As the wife does not DO computers she has asked me to put in a posting for her.

She has been getting wound up about the supermarket practice of comparing shopping baskets across the competing grocery retailers. She thinks that this is a rip off as they choose to compare things that they have ensured are on special offer that the other outlets do not have on offer at the same time.

She thinks that this is a true con-trick as they will always be cheaper if they deliberately down-price items that the other supermarkets are not giving offers on. Even if they do turn out to be the same items it is easy for them just to price down these items just to get us into the shop and then to raise the price quickly and quietly again once we are not looking.

This - says the wife, is starting to look like a war and the war is not between the supermarkets, it is between each supermarket and their customers.

That's a good one Zath'. Tell your wife thanks for the post.

As I have said many times before....The supermarkets DO NOT compete against each other using the true meaning of the term "competition"; they just price-match with each other.

It is a racket and if the shopping watchdogs were good enough they would have stopped this practice long ago.

What I do, when I can find the time, is to visit the supermarkets that have stuff on offer and I buy these things only. Afterwards I go to Aldi and get the rest of my shopping. This way I get a few things that I maybe don't usually buy and I get all of my staple groceries too. Aldi and Lidl blow away the other supermarkets for price but I don't like Lidl as well as I like Aldi as Aldi always seems cleaner.

TTFN.....

Hi Zathrus,

I agree with your wife, the supermarkets are conning us!

We have most of the big ones where I live, Tespot, Asbo, Sainsburger and Wasterose. We also have a Lidl, which I use for certain things.

Each week we get bumph from all of them stuffed through the letterbox, and it fills up my recylcling bin nicekly!

I go check myself, I shop mainly at Tespot, My daughter at Asbo, and we compare notes about prices and offers. Like me, she checks prices, but her husband is a 'named Brands' man, rather than a value shopper, so when he shops, it's a disaster for their cash flow!

Cheers, HG

Yeah, "name brand" shopping can be a very expensive thing to do.

It is easy to extend that idea to what is known as "designer brands" as there too it is the name that you are paying for.

As a trained house-husband I was very early on told by her-who-must-be-obeyed that avoiding name brands is the best way to save money. I must agree that I have grown to love that way of shopping.

Sorry guys, but I have to admit an attraction for designer names especially when it is in handbags and shoes.

The thing is that the level of spending available to me after I have paid all my bills leaves very little for designer wares.

Well, you ARE a girly aren't you ?

My wife too cannot avoid getting caught up in places that show handbags and shoes, even if she does not actually spend a lot on them.

I guess we all have gender failings as I am terribly attracted to "gadgets" and anything that is in any way electronic.

WE just agree to not get on to each-other about these failings and that keeps the peace in our house.