Why is the Co-op so expensive?

Why is the Co-op so expensive?

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Discussion

LordJammy

3,112 posts

188 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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I’m not sure how ethical they really are, they’re expensive, much more so than the village shop they often move in on that often ends up shutting soon after the co op has turned up. At least that’s my experience of them in my area. They sit on massive amounts of land and property too, just to stop anyone else having it.

bloomen

6,845 posts

158 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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My local shop is a coop and it's the only decent sized shop for several miles. As long as you shop carefully it's not much worse than the major chains but they do hit you harder on the essentials like bog roll.

I've noticed a couple of coops pop up on new build estates nearby. What's interesting about them is that they're consistently 10-20% more expensive for everything than other coops.

Not only did the residents over pay for their luxury executive new build paper stboxes but they're also locked in to a grocery premium too. I wonder if the developer gets an ongoing kickback.

valiant

10,066 posts

159 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Puggit said:
mickmcpaddy said:
Mothersruin said:
They donate to the Labour Party.
Do they? right well that's them off the shopping list for good. Overpriced tat anyway.
Not just donate - they have 38 MPs that are affiliated to the Labour Party...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-operative_Party
Does it really matter?

You want some beans but can't be bothered to drive to a supermarket for some but you'll refuse to go to the co-op at the end of the road due to their political links?

Lots of companies donate or support political parties of all colours as a way of trying to gain a little influence in their industries. It's nothing new.

Besides they're employing local people and they promote local causes. They're not all bad.

sjabrown

1,910 posts

159 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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The Co-op in the village where I work has a very poor selection of fresh fruit and veg. But a very extensive selection of booze.

It is a deprived village with a significant alcohol problem.

I guess the Co-op makes a decent profit.

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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My local one is pretty good value TBH
Main shop Ocado online
Coop for the things I forgot or emergency beer supplies
Open until 10pm
Always have things on offer. Sure if you need a particular toothpaste etc it may cost more. But if you want any main brand then one will be half price!
Can’t fault them

rowley birkin

485 posts

99 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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My wife has worked part-time at our local Co-op for several years. Even with her staff discount we find it cheaper to shop elsewhere.

Benmac

1,465 posts

215 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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sjabrown said:
The Co-op in the village where I work has a very poor selection of fresh fruit and veg. But a very extensive selection of booze.

It is a deprived village with a significant alcohol problem.

I guess the Co-op makes a decent profit.
Yep, they do know their market. The nearest one to our old place was on the edge of a stty estate. It was full of cheap booze, sweets, chocolates and crisps. Where we've moved to recently is rather well to do and the one in the village has a big old selection of gluten free etc etc stuff, loads of fresh fruit and veg and a surprisingly decent (albeit reasonably sized) selection of wine.

toastyhamster

1,660 posts

95 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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mikebradford said:
I wasn't aware of the co-ops political links. Their ethical stance is something I can respect, but I don't understand why they still have to support one party or another.
It's understandable they may have historical links, but this day and age they should be concentrating on their core business.
I don't think they know what their core business is? Shops? Travel agents? Funeral services? Clothing? Last time I was in Angel Square in Manc (massive new at the time Coop head office) it was a complete shambles and that was when the co-op bank (over the road) was trying it's hardest to make them look good. Think they have 9 business lines, none of which are particularly well controlled or integrated into the group.

DoubleByte

1,239 posts

265 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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We live in a small town with Sainsbury's, Aldi, co-op and Waitrose. I have absolutely no idea why so many less well off people steadfastly refuse to shop anywhere but the co-op!!!!
With the exception of Aldi, the other's are a couple of minutes walk from each other - literally.
Co-op continues to charge corner shop prices and gets away with it.

Yipper

5,964 posts

89 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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The Co-op is like almost all other lefty institutions... Pretending to help poor people while screwing them over and lining their own pockets.

The bank nearly went bust gambling away its members' money. The shop is way overpriced and nowhere near the value of Lidl and others.

From Oxfam to Chairman Mao, the lefties always have a skeleton somewhere in their virtue-signaling closet.

Octoposse

2,152 posts

184 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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They're bread is fantastic quality - better than Sainsbury's, on a par with M&S In my opinion, and much cheaper. Fruit and veg not so good, but stuff like bananas often reduced to 50ish pence a bag.

Locally I prefer the look / feel of the place to the Tesco and Sainsbury convenience equivalents.

Mikebentley

6,034 posts

139 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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The bread is really good and I find they are really good at discounting stuff down after about 6PM. I always pop in and buy our bread on my way home and usually get a couple of fancy Walnut and sun dried foreskin loaves for 10p each. Pack of doughnuts for 10p etc. The other week I had a bag full of stuff for 57p. More money for other fun stuff.

