€10.40 for €10 euro credit

Calibos

We removed the surcharge last year for a year as an experiment. Made zero difference to the amount of credit sold. So much for rewarding shops that dont charge a surcharge with your custom.

We'll be putting it back on. Credit just isn't worth selling otherwise. If you guys wan't to spend 30 minutes of your lives every other day walking to Tesco or using a euro's worth of petrol by driving, all to save 20c on your phone credit and 50 cent on your 2L Milk....well...be my guest

The clue is in the name...."Convenience Store"

Wanderer2010

Calibos wrote: »

We removed the surcharge last year for a year as an experiment. Made zero difference to the amount of credit sold. So much for rewarding shops that dont charge a surcharge with your custom.

We'll be putting it back on. Credit just isn't worth selling otherwise. If you guys wan't to spend 30 minutes of your lives every other day walking to Tesco or using a euro's worth of petrol by driving, all to save 20c on your phone credit and 50 cent on your 2L Milk....well...be my guest

The clue is in the name...."Convenience Store"

Lovely guy. Still have your communion money do you? :rolleyes:

kirving

Just as an aside, a 30 day rolling contract is usually better value than buying credit anyway.

Our man in Havana

Or go to 48. 10 a month for all the calls and texts you need.

Calibos

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Lovely guy. Still have your communion money do you? :rolleyes:

Surely it's the people who'll walk an extra 20 minutes to tesco to save 20c on credit that are the people most likely to still have their communion money? :rolleyes:

Gurgle

Calibos wrote: »

Surely it's the people who'll walk an extra 20 minutes to tesco to save 20c on credit that are the people most likely to still have their communion money? :rolleyes:

Also most likely to discourage 'convenience' shops from this ridiculous rip off.

Calibos

Hypothetical scenario....

Mars Ireland launch their new Jupiter giant chocolate bar. The RRP is €3.50 and its cost price is €3. Its a popular bar. 6 months down the road Mars puts up the cost price to €3.10. The shops reprice it at €3.60. 6 months later Mars increase the cost price to €3.20. The shops reprice at €3.70. 6 months later Mars increase the cost price to €3.30. The shops start price marking it at €3.80. Customers ask why the Jupiter bar is now €3.80. We tell them its because Mars put the price up. Customer says "fair enough mate, that shower at Mars are greedy barstewards though increasing the price every six months".

At the same time as Mars launched the Jupiter Bar, Cadburys come out with the '3 Fiddy' giant chocolate bar. Cost price is €3 and RRP is €3.50(3 Fiddy). 6 months down the road the cost price goes up to €3.20. The shops take the margin hit cause he doesn't want to get into arguements with customers. 6 months later Cadburys increase the cost price to €3.30. Shops can't take any more margin erosion. It was a low margin product to begin with and thus price mark the bar at €3.80. Ever second customer who buys the 3 Fiddy bar complains.

They say, "How in the hell can a 3 Fiddy bar cost 3 eighty. Thats robbery!"

We say, "But Cadburys reduced our margin, we need to......".

Customer interupts, "It says 3 Fiddy right there on the wrapper. The bar should be 3 Fiddy!!".

We say, "We need to sell it for more to maintain a basic margin. Its cadburys that have increased the cost price and...."

Customer interupts again," Bullsh!t, Cadburys haven't increased the price, sure it still says 3 Fiddy on the wrapper. You're a bunch of thieves here in this shop, is what you're doing even legal? It shouldn't be allowed. A 3 Fiddy bar should cost 3 Fiddy!!!

We say," Look, if we were greedy money grabbin' barstewards we would have increased the price of all the giant chocolate bars. Theres Nestles Saturn bar for €3.50. We still 'only' charge €3.50 for it 18 months later. Why? Because the cost price is still only €3. Its unfortunate that Cadburys named their giant bar the '3 Fiddy' because then people expect......"

Customer interupts again, "Look, I don't care, a 3 Fiddy bar should cost 3 Fiddy and thats that. I'm not dealing with you robbers, I'm going to buy my 3 Fiddy bar for 3 Fiddy from a multinational conglomerate who can afford to sell things at nearly a loss.....

2 years later the same customer posts a thread on boards.ie complaining about Tescos gutting the Mainstreets of Ireland and that he has no friendly shop just around the corner from him anymore.......

Our man in Havana

Maybe you should stop selling phone credit?

Gurgle

Calibos wrote:

Customer interupts, "It says 3 Fiddy right there on the wrapper. The bar should be 3 Fiddy!!".

I agree with the customer, sell it at (or under) the RRP or don't sell it at all.
Any problems you have with your supplier are between you and your supplier.

Calibos wrote: »

2 years later the same customer posts a thread on boards.ie complaining about Tescos gutting the Mainstreets of Ireland and that he has no friendly shop just around the corner from him anymore.......

Tired old argument, long proved false.

Supermarkets were going to kill off the corner shop
Department stores were going to kill off the corner shop
Discount shops were going to kill off the corner shop
Online shopping was going to kill off the corner shop

Next?

