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Rip off Ireland is now dead.
At last real value is starting to find its way back as compition becomes prevalent.
The rip off culture has taken a few hits but has a long way to go before prices get back to an acceptable level, if ever in some areas. As I write Mrs Humdinger is in Belfast doing a monthly shop, getting some furniture in IKEA, clothes etc etc. This has become a monthly trip over the last year. I look forward to being able to spend my money in Southern Ireland when prices get back to an acceptable norm ... today it is still worth our while to travel north and that is not good for our economy. So we are "shopping around" in mary harney terms but not doing it right in mary couglan terms !!!
Its worth thinking whether we will ever have proper competition ... look at where an average family spends money.
- food - no real competition at multiple retailer level and it seems Aldi/Lidl are even priced substantially higher here
- clothing - good levels of competition in this area ...lots of sales on at the moment as well
- entertainment - way over the top in terms of pricing and hopefully will see some price competition going forward ... especially on kids related stuff
- pubs/restaurants - enough said and there will be casualties in this area in the next couple of years
- waste, insurance ... scope for increased competition here.
- telecomms - Eircom still own the infrastructure which limits scope for real competition
- ESB/Gas - ouch ... protected state agencies. In 2020 it will be worse as we have no other options as wind/wave etc can't make up the gap. Put the metro North money into a nuclear plant and get over the emotion of it.
So there are some areas where there is scope for competition though on a population base of 4.5 million, there is not always the incentive for the players to look past some pretend level of competition where its really a duopoly.
Attitude - Eddie Hobbs was lauded and lambasted in equal proportion for his Rip Off Republic programme - its worth another screening by RTE.