renew,

You have most likely picked the worst product to make a price comparison about- fresh produce.

Unless you live on another planet you would notice that these same red caps are often $3.99 or $4.99 kilo. It's all about supply and demand.

I also agree that fresh food prices are cheap in real terms.

You can still buy bread for about one dollar, a whole rump for about $6.00/kg and chicken pieces for around $3.00/kg.

Items such as potatoes will never be cheap again as the labor costs associated with growing and harvesting them are prohibitive.

Many people complain about food costs yet think nothing of paying $4.00 plus for a cup of coffee.

If you shop wisely you can save money.

Crackcup I did not see the show you refer to but had a quick look at the website. I have spent some time in NZ recently and found the food costs overall no cheaper than here so your topic came as a bit of a surprise.

In fact I was surprised at just how expensive NZ supermarket prices were given the wages are generally lower and they are not as influenced by the duopoly of Coles/Woolworths. If there is evidence that Australian products are cheaper in NZ than here it may be that NZ is the dumping ground for our excess produce or the supermarkets can barter better at the wholesale level.

Petrol prices were much higher in NZ too and I assume they buy from the same oil companies.

Also how were the prices compared between the different socio-economic areas? Shows like this tend to be a bit misleading - they often omit more than they reveal in terms of methodology.

Talking to the NZ locals (especially growers) they revealed that, like in Australia, some of the best locally grown produce gets exported offshore.

Real estate was about the only sector where I could see a comparable difference in price - that is, cheaper in general in NZ even at the high end of the market.

We weren't in NZ for more than three weeks and did not do an indepth study but these were our overall impressions.

http://www.smh.com.au/ftimages/2005/04/14/1113251725602.html

There you go Max, that's Brian Quinn, ex CEO of Coles-Myer,
who spent 2.5 years in the clink, for having the company
renovate his house at shareholder expense.

If you know of any more, please let us know.

I just happen to be a bit of a skeptic, so when people make
wild, outrageous claims, where the numbers simply don't stack
up, even when worked out on the back of an envelope, my
bulldust meter switches on and I point it out.

But feel free to shoot the messenger! Its a passionate
sport on OLO.

rehctub,

You are certainly right that one can still eat reasonably well and cheaply as long as one is prepared be a little intrepid and shop around. Nowadays, I've decided to play the supermarkets at their own game and buy the specials wherever possible. I find that you can get bakery items like bread rolls, donuts and pizza slices cheap after about 7pm as they are thrown out after the shop closes each night. Same with large cooked chickens - they can get discounted down to $4-5. Cakes close to the use-by date are often also marked down. Sometimes even get cheesecake and banana cake for about half price, but that's a treat. Plain wrap items aren't always bad quality either.

Buy veggies that are in season and get meat from small wharehouse outlets is the best bet for minimising the cost of these items.

I've turned into a real "specials" rat and proud of it ....

I’ll give this one more go Yabby, see if you can follow me.
One of the megaliths buys radishes from a supplier, at a price determined by the buyer. It is transported in a privately owned truck, sewn up in an exclusive contract, the prices and times of delivery again set by the buyer. It is delivered to a warehouse, again privately owned and sewn up in an exclusive contract, prices set by the customer. Are you seeing the pattern here yet?
It is carried to the stores by company vehicles, and distributed in their stores at a price solely set by them. That is effectively total control, and they enforce it vigorously.
At every step along the chain are subsidiary companies, consultants, surveyors, advisers, all usually connected to the upper echelons of the company. All are included as part of the “costs” and justify the huge mark-ups on the shelves.
The sole purpose of the majority of these extra positions in the chain is to make money for the wealthy running things. It’s all perfectly legal, tied up in a complex web of cross-ownership and directorships etc, yet it is totally immoral, and causes the cost of living we have to live with to be higher than it would otherwise be.
I call that a corrupt practice, and an abuse of virtual monopolistic power, legal or not

Max, you kit the nail on the head when you said,
prices set by the customer.

This is where the whole problem lies. If the consumer decided not to pay the price, the product does not sell and we all loose.

Most food prices and profits work backwards. The price is set then the profits and expenses are taken out along the way and what is left is paid to the farmer.

This is the problem. And remember, every time you want something cheaper you are in fact ripping off the farmer as most other costs are set. In most cases he just gets what is left.