Loved the COOP until just heard that Labour Party information

texaxile

3,289 posts

149 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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bloomen said:
My local shop is a coop and it's the only decent sized shop for several miles. As long as you shop carefully it's not much worse than the major chains but they do hit you harder on the essentials like bog roll.

I've noticed a couple of coops pop up on new build estates nearby. What's interesting about them is that they're consistently 10-20% more expensive for everything than other coops.

Not only did the residents over pay for their luxury executive new build paper stboxes but they're also locked in to a grocery premium too. I wonder if the developer gets an ongoing kickback.
You want to get a card and make a trip to a Makro matey, 48 bog rolls (cushelle) for a tenner. It's a pleasure to wipe your backside with the stuff.

I agree though, co-op is consistently more expensive than the other options. For some reason our local one always has a unique smell about it as well and the chicken is obscenely expensive (I'm calling foul on that one). I'll only use it if we're really stuck, otherwise it's Tesco's, unless we're in the council thread in which case it's Waitrose...

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Yipper said:
The Co-op is like almost all other lefty institutions... Pretending to help poor people while screwing them over and lining their own pockets.

The bank nearly went bust gambling away its members' money. The shop is way overpriced and nowhere near the value of Lidl and others.

From Oxfam to Chairman Mao, the lefties always have a skeleton somewhere in their virtue-signaling closet.
Paranoid Android wink

trickywoo

11,701 posts

229 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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CO-op in my town is more expensive than Waitrose which is much more conveniently located.

What they sell is generally pretty poor quality too. Don’t know how they stay open.

Challo

10,041 posts

154 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Routemaster93 said:
Every few weeks at our local co-op the prices go up. If you buy a lot of items each week the prices soon add up for example Individual steak kidney pie gone from £1.49 to £1.75. You can get a hot cooked pie in most bakers cheaper than that!
Individual steak pies are only £1.30 at M&S!

But why are they so damned expensive? I know they pride themselves on so called “Ethical” responsible buying of products. But isn’t the Co-op also supposed to be a ‘working class’ kind of thing? With the prices they charge only the bloody rich can afford to do a weekly shop in the Co-op!

The Co-op is the only supermarket where they charge you to buy a loyalty card, £1 when other supermarkets are free!

If the Co-op is so ETHICAL then why don’t they get ETHICAL with the poor British people on low incomes, the single mothers and fathers, the elderly or disabled, people living in isolated communities without their own transport who are forced to pay extortionate premium prices because the Co-op is the only shop there and they have no damned choice.

Edited by Routemaster93 on Sunday 25th February 15:05
Why don’t you put Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury into the same boat as Co-op taking money away from all those poor people?

This link may surprise you https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/cheapest-places-you...

gothatway

5,783 posts

169 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Mikebentley said:
a couple of fancy Walnut and sun dried foreskin loaves for 10p each.
What sort of loaves ?

anonymous-user

53 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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we have a local shop that has serviced our village for close on 40 years, the coop decided to take over the local pub and open, next to the village shop. Local shop now struggling to compete agaibst the coop buying power

Nothing ethical about that - purely profit focussed these days, not the coop of old in my view

grumpy52

5,565 posts

165 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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Octoposse said:
They're bread is fantastic quality - better than Sainsbury's, on a par with M&S In my opinion, and much cheaper. Fruit and veg not so good, but stuff like bananas often reduced to 50ish pence a bag.

Locally I prefer the look / feel of the place to the Tesco and Sainsbury convenience equivalents.
I have news for you regarding bread .
It all comes from the same supplier the only variation is some of the M&S bread is a different recipe, even the in store bread is made from the same pre mixed stuff in most cases .

bingybongy

3,858 posts

145 months

Sunday 25th February 2018
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grumpy52 said:
Octoposse said:
They're bread is fantastic quality - better than Sainsbury's, on a par with M&S In my opinion, and much cheaper. Fruit and veg not so good, but stuff like bananas often reduced to 50ish pence a bag.

Locally I prefer the look / feel of the place to the Tesco and Sainsbury convenience equivalents.
I have news for you regarding bread .
It all comes from the same supplier the only variation is some of the M&S bread is a different recipe, even the in store bread is made from the same pre mixed stuff in most cases .
And Lidl in store bakery which is 50% cheaper than the stty Co-Op.
I worked for GNCS for two years. s. That was nearly 40 years ago. I still refuse to set foot in a store, buy their petrol or use their cashpoints. fk Co-Op.