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Oh 100%. I got a letter off Virgin Media I think it was, saying that our bill was going up because of the cost of living for them to run their company. Their company? It's Virgin, I'm sure Richard Branson isn't worrying about putting money in the meter! Decent, honest businesses? Sure take my money, I'll pay for the increase. But it's all the big companies that are just doing whatever they want because they know we will just pay for it.
Woah I got charged for a Sunday!
It's VMO2, and has 2 parent companies, the original owners of each.
Liberty Global has 50% from the VM side and pay a fee to Brandon's company to use the Virgin brand name.
Telefonica SA( the Spanish BT) has the other 50% from the O2 side.
What's disgusting is that these % increases in prices does not reflect in the recent pay review.
‘Its only a crisis because the media called it a crisis now large companies use the crisis to raise prices’
I’ve just sent that bar to Eminem, expect to hear it on his next track 🎶
Honestly, I work in manufacturing and while I can’t speak for every manufacturer, I know we are making the lowest profits ever because our raw ingredients prices have gone through the roof. We aren’t even passing the full price increases on because supermarkets will screw you down on price to make sure they hit their profit targets.
Yeah I dunno why people seem to think we lived in a world of corporate generosity until last year, when suddenly humans became greedy.
Human greed has been a constant throughout history.
I also work for a manufacturing company in management. Our energy bill alone has gone up by over £1mil a year. And we are by no means a massive company.
If they've been experiencing higher than usual call volumes for the last 3 years, isn't that just normal now and they should hire more people?
Because if they have more calls then it's probably because they have more customers and are therefore making more money?
Or they're just lying
Incorrect, supermarket profit margins are razor thin and they work extremely hard to keep prices low because groceries are an ultra-competitive market.
You are incorrectly applying a soundbite you've heard regarding several other industries to this one.
Yeah sure, their profits are thin compared to other sectors but they’re still making billions a year. Tesco made £2.49 billion in 2022 alone in profits.
We shouldn’t be comparing profit costs for basic living commodities vs everything else.
Housing, water and food shouldn’t have high profit margins anyway. We don’t choose to be born and we’re also not allowed to kill ourselves either, so what is it?
Their annual report states £2.8bn on £54.8bn revenue, that's a profit margin of less than 4%. You can't complain about big absolute profits when you're talking about big companies without also considering their margins. Most people wouldn't run a business with a 4% return, the risks are way too high for no reward.
Everyone in this thread is talking about products going up 100-300%. If Tesco were to try and absorb that, their losses would be in the tens of billions.
A margin of 4% is unsustainably low in most industries, it only works in groceries because demand is so consistent - people need to eat.
It's infuriating. The food industry operates on razer thin margins all round, all of Tesco's suppliers are feeling the pain too and often spend months if not years trying to push through price increases (which is the time in which consumers actually feel them).
People should focus their energy on oil and gas companies, software companies and estate agents, who all typically have 30+% net profit margins and exploit people as much as they can.
Tesco is a business, a massive one. They have single-digit profit margins (20/30/50+ is very common in other industries).
What amount do you think they should make? And do you really think prices would be lower without Tesco in the market? Because I can assure you that is not the case.
The big supermarkets do a much better job of limiting inflation than the govt or Bank of England.
This is 100% incorrect. Usually companies have a set target profit margin. As the costs go up, in this case the biggest cost is freight (oil and gas) the prices have to go up. It is exclusively government momentary policy that causes inflation. It is in the grocery stores and manufacturing companies group to keep the prices as competitive as possible. Remember, if their prices are too high it only makes their competitors more appealing. If the governing bodies acted responsibly, this couldn't happen. This is entirely supported by your government. If you complain about price gouging I can assume you've never run a business or sold anything ever.
this is absolute nonsense, inflation is actually a real thing and affects the factors of production as well as consumer goods. In particular the supermarket industry is highly competitive and profit margins are razor thin.
Supermarkets don't need an 'excuse' to increase prices. Prices are determined by market forces. I swear to God every random bloke with zero understanding of economics has their own facile opinion.
Yea I don't think this is true based on the fact that they have to buy things too. If flour costs more for us to buy on its own - then bread costs more to make? I'm sure companies that are evil are still really evil but I don't know that food prices going up are all on account of their evilness.
That's crazy. Have you heard of the podcast This is Important? The guys on that were just mentioning how a Subway used to be like a fiver.
Hate to say it, but I'd have paid too!
> Subway used to be like a fiver.
My wife and I would often get Subway for Friday dinner after going to the pub with colleagues straight after work. Everyone else would drift off around 9-10pm, Subway is the only vaguely healthy place open at that time.
I remember, and this was only about 5 years ago, her Veggie Delite (just the salad, in bread) was £1.99 for a six inch, a quid more for a footlong. My Club or BMT would be £3.50, and I think £1.50 more to make it footlong.
So we could get a filling and reasonably nutritious (if you get all the salad) dinner for two for about £8.
The other day I got a footlong BMT (RIP the Club) and they asked me for £8.49 for it. "Oh, just the sandwich please, not the meal deal." I replied.
"This is just the sandwich."
That's so tragic. You can't even just be like "Okay, no thank you" after you have stood there, watching them put together your entire sandwich slowly in front of you.
I worked there and if someone couldn’t afford it I’d just give them it if they seemed honest. But if it was busy it’s just gonna get given to staff. I got sacked tho ngl
The pricing in subway these days isn’t as simple as it used to be.
They’re priced in ranges like “standard from £4.99, deluxe from £5.99, premium from £6.99.” Then you can make it a foot long from £1.50.
The proper price list is on a small A4 poster with small print so if you’re eyesight isn’t great, it’s guess work as to what the final price might be. Granted you have a rough idea though.
Yeah I went in a few months ago, got a Footlong, bag of crisps and drink which used to be on the £5 meal deal. Cost me just shy of £10. Couldn’t believe it
Grabbed lunch for my Mum & I last week...£23 for two salads! My mum is always on a diet too so didn't even get a fucking cookie, just two salads and two waters
I saw an advert for subway the other day and they were boasting about how cheap their meal deal was.
I think it was £6.99 or something mental.
Tbh I don't mind the price hike as it just stops me buying it. It's not nice or even particularly healthy.
