NI shopping exodus 'swings and roundabouts'

Regardless of VAT and costs, these two items which someone posted elsewhere are the same item, same retailer but the costs are astronomically different.





I presume that a Bosch product is neither made in Ireland nor the UK. Most likely Germany or the far east so the same company has to import it into both UK and Ireland.

UK VAT on the product will be in the £7 region. Add on 43% of £7. Still brings you no closer to understanding why it is more expensive in ROI than UK.

Argos know people will buy it at that price south of the border and don't care about alienating their customers as it is not their core customer base.

And if someone, in disgust, decides to buy that item in the North instead what happens? They go straight to Argos in Newry! Win win situation.

I think people should freely shop in the North but only go to retailers who are not in ROI.
 
Please remember that as the poorer people in this society don't have the wherewithall to travel North or to the USA for that matter, it is they who are funding the fancy jobs of the greedy who go on their jaunts in order to save a couple of Euros.
 
ubiquitous said:
But, hampered by 43% higher VAT and similarly higher minimum wage levels, this is a tall order.
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I 100% agree with you but the story is worse in say Denmark with higher tax and labour costs, border towns are now ghost towns.

There will be casualties especially if business ignores what is happening, they need to plan for the future.
 
Kingdom said:
Please remember that as the poorer people in this society don't have the wherewithall to travel North or to the USA for that matter, it is they who are funding the fancy jobs of the greedy who go on their jaunts in order to save a couple of Euros.
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Does your name reflect your location?

A spin up the M1 in a 1997 Astra is hardly a jaunt by someone with a fancy job.

What about looking at it this way: The people going up North will make the retailers in Ireland work harder and lead to a reduction in prices, the benefits of which will be reaped throughout the 26 counties.

Those people going up on their jaunts are saving you money in the long run!!!
 
Kingdom said:
it is they who are funding the fancy jobs of the greedy who go on their jaunts in order to save a couple of Euros.
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Not entirely true, in my business not 1 cent comes from Ireland. My business is European so it comes from the UK, Western and Northern Europe.

When setting up in Ireland the primary driver was cost saving with lower average wages than the rest of Europe, this is no longer the case so Ireland has priced itself out of the budget markets.
 

Sadly, this wasn't the result of the same phenomenon in the 1980s.
 
ubiquitous said:
Sadly, this wasn't the result of the same phenomenon in the 1980s.
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Yeah, I'm just trying to yank the chain of Kingdom.

Maybe I could argue with him that it is the fat-cats who can afford to lord it up, being able to throw money away by shopping south of the border whereas the poor people like me have to climb into the old Astra and head up the road.
 
I remember my mother going up to the north in the 80’s for some good deals though they had that 24 hour rule (at least I think so) back then. Going to the north is nothing new. This has been a slow burner for some time and now it has exploded. The only option open to retailers here is to reduce prices or risk going out of business.
 
theoneill said:
I remember my mother going up to the north in the 80’s for some good deals
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My parents bought our first colour TV in Lurgan in 1974/5. The cost of was GBP 199 which, in those days, was the same in IEP. We were stopped at the border on the way back and my father argued that we were within our rights to take it across without paying duty. At that time, the personal allowance was £50 per adult. So, adding the allowances of my parents and my older sister and brother, we were covered, i.e. £50 x 4 = 200, against cost of TV £199.

The Customs man laughed and waved us through.
 

hear hear, well said
 

My reference to the poor is that, it is they who are keeping your average business in operation because they have no choice but to shop local. The proof of my point is that if everyone went North to shop, our economy would collapse in just the same way as the Petrol/Diesel businesses within 25 miles North of the border went out of business due to lower prices here.

I agree with your point - The high overheads of businesses in Ireland are the the principal (but not the only) cause of the high prices. So if you want cheaper prices you must lower your overheads
i.e. Lower wages (especially) from the top down.(our Taoiseach earns more than the USA President!) e.g. In Germany state employees have not had a pay rise since East & West were unified more than 6 years ago!
Local Councils here screw small businesses for Rates instead of running an efficient operation and making unnecessary staff redundant.

Also,
It may not be widely known that our politicians many of whom are in receipt of very large salaries are often in receipt of large pensions as well because at some time in the past they were a minister in government! This is a gross insult to every taxpayer many of whom who will never earn the amount of money the TD earns from the Pension.
 
Kingdom said:
The proof of my point is that if everyone went North to shop, our economy would collapse in just the same way as the Petrol/Diesel businesses within 25 miles North of the border went out of business due to lower prices here.
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If people in Germany, France, Spain and Italy were to refuse to buy Dell Computers made in Limerick, Microsoft products manufactured in Dublin from software written in Dublin, Intel and HP products from Leixlip, Financial products from the IFSC, Pfizer, Apple, Abbot, Nortel etc. etc. because they are not contributing to the local economies then where would Ireland be.

