Help!!

[the.fee.fairy]

I've been trying (and so has my father and my sister...) to explain to my mother (49) why we would prefer it if she didn't shop at T*scos.

We have pointed out that there's a co-op a mile down the road from it ('last time i went in there it looked dirty and the staff weren't as helpful'), the meat is rubbish, the vegetables are overpacked and flavourless.

However, we get 'tell the 10million people that use t*scos every day that they're wrong'.

I have tried explaining in ethical terms but 'its my pocket that matters, and if they sell it cheaper, then i'll buy it there'.

So...help anyone? Its like hitting my head against a brick wall, only the wall's less painful!

[Andy Hamilton]

Hmm, the only way I can think of is to talk to her about what the future will hold for you and any offspring that you have (might have eventualy) if she and everyone else carry on shopping there. The whole of Britain being one big T***o, putting farmers out business so that only huge pestiside ridden farms will be around. Or the fact that with the extra amount of miles the food has to travel how much impact it has on the climate and does she really want to contribute to her daughter facing an ice age in her old age?

You could try and convince her to grow some of her own or would that be too much to ask for.

Will think on a bit more....

[The Chili Monster]

Heard on the radio earlier today that Britain may have to import milk in five years' time, such is the decline of dairy farming in this country.
You could always point out how T***o's (deflationary) costing policies have contributed to this.

[Stonehead]

Heard on the radio earlier today that Britain may have to import milk in five years' time, such is the decline of dairy farming in this country.
You could always point out how T***o's (deflationary) costing policies have contributed to this.

Britain already imports milk - not just dairy products, but liquid milk too.

I'll see if I can find the figures. I think they were in Hansard.


rummage rummage mutter...

[Stonehead]

Heard on the radio earlier today that Britain may have to import milk in five years' time, such is the decline of dairy farming in this country.
You could always point out how T***o's (deflationary) costing policies have contributed to this.

Britain already imports milk - not just dairy products, but liquid milk too.

I'll see if I can find the figures. I think it came it was in Hansard.


rummage rummage mutter...

Okay, liquid milk imports were 38,000 tonnes in 2003 while exports the same year were 198,000 tonnes. That was the lowest year for imports.

Back in 1995, the UK imported 178,000 tonnes of liquid milk while exporting 161,000 tonnes.

Yes, it sounds daft - importing and exporting the same product but that's the way the market works! All the wasted energy and time...

Anyway, if you want the full figures (including other dairy products), have a look at Hansard for 13 January 2005.

[Martin]

In our local town, there's a smallish T***o, which is always packed - a small Budgens which appears to be trying very hard to go "up-market" - (at a price!), and a large Co-op, complete with enormous car park, only built a few years ago!
Of all stores, I would expect them to be more ethical than the others, they make a lot of noise about their green credentials, but there are still aisles crammed with hydrogenated fat biscuits, ludicrously cheap factory-farmed poultry, battery eggs, Carnation milk, lifesize singing Santas, and gas patio heaters etc etc
Add to that the fact that their newly-built store is an eco nightmare (most windows blanked off, jangly fluorescents glaring away, and enough refrigeration for an ocean liner!), they are just as bad as most out there - and like the rest are only indulging in lip-service to "doing something"
I think that to the "unenlightened" they probably rightfully view supermarkets as "pretty similar", and go for the low prices!

[the.fee.fairy]

my dad and i do the growing. We didn't have a good year this year, but next year will be much better planned!

She seems to think that if it comes in a tescos bag, then its good, there are no problems with it.

She doesn't understand (or refuses to understand) ethics - she'd rather someone suffer than have to pay more.

I suggested the co-op because its about a mile away from T*scos, and its a supermarket, so she can still go there and get everything. They just seem to have better ethics. The one near us took over an old Leos supermarket, so the land was already used for shoppng (and always has been, it used to be something else before that, and was originally a parade of 3 or 4 shops i think).

Its just so hard! She seems to think that anything against T*scos is a personaly affront to her. She's even upset that io've ordered a veg box and a fruit bag every fortnight...