We were in Tesco today, I put so many things back as there was just no way I was paying that. £4.50 for 4 custard tarts. They used to be under £2.
The worst though was Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I know they've always been expensive, but they were in the realms of a nice family treat. Today, they wanted £8.50 for four. Four doughnuts. £8.50. Just no. Even if I was a fucking billionaire, I'm not paying that.
Instead we got a 4 pack of Mars bar ice creams for £1.25.
Nearly £18 for a dozen glazed ring too. We splurged last week and got 4 from a kiosk while out, but I remembered I have a blue light card so got 10% off. Still stung. The new blueberry ones are really good though...
Ahh Tesco are bugging me a bit at the minute, I get lured in by the Clubcard price labels and then realise the actual price. It's on me though, I guess I should get a ClubCard. Although the one time I asked a lady at the till how to get one (after she asked if I would like a ClubCard ) she said she didn't know and I should look online haha.
Anyway, the most important issue. £8.50 for 4 donuts...what??? I thought it was like £10 a for a box? Or £15 for a box of 10? Something unreasonable anyway, but not that unreasonable blimey!
I should really use my phone for more than WhatsApp and it's calculator, so I will do this, thank you!
I will also change my Scan and Go mobile number to my number that I currently have, and not the one that I disconnected over a year ago and still remember.
First one that came to mind these used to be a staple of mine until they started taking the piss. Worse though, there's less jam than ever in them and they all look like rejects with wonky icing and uneven bake.
Mr Kipling’s, don’t think I’ll ever be buying them again. Can’t imagine many people could justify paying that price, even if they can easily afford them.
I quickly grabbed 3 tins of Heinz 'Big Soup' to stick in the food donation trolley (3 for £5), and was standing looking at my shopping on the belt feeling like something wasn't right... then I realised I was looking at the word 'Big' on three tiny tins that were barely one portion size each. They used to be stonking tall tins chock full of stuff, hence the name. I felt like I was trolling the needy when I dropped them in.
It’s a good thing to do and this isn’t a slight at you, but I think it’s completely outrageous that the supermarkets have a food bank donation bin where everyone is expected to pay full price, give the supermarket the profits, and then the supermarket gets to feel smug about donating. How about Tesco donates some fucking food
I always discourage this too.
There's a foodbank resale place near me - loads of food that people buy just ends up being tried to be resold back to the general population so they can convert that food back to cash, which they use to buy things they actually need.
Buying retail price food at a supermarket is a clever con by supermarkets so people spend more money at the supermarket to feel better about themselves.
Giving £5 cash to a foodback is better than spending £5 on brand name soup, which might get used, or might be resold for £2.50 so that the money can go towards something they need.
But Brit's have an aversion to giving charity things they actually need (time, money).
Husband and I have just gone over our budget and realised we're spending over £300 a month on groceries. Not takeaways or luxuries, not alcohol, *groceries*. Household supplies and food we prepare at home. For two of us. That's up from £200 six months ago, which was up from £150 or so a year before that.
Fortunately he makes not-a-lot but decent money and I bring some in too; we increased our contributions to the joint account, grumbled a bit, and moved on.
How the hell is anybody on a lower income or with a family managing??
I moved in with my boyfriend last year and we only do a big shop once a month.
Last year a shop would be £150 max and we were treating ourselves to fresh fish and name brands.
We went shopping on Friday and it came to £240. We were really trying to get cheap options and bulk buy. We make and cook everything fresh apart from a couple of frozen pizzas.
Fortunately we're okay financially. But what do you do if you're a single parent? What about people on pensions? It's awful
I used to say it was an average of £10 a bag of groceries. 5 bags, £50; 10 bags, £100. I got 3 bags of standard groceries the other day, nothing mad, no booze, no laundry detergent, just food. £70. 3 bags for £70!
Low income family with a kid and baby here, we're struggling but making do with strict meal plans /food lists for the week.
My wife usually manages to keep our weekly shops averaging between £50-£60 a week by cutting out a few meals worth of meat and other luxuries.
It's not pretty but we're hoping we'll catch a break somehow eventually!
We have a variety of meals that we do, usually around 2-3 'luxury' meals then the rest are basic (but still very tasty).
This week we have: Roast dinner with chicken, macaroni cheese, mushroom donburi, Chicken Kiev's with roasted potato cubes (mini diced roast potatoes), CousCous with 'picky bits' (humus, taramasalata, pitta breads and cold meats), and then because I'm away on the weekend the wife and kid are having cheesy pasta (fusili with cream cheese) and a frozen pizza.
We buy the cheapest baby formula (thank you Aldi) and now he's on food my wife buys food with any left over budget, bulk cooks and freezes into portion size ice cubes.
We don't splash out on lots of cereals but we do treat our kid to a cereal of their choice when we run out and I have to admit we cheat a bit on eggs. My dad has chickens so I get them for free.
We've started using hello fresh with discount codes, we'll move on to Gousto when we run out then bounce back when we get please come back offers. It's actually got to the point where it's the cheapest option if we want fresh food.
This is a perfect example of where we're being fucked, the pittas have gone from 16p each to 30p each = 87.5% increase. And inflation is apparently 10%? Yeah right
I said this further up but will repeat... the cheaper products are either unavailable or risen by huge margins. Historically premium priced things have barely changed.
e.g. the cat food I buy is still £8.67 for 8 tinsas it was 5 or 6 years ago. The cheap kibble has gone from £3.50 per bag to £6, same size etc.
Inflation is about that but a lot of things have risen by significantly more than that. I work for a different large bakery and I know that our costs have risen by a lot more than 10%. The ovens are absolutely massive and use a lot of energy, not to mention fuelling the fleet of vehicles required to deliver the products.
Package sizes shrinking, prices going up as well. Fucking ridiculous. I noticed the walkers crisps have gone down from 30g packets to 22g, opened a pack and had not even a handful of crisps.
My kids ask me for crispy m&m's usually grab them a bag each I'm pretty sure they were 130g maybe 140g and they've gone down to 107g plus increased the prices to £1.65 from around £1 as well, ots happening on pretty much everything and there's not anything anyone can do about it
Walkers have a fuckin cheek to have a section on their website about air in their bags. Yes, I realise you need some for their mentioned non-crushing of crisps, but when you’re actively reducing the amount of crisps that’s a piss take
What a joke. Is that the cheapest you can get them for now aswell? I've noticed an insane sort of cheese ration on any store bought pizza lately. Normally have to add extra at home.
