According to a report in the paper the Office of Fair Trading has ticked off retailers for discussing how best to implement the sudden changes in VAT
It seems the retailers were using their common sense & sharing expertise in order to do their very best to help in these difficult times. And I do not suppose any of them wanted the kind of public dressing down from our beloved leader that the banks have been getting for failing to respond instantly to cuts in the base rate
But I wonder if the psychological effects of the cut may not be the opposite of what the government intended?
Many outlets have signs apologising for the fact that they have not had time to change all labels & price lists, but will adjust the price paid at the till
I was in Primark on Tuesday where they had managed to change all the big price signs on top of the displays. Which means that instead of familiar figures of round pounds we see strange numbers such as 7.91 or 3.47
My guess is that this only adds to the sense of a world turned upside down & impending doom
And people are probably not even bothering to keep the change
