On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 22:09:20 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-07-06 21:13:49 +0100, ":Jerry:" said:


Only if there is another supermarket (or a street full of traditional
shops) next door,

Often there is the former (or at least within reasonable driving
distance). Sadly, there is no longer the latter. That's entirely
because people want to buy on price and not on service.

This is so true, and very sad.

The other day I mentioned Hexham in Northumberland, a lovely market
town, with lots of independent local shops. Recently(ish) a 24 hour
Tesco store opened there, about the same time as Waitrose took over a
supermarket (literally next door) from Safeway. It'll be interesting
to see what happens to the independents within ½ mile or so of the
two. Market forces will of course prevail, and clearly the 'selective'
members of the public will lose out as their local shops die...


even if it takes half an hour to get through the
check-out you're still never going to be able to travel to another
store, park, do your shopping again and then travel the extra distance
back in half an hour - never mind the time that you've wasted shopping
and then leaving your trolley / purchases in the middle of the shop
floor and walking out!

.. or one could ask them to deliver.

I quite like Waitrose' system of barcode scanners (Quick Check) for JL
account customers. There is zero waiting with that, as it should be.
I wonder if Aldidl could run such a scheme....

If I am going to wait in a shop to pay, there should be a reason to do
so - e.g. that I am going to get some level of service - in other words
the service of the individual shop. There's a reason to wait for
that, assuming it really as some value.

OTOH, if it's just a person on a till mindlessly scanning items there
is no value added at all. I am having to select the items from the
shelf and then I'm expected to wait to pay? That's a nonsense. I
might as well do the whole job and make it *really* self service, then
I can go at the pace that I need or want to do..

Now there's an idea. A 'super'market could introduce a system whereby
the customer stashes his items into an RF-transparent trolley,
together with his 'nu-lab guvmint' ID card/passport, passes through a
scanner at the store exit where all the items and card are scanned,
and either the customer's debit card is debited or an invoice is
created to email to the customer...

The system could even take into account that the passport has recently
been used for trips to, say, Italy, and steer the customer towards
Italian-type items in the store...

;-)

What a dreadful thought.
--
Frank Erskine

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

snip
[ re UK shopping habits ]

It relates to wanting to buy cheaply regardless of the quality and
then accepting any old crap.


I totally agree, Thatcher (and her disciples) educated a whole
generation in the value of everything but the worth of nothing...

On 2007-07-06 23:58:08 +0100, "dennis@home"
said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

That's a problem for me. I won't buy food products without knowing the
origin.


To what level of accuracy/precision?.. EU? GB? England? Somerset? Post code
of farm?

Depends.

Nutritional content on applicable foods is mandatory, and no, traffic
lights are not enough, I need the actual content.

For vegetables and fruits, I want to know the variety and at least the
country of origin. For example, I eat strawberries and other "summer
fruits" quite a bit because of their low GL. However, most imports
from Spain (common for part of the year) are large watery things with
no flavour so I skip those. Imported Elsanta variety is especially
bad. Occasionally there are organic ones and they are worth having.
At this time of year, English strawberries are generally good if one
chooses carefully.

For cheeses, it's absolutely down to which farm. I particularly like
Spenwood and Barkham Blue, both of which are local to here. More or
less everywhere in the UK has local cheese production, so there is no
excuse for buying Kraft.

"Doctor Drivel" wrote in message
reenews.net...

":Jerry:" wrote in message
reenews.net...

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-07-06 20:44:31 +0100, ":Jerry:"
said:

snip

What Tesco's seem to be have been doing recently is only stocking
what
they make the most profit on, not what have been fast and popular
lines, this is also how they can afford to cut prices without
forcing
the supplier to cut their supply price - when that can't be done
the
recipe gets altered, which can then force people away [1].

Nothing wrong with profitable lines especially if it also results
in a raising of standards.



[1] IMPO when the label says "Improved Recipe" what they often
mean is
'Cheapened Recipe'...

