Wol

As promised, a comparison between UK and Oz prices. Some of them surprised me, too! JulieCabs provided the UK figures.

Health warnings:

Juliecabs in the UK used ASDA, I used IGA Tuckerbag - about the equivalent.
We used the same brands as much as possible - you couldn't compare things otherwise without a protocol for selection and I don't have the time.
What is in season in one place is obviously not in the other.
Some items are sold in different weights etc: I pro-rated these to make them equivalent.
All prices are in Oz$, converted at the Tranzfers rate yesterday of 2.3423
There is no attempt to present the prices as any kind of cost-of-living comparison: that again would require a whole lot of loadings and statistics beyond my attention span!
Your disposable income would obviously affect the purchases in each country.

Sorry about the formatting - I just couldn't get it right pasting from WordPad!




ITEM UK(AU$) OZ(AU$)


Heinz baked beans tin 420g 0.96 1.58
Fray Bentos corned beef can 340g 1.99 3.22
Sharwoods green label mango chutney jar 354g 3.14 5.36
2% low fat milk bottle 1 L 1.31 2.13
Gala apples loose 1kg 2.30 3.98
Bananas loose 1kg 1.99 1.99
Kiwi fruit each 0.42 0.74
Lettuce iceberg head 1.12 0.89
Potatoes, large baking loose 1kg 1.24 2.99
Bread, large white sliced each 1.80 1.99
Flora original spread tub 500g 2.15 2.74
Avocado each 1.52 1.36
Cauliflower each 1.10 3.99
Rump steak Kg 14.94 17.99
Eggs large 600g doz 3.79 1.99
Kellogs Special K box 440g 5.64 5.50
Nescafe Gold coffee jar 200g 10.40 13.73
Diet coke bottle 1.25L 2.48 1.39
White sugar bag 1Kg 1.71 1.19
Philips 100w bulb classic clear each 0.52 1.03
John West pink salmon tin 210g 2.32 2.70
Kraft French classic dressing bottle 250ml bottle 2.62 3.11
Finish dishwasher power powder box 1Kg 6.04 6.22
Shell unleaded petrol 1L 2.15 1.30
Daily Telegraph / Australian 1.41 1.20
Bertolli extra virgin olive oil bottle 500ml 7.85 4.98

Items which did not have common sizing (prices pro-rated)

Branston pickle jar 310g 1.32 3.77
Jif cleaning cream each 375g 2.04 2.68
Teabags, Tetley's rounders box of 50 2.05 2.68
Autan insect spray 100ml 16.76 5.63
Front loading sensitive washing powder 1kg 8.79 8.28
McVities choc digestives roll 300g 2.20 4.07
Schweppes tonic water bottle 1.25L 2.34 0.99
Branded loo rolls, 6 pack 5.57 4.99
Imperial leather toilet soap 2 pack 125g 1.29 2.08

Amazulu

I'd agree with most of this. I think groceries in general are way more expensive than the UK. I would say that overall the cost of living here is less than the UK, but not by much.

OzTennis

Interesting and thanks for your research. A quick look at the first list I got 15 items cheaper in UK; 10 items cheaper in Oz.

One significant one though is the price of petrol. You don't buy just 1 litre of petrol of course so the difference in fuel costs is far and away the most significant.

Now that's groceries or supermarket items, how about clothes, electrical goods, rent, heating, insurance, holidays, entertainment ....................... zzzzzz

Also comparisons are of course subject to exchange rate variations with Australian prices being 2 or 3% lower than they were just a fortnight ago.

It's funny and ironic that insect spray should be 3 times dearer in the UK!

OzTennis

ossigeno

Some major cost items also for comparison:

ITEM UK(AU$), OZ(AU$)
Annual private school fees 17051, 9300
Monthly rent on a 3 bed house 8kms out of city 3513, 1540
Monthly travelcard from said house 284.80, 110
1 Litre premium petrol 218, 120

gavstrad

Interesting post... Thanks for the research & time spent!

Gav

michellemac

That is interesting, however, I would say that things like Branston pickle, Fray Bentos Pies are obviously going to be more expensive because they are imported from the UK, therefore are an imported, "luxury" good (although whether one would call a Fray Bentos Pie a "luxury" is questionable ). Tetley tea is not the most popular brand in australia (probably Dilmah or Liptons would be?) so maybe a popular brand comparision would be best 9i.e -top selling Tea in each country as opposed to choosing one particular brand?

also seasonal produce like Cauliflower (coming into season in UK, going out of season in Australia) make comparisions between fruit and veg hard to make - I wonder if the prices would be reversed for fruit and veg in 6 month's time?

But interesting none-the-less!

Michelle

suzimc

Thanks for this - it's really interesting, and to me quite surprising.

I agree with the comment of comparing most popular brands that would be really useful.... also, I wonder if it differs state to state over there?

Centurion

Just as a comment IGA is more expensive than some places whilst ASDA is probably the cheapest of all supermarkets in the UK. For anyone who wants to look up prices at Coles then just go on line and have a look at the website since you can order from them direct....

http://157.155.162.27/

That way you can look up anything! Good job on the comparisons though

wanderingwombat

Interesting research.

