Recession shopping

EvotingMachine0197 wrote:

My attitude is that EVERYTHING can be fixed. We should have a fix-it thread...

I find stuff that isn't broken is dificult to fix.

TK Maxx

TK Maxx is ok provided you find something.

H&M is a decent shop for guys clothes, as is Zara without huge prices.

Eh Pennys for clothes all the way...

Shirts are actually a great way (for men) to assemble a cheap wardrobe. AFAIK you can get long-sleeve shirts for €4 in Pennys, and similar prices in Tesco and maybe Dunnes. Of course you can get tshirts even cheaper but they're all plain so they look really cheap, whereas even plain and cheap shirts can look smart enough.

We may be recession shopping but I just can't do Penneys. I used to and there are times when I'm still tempted but when stuff is that cheap, everyone has to be getting screwed. For a four Euro shirt, to make a profit, pay the staff, the light, the heat, the rent, the materials, the transport, the seamstress (and there's a lot of stitching in a shirt, even for Penneys and even on a production line) - it just isn't possible and as far as I'm concerned, it just isn't right.

I cannot justify it. I don't know who's getting screwed in other companies if they have the same low costs but a bigger margin, but Penneys have form and when it's obvious that everyone involved must be paid peanuts, I just can't buy into it now even if I did when I was a skint student. Now I'm a skint self-employed person and would do without first.


TKMaxx, however I can buy into but only early in the morning when the place is quiet. The stuff is good quality and the markdowns are enormous. In terms of value, it's much better even if the initial cost of purchase is higher. What the cost base of producers is, I've no idea - particularly labour costs but there's a greater satisfaction for me in buying something that's probably had a massive profit margin eliminated and is closer in price to the value of production. At least the producer is probably getting those costs back.

Kate P wrote:

We may be recession shopping but I just can't do Penneys. I used to and there are times when I'm still tempted but when stuff is that cheap, everyone has to be getting screwed. For a four Euro shirt, to make a profit, pay the staff, the light, the heat, the rent, the materials, the transport, the seamstress (and there's a lot of stitching in a shirt, even for Penneys and even on a production line) - it just isn't possible and as far as I'm concerned, it just isn't right.

I cannot justify it. I don't know who's getting screwed in other companies if they have the same low costs but a bigger margin, but Penneys have form and when it's obvious that everyone involved must be paid peanuts, I just can't buy into it now even if I did when I was a skint student. Now I'm a skint self-employed person and would do without first.


TKMaxx, however I can buy into but only early in the morning when the place is quiet. The stuff is good quality and the markdowns are enormous. In terms of value, it's much better even if the initial cost of purchase is higher. What the cost base of producers is, I've no idea - particularly labour costs but there's a greater satisfaction for me in buying something that's probably had a massive profit margin eliminated and is closer in price to the value of production. At least the producer is probably getting those costs back.

Way to ruin a good thing for everyone Kate.

Fair enough if you know more about the economics of it than I do, which you probably do. I've always been baffled by really cheap things. As a child I never understood how they could be making a profit on those penny sweets, and even today the SuperValu 29c pasta intrigues me. I've always just put it down to the economy of scale being a more potent force than I had originally reckoned. I suppose when you literally can't afford anything else it's all too easy to pretend that there is no injustice. That said, I am fully aware that the people on the production line making these clothes are working in much worse conditions than you or I. But at the end of the day Kate, if you want to live ethically you are going to have a short and miserable existence.

Regarding TKMaxx, I think that people tend to make the mistake of thinking that prices are cheap just because they know they used to be extortionate. I've never found anything I could justify buying in there, though admittedly I don't go in there all that often. The jeans may have a cooler name on the ass but they're still more expensive than you'll find elsewhere. The other thing about TKMaxx is that in order to find anything worth buying you have to trawl through random crap for ages, which I think it takes a special kind of man to do.

I have stopped buying clothes here. It's too expensive and everybody is still under the impression that there won't be any recession or anything like one here. Prices staying resolutely high. But if I go to Ireland, I can get clothes, shirts, suits shoes etc. cheaper, in some cases much cheaper, and collect the VAT return at the airport. That will be my recession shopping tactic.

evercloserunion wrote:

That said, I am fully aware that the people on the production line making these clothes are working in much worse conditions than you or I.

Understatement of the week.

Ya take our products but won't pay our tax - you dastardly exile, Slim Buddha.

Wayhay, is that someone actually saying Ireland is cheaper than somewhere else (even if it is Switzerland)?? Is this the first tendril of recovery?

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

johnfás wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

That said, I am fully aware that the people on the production line making these clothes are working in much worse conditions than you or I.

Understatement of the week.

The other understatement of the week would have been the next sentence after that.

evercloserunion wrote:

The other understatement of the week would have been the next sentence after that.

I dunno... there is something strangely attractive about the life of a hermit .

The Bagel Bar on Nassau Street is doing a deal for students where you get a free tea with every bagel bought.

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

Gosh cookie, I am appalled by that post! It offends me! How could you? How could you misspell the word indentured?

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

Gosh cookie, I am appalled by that post! It offends me! How could you? How could you misspell the word indentured?

I'm not very smart.

cookiemonster wrote:

Ard-Taoiseach wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

Gosh cookie, I am appalled by that post! It offends me! How could you? How could you misspell the word indentured?

I'm not very smart.

Oh right.

Even cheaper than the Bagel Bar is the JCR down by Goldsmith Hall on the east end of Trinity. There you can get a sandwich with three fillings of your choice with a cup of tea/coffee for €3! And you can play snooker there too! And crash a lecture next door if it tickles your fancy!

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

This post was different a minute ago.

It just said "neither here nor there"

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

And "socialists" to watch their backs.

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

And "socialists" to watch their backs.

If 5 year olds are working then either there are no socialists around or the socialists aren't doing such a good job. Personally I don't know any working 5 year olds. Do you?

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

And "socialists" to watch their backs.

If 5 year olds are working then either there are no socialists around or the socialists aren't doing such a good job. Personally I don't know any working 5 year olds. Do you?

My little Tommy was recently made Accounts Manager at KPMG. I'm so proud of him.

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

evercloserunion wrote:

cookiemonster wrote:

Cafe Java in and around the City Centre do soup, a sandwich and a softdrink/coffee for €10.

How much are those things individually? Because that strikes me as atrocious value.

Might be cheaper if it was made by endentured 5 year olds working 18 hour days.

They're lucky to have the job

And "socialists" to watch their backs.

If 5 year olds are working then either there are no socialists around or the socialists aren't doing such a good job. Personally I don't know any working 5 year olds. Do you?

Out of sight, out of mind, eah?