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ImNotAllThere

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About ImNotAllThere

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  1. The problem with a lot of shops is that they try and play things safe, and don't necessarily see the changes happening around them. Many don't take risks, and offer more choice. And that's understandable. Consumers may well be fed up with the cheap tat on offer in local high streets. They can't all go on shopping trips to London, for example, and then pay much higher prices for quality products. So the shops will try and offer their "own" brands (maybe disguised behind names to make it seem like they're not own-brand). But then too often these goods are cheap quality at high prices, because of all the overheads included in the costs of those items. I've all but given up on most high-street retailers, as the internet offers much better choice at good prices, and is just so much more convenient. Which is a shame, as I used to like a good few hours wandering around town. But I'm not surprised of these potential EU regulations rearing their head. What other options can anyone think of that would see retailers being able to compete with online suppliers? And for the online suppliers, would it be feasible to make their main warehouse into a shop? How many bricks & mortar premises would they have to own in the country to meet any new legislation? If we're not talking about them having to have a shop in every town, then I'm sure they could open a handful in the country and still be ok, especially if they already have an established online presence.
  2. Oooooh, that'll look good on my shelf with the other rocks I've picked up from the beach.
  3. Does this only affect pensions invested in balanced/managed funds? My pension is in a SIPP, which means I've chosen what funds (and more specifically, which sectors) I want to be invested in. None of these are any where near UK gilts or bonds.
  4. Beer is not an everyday essential item (for most people ) Thousands of pubs have gone out of business and closed. Prices will come down to get people through the doors.... remember, pub beer is still much more expensive than supermarket beer, so it's not expensive beer that's the issue but all the other costs associated with running a pub which they're taking a hit on when reducing the price of a pint. Or maybe crisps and peanuts etc. are stealthily increasing in price to partially compensate. Essential items (energy and food) do keep showing price increases, as well as lots of other household goods in the supermarket. But again, a lot of this is to pay for the costs of running "brand name" companies. There's always supermarket own-brands to switch to, and this doesn't always mean skimping on quality.
  5. Different shops will have different benefits to different people. I will choose B&Q over Wilkinsons because B&Q is more convenient to go to, buy lots of items, and wheel a trolley back out to my car. Whereas my local Wilkinsons is in a town centre, with a small nearby car park which I have no guarantee of their being any spaces available, and is too inconvenient to wheel a trolley along the pavements to the car.
  6. Instead of cutting any services, they should be cutting things like benefits and public sector workers' pension payments. How much of our taxes on pension payments? Shouldn't this be totally funded by contributions out of their own salaries? And why do we keep having to pay so much to people who just have more children so they can claim more benefits and free house? It should be limited to a fixed amount, and not per child... maybe that'll stop them having more kids as a way of population control for the future. People are used to having things too easy in this country, and drastic changes need to be implemented. Yes, there will be an uproar, but what can they really do about it? The government make the law and write the rule book, therefore surely people will have to be told to put up or shut up when there's bigger things at stake! Force everyone to be more productive, instead of thinking they can be handed everything on a plate...
  7. I want to get set up to work from home. Will probably get more done as well, since I won't have to put up with all the daily distractions in the office. But I too won't drive in this weather in case I crash the car (or more likely, some idiot crashes into me!). Got questioned why I was in late when it snowed just before Xmas, just because others managed to get in on time. Cheeky buggers, like I care what the others do! It's my car, and I don't have a spare one, or someone else to chauffeur me around, so am not going to take risks unnecessarily.... unless they want the bill for repairs and a hire car!
  8. Are people buying different food than they usually would? "Oh no, lets buy stodgy puddings to survive, in case we get trapped in our house and die from starvation!" What's wrong with the standard hot meals they would normally eat?
  9. I think B&Q would be safe... I consider them to be the best for home DIY enthusiasts and trades people. Always busy when I go there. But I reckon Homebase + Argos could have problems. They've already had profit warnings in the past, and I never see Homebase as busy as B&Q, mainly because their target consumer is mainly the home-owners, rather than trades people.... and they're always more expensive than B&Q. And Argos seems to be sending emails practically on a daily basis lately, advertising their sale which only last for 3 days, before the next 3-day sale starts immediately after. Strikes me that Argos, with their catalogue-based business model, is most likely to suffer competition from internet shops, since they don't really have much of a shop you can just go in and browse from. I'm of the opinion that Argos is for internet shoppers who don't like to use the internet.... and that's going to be the older demographic who haven't got into computers and the internet like the younger generation have. So I can only see them on a gradual downhill slope....
  10. Or they have nothing else to do. "I'm bored..." "What can we do?" "Don't know...." "Let's go to the shops for something to do." Perhaps more people need to take up some actual interests / hobbies / activities... something worthwhile in their lives rather than shopping just for the sake of it.
  11. I've purchased a few big-ticket items during this last week, but only things I wanted anyway and was waiting for sale prices. Went to the shops today to get some other things on my list, but couldn't find anything and certainly wasn't going to be tempted by any of the cheap tat they've put out on sale. Plus I absolutely hated mingling among all the other zombies wasting their money on "bargains" they didn't really need. Came home empty handed, and will now take my time looking for what I want online.... probably be cheaper than the shops anyway, so a small VAT increase wouldn't make any difference!
  12. Why not just put it back in the main forum, and THEN wash your hands? And by the way, I've had this page open for the past hour or so, and just come back to my PC to refresh the page, and it seems to have jumped all over the place, and now I've had to go back searching to where I last read a post.... looks like some posts have been deleted. So it is getting somewhat of an inconvenience that it couldn't just be put back as a "floating" thread in the main forum, keeping everyone happy, and saving Mods the time from having to delete posts and spoiling it for those of us who enjoy following this (and the other general threads ) Edit: As Azazel above said, I came here as well as a HPC'er, but have since invested in gold and made a healthy profit on my money.... far more than if I'd invested in property... so it does show alternatives out there, maybe even for people saving for a deposit?
  13. But it was a poster who requested this be pinned... and a moderator who has tried to oblige. It wasn't moderators who dictated that this be pinned or moved. So posters should be listened to, and have it back as a floating topic. Then you won't get those posters who are not interested in Gold complaining about this thread being pinned etc. They can just ignore it, like I expect they do with other topics that don't interest them.
  14. I've actually forgotton how this issue started about where this thread should be located. Ah yes, because someone asked for it to be pinned. How about just un-pin it again, and let it drift in the main forum. It will soon find it's way back to the first page daily when someone posts on it. Surely going back to how things were is better than all this debate about it being pinned? And then those who choose to ignore it won't have any reason to complain about the significance of it being pinned (i.e. those with no interest in gold)
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