Perhaps that is why they're not fat bast*rds!

TX.

 

Lol 8p to create it in India then £10 to ship it to the UK

TX.

 

Well what does it cost then? It must cost something.
You'll be amazed at how much transport costs these days. Then you have to allow for currency fluctuations as well as all the other costs involved for stocking this item.

Even if it costs £3 landed, £10 is not unreasonable for a hammer is it, especially when we pay nearly £4 a pint and £8 for a pack of ****.

 

if they were taking this margin on something which you buy regularly I would view it differently, I have 4 or 5 hammers of varying size and weight for different jobs, they probably cost me between £10 - £30 at the time but I have had them for almost 20 years. The only way I can envisage having to replace them is if they are stolen, or someone borrows one and fails to return it.

 

LisaWRX quoted Just to pick up on the club hammer, £5.99


Not according to your website Hun

 

We don't believe prices like this because we live in the UK.

I can assure you it came from a good source,


How much do you think you can have dinners delivered to your work place every day in India ?????

Answer £ 2.00 PER MONTH

It's another way of life in countries like this to the point we dont believe it, but it's true.

 

But then look at the average wage - It is around £700 PER YEAR!

As soon as any of their products hit the UK market, our government taxes them to the hilt.

 

A good mate of mine imports computer related items from Asia.

We repaired his warehouse floor and he came over to me smiling. He pointed to 6 pallet loads of kids microscopes that have a USB connection. As you put things under the microscope you see the image on your PC.

RRP just under £80

He paid 72 pence each for them.

As for keyboards its a joke.

 

In common with the bankers who have been ripping us all off for longer than one might imagine, why should we expect anyone else to change their methods anyway?

Les

 

In common with the bankers who have been ripping us all off for longer than one might imagine, why should we expect anyone else to change their methods anyway?

Les

 

Aren't cars in Japan almost half the price as the are in UK? I remember looking at what original Scoobys were going for in Japan years ago....

Nick

 

Aren't cars in Japan almost half the price as they are in UK? I remember looking at what original Scoobys were going for in Japan years ago....
And this was Jap-spec (as in grey inports NOT uk spec) so in other words like-for-like. Shipping, import duty, tax.... Kerching!!

Nick

 

I used to work for a company that manufactured their own drilling machines in their own factories in Europe. They'd then sell them to their UK sales operation. Actual company profit was made selling the stuff to the UK from a tax-free principality.

Price to UK sales arm: £65
Catalogue Price for same to customer: £738

That was 10 years ago

 

SHock horror ,companies making a profit...

 

I own a small diamond drilling company.

You go and hire a 152mm dia diamond drilling bit you pay roughly £ 65.00 per mm used.
You will be charged a minimum of£ 65 weather you use the bit or not. You then need to hire the drill, suction plate and everything else.

If you ***** up drilling (like most do) you will do the drilling bit, all 8mm of it and get charged £520.

I know where the hire shop bits come from and they cost on average around £46-52 each for synthetic rubbish.

We use diamond rejected from the jewelry industries that cost MUCH more but hire shops use the cheapest chinese junk available.

Thats why we end up finishing most jobs where the guys hire.

 

Yeah but safe-breaking does have it's rewards.

 

I was talking about where I work, not B&Q, leading on from my comment about the paint being so much cheaper. Sorry if I wasn't clear.

 

Cheap shops are making a lot of money in this recession. Everybody is going to LIDL, Aldi and to the places like b&m for bits and pieces. So should they. Why should anyone pay over the odds when there are places that are happy with under the odds payments, eh? Shun the rip-off merchants, and go to someone who can sell you cheaper. Then again, I won't bring my standards down too drastically, either. For example, I wouldn't shop in Iceland. I recently went there to buy a couple of ready meals. Prawn curry was tolerable except there were no prawns in it. Just spices, and that's about it. But chicken biryani was so revolting that even my cats wouldn't have it. My lad's Dog Jake would have gobbled it, but then again, he'd gobble anything- the greedy sod.

I fancied a cigarette lately. So I tried to buy a lighter at the garage to begin with. When I saw the cost of the lighter, that alone put me off smoking again. £1.30 for a lighter??? They are really taking a p!ss these days.

 

LisaWRX .... sorry Hun. Misread your post

 

It's ok, no need to be sorry.

 

Soz fella was agreeing with you, the was for £10 to transport it around the world rather than make it in the UK

TX.

 

Rip off garages. Only £2 for three clipper lighters where I work. Not that I am encouraging starting smoking again, so ignore the above.

Seriously though, you are right, a lot of people are shopping around now because better prices can be had elsewhere, even if it means lowering standards a little. It's amazing how many people come to where I work now (as in, they hadn't been before) and are taken aback by the price difference to other retailers, but just because they insisted on going to a certain 'better' place for so long, they have been getting well shafted.

If money is no object at all, then people can suit themselves where they shop, but even then, I think it is odd to pay potentially much more for something, just out of status or snobbery or whatever it is???? Different when it comes to bigger/more expensive items perhaps due to service and guarantees , but mars bars and shampoo, even paint, the list goes on????

When you look at some of the retailers either in trouble, or already fallen, it often is a case of those unwilling to flex on prices and they just aren't/weren't competitive enough anymore.

 

From a professional decorator, when he puts it on the wall for you.

Seriously though, we've seen a massive increase in the cost of raw materials and therefore paint, in he last 12-18 months.

Getting ridiculously expensive, and we now put almost zero mark up on materials.

 

It is very hard at the moment.

As mentioned materials, fuel etc have increased a lot yet rates within construction have dropped so profit margins are not what they were.

 

You are so right there.
Last year while on a weekend break, I had a laugh at the prices in my hotel room minibar. A small half litre bottle of water was £5.90.

 

OK - fair enough.
But they have to pay a buyer to source this cheap crap.
They they have to purchase and organise to have it shipped and they stuck on big lorry to be delivered to their store.

Then they have the storemen that have to unload said truck and put cheap crap hammers in stock/on shelves.

Plus - those shelves need bought, and that big fancy building needs heating/lighting/toilets etc.

OK, they're still making a reasonable return on margin of course, but not as high as one might think.

 

I still think it would be pretty high. We can sell a very similar/same item for almost half the price B&Q are charging, and we still make a decent enough profit. We have all the above costs as well, so I find it difficult to think anything other than they are ripping people off a bit. However, as I've said, if people pay the prices, they'll continue to charge what they do.

 

I don't disagree.
I do some work for an independent hardware shop, and I've seen the margins for myself.

 

You do realise you dont have to buy it, right?

 

Lisa, our local LIDL car park is now getting packed with shoppers and Tesco's car park is nowhere as full as it used to be. The standard isn't any different when you check the ingredients and nutritional value. Why the f**k will I pay 2.99 for a pack of salami slices when I can get it for 1.39 in LIDL??? I have to be an idiot to do that. A mango is £1.50 in Tesco, whereas in LIDL, I can get sweeter and non-fibre mango for .99p. Have you eaten LIDL's freshely baked croissants? They are delicious! .29p for a croissant sorts my lunch out. If you buy 4, you get them for a quid. Sorted.