Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009
Government knows best
Telegraph: Buy one get one free food offers face axe over wastage
Apparently 2 for 1 food deals cause food wastage and should be replaced with mandatory single unit pricing. This ignores the fact that 2 for 1 deals are functionally a single unit and is tantamount to artificially reducing packet sizes. There have been a couple of articles about food recently. Food, the one import we can't forego. The idea is presumably by avoiding waste we reduce demand, and by reducing demand we reduce prices. This makes farming less profitable.
Posted by stillthinking @ 10:52 AM (630 views) Add Comment
10 Comments
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1. mark said...
seriously this is important
we buy a weeks shopping for two and hardly have anything in trolly, then you see some people with overflowing trollies and they go twice a week, these people must waste food on a grand scale, after all look at all the fatties stocking up on cr@p in the supermarkets..
what about tescos who send a whole batch of food back because 1 item in batch did not match size etc, this food has to be destroyed then... more waste.
food education is what you need... and they need to stop supermarket growth, they dont care about waste so long as they make money..
2. matt_the_hat said...
In a free and democratic country this has absolutely nothing to do with the government - if supermarkets offer 2 for 1 at low prices then there is NO supply problem.
Mark if you spent less time looking in other peoples trollies and feeling so self righteous then the world would be a slightly better place, so bu55er off and leave the fatties alone
3. montesquieu said...
Agree, Tescos should be nationalised and broken up. That would teach them. (Am serious about this, the supermarket cartel should be dealt with - one thing Government SHOULD be doing, not pouring billions into a black hole).
Food wastage and sustainablility is a serious issue, and giant stores that you have to drive to and take an age to walk around are part of the problem. Got to many countries, they still have butcher's, fishmonger's, greengrocer's etc, so people buy fresh food in their own neighbourhoods when they need it, without having the hassle of large car parks, trolleys etc.
Giant supermarkets are a major problem for the whole of society. If we truly want a greener, more human-scale way of living these monstrosities should be wound up and consigned to the dustbin.
In the meantime, as for BOGOFs - what annoys me is the sense that I'm overpaying for a single pack (which is what I usually want). I'd be happy to see these so called 'offers' abolished - as it is they are only a con into making the gullable buy what they don't need, only to chuck it out unused (the supermarket doesn't care it has made the sale already).
4. 51ck-6-51x said...
Wow. What a stupid move. Let's distort markets because we know best!
But, if we are to have the "free markets" run in the fashion in which they are ( yeah it's a contradiction, hence the quotes ) our regulators should be looking at competition in the supermarket market and if consumers & suppliers are being squeezed by a lack thereof.
5. Cynical_man said...
I agree with you matt_the_hat. Gestapo style rules supported by a minority of self-righteous do gooder’s who think they can dictate how the majority should behave in a free and democratic society, supposedly under the guise that they know better. BUGGA OFF! Next thing they will argue is that gym's should be outlawed because if you need to exercise you are obviously eating too much.
6. drewster said...
This seems like needless government interference in a market which works fairly efficiently.
I'm all in favour of government clamping down on pointless advertising & marketing though - whether it's clubcards, 2-for-1 offers, or even just multicoloured packaging. That's just my personal preference though - I can't pretend to claim that it would improve anything.
@montesquieu,
Nationalisation would mean your supermarkets would resemble a cross between a post office and a hospital: long waiting times. While we're at it let's go back and nationalise Rover, so we can all drive quality Brummie cars. No thanks.
7. refusetobuy said...
The way it could be done would be:-
Tax waste food from supermarkets.
Tax waste food from households.
Spend tax raised on "food waste" enforcement officers to counteract illegal dumping of food.
Bit to "Big Government" for my liking.
8. drewster said...
Agree with 666 - better regulation is the answer. There's no sensible reason why a small town like Bicester in Oxfordshire should have six Tesco's. The competition commission have been sleeping on the job.
9. mark said...
If you tax food waste in supermarkets you know who will get the bill, the suppliers...
i once had a friend who grew products for tescos, he is dead now (heart attack probably due to tescos) but they were constantly screwing him in price, or saying they simply no longer wanted the items, or sent whole loads back because something was not right in one case, they even billed him for sending it back, they would also fine him if the wagon was 10 mins late delivering to distribution centre, Tescos, Aldi, Asda, they are all the same, they cheat, lie screw suppliers and customers, they ask for water to be added to chicken to make it go further, they are destroying our health with extra salt and fats to make food cheaper and last longer... they are just money making machines, tesco being the worst, there is a rumour they are going into leisure companies such as cinemas, they already own garden centres, bank, etc etc
10. phdinbubbles said...
Anything that prevents mrsbubbles from bringing home things we didn't need two of is fine by me.