Quite.


Contradict yourself Andy, why not....

You will get used to this.

I have already, from reading your clap-trap!

On 2007-07-07 00:00:13 +0100, Frank Erskine
said:

Now there's an idea. A 'super'market could introduce a system whereby
the customer stashes his items into an RF-transparent trolley,
together with his 'nu-lab guvmint' ID card/passport, passes through a
scanner at the store exit where all the items and card are scanned,
and either the customer's debit card is debited or an invoice is
created to email to the customer...

The system could even take into account that the passport has recently
been used for trips to, say, Italy, and steer the customer towards
Italian-type items in the store...

;-)

What a dreadful thought.

They already have that data if you pay by any form of card or have a
loyalty card.

As far as a passport hookup goes, I'd end up with very mixed ethnicity
of items on that basis, not all desirable like those dreadful
croquettes that the Dutch have for lunch (and breakfast). Shudder.

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007 23:47:21 +0100, Andy Hall
wrote:

On 2007-07-06 23:30:03 +0100, "The Medway Handyman"
said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

Oysters and champagne for you is it?

I don't buy champagne. If I want oysters, I buy them in France
where they are better and less expensive than in the UK.


Is that because the oysters are French bred?

Weee.....lllllll

Those from the Brittany coast are pretty good.

Many that arrive in the UK are from the Pacific. They are large, but
without worthwhile flavour - a real baguettelle in fact.

But you're still killing animals, wherever they're from, aren't you?

--
Frank Erskine

On 2007-07-07 00:17:59 +0100, ":Jerry:" said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

snip
[ re UK shopping habits ]

It relates to wanting to buy cheaply regardless of the quality and
then accepting any old crap.


I totally agree, Thatcher (and her disciples) educated a whole
generation in the value of everything but the worth of nothing...

I don't think that that's quite true. Individuals taking
responsibility for themselves was the mantra, and indeed should be.

There is a difference between price, value and worth. Of the three,
value is the most important because it is the basis by which the
customer is or should be making decisions. Price is too limited a
concept. "Worth" is a nebulous term.

On 2007-07-07 00:26:32 +0100, Frank Erskine
said:


Those from the Brittany coast are pretty good.

Many that arrive in the UK are from the Pacific. They are large, but
without worthwhile flavour - a real baguettelle in fact.

But you're still killing animals, wherever they're from, aren't you?

True. I can live with that, though, especially when they are served
warm, gratinated and with a tiny amount of orange. It's a sacrifice
that I don't mind them making.

Frank Erskine wrote:

Now there's an idea. A 'super'market could introduce a system whereby
the customer stashes his items into an RF-transparent trolley,
together with his 'nu-lab guvmint' ID card/passport, passes through a
scanner at the store exit where all the items and card are scanned,

and the EDS designed computer system charges it to someone's account at
random.

The system could even take into account that the passport has recently
been used for trips to, say, Italy, and steer the customer towards
Italian-type items in the store...

before finally flagging you up to security on exit as a shop lifter!

;-)

What a dreadful thought.

Indeed.

A chilling example of the possibility:

http://www.aclu.org/pizza/


--
Cheers,

John.

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

On 2007-07-07 06:42:08 +0100, John Rumm said:

Frank Erskine wrote:

Now there's an idea. A 'super'market could introduce a system whereby
the customer stashes his items into an RF-transparent trolley,
together with his 'nu-lab guvmint' ID card/passport, passes through a
scanner at the store exit where all the items and card are scanned,

and the EDS designed computer system charges it to someone's account at random.

The system could even take into account that the passport has recently
been used for trips to, say, Italy, and steer the customer towards
Italian-type items in the store...

before finally flagging you up to security on exit as a shop lifter!

;-)

What a dreadful thought.

Indeed.

