Friday, October 21, 2005

Choices and Getting Ripped Off 

If you live in a small country town then you're encouraged to shop locally. Today we went out of town and discovered one reason to shop in a bigger town, and a few good reasons to shop at home.

First - the big slap-in-the-face realisation that shopping locally can be a rip-off. We discovered a dinner set on sale in Bunbury for less than a third of the price we paid for it here. When the set isn't on sale, it's at least $50 cheaper in Bunbury than here. Ouch.

On the other hand, oranges in three kilo bags were cheaper at Augusta Supa-Valu this week than they were today in Woolworths at the Bunbury Forum. Juicy oranges. Shopping in a different supermarket is frustrating - we didn't know where to find anything and Woolworths doesn't stock some of the brands we buy at Supa-Valu or Dewsons in Margaret River. If Woolworths and Coles successfully knock off all the competition, will the choices available dwindle?

The West reported recently that even the pub where we meet for blogger meet-up is owned by Woolworths. I wonder - if I drink enough beer will they let me buy my lift some fuel at 4c less a litre? I noticed information stuck to the shelves in the supermarket about how I can be rewarded for shopping at their liquor outlets today.

Woolies' specials were worthwhile, given that we had to go to Bunbury anyway, and the staff members are friendly. We used our docket to buy fuel before we left. We bought fuel before we left Augusta this morning too.

Dog food is cheaper at Dewsons Margaret River this week, so we stopped there on the way home and bought a few extras too. The staff is friendly there as well, and so are the customers.

So we didn't learn much really - except that it pays to shop around provided you can afford the fuel.
// posted by Deanne @ 22:21
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