Something ironic about shopping up north ?

seclachi

I have seen a few ticked off people at this point finishing off there rants with "I`m off to shop up north !" or the like. Now lets put a bit of preamble on this, lets exclude people living near the border, of course there going to shop north of the border. So lets take somebody from Dublin, which probably supplies a sizeable amount of people. I`m guessing at best its a 3 hour round trip, which is probably about 50 quid in fuel on average. Your probably only going to do this once a month, so your not going to get your milk, eggs,papers, fresh meat etc, so probably frozen food and maybe some clothes, but how cheap is that if your burning fuel and your time.

Now when I look at the above I really doubt somebody is going up just for frozen food or clothes, I`m guessing there going to do a bit of luxury shopping, alcohol, electronics, designer stuff, HDTVs and anything else you might stick in there.

So my point is, if somebody does put up a rant complaining about the cutbacks and optionally how hard up they are, do they really expect me to believe that when they follow up with "Im off shopping up north !". Maybe its just a two fingers up to everybody, but does anybody else think the above when they see it ?

Tipsy Mac

It's every man for himself, you look after your own economy first. When I see someone spending €472 on a limousine to commute between terminals in London Heathrow Airport despite a free airport service between the terminals existing for passengers I will be a tad selective to give them more money to blow.

omahaid

People are going to make their money stretch as far as possible, even if that includes going north. If you concentrate on the highest return items (drink, toiletries and some medicines and baby stuff) you save 100's.

triple-M

I wouldnt say 50 quid is average cost of fuel comsumption,I've a 2litre engine car and a return trip to newry costs me usually less than half that

PCPhoto

I havent gone up north to shop - as at the moment I manage to get by on the money I earn....but from looking at the prices up north it certainly is cheaper (I'm talking about photographic equipment - as I work as a photographer)

Anyway - in my emails today are two emails.....1 from a company up north offering me a new camera for a little under £3700+VAT (15%) ..... the other from a Dublin company offering the same camera for a little under €5000+VAT (21.5%).

now tell me that someone somewhere is getting shafted by not looking around for a cheaper deal.

omahaid

Although I agree with the OP. It is a bit rich (pun intended) to claim you are broke because of the budget and then go north to buy an LCD tv

Radharc na Sleibhte

I've seen an awful lot of people say, sure the savings are spent on travel costs, or it isn't that cheap.

The answer is it is that cheap.

Until/if the pound strenghtens against the euro, that will be only thing that will stop the exodus.

seclachi

Well my point wasnt it`s cheaper, nor the moral / economic implications (Id do it myself given the chance), but that people think its somehow a sign of poverty after a killer budget to drive (a luxury in its own right to somebody whos really hard up) up north and drop cash on LCD tvs etc.

Radharc na Sleibhte

Well, if i need a new TV i will get it however cheapest i can be that in my local shop, online or in enniskillen, especially as money is getting tighter, but if money gets much more tighter and the TV breaks, that will be that, no TV til the situation improves. I have my priorities in order.

elpresdentde

omahaid wrote: »

People are going to make their money stretch as far as possible, even if that includes going north. If you concentrate on the highest return items (drink, toiletries and some medicines and baby stuff) you save 100's.

the fact that people are going up noth to spent their money on drink just shows what bull**** their spouting when they say they cant afford to shop down south if they were really stuck they wouldnt be spending money on drink fullstop.

imme

seclachi wrote: »

I`m guessing at best its a 3 hour round trip, which is probably about 50 quid in fuel on average.

3 hours driving = €50 in fuel
what you driving: a Rolls Royce

omahaid

elpresdentde wrote: »

the fact that people are going up noth to spent their money on drink just shows what bull**** their spouting when they say they cant afford to shop down south if they were really stuck they wouldnt be spending money on drink fullstop.

I concur

smelltheglove

I agree with the op, I went up north once last Christmas and to be honest I felt so guilty I came home with one Santa toy and did my shopping here. More recently I moved to a slightly more expensive supplier for my business as he is based in Ireland, I do believe in keeping it in the country and that this is the only way we are going to recover. I have bought many many items online in the past but the last year it has been cut dramatically, actually I have only bought 3 or 4 items online in the last year max.

