Chamber Of Greedy Monopolies

[quovardis]

Ok so here goes ive been reading for such a long time the rants from a certain member of the chamber of commerce or greedy monopolies ole boy network as I like to refer to them a certain Mr Warr takes every opportunity to beat down any whisper or hint of the mere discussion of the re-introduction of a third independent retailer, rubbishing any report unless it professes doom gloom mass unemployment and the sun falling out of the sky if an ASDA type retailer is allowed to trade in the island.

Along with a certain Mr Shead they both bang on as if most of the people who read the rubbish they get published believe it, maybe they do? the latest cobblers is should we have choice over fairness or choice and fairness I cant quite remember now but the letter in the JEP implies that because we have supermarket shelves with food on them we should be content with the two players we have COOP and Sandpiper and its ever growing franchises and just pay up and shut up as its not fair that in parts of the third world they don’t have as much or the access to much… now I’m all for a better world but we have and will have cases of low income families and people slipping through nets etc … we should sort our end out first……………..

Sadly most of the folk that read this rubbish believe it and vote the way they do hence we end up with an ultra conservative old boys net work now you may say you get what you vote for……………….. That’s very true and I’d like to think some of the new faces will make a difference well it’s a start on the road to an all inclusive government which I hope will lead to an inclusive society…………… oh and my politics for the record slightly left of centre…. A middle of the road liberal with a social conscience and a welly in the waters of commercial reality…………. Thanks for reading……………oh and a merrious xmas to one and all ..............stuff the decks with piles of minced holly tra la la la la la la

[Bea]

Dec 21, 2008 2:52:44 GMT quovardis said:

Ok so here goes ive been reading for such a long time the rants from a certain member of the chamber of commerce or greedy monopolies ole boy network as I like to refer to them a certain Mr Warr takes every opportunity to beat down any whisper or hint of the mere discussion of the re-introduction of a third independent retailer, rubbishing any report unless it professes doom gloom mass unemployment and the sun falling out of the sky if an ASDA type retailer is allowed to trade in the island.

Along with a certain Mr Shead they both bang on as if most of the people who read the rubbish they get published believe it, maybe they do? the latest cobblers is should we have choice over fairness or choice and fairness I cant quite remember now but the letter in the JEP implies that because we have supermarket shelves with food on them we should be content with the two players we have COOP and Sandpiper and its ever growing franchises and just pay up and shut up as its not fair that in parts of the third world they don’t have as much or the access to much… now I’m all for a better world but we have and will have cases of low income families and people slipping through nets etc … we should sort our end out first……………..

Sadly most of the folk that read this rubbish believe it and vote the way they do hence we end up with an ultra conservative old boys net work now you may say you get what you vote for……………….. That’s very true and I’d like to think some of the new faces will make a difference well it’s a start on the road to an all inclusive government which I hope will lead to an inclusive society…………… oh and my politics for the record slightly left of centre…. A middle of the road liberal with a social conscience and a welly in the waters of commercial reality…………. Thanks for reading……………oh and a merrious xmas to one and all ..............stuff the decks with piles of minced holly tra la la la la la la

spin is a big part of the work that chamber of Commerce and the Hospitality group do,in order to preserve the status quo of their members .It is not in THEIR interests to have too much competition.
I dare say another supermartket would impact on other grocers such as Sandpiper and Co-op,but they have had it too good for too long now .
The demise of Woolworths,has been mainly a result of people buying all their shopping under one roof as in Asda or Tesco.
For us in Jersey ,it is a no win situation again for Sandpiper and the Co-op as we now have to buy all the stuff that Woolies supplied us with .
For anyone setting up a home ,Woolies was great ,but you try and get cheap stuff elsewhere in Jersey now and you are stuffed .
Wonder what Mr Warr thinks about the Whittards situation ,would he object to a branch over here?

[Daffy]

You are absolutely right Bea - I live on the mainland and the downfall has been the cheaper goods available at the BIG supermarkets where you can park easily with no parking charges. Also sadly Woolies did not look at the big pictuire of changing times and failed to compete sufficiently (thats my view). Wilkinsons have set up stores in all the major shopping cities and towns which knocked Woolworths for six . . . . Woolworths has gone and I do miss the local store where you could buy your pick n mix, sweet tins/selection boxes, cotton reels, all manor of odd n sods etc etc for reasonable prices.
Its sad to see the shop windows now depleted of stock and all the staff now out of work for 2009 . .

