Rising cost of living - Page 50

Mr K · 25-02-2023, 10:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa smurf

my water charges with Anglian water
2021-£545

2022-£606

2023-£691

i resent paying this much to a company that discharges raw sewage into the estuary, and has buggered up our beaches blue flag status

Yes but it made £96 million profit last year, you should have bought some shares.

Mrs T knew what she was doing, her legacy is with us every day....

Taf · 25-02-2023, 16:49

Our lad likes a Fray Bentos pie. They were 89p for years, then £1. But in the past couple of months have been hiked to £2 and today £3!

**Paul** · 03-03-2023, 17:51

Stamps are going up.

Quote:

First class stamp price to rise to £1.10

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64840646

Mr K · 04-03-2023, 10:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Stamps are going up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64840646

A privatised industry, what did we expect? Declining and more expensive service. Profits are everything.
Same for other privatised public services like water.

You get what you vote for, and the UK certainly has. Even the current shortages in the shops , shortages of workers in essential services, spiralling prices, can be traced to people not doing 'thinking' before they vote.

RichardCoulter · 04-03-2023, 13:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Stamps are going up.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64840646

You can't even buy in bulk to escape the price rise now that they are barcoded.

Anyone with a stock of these old style stamps has to send them back in to be replaced.

---------- Post added at 13:25 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr K

A privatised industry, what did we expect? Declining and more expensive service. Profits are everything.
Same for other privatised public services like water.

You get what you vote for, and the UK certainly has. Even the current shortages in the shops , shortages of workers in essential services, spiralling prices, can be traced to people not doing 'thinking' before they vote.

Exactly.

---------- Post added at 13:28 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr K

Yes but it made £96 million profit last year, you should have bought some shares.

Mrs T knew what she was doing, her legacy is with us every day....

Yep, the sole reason for a company's existence is to make a profit.

Sure, the odd one might do something altruistic, but the law requires directors to always put the interests of shareholders first.

**Paul** · 04-03-2023, 15:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

You can't even buy in bulk to escape the price rise now that they are barcoded.

Says who ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

Anyone with a stock of these old style stamps has to send them back in to be replaced

The none barcoded stamps ? Yes.

**Hugh** · 04-03-2023, 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

You can't even buy in bulk to escape the price rise now that they are barcoded.

Anyone with a stock of these old style stamps has to send them back in to be replaced.

---------- Post added at 13:25 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Exactly.

---------- Post added at 13:28 ---------- Previous post was at 13:25 ----------

Yep, the sole reason for a company's existence is to make a profit.

Sure, the odd one might do something altruistic, but the law requires directors to always put the interests of shareholders first.

Not true...

As previously posted when you made this assertion before

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter View Post
Generally speaking, the primary goal of private companies is to make as much profit as possible (in fact this is a legal requirement of directors). Even things like improving customer service are done with this in mind.

Add the relaxation of the regulations into the mix to aid private companies and this is the result.

If the BBC were to be scrapped or neutered (as some would like) this situation would reflect the whole of the broadcasting landscape.

I do feel for the staff (including office & support staff), though I doubt Roman Kemp will be going hungry if he's one that gets the chop!

Myth - belief, not law...

https://www.taxresearch.org.uk/Blog/...-to-avoid-tax/

Quote:

So what is abundantly clear is that in UK law there is:

a) No duty to maximise profit

b) No duty to minimise tax bills

c) A clear duty to exercise judgement.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...only-duty.html

Quote:

First, the law.

The Companies Act 2006 Section 172 requires directors to promote the success of the company, but with regard to six factors:
the likely long-term consequences of a decision;
the interests of employees;
relationships with suppliers and customers;
the firm’s impact on the community and the environment;
its reputation for high standards of business conduct;
and the need to act fairly between shareholders.

The effect is precisely to prevent managements from automatically pleading a duty simply to maximise shareholder value.

https://www.icsa.org.uk/knowledge/go...purpose-profit

You appear to be misinterpreting Section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006, which defines a director’s duty ‘"to promote the success of the company for the benefit of its members as a whole’, while having ‘regard to’ various other stakeholder interests. ".

"Promoting the success of the company" is not the same thing as "make as much profit as possible" - I would have thought you would have known that, having been the director of a company?

As an (slightly tongue-in-cheek) aside, if, as you say, Directors have a legal requirement to make as much profit as possible, doesn't that mean they should pay themselves less, thus increasing the company profits?

RichardCoulter · 04-03-2023, 17:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Says who ?

The none barcoded stamps ? Yes.

Well, you can, but what would be the point if you can't escape the price times?

spiderplant · 04-03-2023, 19:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by RichardCoulter

You can't even buy in bulk to escape the price rise now that they are barcoded.

Anyone with a stock of these old style stamps has to send them back in to be replaced.

They don't charge to replace them, so you can stockpile. I know someone who's got about 400. He bought them to promote an event that got canned due to the pandemic, but they've been replaced by barcoded ones no problem.

RichardCoulter · 04-03-2023, 20:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by spiderplant

They don't charge to replace them, so you can stockpile. I know someone who's got about 400. He bought them to promote an event that got canned due to the pandemic, but they've been replaced by barcoded ones no problem.

I think you can only buy barcoded ones now though. Do you know if these say 1st or 2nd class on them, or if the barcode can tell how much you paid and require extra payment when postage costs increase?

I do believe that special commemorative stamps aren't barcoded and work in the old way. This may be a workaround to circumvent the new system/price rises.

Sephiroth · 04-03-2023, 22:34

The 1st or 2nd class markings are quite distinct on bottom left of the stamp.

**Paul** · 04-03-2023, 22:34

The stamps still show 1st or 2nd on them (and are still different colours afaik).
There is zero evidence anywhere that they would "expire" when the price rises - because doing so would be completely unworkable.
They are having enough trouble swapping out the none barcoded ones - imagine if they had to do that everytime the price went up.

Mad Max · 06-03-2023, 17:37

Couldn't tell you the last time that I posted anything, so much is done online now.

1andrew1 · 11-03-2023, 11:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by papa smurf

my water charges with Anglian water
2021-£545

2022-£606

2023-£691

i resent paying this much to a company that discharges raw sewage into the estuary, and has buggered up our beaches blue flag status

You're right to resent it.
I'm paying £731 for a two-bedroomed flat, two of us, no water meters can be fitted.

This might be why it's so pricey.

Quote:

Thames Water braced for crunch talks over £14bn debt-pile
Britain's biggest water company has hired Rothschild and Slaughter & May to help evaluate financing options for its vast balance sheet, Sky News learns.

https://news.sky.com/story/thames-wa...-pile-12830843

nomadking · 11-03-2023, 11:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1andrew1

You're right to resent it.
I'm paying £731 for a two-bedroomed flat, two of us, no water meters can be fitted.

This might be why it's so pricey.

https://news.sky.com/story/thames-wa...-pile-12830843

Individual water meters can be fitted in flats. Just needs to be fitted near the stopcock.