Brand New William and/or Kate Photos

[Iseult]

Perhaps in Britain people are less lazy.  Here in the US, many people (perhaps most?) are too lazy to walk the shopping cart back close to the store for other people to use.  Stores have to have employees regularly walk around the parking lots to gather up the carts and wheel them back to the store.  A new store here is charging 25 cents for a shopping cart, which you get back when you return the cart to where it originated.  There are no carts randomly scattered in the parking lot. 

25 cents is 1/4 of a dollar and is not very much money at all.  I can't think of anything that you can buy for 25 cents, so the loss of 25 cents for not returning the cart is pretty meaningless.  Yet, the system works, and in the three months I have been going to this grocery store, business has noticeably picked up.

Walmart has nothing to do with low prices in some people's minds.  In fact, low prices don't even enter into my thinking about Walmart.  Mostly I think about all the mom and pop stores they put out of business and all the manufacturing jobs they sent overseas.  I have been boycotting the store for years.  I actually set foot in one a few weeks ago with my daughter (who sprung the idea of stopping there upon me quite suddenly when we were already out shopping) & had a physcial reaction so strong that I had to leave before we ever got to the section where she wanted to go.

Most people in my town shop at a specific grocery chain, which has paid fines in the past because they engaged in illegal competitive practices (lowering the price below cost at a store in a particular town to force out the competition, then raising prices).  Their food is generally priced a little higher than average, yet over the course of a year or so I realized that I threw out a few items because the food I had just purchased a day or so earlier had gone bad. So, while this particular store is dominant in my state, I travel to another town to make food purchases at a lower price and better quality.

All this is to say that I don't understand the comments about Tesco.  Charging for a shopping cart is good business practice, as it lowers cost which can be passed on to consumers. A comparison to WalMart would mean it is dominant in its field and ruthlessly drives competitors out of business & it also changes the practices of its suppliers.  Price and quality do not necessarily rise and fall in tandem.

My opinion of the Duchess would fall dramatically if I thought she set foot in a WalMart or shopped in a store with old "fresh" fruits & veggies.  I really want to know what people think of Tesco.

Tesco is the UK's most popular supermarket, mostly because the prices are good and they've a pretty wide choice of food, etc. Some people don't like the fact that they've so many stores appearing all over the place, but if the public create the demand, then Tesco would be mad not to take advantage of it. They're in business to make money and if in doing so they give people food at affordable prices and also provide work for a lot of people, then I think they're to be congratulated.

I think though that many people just go to whatever supermarket is nearest them, easiest to get to without get held up in heavy traffic. I tend to shop at Sainsbury's for the simple reason that it's the quickest one for me to get to. But I go to Tesco pretty often too, and occasionally to Asda (owned by Walmart) just to see what's there, if they've anything new I'd like to try. There's quite a bit of snobbery about supermarkets here in the UK, but I think that's rather silly. Everybody likes a bargain, they just don't all like to admit it. We have quite a lot of bargain supermarkets such as Lidl where almost everything is cheaper; I imagine the cheaper prices are a boon for people who have a family to feed or people on a low income, in these days of recession.

I'm glad to see Kate shopping at Tesco. I just wish she'd eat enough food to put on about a stone and get back the prettier look she had when she weighed a bit more. I like her hair like that, though - far better than hanging round her face and shoulders.

[SophieChloe]

^ Iseult : I LOVE YOU  :hug: :hug:  :hug?: :hug?:

[Orchid]

Yeah I've seen it :lol:  I actually sent it to Orchid to show her that we had "chavs"  here in the US as well

You sure did!  My eyes are still sore from the sights  :eyes: :faint:

[wannable]

http://yfrog.com/khnrebdj

Unidentified photo location/date/time of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge posted yesterday via twitter.  Some twitter spotters said it was taken yesterday after the Chelsea (Football) game.  The background of the photo looks to be a camp.  PW has worn that outfit (tie) in the past when officially representing as President of the England Football Association.

[cinrit]

wannabe, you are the Twitter Queen!! :Jen:  Great picture of them.  :thumbsup:

Cindy

[BritishRoyals]

http://yfrog.com/khnrebdj

Unidentified photo location/date/time of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge posted yesterday via twitter.  Some twitter spotters said it was taken yesterday after the Chelsea (Football) game.  The background of the photo looks to be a camp.  PW has worn that outfit (tie) in the past when officially representing as President of the England Football Association.

Still unsure of the location.  But the picture was confirmed to have been taken yesterday.  They both look great.

[LucyOfTheSky]

Thanks, Iseult!  From what you say, there appears to be no reason why the Duchess shouldn't shop in Tesco - it is an average grocery store, that is midrange in prices.--between Asda and Sainsbury.

More and more stores here are either giving a ten cents credit if you bring your own bags to the grocery store or charging ten cents if you don't.  This is a fairly new thing - it just started maybe a year ago and is slowing catching on in various grocery stores.  (I haven't seen it in other types of stores.)  My friends all say it is pointless to try to "save" the planet by trying to reduce plastic use, but I bring bags or, if I forget, just wheel the shopping cart to the car and put the loose items into the trunk. (I have one or two cardboard boxes I keep in the garage just in case...)

I saw the pictures of the people of walmart and I must say that the pictures are an extreme view.  I have been in the WalMart parking lot (and even the store with my daughter) & most people look relatively normal - although, it must be said, you do occassionally see the obese dressed inappropriately.

I should add that I live in Connecticut (in the northeast of US), which is considered to be more affluent and also more liberal than much of the rest of the US.  (We also have inner city poverty in our 3 largest cities).  At the present time there are no Republican US Representatives or Senators from any New England state; CT is the 2nd lowest in obesity (21.8% of population) after Colorado (#1).

[cinrit]

I saw the pictures of the people of walmart and I must say that the pictures are an extreme view.  I have been in the WalMart parking lot (and even the store with my daughter) & most people look relatively normal - although, it must be said, you do occassionally see the obese dressed inappropriately.

Yes, they are.  They're not going to post pictures of normal-looking people.  :hehe:  And they can't post pictures of every Walmart customer ... that number must be in the millions.  I've only seen one strange couple, and I wouldn't have taken their picture at all, much less published it.  They were a very old couple, shabbily dressed, and supporting each other as they shuffled along.  It was really kind of sad.

Cindy

[WOW]

New thread can be found here