"The more entrenched these big conglomerates get the worse it will be. If Coles opened a hamburger chain and sold the equal of big macs for $1 subsidised by their supermarkets can you imaging the uproar from McD, Hungry Jacks etc."
Now you're talking. I'm sick of paying $10 for a poorly made burger, undercooked lukewarm chips and a watered down drink. Franchises (independents) are sometimes happy to dish out substandard products and services and expect top dollar whilst doing it.
Maybe Coles and Woolworths need to enter fast food.
On the subject of fuel. I live in an area with about 20,000 residents. Caltex is the only servo and everyday is consistently cheaper. It's definitely not convenient to go to the other servos. Caltex could charge more but it's not spiting it's face...and with reason. The manager of Coles told me a Shell servo in the 'town' would be worth $30-50k per week. It's in Caltex's interest to stay cheap and not lose a slice like that.
As long as we have multi nationals the consumer won't pay '1000% increases.' The rivalry is a natural circuit breaker. Heck...a suburb in Perth is lucky to get a Masters store yet I have a massive Masters AND a massive Bunnings literally next to each other.
I try to support true independents where the person who owns the store runs the store. Yes they're far and few but they're out there. But I won't support rip off merchants.
