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Dick Smith at it again

Ray!

By Ray!
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Ray! Newbie

Ray!

Posted
Posted

Disclaimer: I love Aldi products!

DICK Smith says foreign retail giants Aldi and Costco are pushing local producers out of business with "capitalist" business models.

http://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/article/2012/05/11/481121_latest-news.html

Interesting, considering that DS has made his fortune on said 'capitalist' models. But what's disingenuous is the fact that Coles and Safeway only started to go Australian after Aldi came on the market. I've been buying from all of these stores for some years and I know for a fact that Aldi has, for a long time, sourced fresh produce from Australian suppliers, compared to the Chinese etc crap that Coles/Woolies was bringing in for so long. Yes, they do import goods from overseas, but so do the other big two. Furthermore, it wasn't until Aldi hit the scene that prices started to become competitive and where there isn't an Aldi store, the prices are always higher. Also there's never been a secret that Coles/Woolies have been screwing the producers for years, setting prices and saying if you don't like it, bugger off.

Maybe DS isn't happy that his own branded products aren't selling that well.

Cheers

Ray

twisty Newbie

twisty

Posted
Posted

... it's just about another whinger like Gerry Harvey.

no, no, no Ray. You've got it all wrong. Dick has seen the light and is a born again retailer.

Gerry wants to be COSTCO when he grows up.

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted (edited)

ALDI DOESN'T sell TimTams!!!

Only cheap Rips offs like the other big brands also do...

Understaffed $h!tHole!!!

I went there once and will never go back again...

Edited by Brett
leaf Newbie

leaf

Posted
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This should be in your part Ray!!! naughty

No, its in general discussion area, he has put in the correct topic area to talk about.

Glort Newbie

Glort

Posted
Posted

Oh come on!

It just wouldn't be a proper 4Wd forum without Ray's daily news and political extracts. I didn't see him post anything on the other site and I started to wonder if he had met an early demise. Good to see he's still around and kicking and back into full form.

On this one I agree.

I know a guy who's family have owned a dairy farm for a bit over 100 years down Nowra way. A few years ago they had to give the game away because it was simply no longer worthwhile for them to operate it. Dairy farmers in Cahoots with the big supermarkets had been paying less and less for the milk until there was more money for the family to go get a Job on a servo counter than what they were making from the hours they put in on the farm.

Guy I know is very bitter because he grew up believeing it was his destiny to run the farm like generations before him and pass it on to his son(s). The farm has everything going for it except the ability to sell it's product at a viable price.

I have to laugh at Dickie getting his nose out of joint over costco. They have 3 stores in the whole country and I think the last one was only opened a few months back. If 3 stores are affecting his business that much, I think he ought to go back to electronics. Of course the product lines might be a bit thin if he sources Australian made only products.

None the less, his point is not completely without merit.

I have seen califiornian oranges in the supermarkets as well as several lines of produce I known are grown localy. My Mrs and I won't touch it.

Firstly I don't see why our own industries aren't protected from this type of thing and secondly, I'm not going to risk something grown in Human Chit and sprayed with whatever chemical was cheapest, may be because it was toxic.

Really, does it matter if the weekly groceries cost $5 more a week with what people pay over all? And don't give me the down and outs and starvingpentioners bit. They are a small minority always blown out of proportion. Of course if all our produce had to be localy grown where available, there would be a hell of a lot more jobs in a variety of industries and a lot more money staying here to lessen the burden of some of these people.

Another thing is we generally shop at the green grocers not coleworths. Generally the produce they have is better, localy grown and cheaper except where the supermarkets have gone on a predatry pricing binge to try and take them out of the picture.

I'm also a fan of roadside stalls. Nothing fresher lest it's out of your own garden than that.

Even though I'm in surburbia there is an old guy round the corner that sells his garden harvest out the front and we regularly buy from him. Sometimes he gets a bit carried away with price but he also has very heavy Kg's for your money so swings and roundabouts.

It's great to see someone take a genuine pride in their product though.

twisty Newbie

twisty

Posted
Posted

Guy I know is very bitter because he grew up believeing it was his destiny to run the farm like generations before him and pass it on to his son(s). The farm has everything going for it except the ability to sell it's product at a viable price.

perhaps a new product?

I have to laugh at Dickie getting his nose out of joint over costco.

and aldi

Even though I'm in surburbia there is an old guy round the corner that sells his garden harvest out the front and we regularly buy from him. Sometimes he gets a bit carried away with price but he also has very heavy Kg's for your money so swings and roundabouts.

Grow your own. Even cheaper!

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted

Dick doesn't make fake Tim Tams :lol:

Does anyone else share my love for this marvelous product???

there's around 35million packs a year sold...

white Tim Tams are my favorite...

If there was a god, and he made a chocolate biscuit, this would of been it!!!

"On the eight day god invented Tim Tams" ;)

Ray! Newbie

Ray!

Posted
  • Author
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I forgot to mention that Woolworths is owned by a US company, and:

The hard commercial truth is that, on their own admission, Dick Smith Foods is struggling because it hasn’t been able to secure sufficient market share to guarantee prominent supermarket shelf space in the major outlets. Coles doesn’t carry DSF products at all.

So, for once, it seems Smith’s talent for capitalism might fail him. His standard modus operandi is to found a business, build it up on the back of his undoubted entrepreneurial flair and talent for publicity, then sell it for a handy profit.

