Day 178, the myth of choice, capitalism and the the obvious flaw

It’s not class war, it’s about buying some flippin’ potato cakes for my Clanger guests.

It used to be possible to buy potato cakes from the local Co-op. Then in the melting low-fat spread of the rise of the mini-supermarket war a Sainsbury's Local opened next door to the Co-op. The Sainsbury's also sold potato cakes.

Then the Co-op stopped selling potato cakes as they couldn’t sell enough, although they went through intermittent waves of selling them.

Then the Sainsbury's Local stopped selling potato cakes as well.

There did used to be a demand great enough to support one of the medium sized supermarkets selling potato cakes, however with the arrival of the second shop that demand was fragmented and neither shop was prepared to sell a smaller number.

This reminded me of what happened to bus services. When competition (deregulation) was introduced in the 1980s there were multiple bus companies competing on the same routes.  It was ridiculous, there must have been nearly 10 separate companies competing across the city, crappy old buses, a very much poorer and very much more expensive service for passengers.

Eventually the number of bus companies was reduced as many of the smaller concerns were forced out of business.  Bus routes that didn’t have a high passenger turnover, typically to out of the way places that used to be absorbed as part of the wider cost when it was a public service, were either reduced in frequency or dropped altogether.

The myth of choice. Thatcher sold this myth that greater choice was better. Better in what way and for whom wasn't stipulated. But it turns out it was better for shareholders, not the recipients of the service. They sold it well, appealing to the interest of people that were acquisitive rather than having any concern for the wider effect.

Competition does not improve the experience for the community.

Utility companies are another example. In what way is it a benefit to the person buying the service that there is an incomprehensible range of tariffs, from a ridiculously large number of businesses, selling nothing more than their right to manage the removal of your money. The power is generated in the same places it was, the grid is the same as it was, they are a pool of resource used by all these companies, yet the supposed model is that competition is good for the market.  Bollocks.

In the case of the supermarkets then it is their own business how they may foolishly split the market and provide a worse service for their customers.  In the areas where public services are involved, transport, utilities, the health service, it is scandalous that the ability to fleece the consumer is allowed.  Maybe many of those that grew up during and after Thatcherism have a different view, and that this is a more selfish world and that is the way it is.  Well I say bollocks to that as well.

I tried explaining this to the Clangers, about the lack of potato cakes being due to supermarkets competing for the same custom in a race to the bottom in a society filled with fools that think short-termism is a sensible approach. They just gave their usual high pitched response which was, "Oh, sod it."