Rip Off Britain (again)

[Robin]

Had a short break for golf in South Brittany over New Year and took the opportunity to goody shop for the new boat:

VHF Handheld (Navicom) for £89, including rechareable battery pack and pack for normal AA batts. Best UK price around £140

Offshore flares kit (4 paras, 6 handflares, 2 smokes) for £69 best UK price (with 4 handhelds only) around £100, mostly nearer£120. The instructions for use were in English as well as French.

S/S anchor swivel £20 (UK nearer£40)

Waterproof VHF cockpit speaker £9

All the above were from big chain chandlers such as Acastillage Diffusion, U-Ship or Big Ship with branches in most ports. Previously we had also bought a 110w solar panel for about the price here of a 60w.


By the time we had stocked up on wine, gin & cigs, not to mention cheaper petrol, we had saved half the holiday cost and had a good time to boot.

 

[jfkal]

You need to understand that it is always more expensive to be on an island. All the goods need to get shipped in. Try Singapore. There, UK prices look like a bargain 100 % markup is normal.
So small island highest price, large island lower prices, big island (Europe) cheaper. Exception of the rule ? US . Largest island highest prices. May WTO GATT and free trade zones go to the eternal hunting grounds. I shop online and get offshore prices. It is up to the consumer to exercise and direct their purchasing power .......... .
So obviously the majority is happy to pay more.....

 

[Guest]

More expensive on an island? In these times GB is hardly an island. Are you seriously trying to say that it is so much cheaper to ship stuff from Taiwan etc to France/Germany than it is to GB? And what about all the electronic factories up North/Wales/Scotland? Why have those factories here if it's so expensive to bring the raw materials to this country. I think it's a long time since GB was an island in terms of global movements - certainly is when it comes to price though!!

 

[jfkal]

Of course I am not serious but sarcastic. It remains a fact that everything related to boating is a lot more expensive in the UK. qed

 

[Guest]

My apologies jfkal, I wasn't particularly awake when I read your post and thought you were being serious. BTW in the true spirit of rip-off Britain, I'm charging you £10 for reading this post, but everyone in mainland Europe can read it for $2 (I was going to put Euro, but what a shame, my laptop doesn't seem to have that symbol! lol)

 

[jfkal]

Grrrrrr. Not accepted, I am not in the UK but in Asia and we always copy for free.
However I could upgrade your PC to understand the Euro sign at just 9.99 USD )

 

[rogerroger]

Interesting.

We chartered a boat in St Malo and I had to buy a Portland plotter thing as couldn't work out the French one...

cheap nasty plastic plotter £13 - about £8 in UK.

boat had no mugs - cheapest plastic mug we could find over there £5 each!!


but the prices you quote sound very good - I'm off to Calais for a day trip soon - do you know anywhere in that area? as I need loads of stuff...

Roger Holden
www.first-magnitude.co.uk

 

[romany123]

It pays to shop around.
My mother wanted a perfume (denim) for christmas so I scouted about on the internet, the best price i could get was from a store in New York, not only was it half the price but they even gift wrapped it for me. I suppose the moral is look around, we have a an open market place so we should use it.
Dave

Dave

 

[Robin]

Our Brittany hotel didn't have tea/coffee making facilities, so we bought a new filter coffee machine as well for £7 (that was the luxury version, there was one at £5.50), 2 mugs were £1 each (china). Actually the coffee maker cost the equivalent of 5 cups of cafe coffee!

Sorry the catalogues are on the boat, but Calais will definely have on of the big chandleries, at least get their catalogue for study later. I actually got the credit card bill this morning and I over estimated the £'s prices I quoted as well.

By the by, why does asparagus cost 3 times more here than in Cherbourg, the last lot we bought was even grown in Kent.

 

[tcm]

Re: € sign

hold down the key marked "Alt Gr" to the right of your space bar and at the same time press 4. € hurrah! hatem, meself, but anyway....

 

[bryantee]

Re: € sign

Or alt 0128 €

 

[Guest]

Being an Island is no excuse! Brittish chandlers mark up 100 to 200%. I know I've worked in them. But in Greece where most things are imported it's only 40 to 50% mark up. A tube of sikaflex is 12 pounds, in Greece it's 5 pounds! The trade prices are the same and it's imported. Britian has no excuse for it chandler prices.

 

[Guest]

To a large extent the rate of exchange may be to blame. A few years ago it was nearly 6 francs to the pound. I don't know what it is now but it has been about 11 to the pound recently. No wonder British manufacturers are going bust.

Despite this I agree that in the UK chandlers do put on a "yotty" surcharge. I doubt if sealant would cost half as much from a builders merchant or direct from the manufacturer. Chandlers perceive sailors as wealthy and probably most purchases are made in a hurry, to get back on the water. So they charge what the market will stand. Chandlers would probably say that their shops are quiet for much of the year and they need high mark-ups to cover their costs. European ports probably have longer sailing seasons thus lower overheads.

 

[Robin]

I used 10FF/£1 to quote the sterling prices, I actually paid less than I quoted.(credit card bill just in). By the way French VAT is included and is higher than ours by about 2%.

The chandlers I used are part of a chain across France and I paid catalogue prices. The same prices are valid from Calais to the Med. Actually my local chandler is always busy and the one in France was empty when I visited.

I could also berth my boat for about 1/3rd the price I pay here as well.

There are also other significant differences, cars are still cheaper in Europe, even those made in the UK, eating out is certainly cheaper as are regular supermarket prices for the most part. All this and a better health service too!

 

[david_bagshaw]

Re: € sign

Does any body see a euro sign in the subject I can only get a square!!!!!

David
www.yachtman.co.uk

 

[Twister_Ken]

Re: € sign

Funny, I get a bullet.

This is a euro sign ¤. Bet it isn't by the times it reaches you though.

 

[HaraldS]

Re: € sign

There are many different keyboard mappings. Try right-Alt+5 and see if that works for you.

 

[Guest]

Indeed. Compare prices on the Compass24 German and English site. Sometimes price figures are equal, although one is in Euros, the other in Pounds. I do not seem to be able to order from the German site, they do not accept an address abroad, but there must be a way around this.

 

[Guest]

I spent most of last summer sailing in Brittany. With few exceptions, the prices in the French chandlers were more expensive than those in the PBO adverts I had with me on the boat. Yes, you could always find something cheaper, and rope always was cheaper. But electronics - never. Just try buying a Garmin 128 for example. The prices I saw at U ship were almost £100 more than the UK.

Incidentally, the position was the same in Northern Spain.

Mind you, the French and Spaniards cant even begin to match the level of wingeing we have in the UK.

 

[tonyg]

Ireland is also an island. Our petrol costs €0.78 per litre. Maybe Britain should try eurinating sometime.