I honestly do believe if people continue with the attitude cut my pay and I'll shop up north our country is not going to recover as quickly as projected and their wage may be cut again until they can no longer afford to travel up north. Many many stores are dropping their margins as they realise there is no choice, hotels are merely keeping themselves afloat throughout the hard times and so they should, we have been ripped off for long enough but it is not just the big guys that have put us here, it is greed, pure and simple, the age of digital and broadband has opened our eyes to the better lifes, we now want what the guys in Hollywood have, people remortgaged themselves to poverty, loans for cars, for holidays, loans for gifts even, it is time we returned back to the old attitude of make do with what you have, come on, the normal people are never going to be earning millions.

So if we want to be on here debating errors again next year keep shopping up north, if not, well go to your local store, buy your christmas bikes off the local bicycle store, get your blinds from the local showroom and keep it Irish because what we put into Irish products not only pays vat to help us out of this recession but also puts money into the pockets of the irish who can then in turn spend more in Ireland and again raising more vat.

Pure and simple.

97i9y3941

people have no choice,they are on a budget so they have to go up the north,its like a business you have to keep your expenses to the min,its not the shoppers to blame for the losses down here,its the gov and their taxes on rents,cost of elec/waste and blatant rip off in some cases of the shops that makes them shoot themselfs in the foot...

starbelgrade

The majority of cross border shopping is done by the people who live in the border counties where the nearest northern Tesco is maybe an extra 20mins drive away - the media focuses (again) far too much on the likes of Dubs heading to Newry on PS strike days & booze buses. If you listened to the media here, you'd swear the only place that you could shop in the North is in the only town they have.. Newry.

And let's not forget that northeners have shopped in the south for years when it best suited them, ie., when we had lower fuel & tobacco prices. It's nothing new & it works both ways.

jenzz

I had reason to be in Belfast a fair bit during the summer. I had never done the shop up North before so I naturally was fairly curious.
In the like of River Island & H & M you see a crazy difference in prices. I saw a price on a top £14.99 / €29.99. Now the exchange rate that time was 98c so yes there was a saving to be made but not when you take into account fuel etc. But then again would someone drive all the way up there to buy 1 top ... No they wouldnt they would buy other things.... But then is this impulse buying simply because the pricing in cheaper ?????

In the supermarkets that really what I saw. 1 lady with a dublin accent was buying cillet bang like it was going out of fashion. £2.99 each.... I would swear she had 20 bottle in the trolley - But that particular week Lidls were doing a blister pack for €3.49 where you got 2 bottles.
My point here is she was buying it in her mind saying great Ill get a years supply cos its so cheap... she didnt need a years supply - she also probably gave half of it away whilst saying sure ive loads of bottles of it, take one ( forgetting she paid for it) ... she wasnt paying any heed to the fact lidls had a special & she was only buying it as it was a euro cheaper than tesco. Total impulse.. Same when you see people with 6 x 24 packs of sainsburys crisps... I know if there is crisps in my press the kids just eat them. If they arent there they cant. I also wouldnt buy a 24 pack of bud North or South simply because if its there i would drink it ! If I dont buy 24 cans I cant drink it !
So all these people buying all this bulk food are they really saving - probably not.
Dont get me wrong - I have no moral ground on where people shop. All im saying is i've studied buyer behaviour for years & people really become impulse crazy when they are shopping & it doesnt matter whether they are North or South.

- The only reason I mentioned her Dublin accent was just to point out she wasnt a local person stocking up...

starbelgrade

jenzz wrote: »

I had reason to be in Belfast a fair bit during the summer. I had never done the shop up North before so I naturally was fairly curious.
In the like of River Island & H & M you see a crazy difference in prices. I saw a price on a top £14.99 / €29.99. Now the exchange rate that time was 98c so yes there was a saving to be made but not when you take into account fuel etc. But then again would someone drive all the way up there to buy 1 top ... No they wouldnt they would buy other things.... But then is this impulse buying simply because the pricing in cheaper ?????

