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View Full Version : Is Caithness too expensive?



dozy
25-Feb-08, 11:12
Over the last few weeks i have been shopping for some items ,from household items to car parts .They all have one thing in common ,they are really expensive to buy locally ;
Double mattress 25% dearer
Timber in thurso 37% dearer
Car parts 105% dearer , these items do take into the postage or delivery costs and the list goes on ,Petrol, Heating oil ,gas etc
Yes! house prices might be cheaper but wages are lower .Even car insurance is dearer than it should be because Caithness and Sutherland are grouped as Inverness Area ...mad or what ..???

justine
25-Feb-08, 11:28
Over the last few weeks i have been shopping for some items ,from household items to car parts .They all have one thing in common ,they are really expensive to buy locally ;
Double mattress 25% dearer
Timber in thurso 37% dearer
Car parts 105% dearer , these items do take into the postage or delivery costs and the list goes on ,Petrol, Heating oil ,gas etc
Yes! house prices might be cheaper but wages are lower .Even car insurance is dearer than it should be because Caithness and Sutherland are grouped as Inverness Area ...mad or what ..???


I agree with all but the car insurance..I found that in england because of the crime statistics insurance is ridiculous but here in caithness we pay alot less for it, but on the whole things are more expensive, mainly due IMO because it has to be brought up........

Humerous Vegetable
25-Feb-08, 12:06
I think the high cost of goods and services up here are less to do with distance and more to do with lack of competition. That has been demonstrated by Tesco and fuel prices, which are currently 4p cheaper in Wick than they are in Thurso. Over here, we have all the filling stations fixing their prices at what they think they will get away with, because there is nobody to challenge them. Because we have been denied an Asda (and haven't things gone quiet on that front?) by councillors and MSPs who don't have to pay for their own fuel, we are stuck with being ripped off unless we want to add to our carbon footprint by travelling to Wick or Inverness to fill up. I think we would also see prices in Tesco falling if there was a viable alternative, and I bet Homebase would be cheaper if there was a B&Q just down the road.

Kenn
25-Feb-08, 12:22
A good point Humorous Vegetable about some of the costs being what can be charged and not what is a fair price.
With regard to further shops, supermarkets to create more competition , I would think that the biggest problem is the size of the population and the fact that the multiples look to trade on four sides.The geographical position of both Wick and Thurso makes this an unviable factor and would be taken into account in any business plan.Whilst I too live in a coastal city, the population here is in excess of 250,000 which does make trading on three sides quite attractive.
I have been pleasantly surprised many times by prices when shopping in the far north especially on meat,footwear,eating out and gifts.I have however noticed the higher price of fuel.

Riffman
25-Feb-08, 12:25
Don't know about mattresses. My parents got one in Wick cheaper than internet!

Insurance is less up here as well.

Shotgun cartriges are normal prices, inotherwords, its fine by me! [lol]

Penelope Pitstop
25-Feb-08, 12:44
It doesn't matter what small town you live in...prices will be more expensive than in the middle of cities where competition is fierce (unless you have a monopoly on an item and you can charge what you want where you want).

Small traders in all places are up against it with the huge buying power of large companies. i.e. small Mr ABC buys in 4 washing machines a month and Comet 33,000 a month from the same supplier...doesn't take brains of Brittain to work out which one should be cheaper!! Having said that I would, and have, paid an extra £20 on such an item just to get the better service from Mr ABC:)

As for fuel prices noticed at the weekend (down as far as London) that motorway service stations were much about such £1.09 a litre (off the motorway was a bit cheaper).

Riffman
25-Feb-08, 13:51
The best bit about being up here is that when the washing breaks down I can go and buy the bits for less than £1, fix the machine and save myself hundreds.

Already extended the life of our machine by 10 years!

You can't get parts for love nor money in the cities :confused

northener
25-Feb-08, 16:55
It doesn't matter what small town you live in...prices will be more expensive than in the middle of cities where competition is fierce (unless you have a monopoly on an item and you can charge what you want where you want).

Small traders in all places are up against it with the huge buying power of large companies. i.e. small Mr ABC buys in 4 washing machines a month and Comet 33,000 a month from the same supplier...doesn't take brains of Brittain to work out which one should be cheaper!! Having said that I would, and have, paid an extra £20 on such an item just to get the better service from Mr ABC:)

As for fuel prices noticed at the weekend (down as far as London) that motorway service stations were much about such £1.09 a litre (off the motorway was a bit cheaper).

Regarding fuel, it's not that much different to what I've paid down South. One station on th A1 was charging a damn sight more than we pay up here.

.

Penelope Pitstop
25-Feb-08, 17:16
Regarding fuel, it's not that much different to what I've paid down South. One station on th A1 was charging a damn sight more than we pay up here.

.

Aye, that's what I was meaning, M40 M6, M1 they were all about the same £1.09. That's probably about the same as Tesco's in Wick is it?????

Highland Laddie
25-Feb-08, 17:18
Aye, that's what I was meaning, M40 M6, M1 they were all about the same £1.09. That's probably about the same as Tesco's in Wick is it?????

It may well be a bit on the expensive side,
but i would never wish to live elsewhere.

Humerous Vegetable
25-Feb-08, 17:51
Aye, that's what I was meaning, M40 M6, M1 they were all about the same £1.09. That's probably about the same as Tesco's in Wick is it?????

Motorway service stations are notorious for price inflation, especially where there are long gaps between them. Clackett Lane on the M25 has no competition at all, and is therefore one of the main ripoff sites. It should not be the same scenario in the towns and cities, surely.

henry20
26-Feb-08, 08:46
I disagree. I work in a shop and go out of my way to ensure we get things for as competitive a price as we can. I know for a fact we sell a lot of our items for cheaper than south because much to my OH's annoyance, most of our trips south are spent looking in shops comparing prices. We have to keep prices cheaper than Inverness to encourage people to shop locally.

One of the companies we deal with has given us a hard time for selling their items too cheap :roll: but we won't be bullied into increasing our prices!

balto
26-Feb-08, 12:13
it is all about competition from the other shops around i work in woolies and last year some of the stuff was cheaper in wick because f tesco and the retail park, because in thurso there isnt any real threat is there.

Cattach
26-Feb-08, 13:01
Win some, lose some. Pertol dearer but in south use up the difference and more in traffic jams. Lots of services much more expensive in the south. Taking overall yearlly spending compared with a large city in the south we probably come out marginally better.