Then we have different ideas about where the boundaries are, for my own part it is clear that certain members repeatedly have difficulty respecting others. Fortunately, they are quite few…
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The consumer has the ultimate power. If prices at the supermarket are up, then buy the least expensive alternative, or adapt and buy a substitute product. Whining about it won’t help, if we keep buying the same overpriced products, we’ll just keep whining forever. The same applies to hifi products.
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Yep……was in our local do it yourself store……Dulux brand paint was £22 for 500 ml. I decided to try a trade paint at £14, it actually seems a better paint.
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I’m in Winnipeg and literally said the exact same thing to my wife last week when I too needed a new battery! After paying the $600 bill I said, “Remember when you used to be able to run to Canadian Tire and get a new one for $80?”
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Plus they would give you a wad of Canadian Tire vouchers too !
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Yes!
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Who could blame him, given the way a couple of threads have gone recently?
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What I find a little strange is that high-end Naim gear was never cheap but 30 years ago I could get onto the mid-range of the ladder with a fairly basic salary. Now earning rather more, it almost unaffordable to upgrade many of those components.
Maybe it’s commitments I didn’t have back then but sobering all the same.
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Agree, I am a Machinist, and have been since I left high school around 40 years ago. In the late nineties I was making $2 dollars more than 3 times minimum wage here in Canada.
Now minimum wage has skyrocketed, but my pay has not, so I now make about twice minimum wage per hour.
Some kid at Mcdonalds makes half what a lifetime skilled tradesman makes per hour just seems wrong.
No wonder peoples stress levels are elevated to extremes.
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I bought a silk cushion, with a very nice pattern of owls, 1 year ago for £200. I saw last week that it is now £300. If I hadn’t bought it a year ago, would I now buy at £300? No. Where will this all end?
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With an EU silk cushion mountain most likely.
.sjb
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It’s a yes and no situation I feel. I use an inflation calculator website which kind of puts things in a financial context. In 1987 a 32-5/hicap/140 was c£1200, which is £4k-ish now.
Naim’s current pre/ps/power amp would be c£16.5k ish, but, one may say, significantly more capable than the CB combo above.
However, 16.5k now equates to roughly £4k then. I realise the above sounds disjointed, but getting on the NC pre/power ladder feels rather pricey, even if relatively it isn’t.
It’s the same psychological impact to me as my reaction at vinyl LP prices now, even though (a) pro-rata they are often the same or cheaper than when I started buying LP’s in the 1970’s, and (b) I have more ££ than I did as a schoolboy.
Value, like beauty, is on the eye of the beholder, I guess.
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I’m sure the annual price rise is, at least, in part intended to incentivise those erring to buy now.
If product hadn’t sold well in the last six months, you’d have thought a price cut would be a more beneficial move to kick start some sales momentum. It is well documented that the bike industry is over stocked and the discounts on 2023 and yet to arrive 2024 models is already tempting my wallet to open. It is actually having the effect of negating some of the ludicrous price increases in the last 4 years, on some brands at least. It is a hard no from me to pay £7000 for a Trek with ‘only’ 105 on it.
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So 1 litre of milk has gone up by 50 cents.
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Can you give us an example of a greedy actor?
Sure. I think the following article gives some insight into this in the context of the UK grocery sector.
‘Global greedflation’: big firms ‘driving shopping bills to record highs’ | Inflation | The Guardian
Really I just get suspicious any time a company jacks up prices, then reports bumper profits or profits stay the same but they post exceeding large new investments or acquisitions.
For big ticket items, cars are a major issue. And here the problem stems more from the dealerships than the manufacturers.
Car Prices Are Above MSRP Because Of Price Gouging Rather Than Inflation (forbes.com)
Of course, these are the ones caught with their hand in the cookie jar. To think that this phenomenon stops at those that get highlighted in the press is just magical thinking.
I need to be clear. I’m not accusing Naim of doing this. We don’t even know what the increase is yet. But as mentioned, due to the prevalence of bad faith actors that have a demonstrable impact on my disposable income, as a consumer patience wears thin and benefit of the doubt goes out the window. Maybe I put 10 items in my basket and all are massively more expensive than they were a couple years ago. Of those, 8 might be genuine cost pass down and 2 are milking the situation. I don’t know who but I no longer trust all 10 brands.
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Watched MSE on tv a couple of nights ago and he’s stating that no one should be paying more than £7.50 on mob sim phone only contracts. I’m with EE and the best they can do for me is £15 with 10gig data. I don’t want to go with mvno, as I gather their services aren’t up to the standards of direct customer. EE weren’t even interest in keeping me.
If you go via the MSE website you can get 12GB, unlimited calls annd texts and 100 international minutes for £6.90 a month with Lebara, and get a £40 gift card after six months. I’ve been using it for six months now and it’s been absolutely fine, though I’ve not seen the gift card yet. It gets paid automatically via PayPal each month. It uses Vodafone, so can do wifi calling when signal is weak.
Might have to sell one of my yachts
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