The CheekyFrenchy Blog: a Frenchman in Britain

Bad Pound

Every 3 months I have to transfer a significant amount of money to France. End of December is approaching and I really need to do it now. I had waited as long as I could hoping that value of the pound would raise slightly and hit me less than expected. As I have explained already I transfer now using a special broker, avoiding the costly and not transparent services of a bank. I use www.ukforex.com and I very happy with them. I am just less happy with the pound.
€1.15 for a pound. One month ago it was 1.25 and 6 months ago close to 1.45. To transfer 5,000 Euros it used to cost me 3,450 GBP it would now cost me 4,350 which is 900 GBP more. This is rather bad news, very bad news.
Expert predict that the pound will be equal to one euro soon. Why they just no shut-up. We are still in a world of pure speculation or at least in a financial work where rationality is gone of the moment. Oil price was supposed to reach $200/bbl before the end of the year and went below $40 over the week end. When people are so wrong how could they call themselve experts.

France: an expensive place to live in?

French people talk about the cost of living like British people about the property market. And this is also largely covered in the media and widely mentioned by the politicians...especially the one from the opposition (les Socialistes). I have to admit that costs have risen significantly in France in the last couple of months. Britain had the reputation to be an expensive country to live in and British couple were constantly encouraged to think about moving to France, Spain, or Italy for their retirement: greater lifestyle, hot and sunny places, relatively cheap place to be. This might not be the case anymore. Every time I go to the supermarkets in France I am shocked by the large increase of the costs. It is easier to benchmark as I always have my regular personal shopping list with me. Two years ago, products used to be in average 25% cheaper compared to the UK. Since, this gap has reduced and the Pound has also fallen making this difference negligible or even France a slightly more expensive place to be. I don't want to draw conclusions from few examples, but I enclosed below some prices I have referenced this week in France and in the UK.

- Petrol (unleaded 95): 1.46 €/l (£ 1.17/l) vs. £1.07/l in the UK. France 10% more expensive.

- Croissant: 1.50 € in Nancy vs. £1.10 in the UK. France 8% more expensive.

- Baby Powder Milk (second age) 900gr Box: 14.5€ in France (11.6 £) vs. 5.50£ in the UK. France 100% more expensive (see my comment below).

- Kickers baby shoes: 70€ in France vs. 50 GBP in the UK, France 12% more expensive.

- Sthil MS230 chainsaw: 429€ (in France vs. £271 in the UK, France 25% more expensive.

I am always amazed by price of the baby powder milk in France, where the competition is even larger (only two main suppliers in the UK, more than 5 in France). The products are very similar, the weight are the same, the demand is larger in France as they are more babies and it is still twice more expansive. It is even easier to compare with the Nappies, Pampers of Huggies. In average the cost are twice more expensive in France than in the UK, like for like for the same product. French parents tend to spend a lot for their babies, especially for baby clothes of shoes. Is it the same for any baby products in which case companies like Danone (milk) or Pampers scandalously overcharge French families knowing that culturally French people will accept to pay more for less? Of course the question is not about nappies or baby milk but why major companies like Pampers might charge twice the price in France compared to the UK for a similar standard of living. I will contact Pampers and post their answers. PS Still no response from Lipton (see my previous post). I will contact them again soon.

Lipton: Buy larger volumes and pay twice the unit price...

I bought today in a very large Carrefour Supermarket in France some Lipton Infusions (Grand Sud) that I cannot find in the UK. The pack of 25 bags was 1.17€ but the larger pack of 50 bags was 3.99€, which is almost twice more expensive (roughly 28€/kg for the small pack to be compared with 48€/kg for the large pack). Big brands frequently play with people's common belief that buying goods in larger quantities will provide a better deal and siginficant savings and pay no attention to the unit price. In fact those brands almost consider their customers like perfect idiots by overpricing the larger packs of a same product. Another example: last week I bought in Avignon two packs of 3 sausages instead of the large pack of 6 sausages because the saving was surprisingly around 25%. But charging nearly twice the price for the Lipton infusions is a pure scandal, more than a rip off; a pure lack of respect shown by Lipton to their customers.

I have contacted Lipton in France to ask for some explanations. I will share their (potential) answer with you. In the meantime, even in the UK, watch the price of Lipton packs when you buy their products !! Watch also the unit price before going for the larger box!

Is it popular to be a skinflint?

A French website became very popular over the years, called www.radins.fr, literally skinflint. Within 6 years and without any advertising it gathered nearly 1 millions subscribers. This website would not only explain how to get free vouchers to buy nappies or free pet food samples, where to download free software, use free services. It would also provide thousands of advices to save money like:
- clean the piano notes with milk instead of buying expensive chemical products
- do not put stamps when you send a check to pay for your bill (to the phone company, the electricity company etc)...it would arrive anyway most of the time. The person who posted this advice has been doing it for 7 years...
- how to make envelopes oneself instead of buying new one in the shop
- use the plastic gloves available at petrol stations for painting or cleaning at home....

In the past it has never been popular to be skinflint: someone skinflint was seen as not being able enjoy himself, would have a particularly insane relationship with money and would be the subject of many gossips. However with the cost of living increasing, widely commented in the media and by politicians a new category of "skinflint" persons would appear: thus one are spending their money, sometimes a lot of money but will always be after a discount, free samples, this little extra that will help them to save a little bit more...or spending less. Of course if the price does not justify it they even wouldn't consider buying: more or less they would buy cleverly.
Nowadays it almost becomes very popular to be skinflint, at least showing that we care about money, that money is made to be spent wisely and that life is hard for everyone. I guess it is the success of such a website.