Brixton news, rumours and general chat - July 2013

[simonSW2]

It would not be right for me to talk about a specific retailers margin on products, but within FMCG a retailer commonly works on roughly 30% margin - particularly packaged goods that do not expire. The idea they buy for 10p and sell at 50p seriously underplays the role of the manufacturer, the cost they have paid to the farmer, and the sales tactic into Tesco.

I can't think of any high street / large retailers that would ever work to a 30% margin, there's no chance Tesco do. Probably more like 60-70% for Tesco, and that's probably base terms, disregarding the bulk deals, which will be extraordinary.

 

[Not a Pleb]

I can't think of any high street / large retailers that would ever work to a 30% margin, there's no chance Tesco do. Probably more like 60-70% for Tesco, and that's probably base terms, disregarding the bulk deals, which will be extraordinary.

Tesco's Gross margin, as of July 5th is 6.31%.

 

[editor]

Nice to see so many eviction articles on Brixton Buzz being so popular on Brixton Buzz right now. People need to know what's going on with our (*cough) "co-operative" council.

 

[leanderman]

This was my fave bit from our party.

The band, The Missing Links, were excellent.



Gatecrasher

 

[fortyplus]

Tesco's Gross margin, as of July 5th is 6.31%.

I'm not sure what they mean by that - margin of sales over which costs in particular? purchases, staff, rent?
But as a whole they are price competitive, they earn and gain market share by offering the lowest prices on high-volume goods. So they end up screwing their suppliers who pay things like listing fees, storage in Tesco's warehouses, and get paid at ninety days.
In any case, typical retail margins on food are in the 20-30% range (as a % of sales, not as a markup). Much lower on fags and petrol; much higher on fresh food but that has much bigger infrastructure costs and wastage due to short shelf life. Tesco can squeeze lots of the additional costs because of its size. Prices and margins higher in the Metro stores than the hypermarkets.
So they can often undercut local stores and do so with a vengeance to get established in an area, as well as bullying the local authority on planning, and snapping up all the old pubs.
The promise of jobs is hollow. They are big local employers, but hardly create fulfilling jobs. Even as a store manager you just end up a pitiful cog in a corporate machine.
They suck the life out of communities and someone in their CSR department has done a deal with the Trussel Trust over foodbanks.
Like everything else they do, it stinks.

 

[editor]

You know those new signs they've put up around town - you know, the ones that don't bother listing a lot of the older/less groovy pubs around Brixton - well, they've just declared the corner of Coldharbour Lane/Moorlands Rd as being in Loughborough Junction.

Do you think they may have meant Loughborough Park?

 

[teuchter]

You know those new signs they've put up around town - you know, the ones that don't bother listing a lot of the older/less groovy pubs around Brixton - well, they've just declared the corner of Coldharbour Lane/Moorlands Rd as being in Loughborough Junction.

Do you think they may have meant Loughborough Park?

On what grounds do you decree it not to be in Loughborough Junction and why does the suggestion that it is offend you so?

 

[editor]

On what grounds do you decree it not to be in Loughborough Junction and why does the suggestion that it is offend you so?

1. I've never known it be described as Loughborough Junction in all the time I've lived here - either officially or unofficially - and older maps put it as being in Brixton, Loughborough Park or East Brixton. The nearby station (now closed) has never been called Loughborough Junction, but that station can be found over a third of a mile away.
2. Where did I say I was "offended"?

 

[CH1]

I'm not sure what they mean by that - margin of sales over which costs in particular? purchases, staff, rent?
But as a whole they are price competitive, they earn and gain market share by offering the lowest prices on high-volume goods. So they end up screwing their suppliers who pay things like listing fees, storage in Tesco's warehouses, and get paid at ninety days.

Maybe he got the figure from a table like this: http://www.tescoplc.com/index.asp?pageid=30
I often hear snippets from "Farming Today" on R4 at 5.30am approx. and they regularly complain the price paid by Tescos for a 4 pinter of milk is only 50p, whereas it costs 75p to produce and Tescos sell it for £1.49 etc.
Going by that it looks like Tescos mark-up is 100% or more.
Margin of sales over costs (i.e. profit) is not the same thing of course.
Nevertheless if the mark-up to get a 3%-ish overall profit margin is 100% that suggests that Tescos are not as efficient they are cracked up to be - and they are certainly prepared to screw their suppliers as well as their customers!

 

[teuchter]

1. I've never known it be described as Loughborough Junction in all the time I've lived here - either officially or unofficially - and older maps put it as being in Brixton, Loughborough Park or East Brixton. The nearby station (now closed) has never been called Loughborough Junction, but that station can be found over a third of a mile away.
2. Where did I say I was "offended"?

The corner you refer to is pretty much exactly halfway between Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations, and closer to LJ station than to Brixton tube. Someone living near there could equally justifiably consider themselves as living in the Brixton or LJ localities.

As LJ has suffered many years of being talked down by certain people in Brixton, I am all for some aggressive re-assertion of our domain and therefore commend the sign-writers concerned.

 

[editor]

The corner you refer to is pretty much exactly halfway between Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations, and closer to LJ station than to Brixton tube. Someone living near there could equally justifiably consider themselves as living in the Brixton or LJ localities..

In the absence of anything remotely substantial to back up your daft claims, I'll just ignore them, thanks.

