Are the big 4 supermarkets operating a cartel?

[chrisrob]

I know the price of food is going up.
I go into Sainsbury's and Tesco frequently. (Asda is further away and Morrison is much further away.)
They all compare their prices with each other. Sainsbury's even has posters boasting, "We compare our prices with Tesco"! But their prices vary from each others by as much as 1p whereas other supermarkets: Aldi, Lidl, Netto are much cheaper. (Co-op, Waitrose and M&S are more expensive.)
Take fruit. I was in Sainsbury's yesterday. Peaches are always marked as being "half price" at �1.49 for a punnet of 5. Yet a little greengrocer's nearby sell them for 15p each. And the supermarkets say "Ripen in the fruit bowl" when, of course, they mean they were picked unripe to have a longer shelf life and they will never ripen. Once fruit is picked it starts to rot!
Sainsbury's apples yesterday worked out at 50p each at "half price"! That means they suggest apples cost �1 each! Down the road someone has so many they leave a barrow of surplus outside their gate with a note saying, "help yourself"!
Yes, I'm becoming a grumpy old man but I think the supermarkets are taking us for a ride!

[Ethel]

Supermarkets are fine for tinned, dried and paper goods; cleaning materials and so on.

Vegetables from a greengrocer
Meat from a butcher
Fish from a fishmonger

That's the best way to shop

[4getmenot]

but if you are in a hurry then going to all them isnt always the best. If I had all the time in the world then I would.

[funnygirl]

I am the same as Ethel.

Unless the meat/fruit is really cheap, I will not buy from the supermarkets.

I go to a proper market, where they offer good value for your money.

[legend_mark3]

Yes without doubt they are .


D T H ?�?�

[Lakitu]

I agree, chrisrob. I go to the butcher for my meats every 6/7 weeks and freeze it.

What is it with Co-op's prices? Markies and Waitrose, they're understandable, I see them as more upmarket supermarkets, but Co-op, IMO, is nothing, yet they're so expensive!

[legend_mark3]

In the north of scotland the coop has bought up the alldays stores the morning noon and night and now they control most smaller supermarkets and are cashing in .

[B00]

I really am going to have to move nearer to the people who get their fruit & veg at a greengrocers and meat from a butchers!
I have tried doing this and to my great shock that their prices were almost double what I would pay in Asda or Tesco. Yes you can argue that the produce is better, fresher, etc etc, but sadly I have ot think of my purse first.