Marks & (thieving ba****ds) Spencer

puheen

Further to my previous rant on the M&S Online post, another example of the absolute shafting of the Irish people by M&S.
As part of their Christmas range they have cookery books at €11.00 peal off the sticker price is £5.00 thats plus 120%.
No matter what argument is made on differing cost bases nothing can justify this wholesale rip off.

actuallylike

Don't forget to convert!

Oryx

Usually when it comes to different countries you got to accept that there will be fluctuations in price. But in this case, I agree with the op. Thats an outrageous difference.

actuallylike

Oryx wrote: »

Usually when it comes to different countries you got to accept that there will be fluctuations in price. But in this case, I agree with the op. Thats an outrageous difference.

I completely agree, it is completely over priced but let's not say it's more than what it is.

Oryx

actuallylike wrote: »

I completely agree, it is completely over priced but let's not say it's more than what it is.

I have it at about 84%

actuallylike

Oryx wrote: »

I have it at about 84%

Agreed, it is ridiculous.:)

CamperMan

so... remember, any business in the south costs much more to operate than in the north, and remember those very high staff wages, higher VAT rate, etc, etc.!!!

rubadub

CamperMan wrote: »

so... remember, any business in the south costs much more to operate than in the north, and remember those very high staff wages, higher VAT rate, etc, etc.!!!

Actually forget all that stuff for a minute.

puheen wrote: »

No matter what argument is made on differing cost bases nothing can justify this wholesale rip off.

How do you think the guy setting prices came up with this price? Even if M&S had volunteer works here and got the stuff free they would be mental not to charge what the market will bear. If other shops can sell at this price then they will too, and you want them to "justify" sensible business practise? How would the manager justify NOT selling at what the market will bear?

If nobody buys it they will not sell many and will have to drop prices to shift the stock. The only shafting going on is people who do it to themselves, if something is not value for money then do not buy it.

If the cookery book was sealed and when you opened it 90% of the pages were blank then that would be a ripoff. I don't see who they have stolen from to be able to brand them thieves.

actuallylike

rubadub wrote: »

Actually forget all that stuff for a minute.

How do you think the guy setting prices came up with this price? Even if M&S had volunteer works here and got the stuff free they would be mental not to charge what the market will bear. If other shops can sell at this price then they will too, and you want them to "justify" sensible business practise? How would the manager justify NOT selling at what the market will bear?

If nobody buys it they will not sell many and will have to drop prices to shift the stock. The only shafting going on is people who do it to themselves, if something is not value for money then do not buy it.

If the cookery book was sealed and when you opened it 90% of the pages were blank then that would be a ripoff. I don't see who they have stolen from to be able to brand them thieves.

I agree, it's typical Irish attitudes that justify these prices. Basic business surely says 'if people will pay it, then charge it'. That's what's been going on for years now, loads of moaning but still handing over the money. It's like when people complaining about cost of pints a few years back, loads of moaning but still going out and paying it and filling the clubs.
Maybe now though for the first time in a while, because people are for the first time, skint, these books will remain on the shelves.

Stillnotworking

Have you told Marks and Spencer Customer care this. Drop them an email, if more people do it they start to listen. Also they are the ones who can actually do something about this.

Not intending to sound smart, but telling them may get an answer.

https://www.marksandspencer.com/gp/contact/277-2975982-4328724?ie=UTF8&mnSBrand=core&intid=gft_contact-us

Cabaal

puheen wrote: »

Further to my previous rant on the M&S Online post, another example of the absolute shafting of the Irish people by M&S.
As part of their Christmas range they have cookery books at €11.00 peal off the sticker price is £5.00 thats plus 120%.
No matter what argument is made on differing cost bases nothing can justify this wholesale rip off.