Oh, and we're closer to Brixton station than we are to LJ station, anyway.

 

[Dexter Deadwood]

Just went past Lambeth Hospital, Landor Road. Ambulance and one police car talking to an old man, lots of fresh sawdust? at entrance to hospital and across road. Emergency service gone when i rode back 15 mins later. Clapham High Street was very busy with late night drinkers weaving their way home.

 

[Chilavert]

The Morleys just down from the police station was taped off this morning; there was plenty of broken glass on the pavement, but couldn't see anything else.

 

[Davo84]

I can confirm, I did not have time to ask the police lady that was there..anybody knows what happened?

 

[simonSW2]

Tesco's Gross margin, as of July 5th is 6.31%.

That's a different thing - total profit after costs.

 

[simonSW2]

Car Vs Rubbish bin on corner of Brixton Hill / Hayter Road this morning.

The bin won. Car is ontop of it. quite a nasty smash / write off.

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Tesco were forced to take part in the scheme, as a large UK employer you had to offer unpaid work experience...

Complete rubbish! Where does a claim like that come from?

Tesco are well happy with the scheme cos it gives them free staff. More here:

http://www.urban75.net/forums/threa...an-just-get-another-unemployed-person.288525/

 

[editor]

Seen this on Twitter; @brixtonbuzz anyone know what happened in morleys chicken shop in brixton? Forensics and police tape everywhere!

 

[leanderman]

Cash van robbery at Sainsbury Brixton Hill at 1.15pm. Looked opportunist. One arrested

 

[Brixton Hatter]

Has anyone used Zipcar / Streetcar or any of those similar car club things around Brixton?

I don't need/can't afford a car, but occasional use would be useful. Have been thinking of signing up, but not sure whether the availability of vehicles would be any good. Presumably they all get booked out on weekends?

Crispy

 

[colacubes]

Has anyone used Zipcar / Streetcar or any of those similar car club things around Brixton?

I don't need/can't afford a car, but occasional use would be useful. Have been thinking of signing up, but not sure whether the availability of vehicles would be any good. Presumably they all get booked out on weekends?

Crispy

I'm a member and have been for several years. Availability is usually pretty good and there's plenty of cars round here (there's at least 10 I can walk to within 5 minutes of my place in the centre). If you leave it to the last minute at the weekends you may have to trek a bit further to get one. You need to book well in advance for Christmas/Easter. But overall v good and handy for the odd trip out of town/to ikea etc

ETA - Zipcar and Streetcar are now one and the same as Zipcar bought Streetcar last year.

 

[pissflaps]

they're ok - i've used the van option (i have a car... cool story bro). s'long as you book them well enough in advance you needn't worry about it being unavailable. be wary of underestimating the length of time you'll be needing it, it costs considerably more to return it late than it does to use it for less time than you predicted.

 

[pissflaps]

ETA - Zipcar and Streetcar are now one and the same as Zipcar bought Streetcar last year.

annoyingly they didn't port over the streetvan user base to Zipcar. OG users were then expected to endure the misery of re-registering and were asked pay an 'admin fee' for the pleasure of doing so. fuck that, and fuck them.

 

[colacubes]

annoyingly they didn't port over the streetvan user base to Zipcar. OG users were then expected to endure the misery of re-registering and were asked pay an 'admin fee' for the pleasure of doing so. fuck that, and fuck them.

Really, that's shit I was a Streetcar member but they just transferred my membership straight over.

 

[pissflaps]

they may (or may not have) had a time limit on porting your account across during which time it was gratis - either way, a pretty shoddy user experience

 

[Crispy]

Yeah, on a weekend I might have to cycle 5 minutes to get a free car, but it's no big deal. I use it quite a bit for carting heavy stuff around. I'm also grandfathered in on a zero membership fee deal because they still hold my £200 deposit from when I joined Streetcar 7 years ago

 

[teuchter]

Really, that's shit I was a Streetcar member but they just transferred my membership straight over.

Same here.

I find availability to be pretty good - I am in a bit of a car location black hole (Loughborough Junction) but there are several locations within 15 mins walk from me, and it's rare that I can't find anything available at one of them. In many cases I have reserved a car/van just half an hour before using it, without any problems. I mainly use them during the week, though, so don't know about weekends.

I find it slightly concerning that now zipcar and streetcar have merged, they've pretty much got a monopoly on car sharing. So far I haven't noticed any big price increases or anything though.

 

[Badgers]

Seen this on Twitter; @brixtonbuzz anyone know what happened in morleys chicken shop in brixton? Forensics and police tape everywhere!

Just been past and there is still forensic people in there so must have been serious

Also three ambulances outside Mothercare. The Mothercare shop has its shutters down busy times for the emergency services.

 

[cuppa tee]

Same here.
I find it slightly concerning that now zipcar and streetcar have merged, they've pretty much got a monopoly on car sharing. So far I haven't noticed any big price increases or anything though.

I find it slightly disconcerting that Zipcar are owned by Avis car rentals, in fact I don't think any of them are strictly clubs, but actually private business operating under pretence of being clubs.

 

[nagapie]

Can I get the check and send service for my passport renewal at the post office on Elm Park? Or do I have to go to Brixton

I have to do check and send as I'm running out of time and it's quicker.