Greeks Not Bearing Gifts. (Sorry!)

mike65

Yesterday (Monday) the streets and shops of Greece were unusually quiet as consumers boycotted retailers to protest against rampant post Euro inflation casued by greedy traders and service providers.

It seems to have been a big success as an attention grabber. Even the government was with the ppl which needles to say pissed the ppl off end as the government could do something to stop rip-off Greece.

Is it time for people in Ireland to rise up (and save a few bob
in to the bargin) or is it more than we can do to stay out of the shops these days?

I'm all for it. But I would propose a "rolling" protest with 1 day in the first week, 2 days in the second and so on.

Mike.

deco

We need the same kind here...we seem to accept things lying down

gandalf

Yep agree with you Mike. I believe the Consumer Association of Ireland are making noises about doing the same and they would get my whole hearted support if they did.

Gandalf.

Jake

Would love to see something similar here

DadaKopf

Originally posted by mike65
It seems to have been a big success as an attention grabber. Even the government was with the ppl which needles to say pissed the ppl off end as the government could do something to stop rip-off Greece.

Is it time for people in Ireland to rise up (and save a few bob
in to the bargin) or is it more than we can do to stay out of the shops these days?

I'm all for it. But I would propose a "rolling" protest with 1 day in the first week, 2 days in the second and so on.

Oh my, that might have a detrimental effect on the livelyhoods of retailers... Imagine you owned a shop? What would you think then. [sarcasm]You should be ashamed of yourself proposing such an economically damaging protest. [/sarcasm] *ahem*

Gandalf: what are you saying? A consumer strike or appealing to the Department of Trade & Enterprise? And then earlier this year there was so much opposition on boards to Buy Nothing Day. Hehe.

mike65

Dadakopf are you sugesting I'm a tosser?!

I'm in favour of quiter, cleaner city streets but RTS is not the best way to achive that - simply make Eoin Keegan (I think) God. Much easier!

As for Buy Nothing Day that was some daft save the planet lark and doomed to failure - a consumer boycott on the other hand is based on here and now self-interest and therefore much more likley to be a hit and have some effect.

Mike.

DadaKopf

I'm certainly not calling anyone anything.

I was comparing the comments on this thread with the comments on the RTS thread. Many people's argument is that it causes disruption and loss of income and therefore is wrong. A consumer boycott could be said to have exactly the same effect but clearly the same standards people have applied to RTS in this regard are not being applied to the idea of a consumer boycott.

A consumer boycott may have but one, clearly definable goal but the argument remains much the same as with RTS. I'm just commenting that people should apply the same standards to things they don't like as well as things they like.

As for BND, I'm not sure you know what it's about so why not read the info at http://www.buynothingday.co.uk/ or read the boards thread on BND here.I'm not expecting you to agree with it, just to get BND into perspective.

mike65

I had a vague recollection of that thread, BND was a touchy-feely save the world sort of thing.

On a broader note, I have to say I react badly to those who prozelytise in my face trying to make me feel guilty as hell, and then ask me for money!

I think a straightfoward retail boycott is something we can all
understand, as it happens it could be used by BND-types to make a point too...different groups can have activities that coincide for different ends.

Mike.

Blade

If you think a certain shop is too expensive then just don't shop there, whats the big deal? Everyone including the government is quick to blame retailers for the high cost of living in Ireland and fair enough lots of shops used the Euro to sneak in big increases but not all of them, my shop has actually missed out on our anual price increase because we didn't want people to moan that we used the Euro to increase prices and this means we lost out compared to every other normal year.

What pi$$es me off is people like you and the government blaming retailers when we ourselves have been hammered over the past few years by massive increases in our expenses. Wages have increased substantially because of the celtic tiger and the increased cost of living so everyone wants more money from the retailer. Public liability insurance has nearly tripled over the last 2 years and thats regardless of wether or not you've had a claim against you (8 grand now for an ave size shop). Waste collection has also tripled over the past 2 years and some places like ours go through a hell of a lot of waste (10 grand a year now). Taxes in Ireland are probably the highest in Europe for retailers and practically everything we buy in has increased dramatically in price over the last few years. So the retailer has no choice but to pass as much of this loss on as possible to the consumer.

Whos fault are all these increases? Why doesn't the Government do something about these rip off merchants the insurance companies. Why don't they lower taxes for retailers so their in line with the European average. Why don't they lower the VAT rate. Everything down to the cost of transportation of goods to retailers is causing price increases, rediculous insurance and petrol prices.

Most importantly when people mention the cost of living to me the things I think about the most are those big expenses that your likely to make during your life. A house, a car etc. And as you all well know buying a house and running a car in this country is but a dream for the average person even if they are in permanent employment. In Italy ALL my friends over there bought brand new cars when they turned 18 and they knew how to go out and enjoy themselves, they didn't blow their money on drinking and smoking and they were able to enjoy the best years of their lives with money and a nice car. Then when they found the right girl they'd get married and buy a house and most of these guys had normal jobs working behind a bar or filling petrol at stations. Thats what I call a good 'standard of living'.

Yes it's easy for the Government to divert the blame away from themselves and blame the retailer but personally I don't mind paying a little extra for food once I have my house and my car.

DadaKopf

BND is about the effects of consumerism, not prices.

Fair post, Blade. So does anyone have any concrete changes that can be made to reduce living costs in this country? It's one thing for consumers to force shopowners to charge less for fear of further boycott, but it's another to introduce measures that are equitable.

One comment I could make relates to Greece directly. I was there in July, island hopping. Prices are much lower there than they are in Ireland. Many people make justifications for Irish prices by explaining that the markups are due to transport costs because we're an island. But here is an EU country, largely composed of islands on which prices are no more expensive than the mainland.

Surely there's a reasonable solution.

DadaKopf

Somebody came into where I work today - some shopowner. He told me that Vodaphone are increasing their take on €10 abd €15 Ready to Go cards, reducing the shop owner's profits per transaction to 6%, rather than 10% - apparently.

It seems that the Irish Retail Newsagends' Association thinks it fit to charge a handling fee of 40c on 10 cards and 60c on €15 cards.

This is a way for shopkeepers to get around the change, not to stop it. They should use their customers to lobby Vodaphone to abandon their plans.

I'm sure this fits into the consumer boycott somehow.

sceptre

Originally posted by DadaKopf
It seems that the Irish Retail Newsagends' Association thinks it fit to charge a handling fee of 40c on 10 cards and 60c on €15 cards.

I see Tesco are swallowing the drop and not adding a handling charge. Big sign at the two Limerick Tescos - I assume it's the same around the country. I don't know how much sales will drop for the small retailers as a result of this (a lot of the time people seem to buy credit only when they run out and just go for the nearest place) but I'm sure they'll make their 4% back

DadaKopf

Still not sure that it's the best way to go about it but I hope it's working all the same.

Cork

I was just talking to a guy from the UK - he could not believe the cost of things here. He is coming from an area with a strong currancy. He tought that soft drinks here were crazy prices. People in Ireland are not earning alot. It is about time - consumers took more control