Bob, at 08:16 on Apr 17 1996, you wrote to Bill Grimsley...

BG> My mistake, $1.20 is Mitre 10's cost, not retail, so stop worrying. 

BL> I'll stop worrying at once. There's nothing worse than being
BL> scrwewed on the price of a screw connector.

There are far more important things to worry about, such as Hydraseal tap
washers which cost $3.50 a pair in bubble-packing, or $0.75 each if loose.

BG> And Jewel is indeed much cheaper than the others up here as
BG> well. A good example is Crown Mints, 200g for $1.53 at Coles,
BG> or 300g for $1.47 from Jewel. That's quite an amazing difference. 

BL> Yair... there are real bargains, but you have to be a bit cunning. I
BL> think Jewel gets screwed themselves, on some items; it's not all
BL> cheap. The two best bargains I know at Jewel are their Dishwashing
BL> Liquid ($1.10, half the price of Trix and actually better), and their
BL> 100 Tea Bags ($1.08 compared to $3.00 for Bushells, and quite
BL> drinkable if a little slow to draw). And as you say, their lollies are
BL> cheap and good. I actually prefer the No Name Hazelnut chocolate to
BL> Cadburys.

A lot of their own generic things are really brand-name products in their
own plain packaging (but you already knew that), and it quite often says so
on the packet anyway.  Lyn didn't know about Jewel, as their local branch
is stuck away behind the big Woolies and Coles supermarkets, but we found
it after she started going to the Umina branch, and couldn't believe how
cheap their prices were.  I suspect that much of the bigger stores' extra
prices is due to their intense advertising (junk mail, TV, radio etc.). 
BTW, Jewel have their own service station up here, and you receive a 1c per
litre discount for EACH docket over $50 you present when buying your fuel. 
Save up 63 of them, and your next full tank of petrol is free.  :)

BL> Mum's legs are going, and I do the "heavy" grocery shoppng now.

Damn, you should have had the vet do a job lot after all...

BL> Bloody women! Why the fuck do they always stop in the middle of an
BL> aisle and look about as if they expect God to speak to them? And why 
BL> do they always find the bill a suprsise? They stand there like a dead 
BL> shit, and the checkout chick hits the button, and the stupid bloody 
BL> woman always goes: "Shit! Do I have to pay? I didn't know that. Let 
BL> me have a look in my purse to see if I have any money... what are 
BL> these little gold ones worth...?"

Just yesterday, I went to an empty checkout, and the girl told me to go
elsewhere as she had a huge swag of groceries waiting to be paid for, and
the woman had run out of money, and had to go to the bank to draw some out
(no EFTPOS presumably).  Needless to say, all of the other checkouts had
huge queues, and here I am with a single item to buy.  What a bastard!

BL> I think they find shopping such a wonderful experience that they
BL> don't want to end, but one of these days a woman is going to do
BL> that, and I'll throw her straight through the bloody window!  

I just run into their ankles with the trolley.  They soon move.  :)

Regards, Bill

--- Msgedsq/2 3.20