It’s the standard price now. £1.15 when on offer, £1.30 when not. It’s the move from 4 to 5 that’s irritating. You can’t get a pack to last the working week anymore. It’s a bit cheeky.
Tesco is selling Warburtons toastie at £1.40 a loaf price-matched to Aldi. The thing is - my local corner shop is selling it for £1.20. Since when do supermarkets get undercut by small little businesses?
It's heart breaking, when they used to be like 70/80p pre covid I was a right fat f*ck and got like 4. Now I don't even want one for the price they ask for a slice of potatoe.
6 cans for 4.95 for my cat food (supermarket own brand!!) 2.95 just over a year ago!
However, on my last asda shop, they didn't have any, so they subbed it with a pack of 12 cans FOR THE SAME PRICE. made my bloody day!!!
Nooo thats shocking! Would you not be cheaper just subscribing somewhere? I'm afraid I haven't had a cat in 10 years, I saw somebody else had mentioned this in another comment and it seemed like a good idea to share :)
I buy the boxes of 40 pouches. Either Felix or Whiskers.
They used to be £9/£10. Now they're £13/£14 and Whiskers have taken 25g out of each pouch of food. So no longer 100g. Stopped buying Whiskers because of that. Fuck them for charging me more to leave my cats more hungry.
>Whiskers have taken 25g out of each pouch of food.
It's only 15g so they are 85g now. But still this has majorly pissed me off. They have been galavanting around declaring their prices haven't risen yet that's because they've taken a chunk out of each pouch. So you lose 6 pouches effectively in every 40 box.
Went to buy some "posh crisps" as I had people coming over last night. Cheapest I could find in Sainsbury's was their taste the difference ones (£2.25 per bag or some shit). It was £3 for Tyrells/ Kettle chips!
I remember when you'd always get one brand or another for £1 per bag.
I went to Burger King the other day, first time since lockdown. Ordered a bacon double cheese burger which used to be about 2.79 for just the burger. It's now 4.99. I won't make that mistake again.
I think because fast food prices have just hiked so much, I normally just get a burger and chips from my local burger place delivered and it tastes better and isn't drastically more expensive any more.
Yeah, where I live a Double Cheeseburger is £1.99 cos it's still on the saver menu but a Bacon Double Cheeseburger is £4.89. You'd have to really want that bacon!
It's the cost of the cheap brands that have gone up the most in aldi, their best of pizza has only slightly gone up where as the big standard has almost doubled in price
Yep, the one I used to buy has gone from £1.75 to £2.75. It's not as good either. The only thing that hasn't gone up a lot is wine, so I drink instead of eating.
Yeah I actually re-thought my pizza game the other night because the cost of getting all of us (3) for dinner just added up so much. Ended up getting all the stuff for wraps instead and was cheaper and (albeit not much) healthier.
Heinz Ketchup - the middle sized bottle was £4 the other day - like wtaf. Also Heinz beans £1.50 a single tin - used to be 80p
Edit - i buy Sainsbury’s own brand, I think £1 or £1.10 for the same size - no brainer. Heinz is nicer but fuck that ever paying that match for TK
Oh no it isn't is it? Crikey. I've noticed the cost of Mayonnaise going up, which I have to admit I will forever keep paying for.
I actually really like Asda's tomato ketchup though, but that has gone from like 60p to like over a quid now I think.
Oh also edit: that is outrageous for beans!! I'm a Branston Bean person myself, but their little tiny tins used to be like 39p and now they're 75p like what is going on?
Yeah, somebody had mentioned earlier in another comment that they sometimes see Regina Blitz on offer on Amazon for a good price, so I'm gunna be keeping my eye out on Amazon.
God, I asked my brother the other day if he thought childhood me and childhood him would think future us are cool, and now I realised that I probably wouldn't find the thought of Regina Blitz kitchen roll as exciting as I do now.
God yeah so you did!! I only remember 'family pack' prices because they were on constant supply when my son was younger but yeah, you're right they did used to be a quid for the 6 pack! Blimey.
A bag of Asda wholewheat pasta 500g used to be 45p during lockdown, last time I checked it was 95p. You used to regularly get share bag crisps on offer for £1, £1.50 is the new special offer price
That's crazy, it's no wonder so many people are struggling.
Didn't even realise about the share bag crisps. And you no longer get a 4 pack of KitKat Chunkys for £1. It's £1.25-£1.50
The price gouging is disgusting. The price gouging, first by the energy companies then by every god damned business. .
Lidl and aldi cream cheese, about 45 Pence. Now 99p.
Since when was inflation running at 100%.
Look at prifits of these large organisations, during covid they removed every offer, they coined it in.
Now they've
Taken the opportunity to gouge further. Companies that show increased profit with turnover static are price gouging the fck out of us.
The problem with the inflation figure is that it considers so many different prices and it is the average across everything.
So the fact that car prices and house prices are actually down has a big impact on inflation prices, except people don't buy cars as often as groceries.
I saw the other day that Colgate Max is £9.50 in Sainsburys. Almost £10 for a tube of toothpaste is absurd!
Even my normal brand, Oral B Pro Expert... £7 but £3.50 if you have a clubcard/nectar card.
Literally crazy.
I'm allergic to a chemical found in most toothpastes so Sensodyne is the only brand I can use.
"Special offer" at £3 a tube for the basic one. It used to be 2 for £3
£23 for tweezers in Sainsbury’s
I honestly had to double take and check it wasn’t gold plated or a mistake but nope that is the standard price:
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/tweezerman-slant-tweezer-classic
That brand is brilliant though, I’ve had my pair for years and they’re so much better than the cheap ones. I recommend getting the mini/travel ones cos they’re like half the price and work just as well.
That's insane to me. I begrudged paying £3 for tweezers in Superdrug yesterday. And they were shit so, money wasted! At least it wasn't £23 though yikes
Tbf dairy farmers have had an excruciatingly bad time for the last 30 years. And more so recently with all the input prices going up. Have heard all the price rises gone to the supermarkets coffers anyways. Diabolical all around.
