The £1 pineapple

[danphoto]

Today, for perhaps the fourth time in recent weeks, I bought a pineapple in Tesco. It was an "extra large" pineapple - a magnificent thing to look at, and a fair old weight to carry home. We just pigged out on that pineapple, and it was absolutely delicious.

It was grown in Costa Rica, and I purchased it in south-east England. For one pound, retail.

Obviously the grower is contracted to Tesco so there's no middle man, but the thing still has to be grown, packed and trucked to the dock, shipped from Central America to the UK, trucked from port to distribution centre, then trucked to the store, which has overheads.

So how on earth does anybody make any money out of that pineapple?

 

[XmisterIS]

Often the big supermarkets can afford to make a loss on certain luxury products because it will encourage people to buy more of other things, so on balance, they make a profit.

 

[Aperitif]

Give someone a ring.

 

[danphoto]

OK, I guess it must be a loss-leader. But even if Tesco's selling it to me for half what it costs them to get it to the store, I still don't see how the economics work ...

BTW, I was in Lidl the other day and noticed they had one split bag of potting compost lying there on a pallet. "How much for the split bag of compost?" says I to the manager chappie.

"Full price, sir" says he.

"You're kidding!" says I.

"Nope. The tills won't let us reduce items, so if anything doesn't sell at full price, we have to skip it".

If that's not crazy, I don't know what it.

 

[slowmotion]

I'm sure Tesco makes a whole chunk of money.

 

[Dayvo]

Read the figures and do the maths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pineapple#Cultivation That's a LOT of pineapple!

Everyone makes money out of it, from the picker, farmer, exporter, importer, wholesailer and retailer.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

I've found myself wondering about how little the poor Costa Rican farmers must be getting for their labour. The local markets often sell them at 2 for a £. Sow, grow, harvest, send to market, market to port, refrigerated ship across the ocean, port to fruit market and then to the local market. And they're not light.

I know that the supermarkets often sell them on when, like me, they're getting a bit too ripe for yummy mummies' tastes but I don't imagine that they do so at a loss.

It can hardly be worth the effort for the grower once everybody's taken their slice.

Anyhow, I wonder whether you're now going to get a whole chunk of pineapple jokes

 

[Dayvo]

One day 3 people were stuck on an island with cannibals. the cannibals said, "if you do what we say, we wont kill you". so the 3 people followed the orders the cannibals.

So the cannibals said, "go into the forest and pick 10 fruits of the first fruit you see".

So the first person came back out of the forest with 10 apples. the cannibals said, "put the apples up your ass without making a facial expression". The person then made a facial expression after the second apple, so the cannibals killed him.

The second person came back out of the forest with 10 cherries. the cannibals said, "put the cherries up your ass without making a facial expression". The person then started laughing on the tenth cherry, so they killed him.

In heaven, the person with apples asked the person with cherries "why did you start laughing?". The person replied, "i saw the third person come out with pineapples."
​

 

[Coco]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/2010/oct/01/high-cost-cheap-pineapples-supermarkets

Enjoy your pineapple

 

[danphoto]

Yay Coco! Thank you for that sir (or madam).

 

[Coco]

No problem - I was enjoying the film thread

 

[rich p]

Give someone a ring.

Nice one chunky!

 

[Archie_tect]

So, no fairtrade pineapples from small collectives then... it's Del Monte, Dole or Fyffes or mothing.... big aggro-business!

 

[Over The Hill]

I've found myself wondering about how little the poor Costa Rican farmers must be getting for their labour. The local markets often sell them at 2 for a £. Sow, grow, harvest, send to market, market to port, refrigerated ship across the ocean, port to fruit market and then to the local market. And they're not light.

Or how little Tesco make out of it???

Simple fact is if it was £5 in the shop your poor Costa Rican farmer would be poorer.

He took the deal from Tesco of his own free will as do all farmers who deal with supermarkets direct. They cut out the middle man and get a guaranteed buyer so clearly see it as a better option.

 

[sheddy]

I don't think Tesco (or any other big supermarket) treat their farmers as well as they could - http://www.tescopoly.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=55&Itemid=78