Agreed on the comments about IGA being definitely more expensive than Coles Woolworths. They are just a last resort corner $tore around here.

Wouldn't a more realistic comparison be ALDI as they are the only common store?

WW

OzTennis

Agreed:

http://www.aldi.com.au

http://www.aldi.co.uk

OzTennis

wanderingwombat

That winter clothing is a hard one to compare.. LOL

WW

OzTennis

Yeah, I got a real good running jacket from Aldi last week (UK) and they have amazing laptops coming in on Thurs - only wish I could afford one! It's a great place to buy certain, but not all, things.

OzTennis

wanderingwombat

The OZ offered laptop from Aldi:

Multimedia Notebook MD96500 with Biometric Finger Sensor Lock

Intel® Centrino(TM) Mobile Technology with Intel® Pentium® M Processor 740 (1.73 GHz, 2MB L2 Cache, FSB 533) and Intel® 915 PM Chipset

2 YEAR PICK-UP AND RETURN WARRANTY
- 128MB Graphics ATI® Mobility(TM) Radeon(TM) X700 XL with 128MB RAM (based on PCI-Express technology)

- 8x multi format DVD/CD burner with both dual layer standards and DVD RAM support

- 100GB Hard Disc Drive (up to 5GB may be used for recovery partition)

- 1024MB DDR II Memory

Biometric Finger Sensor Lock!
- Secure your laptop with the integrated fingerprint lock
- Maximum safety for your data
- Latest biometric finger sensor technology

Multifunction Touchpad!
- Multifunction touchpad with illuminated hotkeys
- Choose the application you want the easy way (e.g. Internet, email or Media Player, etc.)

Mobile PCMCIA Digital TV Tuner
- DVB-T digital TV tuner
- Analogue TV tuner
- FM radio tuner
- VCR function (record directly to your hard drive)
- Time-shift / pause live TV function

Other features include
- Intel® Wireless Pro LAN 802.11g/b
- Integrated Bluetooth Module (connect your mobile, PDA, etc)

- 8-Channel High Definition Audio Out (Analogue + S/P-DIF) In connection with a suitable speaker set (not included)

- 4 x USB 2.0 port, 1 x firewire

- Integrated speaker

- Integrated 8 in 2 Multi Card Reader

- Fast Ethernet LAN 10/100 Mbit/s

- 56K/V.90 modem

- Built-In Keyboard LED

Comprehensive Software Package
- Microsoft® Windows® XP Home SP2 (OEM) Operating System^
- Microsoft® Works® Suite 2005 (OEM) Application Software^
- Microsoft® Flight Simulator 2004 (OEM) Gaming Software

MEDION® HOME CINEMA XL^ (OEM)
- 5 professional software applications for editing, saving, viewing, etc. of your video files:
- PowerDVD 6
- Power Cinema
- PowerDirector 4.0 SE
- PowerProducer 3
- Medi@Show
- Nero Burning ROM 6 (OEM)^*** Burns audio CDs from MP3 files of variable over-burning and complex copying actions

- Nero Recode 2 SE (OEM)^*** Copy DVDs without copy protection

- Skype Internet Phoning Software

- eTrust Anti Virus Software (90 days trial version)

- Videon Editing software for slide shows and video playback

- AOL Australia
- Accessories included:Remote control, stereo headset, external TV tuner, DVI adaptor, AC adaptor, lithium-ion battery pack, wired USB mouse, carry bag. ^Preinstalled on DVD/CD *** You may use this software to assist you in copying material in which you own the copyright or have obtained permission to copy from the copyright owner. If you do not own the copyright or you have not obtained permission to copy from the copyright owner, you may be violating copyright law and you may be subject to claims for damages and/or criminal penalties.**If for any reason your purchase proves to be unsuitable, return it as good as new with all the packaging, accessories, instruction booklets and proof of purchase to your nearest ALDI store for a full refund within 90 days from date of purchase.MEDION Help Desk Toll Free Hotline: 1300 884 987
Monday to Friday 8.30am-6.30pm


$ 1899.

WW

Centurion

In fact, having looked at a few of those prices at the Coles level (which are not the cheapest anyway as mentioned above) they beat the IGA prices.

The exception to this is going to be imported products of course that are manufactured in the UK. Compare regional variants and again its cheaper.

Also remember that in both countries you have seasonal items of fresh fruit and veg. That will effect pricing a lot.

Overall I would say that Australian prices are cheaper than the UK by a substantial amount. I wont even compare the quality of fresh food here to some of the rubbish you get in the UK which seems to have gone convenience food mad.

MrsDagboy

Interesting Rog, I agree with some of the others, Im sure that I could get an exact same shop alot cheaper here in Brisbane in Coles or Woolworths. That will partly be the difference in supermarket (IGA vs Coles etc, Bilo would probably be the cheapest), but also the difference between buying at the greengrocers & as well as your geographical location in Oz (do you *really* pay $2.99/kg for potatoes? :scared: ).

Nonetheless, very interesting, as someone said, it's normal for things like Branston Pickle to be more expensive here since its imported, but as OzT pointed out the price of the insect spray was an eyeopener .