
07850 597257

The Medway Handyman wrote:

At last the voice of reason! Why are Tesco et al so successful? They give
the punters what they want.


Yus. I fail to see why, when people demonstrate against a new supermarket,
they don't just ignore it and continue to use their existing shops. The
reason appears to be that *most* people *do* want a supermarket local to
them, but perhaps are currently forced to use ****e local shops where they
wait an hour to be served whilst knitting patterns are discussed at length
by the mad tivvies behind the counter.

If a community was entirely happy with their shopping arrangements prior to
said supermarket opening surely it would be forced to close soon enough?

Even Dave "I fookin' 'ate Tesco, me!" Fawthrop uses Tesco when he "has to"!

Si

"John" wrote in message
...
Saw a battery operated hand held fan with rows of LEDs at the check-out
today. I wondered who thought that a Chinese factory should bother making
such a daft thing and then ship it half way around the world so that we
end up putting it in our land-fill sites.

If it didn't sell, they wouldn't import them and shipping a container
halfway around the world takes less fuel than driving it from one end of the
country to the other.

We have people getting up-tight about carbon footprints and renewable
sources - yet we appear to be encouraging ridiculous production that uses
up resources without adding to the value of life of the person buying it.

The people who buy them must disagree with that, or they wouldn't buy them.

Colin Bignell