A chilling example of the possibility:

http://www.aclu.org/pizza/

I knew pizza could do a lot of things, but not that impotence was one
of them..... :-)

"The Medway Handyman" wrote in message
...
Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-07-06 21:13:49 +0100, ":Jerry:"
said:


Only if there is another supermarket (or a street full of traditional
shops) next door,

Often there is the former (or at least within reasonable driving
distance). Sadly, there is no longer the latter. That's entirely
because people want to buy on price and not on service.

Or perhaps its because the supermarkets have more choice, longer opening
hours, bigger range?

The darstadly fiends have given the punters what they want!

The local council will kill the shops not Tesco..
They will see all these extra people arriving to shop at Tesco and decide to
introduce parking charges to make a bit of revenue.
Tesco will then put up customer only notices and employ clampers.
Shoppers will park on Tesco, go and get some shopping and decide not to
bother going to the local shops it now costs then to park outside.
Seen it before, local councils are run by morons who do things for political
reasons and not for the good of the community.

Andy Hall wrote:

For cheeses, it's absolutely down to which farm. I particularly like
Spenwood and Barkham Blue, both of which are local to here. More or
less everywhere in the UK has local cheese production, so there is no
excuse for buying Kraft.

Here we go again. You're either posh enough to appreciate some local
delicacy no one's ever heard of, or you're a total moron trowelling
cheese spread on your sliced bread.

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-07-07 00:26:32 +0100, Frank Erskine
said:


Those from the Brittany coast are pretty good.

Many that arrive in the UK are from the Pacific. They are large, but
without worthwhile flavour - a real baguettelle in fact.

But you're still killing animals, wherever they're from, aren't you?

True. I can live with that, though, especially when they are served
warm, gratinated and with a tiny amount of orange. It's a sacrifice
that I don't mind them making.


You truly are a master of the universe

On 2007-07-07 11:27:42 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

Andy Hall wrote:

For cheeses, it's absolutely down to which farm. I particularly like
Spenwood and Barkham Blue, both of which are local to here. More or
less everywhere in the UK has local cheese production, so there is no
excuse for buying Kraft.

Here we go again.

No we don't


You're either posh enough to appreciate some local delicacy no one's
ever heard of

You may not have done. All of these are widely available. and are not
expensive unless you are eating way more than is sensible anyway.
You may not find them in the Tesco, however.

I find it curious that you would apply the term 'posh' to this. It's
not something that anybody would say in countries such as France and
Italy where good food is part of the culture. Good food is available
to everybody - you just have to take a little more trouble to find it.

On 2007-07-07 11:29:47 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-07-07 00:26:32 +0100, Frank Erskine
said:


Those from the Brittany coast are pretty good.

Many that arrive in the UK are from the Pacific. They are large, but
without worthwhile flavour - a real baguettelle in fact.

But you're still killing animals, wherever they're from, aren't you?

True. I can live with that, though, especially when they are served
warm, gratinated and with a tiny amount of orange. It's a sacrifice
that I don't mind them making.


You truly are a master of the universe

I like to do my bit.

"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...
On 2007-07-06 23:58:08 +0100, "dennis@home"
said:


"Andy Hall" wrote in message
...

That's a problem for me. I won't buy food products without knowing the
origin.


To what level of accuracy/precision?.. EU? GB? England? Somerset? Post
code
of farm?

Depends.

Nutritional content on applicable foods is mandatory, and no, traffic
lights are not enough, I need the actual content.

For vegetables and fruits, I want to know the variety and at least the
country of origin. For example, I eat strawberries and other "summer
fruits" quite a bit because of their low GL. However, most imports from
Spain (common for part of the year) are large watery things with no
flavour so I skip those. Imported Elsanta variety is especially bad.
Occasionally there are organic ones and they are worth having. At this
time of year, English strawberries are generally good if one chooses
carefully.


Strawberries are not really the best thing to eat for controlling diabetes.
They have a high GI if ripe.

For cheeses, it's absolutely down to which farm. I particularly like
Spenwood and Barkham Blue, both of which are local to here. More or less
everywhere in the UK has local cheese production, so there is no excuse
for buying Kraft.


