Supermarket rip-off culture must end
Saturday June 21 2008
It is good to see that the subject of rip-off grocery prices in this country is still the focus of some of the newspapers. Not too long ago, the media also highlighted the ways in which British retailers charge their Irish customers up to 50pc more than British customers.
Rather than merely conduct one survey after another, and state what we already know about supermarket prices, the National Consumer Agency (NCA) should be directly engaged in eliminating this rip-off culture.
The rampant abuse by the supermarkets of their position in the Irish market finds its most resonant expression in a current Supervalu advertisement which features three receipts from Dunnes, Tesco and SuperValu.
All of the receipts come to a total of €45.50. The advertisement boldly proclaims that there "is no price difference" between the three! Such arrogance does indeed spell even darker days ahead for consumers who are forced to rely on such people!
It is high time that consumers got more action from both the National Consumer Agency and the Competition Authority. It is simply not good enough to excuse rip-off prices as being an inevitable result of a free market. How many more newspaper reports must we read on this subject before something constructive is done to finally eliminate this rip-off culture in which we live?
- Maynooth, Co Kildare