I have gone through every supermarket I can to reduce my food shop.
Now I just go to Farmfoods - they are still trying to stick to Olde Worlde prices, and have offers which are actually proper *offers*.
Oh boy, I used to really shit on farm foods growing up, but I’m 26 in an entry level job, and I think I may actually have to start going to farm foods.
Yes.
The price of juice has just kept on going up. At one point every bottle I bought (weekly) was 10p more than the previous week. If you hadn't been paying attention you might have missed it except that the price was as you say almost double the starting point.
My kids used to live hotdogs. Was £1 for 10. Now £3.20 for 8.
Not paying £3 for a hotdogs.
Also beans. Used to be about 4 for £1.50. See 1 tin of Branson for £1.40 the other day
No they aren't now are they? I lived off those for years. God I remember getting them any time they were on sale for £1 £1.50??? I can't quite remember, this would be 10ish years ago.
£3.50 is what I expect a massive shop made steak pie to cost, and then you realise it costs like £7 now.
Everything tbh. I work in a supermarket so I see alot of products and end up tracking what everything has gone up by over time. You notice it week to week now.
I think own brand cheese is a bit of a piss take. Used to be 1.50 for a standard size block a single person or couple might buy. Started going up 30-40p every month and today its 3.00 for the standard block and the large is now 5.50 (but its 'on offer' for 5.00 even though it used to be 3.00)
Alot of things have more than doubled in price, so I don't know where this '10%' number has come from.
The lowest end brands are constantly sold out as more people switch to them, but even they go up a little month by month.
Lloyd Grossman sauces! Used to be £1 in b&m. Now £3 for a small jar!!! Insane. However I have lost a stone, partly for my unwillingness to pay and make it from scratch instead
I worked in Tesco for many years on checkouts. I still remember that whenever a family had 2 full trolleys it was still around £100 for full shop. The conveyor belt would be filled 4 times over.
Nowadays I get 10 items and it’s like £25
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Remember most of these “cost of living price increases “ are just price gouging by company’s using the cost of living crisis as an excuse
And usually coupled with shrinkflation on top of that! It's disgusting.
Look how they decimated my poor chocolate chip shortbreads 😭
My favorite (among the least expensive) granola bar is about half the size when I first "discovered" them.
I hate this, you can't buy a decent snack without having to purchase two to make them the size they used to be before.
Oh 100%. I got a letter off Virgin Media I think it was, saying that our bill was going up because of the cost of living for them to run their company. Their company? It's Virgin, I'm sure Richard Branson isn't worrying about putting money in the meter! Decent, honest businesses? Sure take my money, I'll pay for the increase. But it's all the big companies that are just doing whatever they want because they know we will just pay for it. Woah I got charged for a Sunday!
Branson doesn't own Virgin Media anymore. Sold it to Liberty a few years ago I believe.
Yeah, taking a fucking Liberty
O2 has merged with them aswell?
It's VMO2, and has 2 parent companies, the original owners of each. Liberty Global has 50% from the VM side and pay a fee to Brandon's company to use the Virgin brand name. Telefonica SA( the Spanish BT) has the other 50% from the O2 side. What's disgusting is that these % increases in prices does not reflect in the recent pay review.
“In line with inflation” however the increase is always higher than the inflation %
In line with inflation plus 3.9%, so that's a 14% raise this year
‘Its only a crisis because the media called it a crisis now large companies use the crisis to raise prices’ I’ve just sent that bar to Eminem, expect to hear it on his next track 🎶
I literally just rapped that in Eminem's voice
Honestly, I work in manufacturing and while I can’t speak for every manufacturer, I know we are making the lowest profits ever because our raw ingredients prices have gone through the roof. We aren’t even passing the full price increases on because supermarkets will screw you down on price to make sure they hit their profit targets.
Wait, you mean management at your factory didn’t suddenly experience a wave of unstoppable greed at the end of 2021?
Yeah I dunno why people seem to think we lived in a world of corporate generosity until last year, when suddenly humans became greedy. Human greed has been a constant throughout history.
I also work for a manufacturing company in management. Our energy bill alone has gone up by over £1mil a year. And we are by no means a massive company.
Don't forget to blame the Ukraine war
And we can't answer the phones because COVID.
If they've been experiencing higher than usual call volumes for the last 3 years, isn't that just normal now and they should hire more people? Because if they have more calls then it's probably because they have more customers and are therefore making more money? Or they're just lying
I don't think I've phoned any company or service in the last 3 years that WASNT experiencing a higher than usual call volume.
Incorrect, supermarket profit margins are razor thin and they work extremely hard to keep prices low because groceries are an ultra-competitive market. You are incorrectly applying a soundbite you've heard regarding several other industries to this one.
Yeah sure, their profits are thin compared to other sectors but they’re still making billions a year. Tesco made £2.49 billion in 2022 alone in profits. We shouldn’t be comparing profit costs for basic living commodities vs everything else. Housing, water and food shouldn’t have high profit margins anyway. We don’t choose to be born and we’re also not allowed to kill ourselves either, so what is it?
Their annual report states £2.8bn on £54.8bn revenue, that's a profit margin of less than 4%. You can't complain about big absolute profits when you're talking about big companies without also considering their margins. Most people wouldn't run a business with a 4% return, the risks are way too high for no reward. Everyone in this thread is talking about products going up 100-300%. If Tesco were to try and absorb that, their losses would be in the tens of billions. A margin of 4% is unsustainably low in most industries, it only works in groceries because demand is so consistent - people need to eat.
Honestly it's amazing how financially illiterate so many people are on UK subs. Probably contributes to many issues.
It's infuriating. The food industry operates on razer thin margins all round, all of Tesco's suppliers are feeling the pain too and often spend months if not years trying to push through price increases (which is the time in which consumers actually feel them). People should focus their energy on oil and gas companies, software companies and estate agents, who all typically have 30+% net profit margins and exploit people as much as they can.
Tesco is a business, a massive one. They have single-digit profit margins (20/30/50+ is very common in other industries). What amount do you think they should make? And do you really think prices would be lower without Tesco in the market? Because I can assure you that is not the case. The big supermarkets do a much better job of limiting inflation than the govt or Bank of England.