I can't eat real cheese as it has too much fat in it.

On 2007-07-07 20:06:04 +0100, "dennis@home"
said:



Strawberries are not really the best thing to eat for controlling diabetes.
They have a high GI if ripe.

That's why I refered to GL (glycaemic load). The GI value tells you
only how rapidly carbohydrate in the particular food is converted into
blood glucose. GL is the GI divided by 100 and multiplied by the
weight of available carbohydrate in grams (i.e. total carbohydrate less
fibre)

Strawberries have a GI of between 35 and 45 on average. However, at a
typical portion size of 120g, the GL is only around 1. This means
that the impact on blood glucose is minimal unless one stuffs kilos of
them.

Water melon is an even more substantial example. GI is in the 60-85
range putting it firmly as high GI. However, GL is around 4.

Moreover, one can modify the behaviour by the addition of fats, so
strawberries plus some organic natural yogurt works really well.

I would be the first to point out that the impact varies by the
individual and also by the time of day.



For cheeses, it's absolutely down to which farm. I particularly like
Spenwood and Barkham Blue, both of which are local to here. More or less
everywhere in the UK has local cheese production, so there is no excuse
for buying Kraft.


I can't eat real cheese as it has too much fat in it.

I eat very small amounts. Actually I don't deny myself anything. I
particularly like roasted parsnips, but of course being a root
vegetable, they are very high GI and GL. So I just eat one small
piece of one and occasionally.

On 5 Jul, 20:28, Andy Hall wrote:
On 2007-07-05 19:17:16 +0100, "George" said:



"Andy Hall" wrote in message
I wouldn't go to Axminster Power Tools to buy cucumbers and flax seed,
so it's bemusing that a food supermarket would be selling power tools.
Each should stick to its core business and do it properly.

So are you saying high street chain department stores should stop selling
food and wines *and stick to selling household ware,clothes ect?

Customer service would be far better if retailers focused on a core
business and did that properly.

To the case in point -

Yesterday I needed a couple of spare parts for a Bosch workshop vacuum
cleaner purchased from them a while ago. * I identified the model on
Bosch's web site and quickly found the spare, name and part number from
an exploded diagram.

Knowing that Bosch don't supply direct, but through resellers, I called
up Axminster, spoke to their technical department and asked them to
source the parts for me. * *They called me back 5 minutes later with
price and delivery. * Product was ordered and will be here tomorrow.

If I look on Aldi's site, I don't see the number to call for their
technical department for power tools, nor do I see where to order spare
parts. *Based on their marketing information, it appears that their
product managers haven't the feintest idea of what a power tool really
is.

I might just about believe that they could tell me where the cucumbers
are, but could probably not describe the nutrtitional content (or
rather the lack of it) in cornflakes.

A few months ago, I bought a �7 palm sander from Netto - works great,
and when it packs in, I'll bin it. What's the problem?

On 2007-07-07 22:49:50 +0100, Zeke said:


A few months ago, I bought a �7 palm sander from Netto - works grea
t,
and when it packs in, I'll bin it. What's the problem?

Vibration. Makes significant use a problem. However, the motor is
probably not rated for more than very short bursts.

The actual and opportunity cost in going and getting a replacement.

That's all before one takes into account the use and waste of materials.

On Sat, 07 Jul 2007 00:00:13 +0100 Frank Erskine wrote :
The other day I mentioned Hexham in Northumberland, a lovely market
town, with lots of independent local shops. Recently(ish) a 24 hour
Tesco store opened there, about the same time as Waitrose took over a
supermarket (literally next door) from Safeway. It'll be interesting
to see what happens to the independents within ½ mile or so of the
two. Market forces will of course prevail, and clearly the 'selective'
members of the public will lose out as their local shops die...

If it's like round here, the local papers will have been full of stories
saying "no one wants this Tesco" and the like. If your scenario proves
true it will prove the opposite.

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