In the supermarkets that really what I saw. 1 lady with a dublin accent was buying cillet bang like it was going out of fashion. £2.99 each.... I would swear she had 20 bottle in the trolley - But that particular week Lidls were doing a blister pack for €3.49 where you got 2 bottles.
My point here is she was buying it in her mind saying great Ill get a years supply cos its so cheap... she didnt need a years supply - she also probably gave half of it away whilst saying sure ive loads of bottles of it, take one ( forgetting she paid for it) ... she wasnt paying any heed to the fact lidls had a special & she was only buying it as it was a euro cheaper than tesco. Total impulse.. Same when you see people with 6 x 24 packs of sainsburys crisps... I know if there is crisps in my press the kids just eat them. If they arent there they cant. I also wouldnt buy a 24 pack of bud North or South simply because if its there i would drink it ! If I dont buy 24 cans I cant drink it !
So all these people buying all this bulk food are they really saving - probably not.
Dont get me wrong - I have no moral ground on where people shop. All im saying is i've studied buyer behaviour for years & people really become impulse crazy when they are shopping & it doesnt matter whether they are North or South.

- The only reason I mentioned her Dublin accent was just to point out she wasnt a local person stocking up...

This is partly why the cross border shopping gets so much media attention - Dubs on a day out will impulse buy coz it's seems so much cheaper. Those living in the border counties will buy what IS actually cheaper & get their perishables locally & save on petrol.

Not to mention the fact that most border county supermarkets have dropped their prices to almost match the northern prices & in quite a few cases, beat them.

jenzz

starbelgrade wrote: »

This is partly why the cross border shopping gets so much media attention - Dubs on a day out will impulse buy coz it's seems so much cheaper. Those living in the border counties will buy what IS actually cheaper & get their perishables locally & save on petrol.

Not to mention the fact that most border county supermarkets have dropped their prices to almost match the northern prices & in quite a few cases, beat them.

Yep - sorry I forgot to add that in there.

people will do what they think is right - that doesnt necessarily mean its right. They think they are getting a bargain but they arent.
Personally, If I drove to the North tomorrow & did a months shopping, I would any of the following ....
1. Gain 2 stone from impulse buying loads of junk i dont need
2. Become an alcoholic - this recession has seen a 100% cut on my booze intake & like I said 24 cans would just need to be drunk - before they went off like
3. Bin a load of food at month end that wasnt eaten.

seclachi

Yeah, when I look at £1 i think €1, its the same as when I was in denmark and thought €1 = 10kr (that was an expensive trip...). I know I`m repeating myself, but I just laugh at people who expect sympathy when they say there off to go shopping up north, when there probably not paying any real attention to prices anyway, and if they were really hard up they would be walking to aldi to buy some horrible 20c noodles.

K-9

starbelgrade wrote: »

This is partly why the cross border shopping gets so much media attention - Dubs on a day out will impulse buy coz it's seems so much cheaper. Those living in the border counties will buy what IS actually cheaper & get their perishables locally & save on petrol.

Not to mention the fact that most border county supermarkets have dropped their prices to almost match the northern prices & in quite a few cases, beat them.

My local independent retailer is doing his best trying to source as many offers as he can and Tesco and Dunnes here are matching prices on some things, Centra trying to.

The best thing is to shop around. Super Value and Eurospar closed in Letterkenny last year, though I think that was as much down to too many stores in the town, as sterling. Booze, they just can't compete, though you see offers on wine now for €5/6.

starbelgrade

K-9 wrote: »

My local independent retailer is doing his best trying to source as many offers as he can and Tesco and Dunnes here are matching prices on some things, Centra trying to.

The best thing is to shop around. Super Value and Eurospar closed in Letterkenny last year, though I think that was as much down to too many stores in the town, as sterling. Booze, they just can't compete, though you see offers on wine now for €5/6.

You can get 3 bottles of wine in Asda in Enniskillen for £10. Tesco is Sligo have loads of offers on wine at €4 a bottle... with the exchange rate, the difference is minimal. I've also noticed that a lot of the foodstuffs that I'd buy are actually cheaper in supermarkets here... not everything, but not enough to make me go out of my way to travel up north for a shopping trip.