The Cost Of Living Crisis

[Rock The Boat 1,332]

3 hours ago, king canary said:

Data suggests otherwise- Barclaycard said spending on restaurants continues to go down.

Certainly where I live it is notable that trade has completely dropped off on some nights- basically nobody is going out for food on a Tuesday or Wednesday and while these weren't days where you'd expect to be fully booked, you're now lucky to get 3 or 4 tables.

Some places have taken to shutting Monday and Tuesday nights as the cost of opening the place (staff, running costs, ingredients) far outweighs the benefits of being open. 

chain restaurants have taken the brunt of the downturn as they tend to have higher fixed costs and there are too many with similar products. Outside the chains there is a slight drop off early week but end of week is as busy as ever. So not a too bad picture overall. One interesting fact is that tips per head are usually higher early in the week because service is less rushed and food to table times are lower, so that helps balancing out peaks and troughs.

[Midlands Yellow 3,995]

1 hour ago, hogesar said:

Yes and that's impacting the rental market in Norwich too, which is usually really slow to catch up.

P.S - I'm not sure why a 50+ year old bloke / woman / whatever from the midlands is so desperately gagging for my attention on any thread I venture onto, but that's the internet for you I guess.

Probably because you’re a ****, so full of yourself and love attention even more you unblocked me many times. 

[hogesar 9,676]

26 minutes ago, Midlands Yellow said:

Probably because you’re a ****, so full of yourself and love attention even more you unblocked me many times. 

Great, you've been drinking again.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

18 hours ago, king canary said:

I'd add it is all interlinked too- while a 'squeezed middle' might not be in danger of losing their homes they will choose to eat out less, maybe get rid of the cleaner, not get that bit of redecorating done they were planning to do. Those aren't hardships but if that restaurant finds all their customers eat out less, or that cleaner loses 3 or 4 weekly clients or the decorator finds he doesn't have enough work then they'll struggle more and so on and so on. 

So someone like me, he earns good money, finding my disposable income shrinking isn't a disaster but it has knock on effects down the line.

Exactly that. I'm comfortably off despite an income that's a bit below the national average, mainly as my outgoings are miles below the national average (already paid for my apartment in full so no rent/mortgage to pay, deliberately never learned to drive so don't run a car, never wanted kids so don't have that expense either). But I stopped hiring a cleaner to clean my apartment whilst I was on holiday and indeed have cut back the number of trips taken this year. Some of that is related to the cost of living, some is about saving up to leave the UK, probably for good.

Next year I can't see me taking any apart from the four days in northern Norway, but that's due to emigration. There are a couple of places in eastern Germany I have my eyes on to move to so I can be much nearer Miss TGS.

[KiwiScot 1,450]

Ofgem want to charge us all £16 to cover energy companies customers debt and stop the companies going bust. What a load of...

We should take ofgem to court for this. Not one word in the article either of whether this plan would wipe the individual customers debt.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/15/ofgem-plans-household-charge-to-help-energy-firms-recover-bad-debts

[SteveN8458 64]

10 minutes ago, KiwiScot said:

Ofgem want to charge us all £16 to cover energy companies customers debt and stop the companies going bust. What a load of...

We should take ofgem to court for this. Not one word in the article either of whether this plan would wipe the individual customers debt.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/15/ofgem-plans-household-charge-to-help-energy-firms-recover-bad-debts

So If I stop paying my energy bills, the rest of you all will pay it for me 🙂 Thanks what a great bunch you all are

Are there plans for a similar scheme for mortgages, it would help me an awful lot if you all paid that form me 🙂

And while you are in such a generous mood, Council tax?, Car insurance ? ....

 

Yes lets encourage people to stop paying their bills.

(need to take my tounge out of my cheek now, os I'm talking with a lisp )

Edited December 15, 2023 by SteveN8458
spelling again!!!

[Creative Midfielder 1,996]

1 hour ago, KiwiScot said:

Ofgem want to charge us all £16 to cover energy companies customers debt and stop the companies going bust. What a load of...

We should take ofgem to court for this. Not one word in the article either of whether this plan would wipe the individual customers debt.

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/dec/15/ofgem-plans-household-charge-to-help-energy-firms-recover-bad-debts

Yep, total scam. Ofgem have failed miserably as a regulator over many years and should be binned completely but ultimately this all goes back to the totally broken Tory model for privatising our public utilities which has resulted in huge profits for private sector companies and shareholders  - until something goes wrong, at which point the taxpayer is expected to pick up the bill to fix it so that they can go back to making profits out of us all again.

The energy companies are all private companies, important yes, but definitely not irreplacable as has already been proven multiple times. So if they are going to go bust because the have been poorly managed then they should be allowed to go bust and the shareholders & creditors take the hit, not the taxpayer.

Just like other private companies - I didn't see the Government making any attempt to bail out Wilkos, for example, which would have been more worthwhile than keeping some of our rip-off, incompetent electricity (or water/phone/train/mail - delete or insert as appropriate) companies going.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Creative Midfielder

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

30 minutes ago, Creative Midfielder said:

Yep, total scam. Ofgem have failed miserably as a regulator over many years and should be binned completely but ultimately this all goes back to the totally broken Tory model for privatising our public utilities which has resulted in huge profits for private sector companies and shareholders  - until something goes wrong, at which point the taxpayer is expected to pick up the bill to fix it so that they can go back to making profits out of us all again.

The energy companies are all private companies, important yes, but definitely not irreplacable as has already been proven multiple times. So if they are going to go bust because the have been poorly managed then they should be allowed to go bust and the shareholders & creditors take the hit, not the taxpayer.

Just like other private companies - I didn't see the Government making any attempt to bail out Wilkos, for example, which would have been more worthwhile than keeping some of our rip-off, incompetent electricity (or water/phone/train/mail - delete or insert as appropriate) companies going.

Privatise the profits, socialise the losses.