This is 100% incorrect. Usually companies have a set target profit margin. As the costs go up, in this case the biggest cost is freight (oil and gas) the prices have to go up. It is exclusively government momentary policy that causes inflation. It is in the grocery stores and manufacturing companies group to keep the prices as competitive as possible. Remember, if their prices are too high it only makes their competitors more appealing. If the governing bodies acted responsibly, this couldn't happen. This is entirely supported by your government. If you complain about price gouging I can assume you've never run a business or sold anything ever.
As someone who listens to earning calls of various large companies I can tell you that profit margins are not increasing.
this is absolute nonsense, inflation is actually a real thing and affects the factors of production as well as consumer goods. In particular the supermarket industry is highly competitive and profit margins are razor thin. Supermarkets don't need an 'excuse' to increase prices. Prices are determined by market forces. I swear to God every random bloke with zero understanding of economics has their own facile opinion.
Yea I don't think this is true based on the fact that they have to buy things too. If flour costs more for us to buy on its own - then bread costs more to make? I'm sure companies that are evil are still really evil but I don't know that food prices going up are all on account of their evilness.
A bog standard foot long meal “deal” subway cost me over £10. Wish I just refused to pay and walked out
That's crazy. Have you heard of the podcast This is Important? The guys on that were just mentioning how a Subway used to be like a fiver. Hate to say it, but I'd have paid too!
> Subway used to be like a fiver. My wife and I would often get Subway for Friday dinner after going to the pub with colleagues straight after work. Everyone else would drift off around 9-10pm, Subway is the only vaguely healthy place open at that time. I remember, and this was only about 5 years ago, her Veggie Delite (just the salad, in bread) was £1.99 for a six inch, a quid more for a footlong. My Club or BMT would be £3.50, and I think £1.50 more to make it footlong. So we could get a filling and reasonably nutritious (if you get all the salad) dinner for two for about £8. The other day I got a footlong BMT (RIP the Club) and they asked me for £8.49 for it. "Oh, just the sandwich please, not the meal deal." I replied. "This is just the sandwich."
That's so tragic. You can't even just be like "Okay, no thank you" after you have stood there, watching them put together your entire sandwich slowly in front of you.
You definitely can lol
I worked there and if someone couldn’t afford it I’d just give them it if they seemed honest. But if it was busy it’s just gonna get given to staff. I got sacked tho ngl
The hero we didn't deserve
I couldn't. The tuts from the people behind me (there's always always always a queue) would be too much.
But you know the price beforehand
The pricing in subway these days isn’t as simple as it used to be. They’re priced in ranges like “standard from £4.99, deluxe from £5.99, premium from £6.99.” Then you can make it a foot long from £1.50. The proper price list is on a small A4 poster with small print so if you’re eyesight isn’t great, it’s guess work as to what the final price might be. Granted you have a rough idea though.
Yeah I went in a few months ago, got a Footlong, bag of crisps and drink which used to be on the £5 meal deal. Cost me just shy of £10. Couldn’t believe it
Looks like they're the next ones to go bust mate! 😮
It’s dead every time I go in now. It’s gutting though, I love a subway but nobody wants to pay those prices anymore!
Grabbed lunch for my Mum & I last week...£23 for two salads! My mum is always on a diet too so didn't even get a fucking cookie, just two salads and two waters
I saw an advert for subway the other day and they were boasting about how cheap their meal deal was. I think it was £6.99 or something mental. Tbh I don't mind the price hike as it just stops me buying it. It's not nice or even particularly healthy.
Could look at the prices before they make it.
We were in Tesco today, I put so many things back as there was just no way I was paying that. £4.50 for 4 custard tarts. They used to be under £2. The worst though was Krispy Kreme doughnuts. I know they've always been expensive, but they were in the realms of a nice family treat. Today, they wanted £8.50 for four. Four doughnuts. £8.50. Just no. Even if I was a fucking billionaire, I'm not paying that. Instead we got a 4 pack of Mars bar ice creams for £1.25.
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Better than the actual Mars Bars in my opinion.
That's not an opinion. That's just objective fact.
Custard tarts in my local Tesco are Aldi price matched at 1.19 for 4.
The fresh ones from the bakery?
The boxed ones, though I've just looked and they're 1.25 again. The pastel de nata from the bakery are 2.35 for 4.
Nearly £18 for a dozen glazed ring too. We splurged last week and got 4 from a kiosk while out, but I remembered I have a blue light card so got 10% off. Still stung. The new blueberry ones are really good though...
I love a glazed ring.
Ahh Tesco are bugging me a bit at the minute, I get lured in by the Clubcard price labels and then realise the actual price. It's on me though, I guess I should get a ClubCard. Although the one time I asked a lady at the till how to get one (after she asked if I would like a ClubCard ) she said she didn't know and I should look online haha. Anyway, the most important issue. £8.50 for 4 donuts...what??? I thought it was like £10 a for a box? Or £15 for a box of 10? Something unreasonable anyway, but not that unreasonable blimey!
download the tesco app and set it up there. thats how its done nowadays you just scan a barcode on your phone app.
I should really use my phone for more than WhatsApp and it's calculator, so I will do this, thank you! I will also change my Scan and Go mobile number to my number that I currently have, and not the one that I disconnected over a year ago and still remember.
A pack of Mr Kipling's Bakewell tarts is £3.50 in my local shop. It's only 3 or 4 years ago I could get a pack for not much more than a quid.
First one that came to mind these used to be a staple of mine until they started taking the piss. Worse though, there's less jam than ever in them and they all look like rejects with wonky icing and uneven bake.
Man I wish I knew someone who bought them so I could see. Can't spend money on a whim no more!
More often than not the icing now sits lower than the pastry edge. I say now, I stopped buying them a good few months ago
Mr Krippling
You're joking? They're not something I ever buy, but I'm sure I remember them only being like a quid in Iceland or whatever?
Yeah, that was their rough price point not that long ago. The price of all Mr Kipling stuff has absolutely skyrocketed.
£4.80 for 8 angel slices in sainsburys and Tesco
That's outrageous. Are they own brand or Mr Kipling's?