He sold his chain of Dick Smith electronics shops to Woolworths; he sold Australian Geographic magazine to Fairfax (it’s now owned by ACP). No doubt he’d now love to sell Dick Smith’s Aussie Foods but, after more than a decade of sputtering underperformance, buyers might be hard to find.

But Smith’s conversion to all things Australian has come somewhat late. His fortune is founded on the chain of eponymous electronics shops he sold in 1982 for $20 million. Most of the products he’d stocked were dirt cheap imports from Asia, thereby helping to put the local electronics manufacturing industry to the sword. There were no hand-on-heart “Made in Australia” pledges from Smith back then.

Similarly, Australian Geographic magazine was initially printed by Dai Nippon in Japan, although plenty of local printers could have handled the job. During that period Smith also appeared in TV commercials for Holden cars — made by General Motors, a foreign-owned company that repatriates most of its profits to Detroit.

http://www.crikey.com.au/2012/05/09/dick-smith%E2%80%99s-foods-a-resort-to-desperate-commercial-hansonism/

Cheers

Ray

SilverBullet Newbie

SilverBullet

Posted
Posted

What shits me the most is that most of the products in aldi are the same just different packaging! Weetbix for example supply aldi with there brand of whateva they call it, and by the looks of there coffee it's nestle... But a chit load cheaper.

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted

Aldi is owned by Germans...

There is a fair bit written on the net that doesn't promote aldi...

So which supermarkets are actually Australian owned???

Ray! Newbie

Ray!

Posted
  • Author
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It's not so much an issue of who owns the supermarkets, but who owns the products sold in supermarkets.

Here's just a snippet (bold indicates ownership):

  • Tip Top Bread – map of Australian on packaging – UK
  • Kirks Soft Drinks – Australian Since 1864 – Coca Cola – USA
  • Billy Tea – features a swagman and says Australian Favourite Tea – Imported from Malaysia by Unilever Owned UK
  • Dairy Farmers – still saying owned and made although taken over in 2008 – Japan
  • Golden Circle – still saying owned and made although taken over in 2009 by Heinz – USA
  • Lactose Cheeses – Australian flag on packaging – France
  • Swan Lager – West Australian emblem – Japan
  • Kangaroo Matches – kangaroo printed – Sweden
  • Koala Matches – koala printed – Indonesia
  • Heinz Products – map of Australia in circle – USA
  • Safcol Tuna – "South Australian born & bred" – Malaysia
  • Uncle Toby’s Since 1893 – Nestle – Switzerland

Cheers

Ray

Glort Newbie

Glort

Posted
Posted

Aldi is owned by Germans...

There is a fair bit written on the net that doesn't promote aldi...

So which supermarkets are actually Australian owned???

My Mrs and I shop at Aldi and I have yet to find serious fault with them. Nothing is perfect and in fairness, If I was working for the competitors and saw someone as a major threat, I'd be spamming uncomplimntary things in the net as well.

They are what they are within their business model and that suits a lot of people. We find we can't do all our shopping there but buy whatever we can because most times they are cheaper than anywhere else.

As mentioned, they sell a lot under their own brands but much of it is locally sourced and simply a different label slapped on the Packet.

I do know people that work for them and they all say they are paid well and looked after. They also say they are a bit demanding and get their ounce of flesh but the people I know that work there are certainly happy enough.

I know a guy that drives a truck delivering to a couple of their stores and he reckons it's the best job he has ever had and never wants to leave. They were extremely good to him a while back when one of his kids got real sick and looked after him well above and beyond. He has nothing but praise for them and hopes to have that job for another 20 years till he retires. His wife hopes the same and reckons he's never been happier.

Even though they are foreign owned, they do generate a lot of jobs and put a lot of money back in the country like most OS companies.

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted

They still don't sell Tim tams...

Ray your right in that all of our iconic items even vegemite is foreign owned...

Glort I'm sure your comments are 100% true too...

I have actually tried a few Aldi products and hated them with true honesty...

When it comes to food, I'm a picky prick... I'll eat just about anything if I'm hungry but

If I can choose then aldi isn't what I'd choose...

I'm doing my best to avoid Coles, iga, woollies etc. home brands for the sake of the extra dollars

And try where possible to get products that are at least made here...

As much As try to support Aussie business and workers I will import a product if the profits are unjustifiable...

On that note Tim tams are only $1.79 at IGA on monday and Tuesday in Brisbane at least...

Yes I will stock up!!!

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted

Lindt is also another brand which makes top choco...

does aldi have its own chilli sauce???

I also love chilli products...

Brett Newbie

Brett

Posted
Posted

Aldi sell cheap shit tools and random crap, I wouldn't shop there, fuck! I want the best, not cheap undrinkable booze

I agree...

dan murphys & 1st choice for variety and the local RSL for cheap liquor...

heyhey Newbie

heyhey

Posted
Posted (edited)

Haha, fcker lol.

Seriously, Chrome Vanadium tools for the tool kit in the car, cheap random tools that you'll use a couple times in a life time, winches that are FIFTY MILLION times better than Tigerz11 (as proven by my thread in P4x4 that I'll bring over here too), but yes booze is pretty shit, I've given most of it a go.

Don't like the RSL, to many old fuck wits that think they know best. They know old, not best

Edited by heyhey
shanegu6 Newbie

shanegu6

Posted
Posted

ALDI DOESN'T sell TimTams!!!

Only cheap Rips offs like the other big brands also do...

Understaffed $h!tHole!!!

I went there once and will never go back again...

I agree, understaffed shithole. I never been in there though. Just my pre determined opinion.

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