Calibos

[facepalm]

Shelflife

Gurgle wrote: »

I agree with the customer, sell it at (or under) the RRP or don't sell it at all.
Any problems you have with your supplier are between you and your supplier.


Tired old argument, long proved false.

Supermarkets were going to kill off the corner shop
Department stores were going to kill off the corner shop
Discount shops were going to kill off the corner shop
Online shopping was going to kill off the corner shop

Next?

Why should a supplier be allowed dictate the customers selling price, esp when they dominate the market? should a tap manufacturer be allowed to put on their packaging this tap fitted for €50?

Its an abuse of position in the market place.

We arent too far away from shops not selling them at all so where will the non credit/debit card holder get their topups then?

Tired old arguement long proved false ? seriously ? Have you walked down the main street of any town lately and seen how many shops have closed down?

mikemac1

Xtravision never brought in this charge over the years

Go to them

I'm surprised at this OP, I remember this surcharge being everywhere 5 or 6 years ago but I thought it was long gone

ScouseMouse

mikemac1 wrote: »

Xtravision never brought in this charge over the years

Go to them

I'm surprised at this OP, I remember this surcharge being everywhere 5 or 6 years ago but I thought it was long gone

Quite right! Go to Xtravision! They accepted the price increase and did not add a surcharge. Fair plays Xtravision !

Below and linked HERE is a cut and paste form business.journal.ie. Makes GREAT reading. Xtravision are a really clever company whose business model we should all follow :rolleyes:

Any fool can give stuff away......

THE HIGH COURT HAS appointed an interim examiner to the movie rental chain Xtravision.

The company had sought court protection from its creditors due to its difficulty in paying its debts, Movies.ie reports.

David Hughss of Ernest and Young was appointed the company’s examiner after an independent accountant’s report found it had a reasonable prospect of survival.

RTÉ reports that the independent review also found that the majority of the company’s 180 stores across Ireland and Northern Ireland are profitable.

The issue will be brought before the court again for a full hearing next month.

mikemac1

The inevitable decline of Xtravision has been talked about for over a decade.

It wasn't the mobile surcharge that put them in trouble

ScouseMouse

mikemac1 wrote: »

The inevitable decline of Xtravision has been talked about for over a decade.

It wasn't the mobile surcharge that put them in trouble

No it wasn't - I agree with you. But not passing on the cost increase of any product is asking for trouble. There is only so much a business can absorb.

Hopefully Xtravision will survive - but they have to make money. Accepting cost price increases for their products which mean they will make less and less on what they sell will not help them survive.

Gurgle

superscouse wrote: »

But not passing on the cost increase of any product is asking for trouble.

I seem to recall I stopped renting DVDs when they were €5.75 a night and 50% didn't work because the disk was scratched to fcuk.

You seem to be suggesting they could have profitably stayed in the movie rental business by increasing the price?

ScouseMouse

Gurgle wrote: »

I seem to recall I stopped renting DVDs when they were €5.75 a night and 50% didn't work because the disk was scratched to fcuk.

You seem to be suggesting they could have profitably stayed in the movie rental business by increasing the price?

Scratched DVDs?

€5.75 ?

Sorry, I dont know what you are talking about.

If I sell Ford cars and Ford increase the cost price by 5%, I would have to pass it on to the customer. Should I carry on selling at the original price and lose it out of my pocket?

If case of Budweiser costs me 20 euro wholesale and Bud increase that to €22, should I take the hit and keep my selling price the same?

Bord Gais buy gas on the international markets. If the international cost price goes up, so does what the customer pays. Is that unreasonable?

This is what I am talking about. Don't know what old damaged dvd's has got to do with this !

thesandeman

If case of Budweiser costs me 20 euro wholesale and Bud increase that to €22, should I take the hit and keep my selling price the same?
[/Quote]

If a shopkeeper is silly enough to buy a case of Bud which is flashed at 20euro for 22euro then of course they should.
Some smart retailers will buy it in order to get customers into their shop in the hope they will buy other things while they are there. The same goes for phone credit.

Nobody is compelled to sell credit. If it's costing money then pull out. If it brings customers in then just accept a smaller profit on that tiny percentage of your business.

sceptre

superscouse wrote: »

If I sell Ford cars and Ford increase the cost price by 5%, I would have to pass it on to the customer. Should I carry on selling at the original price and lose it out of my pocket?

Depends on whether by passing on the increase you'll sell more, the same, less or zero. Generally retailers will have a reasonable idea (though there are plenty who appear not to). 3% of something is more than 5% of nothing, after all.

foggy_lad

Londis on o'connell st near abbey street tried to charge me a euro for two ten euro top ups last week. I walked across to Easons and got them at the marked price with no extra rips off charge.

Calibos

foggy_lad wrote: »

Londis on o'connell st near abbey street tried to charge me a euro for two ten euro top ups last week. I walked across to Easons and got them at the marked price with no extra rips off charge.