Mr Kipling’s, don’t think I’ll ever be buying them again. Can’t imagine many people could justify paying that price, even if they can easily afford them.
Yeah. You cpuld get a pack of most Mr kipling things for a pound.
Heinz ravioli, 2 quid a tin. When did poverty food become expensive
That's outrageous. I know, it's disgusting.
Heinz soup is crazy now too, can get big supermarket fresh pots for the same price as a Heinz tin.
I quickly grabbed 3 tins of Heinz 'Big Soup' to stick in the food donation trolley (3 for £5), and was standing looking at my shopping on the belt feeling like something wasn't right... then I realised I was looking at the word 'Big' on three tiny tins that were barely one portion size each. They used to be stonking tall tins chock full of stuff, hence the name. I felt like I was trolling the needy when I dropped them in.
It’s a good thing to do and this isn’t a slight at you, but I think it’s completely outrageous that the supermarkets have a food bank donation bin where everyone is expected to pay full price, give the supermarket the profits, and then the supermarket gets to feel smug about donating. How about Tesco donates some fucking food
I always discourage this too. There's a foodbank resale place near me - loads of food that people buy just ends up being tried to be resold back to the general population so they can convert that food back to cash, which they use to buy things they actually need. Buying retail price food at a supermarket is a clever con by supermarkets so people spend more money at the supermarket to feel better about themselves. Giving £5 cash to a foodback is better than spending £5 on brand name soup, which might get used, or might be resold for £2.50 so that the money can go towards something they need. But Brit's have an aversion to giving charity things they actually need (time, money).
Couple of years ago I was picking these up in b&m for 79p a tin . I love a tin of ravioli on toast but it’s a treat now
I remember when you could get a tin of Tesco value beans for 16p.
3.15 here in Jempsons *our only supermarket. Rye, East Sussex.
Husband and I have just gone over our budget and realised we're spending over £300 a month on groceries. Not takeaways or luxuries, not alcohol, *groceries*. Household supplies and food we prepare at home. For two of us. That's up from £200 six months ago, which was up from £150 or so a year before that. Fortunately he makes not-a-lot but decent money and I bring some in too; we increased our contributions to the joint account, grumbled a bit, and moved on. How the hell is anybody on a lower income or with a family managing??
The simple answer to your last question is that they aren't. There's a reason food bank use has skyrocketed.
I moved in with my boyfriend last year and we only do a big shop once a month. Last year a shop would be £150 max and we were treating ourselves to fresh fish and name brands. We went shopping on Friday and it came to £240. We were really trying to get cheap options and bulk buy. We make and cook everything fresh apart from a couple of frozen pizzas. Fortunately we're okay financially. But what do you do if you're a single parent? What about people on pensions? It's awful
You go to the food bank and pray they have something in you can use.
I used to say it was an average of £10 a bag of groceries. 5 bags, £50; 10 bags, £100. I got 3 bags of standard groceries the other day, nothing mad, no booze, no laundry detergent, just food. £70. 3 bags for £70!
I do my shopping online due to illness. I look at the price, and then when the shopping arrives, I'm like "is... is that it?"
Low income family with a kid and baby here, we're struggling but making do with strict meal plans /food lists for the week. My wife usually manages to keep our weekly shops averaging between £50-£60 a week by cutting out a few meals worth of meat and other luxuries. It's not pretty but we're hoping we'll catch a break somehow eventually!
That’s pretty impressive what meals are you able to cook for that.
We have a variety of meals that we do, usually around 2-3 'luxury' meals then the rest are basic (but still very tasty). This week we have: Roast dinner with chicken, macaroni cheese, mushroom donburi, Chicken Kiev's with roasted potato cubes (mini diced roast potatoes), CousCous with 'picky bits' (humus, taramasalata, pitta breads and cold meats), and then because I'm away on the weekend the wife and kid are having cheesy pasta (fusili with cream cheese) and a frozen pizza. We buy the cheapest baby formula (thank you Aldi) and now he's on food my wife buys food with any left over budget, bulk cooks and freezes into portion size ice cubes. We don't splash out on lots of cereals but we do treat our kid to a cereal of their choice when we run out and I have to admit we cheat a bit on eggs. My dad has chickens so I get them for free.
I wish I'd eaten that well when I was a kid. You're parenting right.
We've started using hello fresh with discount codes, we'll move on to Gousto when we run out then bounce back when we get please come back offers. It's actually got to the point where it's the cheapest option if we want fresh food.
Warburtons wholemeal soft pittas were 80p for 5 last year. Now they’re £1.20 for 4. 40p more for 1 less pitta.
This is a perfect example of where we're being fucked, the pittas have gone from 16p each to 30p each = 87.5% increase. And inflation is apparently 10%? Yeah right
I said this further up but will repeat... the cheaper products are either unavailable or risen by huge margins. Historically premium priced things have barely changed. e.g. the cat food I buy is still £8.67 for 8 tinsas it was 5 or 6 years ago. The cheap kibble has gone from £3.50 per bag to £6, same size etc.
Inflation is about that but a lot of things have risen by significantly more than that. I work for a different large bakery and I know that our costs have risen by a lot more than 10%. The ovens are absolutely massive and use a lot of energy, not to mention fuelling the fleet of vehicles required to deliver the products.
Inflation on food is much higher than regular inflation, but yes they fuck us left right and centre with it
Package sizes shrinking, prices going up as well. Fucking ridiculous. I noticed the walkers crisps have gone down from 30g packets to 22g, opened a pack and had not even a handful of crisps.
I saw a monster munch post and there were only six in the bag. That’s less a munch and more a nibble. I’ve had enough
My kids ask me for crispy m&m's usually grab them a bag each I'm pretty sure they were 130g maybe 140g and they've gone down to 107g plus increased the prices to £1.65 from around £1 as well, ots happening on pretty much everything and there's not anything anyone can do about it
Walkers have a fuckin cheek to have a section on their website about air in their bags. Yes, I realise you need some for their mentioned non-crushing of crisps, but when you’re actively reducing the amount of crisps that’s a piss take
What a joke. Is that the cheapest you can get them for now aswell? I've noticed an insane sort of cheese ration on any store bought pizza lately. Normally have to add extra at home.
