Brand Power killing our choices

Last year I lived in a NSW country town with a BI lo...We lived within walking distance...pasta 500g for under fifty cents...now doubled in price...I knew when the chickens were going at the end of the day for $5...when the yoghurt was being marked down etc,
I discovered Aldi at Albury where a smaller choice was plenty good enough.A good German stollen was luxury...more Aldis please!
I remember years when I craved a good navel orange...all we could get in Australia were seconds...the best had gone for better prices to California.
Anyone noticed the price of yoghurt...cheap to make...doubled in price the last two years...if I buy I only buy markdowns...and you will not get them at busy supermarkets in yuppie areas.
Go to lower income areas for lower prices!`

Trembling Hand said:

Buddy, so on one hand you don't want the low quality stuff from China and on the other hand you don't want any Quality control programs. Err what do you want then. There isn't a middle ground. You want safe consistent food or you want crap.

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Trembling, I dont quite get your point. I thought it was obvious that I dont like crap. All I am saying is that I am sceptical about the supermarket QC programs, and I am unhappy with the control supermarkets have over the way food is produced (similar views to other posters). There are a number of instances (food contamination, harmful chemicals on toys - you know the list) where QC on imported goods seems to have failed. I think one other poster (cant remember who it was) had an opinion that the quality programs are being used to control price rather than quality. I am not against QC (for goodness sake, I work in an industry where QC is a given), but QC on food produced is some foreign countries is almost an oxymoron. And before anyone jumps down my throat, yes, there have been failures in the Australian food chain.

And the other thing that irks me, to state the obvious, is why Australia imports food from elsewhere. Just about everything else higher than the food chain is imported - is the end result we dont do anything other than export holes in the ground? And to take it a bit further, and ignoring free trade, blah, blah, it beats me why we import "in season" fruit and vegetables that are easily grown here.

So, Prospector, yes you may be right, but I still prefer to support quality Australian produced food rather than imports of basic foods such as those mentioned, etc. Of course there are some exceptions but they are unique quality products, or some "out of season" fresh products.

Prospector said:

Farmers in SA have been screwed big time by the large supermarkets. Last week I was listening to one saying that the price for a side of lamb has not changed from around $20 wholesale in many years. Yet the supermarkets price to the public has increased 500% in around 2 years and the drought has been to blame. If that was the case why doesnt the farmer get some of the money

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the problem with this stuff is that its just a throw away comments that don't take into account the real facts. For starters they hardly control the market.

The ACCC doesn't agree either.
http://www.accc.gov.au/content/item...c4996ad1bb75a&fn=Examination of livestock.pdf

Anyone who knows meat wouldn't eat half the crap that is exported. Take cows and bulls out of the beef figures and just look at yearling (which is what most of us buy) and it's a very different story.

Lamb is different in that it is a market dominated by the exporters, but they are doing tough (same as beef and pork farmers).

Buddy
In relation to the QA progam, I didn't suggest it was used to control price (directly) we need QA programs, but it gave them the opportunity or a tool to tighten the thumb screws.

Do some research on WalMart or Tesco and what they have done to the suppliers, and you will find similarities on what's happening at Coles and Woolies.

I for one will not touch private labels and maintain my brand loyalty (aussie brand) even if it means paying more.

I challenge anyone to try an experiment. Go and buy a banana, apple, etc from one of the big two and then go and buy one from a fresh fruit place (locally grown) and put the two pieces side by side. Then in a weeks time have a look at which one you would prefer to eat.

I've been hunting around for decent online maps for outback NSW, all my previous sources have dried up and every search I do comes up with Google Maps - so much for choice.

Even most of the news channels we see on TV are using Google Maps.

It's a bit like our GPS choices for mapping data - it's Sensis or Sensis - annoying "Brand Power" happening again.

I agree with the Sensis problem. No choice there. We have several different physical map companies, surely the technology is transferable. You have to pay $300 for a new 'electronic' map set, but only $30 for a physical book. Sensis' maps for regional WA are useless.

Bunnings doesn't even stock fuses!!! Or oil for the 'tools' that they sell.

I've found this awesome fish monger who only sells WA fish just down the road from my house (at Farrington Fair in Leeming for anyone from Perth). Sure, it costs a bit more, but hell, it's better than eating nile perch dressed up as barramundi! There's also a great butcher right outside our local Coles. Guess where I'm now buying my red meat from.

As for QA/QC, whatever you want to call it.....

Don't for a second believe that having a certificate saying that they meet certain standards means that their poo is pure white. Significant pressure can be put on auditors to pass them (ie pass us, or you wont keep the contract, for example Main Roads WA) and not all auditors are made from the same cast. All QA/QC means is that they have a management system in place. It's not really a true measure about the quality of their end product. And lastly, not every company goes through the process. It costs thousands of dollars and plenty of time to go through it. Time much better spent in delivering their end product I reckon. Let the consumer be the judge of quality.

End rant..... and at the end of the day, quality is quite often the enemy of the bottom line, so not everyone is interested.