.....and thats the crux of the matter. The only product thats denoted by a denomination. No matter how many times or how low the margin is cut for the retailer, the customer will always say they should only have to pay 5 euro for a 5 euro topup.

Think of it this way. Most people put 20 in the petrol tank. They don't set out to put 11.76 litres in the tank. They may be aware of the price per litre, they may complain about the price per litre but when it comes to standing at the pump, people either fill the thing or topup their fuel tank in some multiple of 10 euros. They accept that as the fuel industry puts up its prices that the garage has to too. They accept that after a price increase they are going to get a few hundred Mililitres less petrol for their 20 euro. They don't say to themselves that because they got 11.76 litres of fuel for their 20 this week that they should again this week and that the garage should just suck it up or stop selling petrol.

Its effectively the same thing, its just very hard to convince the public that its the same thing.

As always its the mighty shareholder that is God. Charge the customer(what is it now?) 4 times the call rates as mobile users in the rest of europe, Pay retailers a margin that means they barely break even, under invest in their infrastructure, all to pay the shareholders a bigger dividend. The customer is no longer God, its the Shareholders that are God

thesandeman

I wonder when the greedy crowd will start charging 2.20 for a 2euro Scratch Card? If I win why would I care about giving the extra 20cent to the shop?
And as for stamps? As long as it gets there why worry how much extra the shop gets?

Might just go across the road and get my Phone Credit, Lotto, Stamps and anything else I want to buy for the day.

Calibos

Bravo 'thesandman'. In all the years talking about this subject on and off, no one has made that argument, and I am ashamed to admit I never considered it. Granted we get the same margin we started with, with those products with no swinging cuts to the margins down through the years unlike phone credit. However, yeah, I have to admit that charging 60 cent for a 55c stamp sounds silly as does charging 2.20 for a 2 euro scratch card. i guess mentally I have justified the phone charge for so long that it still seems right to me instinctually and yet rationally you example proves it wrong.

I think I concede defeat on this one.

foggy_lad

Calibos wrote: »

Think of it this way. Most people put 20 in the petrol tank. They don't set out to put 11.76 litres in the tank. They may be aware of the price per litre, they may complain about the price per litre but when it comes to standing at the pump, people either fill the thing or topup their fuel tank in some multiple of 10 euros. They accept that as the fuel industry puts up its prices that the garage has to too. They accept that after a price increase they are going to get a few hundred Mililitres less petrol for their 20 euro. They don't say to themselves that because they got 11.76 litres of fuel for their 20 this week that they should again this week and that the garage should just suck it up or stop selling petrol.

Its effectively the same thing, its just very hard to convince the public that its the same thing.

As always its the mighty shareholder that is God. Charge the customer(what is it now?) 4 times the call rates as mobile users in the rest of europe, Pay retailers a margin that means they barely break even, under invest in their infrastructure, all to pay the shareholders a bigger dividend. The customer is no longer God, its the Shareholders that are God

Think of it this way, imagine you put €20 of petrol into your car and went to pay and the greedy garage tell you it costs €21 because the oil company has reduced the amount the garages get.

This is the same as the phone credit scam being perpertrated by greedy shopkeepers who will charge this extra fee for their services as long as people are lazy enough to pay it.

mikemac1

Maybe 6 years ago when it was very common, some shops proudly advertised that they did not charge.
As if that is something that will attract people in! :rolleyes:

Then it gradually lifted and it's rare enough these days

People vote with their feet I suppose
Why pay when the shop down the road doesn't have it?

And you can do it on internet banking and on an ATM, pretty much everyone has an ATM card

Though I'm sure AIB & BOI will charge for that too with their raft of charges this year :pac:

foggy_lad

I have found that most small corner shops will charge just for the convenience of it but people are more cautious now with money and won't be ripped off as easily so chose the larger shops like centra and extravision etc as almost every village has at least one shop that won't rob their customers.

ardmacha

Terminology like "won't rob their customers" isn't helpful. If Meteor sell credit to shops for 9.80 and O2 for 9.90 then the shop is no more robbing you by selling the former for €10 than the latter at €1.10.

foggy_lad

ardmacha wrote: »

Terminology like "won't rob their customers" isn't helpful. If Meteor sell credit to shops for 9.80 and O2 for 9.90 then the shop is no more robbing you by selling the former for €10 than the latter at €1.10.

If these greedy shopkeepers are not happy with the amount they get paid by the networks they all have the choice to not sell that networks products! That would be better for them than trying to fleece their poor customers!

Shelflife

foggy_lad wrote: »

If these greedy shopkeepers are not happy with the amount they get paid by the networks they all have the choice to not sell that networks products! That would be better for them than trying to fleece their poor customers!

fair enough foggy lad, you sell 39 units of labour to your employer every week, circumstances outside your control increase the cost of living/getting to work. You go to your employer who is a big company making alot of money and ask him for a pay rise, just enough to maintain the standard of living that you are on.

Does this make you a greedy employee? or just someone who is trying to maintain their position.?