back to menuVolvo has been brought to task for allowing dealers to fix maximum discounts for their cars.
But what is a cartel? Are supermarkets involved when they send out ‘mystery’ shoppers to obtain rival’s prices and then adjust their own accordingly? When clothing and electrical goods can attract profit margins of 50%, is a supermarket profiteering when it makes 5%, even if continental and US suppliers work on lesser margins?
If you think you have spotted a real cartel especially if you have suffered from it, there is now an Office of Fair Trading Cartels Task Force so call them on their hotline - 0171 211 8888 (phone and fax).
Carrots are our second most favourite vegetable after potatoes (what happened to p e as?) and almost all of them are grown in the UK. Yet Sustain (the Alliance for better food and farming says they are travelling 60% further than they did in the 1970s. Two thirds of shoppers buy their fresh produce from supermarkets which often have long distribution chains and, despite their purchasing power, savings are rarely passed on to the customer.
The other problem concerns pesticides. Most farmers use pesticides to counter infestation with the carrot root fly. In 1995 sampling showed that up to half the carrots had high pesticide residues, including organophosphates. The Government advised consumers to top and tail carrots and peel them before cooking. This seems to be one instance where local organic produce is definitely preferable.
We now have the chance to opt out of delivered junk mail, telephone calls and faxes.
One of the main sources of names and addresses for those mailings where you cannot think why you have been chosen, is the voter register at the local council offices. The Government is considering adding a box to the forms so that voters can opt out of their names being used by marketing companies.
Naturally the Direct Marketing Association is against this and local authorities may not wish to lose their income from this source.
More than 4 million households suffer from fuel poverty, that is one in five, including pensioners and single parent families.
Much of this is due to poorly insulated housing which allows heat to escape, not just low incomes, and which results in poor health.
What is to be done? Offer and Ofgas have issued a joint free Social Action Plan: Discussion Document. They see the priorities as getting these households onto cheaper tariffs. The difference between paying by direct debit and prepayment meters can be as much as £65 where there are both gas and electric meters. The standing charge of £35 to £50 can be 5% of the bill but may be up to 40% for low users.
A special low user tariff is needed (such as Equigas - see last issue? - Ed) as well as an increase in competition within the industry and information that is easier to understand. Above all, greater energy efficiency is needed in these homes.
Those plastic stoppers on sparkling wine are a danger, flying around the room when you open the bottle. There is, however, another worry about them.
The Leatherhead Food Research Association has been unable to find published work on the migration of plasticisers and other chemicals into the wine. According to one paper some of the new generation styrene polymer stoppers could leave a ‘plastic-like off taste’ when the wine is stored.
The Department of Trade & Industry has welcomed a new test for measuring the amounts of phthalate plasticisers that migrate from soft toys intended to be sucked by children, so that harmful ones can be banned. However, it seemed more sensible to continue to allow the use of these substances rather than less well-researched substitute.
back to menu