We are part of a system that allows free trade and I for one think Ireland is better as part of that system (EU) than outside of it as without the companies above, we wouldn't have the money to make the choice to go North to spend hundreds on drink and food.

Another point is that Ireland has for over a quarter of a century been a net recipient from the EU. All those infrastructural projects were funded from the EU. The first not to be has been the Port Tunnel.

Shopping over the border, which has arisen as a result of government mismanagement, seems to be the first negative to EU membership.
 

This thread is referring to Retailling not manufacturing which is a whole different discussion.
It about spending your income which has been obtained locally in your local economy.
As previously stated the people heading Northward will be the first to cry and complain about the lack of local shopping facilities to cater for their needs when they don't have the time and or the money to travel North.
 
Was in Newry today.... Bought few items in Argos... dont know how Argos can justify such a huge difference in prices...

Philips Avent Electric steriliser - 39.17£ .... ROI Price @ Argos - 71.99€
Mamas and Papas Infant Carrier with Base - 53.82£ ... ROI Price @ Argos - 82.49€
 
Did you price around in Irish Shops? You might be pleasantly surprised sometimes. Argos is often the dearest for goods which they don't buy in bulk from China. i.e. electrical goods which they must purchase from the normal supply routes. I'm in the computer business and my prices are more often cheaper than dearer than Argos plus I have an after sales service which Argos doesn't even dream about.

P.S.
Irish Consumer law states that a business which sells a product must provide an after sales support service for that product.
But like a lot of laws in Ireland it isn't enforced. If it was, then Argos, Harvey Go Home, Tesco, Dunnes, Aldi, Lidl etc., etc. would be stopped from selling boxes and washing their hands of them afterwards.
If a Family business like myself operated in such an unprofessional manner we would be put out of business by the courts.

P.P.S.
By supporting Non Irish owned businesses all the profit earned leaves the country never to return. So it doesn't matter at all whether you shop in the Republic or the North when you support Argos.
 

I have found Aldi and Lidl may not provide after-sales service , but they do offer refund / exchange when you produce receipt.

True , its silly us giving our hard earned cash to all those UK companies .............but do we have an alternative ?
 


But if your gonna shop in argos, it might as well be the one in Newry, at least then your stopping 30-40% of your money going out of the country!
 
1. Did you cost how much fuel you burned to get there?
2. Did you cost how much of your time (& that of those who travelled with you), you wasted getting there & back (@ the Irish Minimum Wage!)?
3. Did you cost what productive things you could have done with your time instead of sitting in a car for several hours?
4. Did you cost the wear and tear on your car to get there?

I'd place a large bet that having costed those items, you are now losing.

P.S.
There is also something which no one has spoken of - Does everyone going on these unnecessary journeys ever consider that they may be involved in a car accident resulting in Death or Serious Injury? Given the large volume of vehicles on the roads, the Risks you are taking are Enormous. And if you travel on this unnecessary journey more than once, you are increasing the Risk many times over.
So if you are unfortunate to end up Profoundly Disabled or worse DEAD, will your great saving scheme be worth it then???

Also Note
The common human condition known as the 'it won't happen to me syndrome' won't save you.
 
allthedoyles said:
I have found Aldi and Lidl may not provide after-sales service , but they do offer refund / exchange when you produce receipt.

True , its silly us giving our hard earned cash to all those UK companies .............but do we have an alternative ?
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Yes, don't spend you money on rubbish you don't need or want. Most people purchase junk in Aldi and Lidl because it's cheap - they neither want nor need it.
In my business I visit other peoples houses and I'm just amazed at the stuff they buy. In fact within a couple of weeks of their opening here, I stopped my wife from purchasing junk in Lidl and Aldi.

Supermarkets exist to sell you stuff you don't need. And then people demand higher wages to fund this ridiculous unnecessary spending.

Our country is now Fuxxed because everyone thinks we have to borrow/spend, borrow/spend borrow/spend to buy stuff not needed as well as fuel gussling 4x4s (every second vehicle on the road is a 4x4, how crazy is that?) and manufactured in China, India, Taiwan, etc. etc. thereby causing a massive drain of money outward, never to return.

When this recession turns into a depression and more and more jobs are lost, you won't have to worry about going to the North cause you won't have the money.
I'm a business man and I only purchase essentials, I do my own maintenance at home and in business and have done so for many years cause I seen this comming for years - it's nuts behaviour and no one believed the warnings given by the economists, even our genius of a former Taoiseach told them to commit suicide. (With people like him running the country, it's easy to see why we're now 'the basket case' of the world and ridiculed in the NY Times)
 
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