"The whole way we live and work has changed," Ms Thomas added. She said factors such as the conflict in Ukraine and a rise in the number of people who are economically inactive have contributed to inflationary pressures. Helen Thomas, chief executive of Blonde Money, told Sky News "the way we live and work has changed" and the country needs to adapt to "a higher inflation world". Relatively high levels of inflation are "here to stay" and it's the end of a period of "cheap money", a former adviser to George Osborne has warned. Other stores are looking again at the Argos method – with the catalogue being the only thing available to steal, he said. "You can tell it to look for red coats, or to look for somebody who has taken an object from a shelf and put it directly into their pocket." Not all security is that obvious - some shops use CCTV technology "not dissimilar to AI" to track customer behaviour, said Professor Beck, formerly the head of criminology at the University of Leicester. Sky News has previously reported on dairy milk in security cases, fake coffee pots on shelves and locked away baby formula. "Retailers are spending hundreds of millions on security staff, CCTV, security tags, and other anti-crime measures." "High levels of theft cost retailers almost £1bn in 2021-22, money that would be better used to reduce prices," said Tom Ironside, director of business and regulation at the BRC. Supermarkets make small margins on groceries, so very few thefts can be absorbed before it becomes cost-effective to bulk up security or simply stop selling certain products, explained Professor Beck. feeds through into problems around people stealing food in particular and other essentials to survive". Professor Beck said that the growing number of people in a "precarious" economic position "inevitably. Shoplifting has increased by 26% in the last year, according to the British Retail Consortium (BRC). "It's a bit like walking down a high street at night when everybody’s got their security shutters down – it feels a brutal space." There is a danger "every aisle becomes just a vending machine because it's so controlled", said Professor Beck, an academic advisor to the ECR Retail Loss Group.
#Types of wine chart software#
Security measures usually reserved for spirits and beauty products are increasingly being used in grocery settings, as more people steal essentials "to survive", according to Professor Adrian Beck.ĬCTV software that monitors customers and alerts a guard if their movements match those of a shoplifter is being deployed by some shops, said the criminologist, who has advised retailers on theft prevention for three decades.
#Types of wine chart full#
Which? says mortgages with a higher loan-to-value level are more likely to be offered without a fee in a bid to attract first-time-buyers with less money to spare.Īnalysts at the consumer champion have compiled this table which shows how much someone would pay over two years, on a £200,000 mortgage fixed to a 25-year term, in different scenarios:Īn expert adviser on retail theft has cautioned supermarkets against creating "threatening and intimidating" aisles full of barriers, security tags and dummy products. The average fee tends to hover around the £999 mark- and high fees can sometimes disguise attractive rates, so make sure you go through all the details with your mortgage broker.
The effect of interest rates on mortgage costs is a significant issue on the minds of first-time buyers and those approaching the end of their fix.īut people looking to find a new deal also have to consider the possibility that their policy may come with an upfront fee - a less-discussed aspect of the mortgage-hunting process.Īnalysis by consumer champion Which? found that six in 10 fixed-rate and tracker mortgages on the market now come with product fees - with the highest charge sitting at a whopping £3,999 set by Halifax. "Based on the £1.81trn that Brits have in savings accounts, it means the nation's savings could have collectively lost as much as £113bn over the past year in real terms." The average saver with £1,000 in an easy-access account will now find their cash is only worth £938 in today's money, Ms Suter added.
"Although interest rates have risen considerably over the past year and a half, savers still lost money in real terms thanks to double-digit inflation for much of that period," she said. The platform's head of personal finance Laura Suter says savers are "still being pummelled" despite a slight fall in inflation, as they put up with lower returns on their savings. The rising cost of living has left many of us feeling the pinch in our day to day lives - but also when it comes to preparing for the future.Īnalysis by investment platform AJ Bell suggests that as much as £113bn may have been wiped off the value of the nation's savings in real terms over the past year as a result of rising inflation.
0 kommentar(er)