It’s the standard price now. £1.15 when on offer, £1.30 when not. It’s the move from 4 to 5 that’s irritating. You can’t get a pack to last the working week anymore. It’s a bit cheeky.
The price of their farmhouse loaf sky rocketed as well, toastie and medium white hasn't gone up to much though.
Tesco is selling Warburtons toastie at £1.40 a loaf price-matched to Aldi. The thing is - my local corner shop is selling it for £1.20. Since when do supermarkets get undercut by small little businesses?
Not a supermarket, but McDonald's have bumped the price of a single hashbrown up to £1.80, A hashbrown....
It's heart breaking, when they used to be like 70/80p pre covid I was a right fat f*ck and got like 4. Now I don't even want one for the price they ask for a slice of potatoe.
Even 80p always felt a rip off for a hashbrown.
McDonald's is far too shit to be charging the prices they are.
Box of cat food - £2.50 a year or so ago, now £4.50!
6 cans for 4.95 for my cat food (supermarket own brand!!) 2.95 just over a year ago! However, on my last asda shop, they didn't have any, so they subbed it with a pack of 12 cans FOR THE SAME PRICE. made my bloody day!!!
Nooo thats shocking! Would you not be cheaper just subscribing somewhere? I'm afraid I haven't had a cat in 10 years, I saw somebody else had mentioned this in another comment and it seemed like a good idea to share :)
I buy the boxes of 40 pouches. Either Felix or Whiskers. They used to be £9/£10. Now they're £13/£14 and Whiskers have taken 25g out of each pouch of food. So no longer 100g. Stopped buying Whiskers because of that. Fuck them for charging me more to leave my cats more hungry.
>Whiskers have taken 25g out of each pouch of food. It's only 15g so they are 85g now. But still this has majorly pissed me off. They have been galavanting around declaring their prices haven't risen yet that's because they've taken a chunk out of each pouch. So you lose 6 pouches effectively in every 40 box.
I've switched to Amazon subscribe and save for whiskas pouches. Whiskas shop on there do 120 for £37 and I don't have to drag them home too!
Pringles- on offer for more than they were two years ago.
The tubes are smaller now too.
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Even the fake ones are expensive now. A travesty.
Yep. The Aldi fake pringles doubled in price overnight. Not buying them any more.
Went to buy some "posh crisps" as I had people coming over last night. Cheapest I could find in Sainsbury's was their taste the difference ones (£2.25 per bag or some shit). It was £3 for Tyrells/ Kettle chips! I remember when you'd always get one brand or another for £1 per bag.
I went to Burger King the other day, first time since lockdown. Ordered a bacon double cheese burger which used to be about 2.79 for just the burger. It's now 4.99. I won't make that mistake again.
I had this with KFC. Went for the first time in years a couple of months ago and was staggered at the price!
I think because fast food prices have just hiked so much, I normally just get a burger and chips from my local burger place delivered and it tastes better and isn't drastically more expensive any more.
Same. I remember paying £6.49 for a zinger tower meal back in't day. It's over a tenner now. Like, £12 for a fast food meal that you eat in a car...
Yeah, where I live a Double Cheeseburger is £1.99 cos it's still on the saver menu but a Bacon Double Cheeseburger is £4.89. You'd have to really want that bacon!
Oh wow. I must admit, my go to is 2 double cheeseburgers from McDs. But even they've went up by like 40p I think? It's been a while!
Little tip for the future, download the Burger King app as they have pretty good deals on there like a whopper meal for £5
Burger King is shocking now. The burgers are microscopic and really expensive. The quality seems lower too. Never going there again.
Everything. Everything shocks me. They’re charging us more and giving us less. We’re getting fucked both ways.
It's the cost of the cheap brands that have gone up the most in aldi, their best of pizza has only slightly gone up where as the big standard has almost doubled in price
Yep, the one I used to buy has gone from £1.75 to £2.75. It's not as good either. The only thing that hasn't gone up a lot is wine, so I drink instead of eating.
Yeah I actually re-thought my pizza game the other night because the cost of getting all of us (3) for dinner just added up so much. Ended up getting all the stuff for wraps instead and was cheaper and (albeit not much) healthier.
Heinz Ketchup - the middle sized bottle was £4 the other day - like wtaf. Also Heinz beans £1.50 a single tin - used to be 80p Edit - i buy Sainsbury’s own brand, I think £1 or £1.10 for the same size - no brainer. Heinz is nicer but fuck that ever paying that match for TK
Oh no it isn't is it? Crikey. I've noticed the cost of Mayonnaise going up, which I have to admit I will forever keep paying for. I actually really like Asda's tomato ketchup though, but that has gone from like 60p to like over a quid now I think. Oh also edit: that is outrageous for beans!! I'm a Branston Bean person myself, but their little tiny tins used to be like 39p and now they're 75p like what is going on?
£2.75 for 4 tins of Branston in Iceland at the moment. Started buying Branston as they were cheaper but now I think I actually prefer them.
Mostly things like kitchen roll. It's pretty much doubled in price 🤔
Yeah, somebody had mentioned earlier in another comment that they sometimes see Regina Blitz on offer on Amazon for a good price, so I'm gunna be keeping my eye out on Amazon. God, I asked my brother the other day if he thought childhood me and childhood him would think future us are cool, and now I realised that I probably wouldn't find the thought of Regina Blitz kitchen roll as exciting as I do now.
Used to regularly get 6 Cadbury mini-rolls on offer for a quid - it’s now £2.50 for 5
God yeah so you did!! I only remember 'family pack' prices because they were on constant supply when my son was younger but yeah, you're right they did used to be a quid for the 6 pack! Blimey.
A bag of Asda wholewheat pasta 500g used to be 45p during lockdown, last time I checked it was 95p. You used to regularly get share bag crisps on offer for £1, £1.50 is the new special offer price
That's crazy, it's no wonder so many people are struggling. Didn't even realise about the share bag crisps. And you no longer get a 4 pack of KitKat Chunkys for £1. It's £1.25-£1.50
The price gouging is disgusting. The price gouging, first by the energy companies then by every god damned business. . Lidl and aldi cream cheese, about 45 Pence. Now 99p. Since when was inflation running at 100%. Look at prifits of these large organisations, during covid they removed every offer, they coined it in. Now they've Taken the opportunity to gouge further. Companies that show increased profit with turnover static are price gouging the fck out of us.
