Rip off Britain

[Dedworth]

From my experience of UK supermarkets compared to those that I've visited abroad the UK ones have fresher, better quality produce and more variety. That in itself comes at a cost especially considering the rising transport costs of importing the goods.

So none of these costs are taken into account when calculating retailers cost inflation which the UBS report mentions. Do these nice charitable UK supermarkets absorb the cost of aviation fuel from Africa and diesel from Spain so we are able to buy string beans and strawberries all the year round ?

The net margins are between 3% and 5.8% (Tesco). The size of the turnover is irrelevant. The point I'm making is that if the supermarkets were ripping consumers off with high prices the profit margins would be much higher.

Sir Terry Leahy former CEO of Tesco trousered £1.4 million in 2009 - -if I'm not mistaken Fat Cat salaries are deducted from GP before you get to the net. No doubt on top of his declared salary will be share options, houses, substantial expense accounts etc

At those margins you'd be better off putting your money in the bank account (until a couple of years ago anyway).

Fortunately I don't rely upon dumbed-down, selective media such as the Daily Mail or BBC to form my opinions.

One wonders why they spent many years building up huge chains of retail temples when they could have run squealing to the Nationwide Building Society with truck loads of cash.

Which Supermarkets Press Office do you work for ?