Actually £5 = 5.51e so its only 99.9% more

the groutch

sounds more like an isolated incident to me than a general practice, overall M&S tend to be one of the better retailers for the exchange rates, working off an average of 1.3, which is alot better than Argos' 1.4-1.5, or Debenham's 1.55

mcaul

Cabaal wrote: »

Actually £5 = 5.51e so its only 99.9% more

For the consumer £5 = about €5.70 when you take ban / credit card margin into account.

No Vat on books, so no extra due on this.

Business costs have dropped in Ireland over the past year - still ahve some way to go, but additional business costs should add no more the 8% on average.

But in fairness to M&S, they have dropped prices, so my guess is that they have made an error on this one rather than any blatant rip-off.

puheen

ok fair enough jumped the gun on the conversion (iphone & bad temper, bad mix ! )

This pricing is no error, some other examples, mens pullover €37.50 / £25.00,
shirt €27.00 / £16.50 , set of tapas type bowls €19.00 / £9.00
I could continue with more but wont, they may have dropped prices on their food range and in fairness the meal for two is good value, but their exchange rates are no where near an average of 1.3.

I have contacted them and await their reply , I also asked two managers to explain and was told pricing was set by head office and that they are forever being approached on this matter.

Just for pig iron if any of you are in one of the stores have a look under the stickers you might be surprised by what you see.

GerardKeating

mcaul wrote: »

For the consumer £5 = about €5.70 when you take ban / credit card margin into account.

No Vat on books, so no extra due on this.
.

Actually, i think the UK has VAT on books, so the rip-off is even worse ?

rubadub

Actually, i think the UK has VAT on books, so the rip-off is even worse ? what people are willing to pay here is probably more.

mcaul

rubadub wrote: »

Actually, i think the UK has VAT on books, so the rip-off is even worse ? what people are willing to pay here is probably more.

No vat on books or magazines in UK.
Vat on magazines in Ireland - no Vat on books.

Gamesnash.ie: Pat

mcaul wrote: »

Business costs have dropped in Ireland over the past year - still ahve some way to go, but additional business costs should add no more the 8% on average.

I'd respectfully disagree with that figure. The two biggest running costs to a business operator are premises ( rent or mortgage ) and staffing. Whilst the property prices have come down dramatically they are still a lot more than 8% higher than the UK equivilent. Also a lot of retailers are tied into mortgages and leases etc at figures from the height of the boom. Not everyone can negotiate these costs down and even with reductions are nowhere near like for like. Likewise staffing costs in Ireland are a lot more than 8% higher. I think its approx £5.80 or €6.40 in euros min wage in the UK whereas here it's €8.65 here about a third higher.

Every single business that supplies goods or services to the retailer, be that cleaners, signwriters, shopfitters etc is also facing the same pressures of higher costs for premises and staff making them dearer to use over here than in the UK. All this leads to significant differences in the cost of doing business here. I think what would be a fairer comparison point would be to compare net profit margins for both territories and then decide if there is such an extortionate difference.

Not saying that the OP's price difference is not too much - personally I think it is a bit high given the economic factors.

ejmaztec

Do M&S use their own lorries for distribution in Ireland, or do they use couriers?

Given that there are about 600 stores in the UK and a better road network, it's logical to assume that the distribution costs here to the 20? stores, spread far and wide, would also add more to the cost of doing business here.

I never used them in the UK, and certainly don't use them here, because they're OTT on both sides of the Irish Sea.

eth0_

ejmaztec wrote: »

Do M&S use their own lorries for distribution in Ireland, or do they use couriers?

They use their own lorries. I see them frequently on the M1.

Pacing Mule

Could still be an outside distribution company with their branding on it - same as Wincanton for Superquinn.

LFCFan

Insurance costs in this country add a massive amount to our business running costs compared to the UK. It's scandalous how they are able to get away with the obvious over charging. Irish insurance companies are constantly posting record profits. Why can't the government intervene and do something about it? If they want Ireland to be competitive they need to do something about costs, starting with insurance, energy, wages and rents.