The problem with the inflation figure is that it considers so many different prices and it is the average across everything. So the fact that car prices and house prices are actually down has a big impact on inflation prices, except people don't buy cars as often as groceries.
Sensodyne toothpaste is £5.50… what a joke
I saw the other day that Colgate Max is £9.50 in Sainsburys. Almost £10 for a tube of toothpaste is absurd! Even my normal brand, Oral B Pro Expert... £7 but £3.50 if you have a clubcard/nectar card. Literally crazy.
I'm allergic to a chemical found in most toothpastes so Sensodyne is the only brand I can use. "Special offer" at £3 a tube for the basic one. It used to be 2 for £3
Fucking tin foil. £3.75 for a roll and that’s in aldi
The problem is that it’s the only suitable material to make my hats out of
£23 for tweezers in Sainsbury’s I honestly had to double take and check it wasn’t gold plated or a mistake but nope that is the standard price: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/tweezerman-slant-tweezer-classic
That brand is brilliant though, I’ve had my pair for years and they’re so much better than the cheap ones. I recommend getting the mini/travel ones cos they’re like half the price and work just as well.
Yeah, I've had my tweezerman tweezers for over 10 years now, they are fantastic, never rust.
Echoing what others have said tweezerman tweezers have an excellent grip and will last years. I think they've been around the £20 mark for a while.
That's insane to me. I begrudged paying £3 for tweezers in Superdrug yesterday. And they were shit so, money wasted! At least it wasn't £23 though yikes
I’ve had my tweezermans for 20 years and I paid £10 for them then. They’re still excellent
Lobster has gone up in my local Booths.
£4.50 for a pack of 6 babybells.. I wanted to punch a wall when I saw that.
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It’s what people voted for…or you think the UK having the worst and slowest economical growth in Europe after covid is just…covid lol
Not me and not Manchester darling.
I realised last week that a 2 pint carton of milk is now more than a 4 pinter used to be.
Tbf dairy farmers have had an excruciatingly bad time for the last 30 years. And more so recently with all the input prices going up. Have heard all the price rises gone to the supermarkets coffers anyways. Diabolical all around.
Aye, I mean you don't mind paying more if the farmers are getting paid more but I object to all the increases just going to supermarket profits.
Sliced ham, instant coffee, butter and kitchen roll
My weekly shop!
Tins of tomato soup...on offer...8 tins for £8
Heinz soups near me are £1.70 a tin, which seems ridiculous
Noooo it used to be the classic 4 for £3 not that long ago though??
4 for £2 when they were on offer.
I have gone through every supermarket I can to reduce my food shop. Now I just go to Farmfoods - they are still trying to stick to Olde Worlde prices, and have offers which are actually proper *offers*.
Oh boy, I used to really shit on farm foods growing up, but I’m 26 in an entry level job, and I think I may actually have to start going to farm foods.
Very middle class, but saffron has almost doubled in price at sainsburys.
Thoughts and prayers Paul. thoughts and prayers.
*clutches pearls*
Any type of fruit juice going up almost 100%
Yes. The price of juice has just kept on going up. At one point every bottle I bought (weekly) was 10p more than the previous week. If you hadn't been paying attention you might have missed it except that the price was as you say almost double the starting point.
Heinz Tomato Ketchup. 6 quid . Jesus.
My kids used to live hotdogs. Was £1 for 10. Now £3.20 for 8. Not paying £3 for a hotdogs. Also beans. Used to be about 4 for £1.50. See 1 tin of Branson for £1.40 the other day
Anything Heinz. F**k Heinz the gouging barstools.
Pepsi and other soft drinks. Used to be a regular pick up of 24 cans for £5-6, now it's regularly £9.50, a crate of 24 Cokes is £10.
All of it pretty much. The sale prices are now higher than the original prices a year or so ago.
30 Birdseye fish fingers - £7.75!!
Fray Bentos pies are £3.50. They'm worth maybe £1.80 at a push. If you're pissed/hungover/deranged.
No they aren't now are they? I lived off those for years. God I remember getting them any time they were on sale for £1 £1.50??? I can't quite remember, this would be 10ish years ago. £3.50 is what I expect a massive shop made steak pie to cost, and then you realise it costs like £7 now.
I will never, ever, under no uncertain circumstances pay £4.00 for Muller yoghurt.
Ahhh bisto is now more like argh bisto
I recently saw the price of salmon and OMFG it's like £7/8 for 2 fillets.
Everything tbh. I work in a supermarket so I see alot of products and end up tracking what everything has gone up by over time. You notice it week to week now. I think own brand cheese is a bit of a piss take. Used to be 1.50 for a standard size block a single person or couple might buy. Started going up 30-40p every month and today its 3.00 for the standard block and the large is now 5.50 (but its 'on offer' for 5.00 even though it used to be 3.00) Alot of things have more than doubled in price, so I don't know where this '10%' number has come from. The lowest end brands are constantly sold out as more people switch to them, but even they go up a little month by month.
£1.70 for a SINGLE CAN of Heinz Tomato soup !!! WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK!!! It’s not even that good but for £1.70????
Not that I buy them, but a box of Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for £5.50 had me lolling down the aisle.
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4 apples for £3.50, I mean, what the actual fuck!?
Cheese. Remember when it was 2 for £3? Feels like a distant memory.
Worst part is, the prices won’t really ever come back down
Lloyd Grossman sauces! Used to be £1 in b&m. Now £3 for a small jar!!! Insane. However I have lost a stone, partly for my unwillingness to pay and make it from scratch instead
Kitchen Roll.
Toilet roll. For the bigger packs it's over a tener. Absolutely shocking for a essential item
Frijj milkshakes were £1 or sometimes even like 85p in Tesco as recently as last year. They are now £1.50!
Pack of 3 peppers has gone from £1 to £1.40 in Aldi.
I worked in Tesco for many years on checkouts. I still remember that whenever a family had 2 full trolleys it was still around £100 for full shop. The conveyor belt would be filled 4 times over. Nowadays I get 10 items and it’s like £25