[censored]

Can anyone say people in Jersey have proper competition and get a good deal? Most people would say they are being milked. One has to ask why this state of affairs has been allowed to carry on and who benefits from this? This will give you the answer as to why things are as they are. I myself blame the states they could and should have sorted this out a long time ago.

[nickpalmer]

Dec 24, 2008 7:19:48 GMT censored said:

Can anyone say people in Jersey have proper competition and get a good deal? Most people would say they are being milked.

Jersey has a lack of fair competition but artificially attracting large outside competition would not be a good thing for anybody in the long run. Money that is earned in the local economy and circulates around that environment is far more valuable to creating sustainable wealth-for-all than superficially cheaper prices where the money goes outside the Island and takes no further part in the economy.

If Jersey was larger then there would be scope for more operators in any one field of retail etc. Look at the ferry situation. Having only one operator seems to end up with us being ripped off but having two means that there is not enough business to be split between two. This situation can lead to "cut-throat" discounting for a while but inevitably leads to the failure of one operator upon which the remaining one has to jack up their prices to claw back that which they lost during the period of below-cost ruthless discounting to gain market share. There seems to be a popular belief that businesses are always making money - this is often not true.

The "elephant in the room" that causes most higher prices in Jersey is property values. Whether a business is renting or leasing or attempting to buy the property that they operate from, their business running costs are much higher than elsewhere so they have to charge higher profit margins. This might look superficially as if they are trying to rip us off but, in reality, they are just trying to survive.

I am not denying that there is something of a rip off "thumb-in-the-measuring-tin" mentality amongst some Jersey businesses, and I wish there wasn't, but bringing in Walmart type competition www.tescopoly.org/ is not the answer

[censored]

I believe competition is often a red herring. What we need over here is for the states to dictate what is a fair price and penalise those that want to cream the system. If they encouraged those with a better ethic towards profit then we wouldn't be in the mess we are in and we wouldn't be paying these high prices. How anyone can equate shipping cost at 17.5% as equal to import costs is beyond me!

[generationx]

I go along with what you both have said above.
Globalised retailers such as Tesco would be a nail in the coffin for many small traders over here. Competition in certain sectors is often just not viable in a small state like Jersey.
And the States poor control of property fuels prices and has led to so much misery for small traders and families alike.
Nick mentions the ferry example. I used to wonder why the SoJ don't team up with the SoG and get a decent ferry boat and a decent cargo boat service. I know that private enterprise is cheaper operationally than that run by the state, but private operators aim to make a profit, something the State need not seek. I know the argument, 'it would have to be subsidised' ok very likely- but divided between 2 islands- its less severe. If the CI were interested in bolstering tourist numbers, offering cheaper tickets would be a good start. Its also greener than flying. Cheaper tickets for locals too, why not? I know many people who don't ever leave the island as its just too expensive to take the family away, even for a camping holiday. Also the boats would be operating nearer to capacity than present. As for cargo, if it was run by the State then there would be not excuse for local retailers to claim freight costs in excess of 17.5%. Anyone else thought a joint CI state run ferry or I am flawed in my thinking?

[markforskitt]

GenerationX, I don't think it would work out they way you imagine. Call me a cynical old git, (plenty do), but I think this would produce the following scenario, under the current regime. The boats would be owned by a different department from that running the harbours. In the way of the States, both will be looking to maximise the income to their team, so the harbours will raise charges - its just money coming from another part of the States after all. Teh ferey then raises charges to pay for the harbour charges! Inevitably the harbour and ramp and crane charges etc would extinguish any commercial operators chances. And just like the big supermarkets, once they have used pushed out the competition, and sewn up all the possible alternative sites, the shipping freight prices will rise. After a couple of years, some ex minister who has come to the end of their days will become a director of the ferry business on a nice sinecure income and the business will be stuffed full of middle managers on decent salaries and index linked pensions running around trying to justify their positions and guess who's going to pick up the tab?

There are ways of running a collectively owned boat/shipping business, I think they have a few in Shetland and Hebrides, but I don't think the SOJ is the way to go.

[davidrotherham]

Nick is right on where competition for more than a few percent of the market leads. Further points to expand on what he says are that if a business is already lean and not adding greedy margins, it does not need to lose much turnover to cease to be viable, even if it it still has plenty of satisfied customers, and that in a price war, victory does not go to the best operator, but the one whose owners can subsidise losses for longest. Case study - Walmart-backed Asda creams off a chunk of Woolworth's trade in school uniform and cheap hardware and appliances, Woolies goes under, watch where Asda's prices are going to go now.