Buy local? I wanna tell you a story

Some years ago on the island of Guernsey a pensioner, through no fault of his own, found he had a lot of spare time on his hands and therefore decided to address the situation and to fill his time in with a new creative hobby.

To be able to do this he needed some equipment, which was available to him locally, so he phoned a local store and was told, 'Yes sir, we have those items in stock at a cost of £62.' Bit expensive, he thinks, so he phoned another local store to be told, 'Yes sir, we have them in stock at £35.' Well, thinks this old pensioner, that's a saving of £27 for the sake of a phone call.

As he was about to drive into town to collect the items a younger member of the family said, 'Why don't you try Amazon granddad?' Five minutes later he had ordered the items for £6 with a 48-hour delivery.

Now, some 62 years ago this old granddad failed his 11-plus and was consigned to a secondary modern education. I can assure you his failure was not due to arithmetic because he quickly worked out that £62 minus Mr Amazon's £6 represented a saving of £56.

He quite merrily carried on with this new 'creative hobby' until his baby brother in the valleys suggested another area he could look at. Again this old pensioner phoned a local store to be quoted £487. By now this old lad had learned the ways of the shopping world and never bothered to phone around. He went straight to his old mate 'Mr Amazon', where he was quoted £294, a saving of £193 and a free 48-hour delivery.

Then along came Christmas and the old granddad decided he would get his wife a certain gift, which, along with others would complete his presents to her. Having left it a bit late he tried the local scene where he was told, 'Sorry sir, we do not have the item in stock and will be unable to get it in time for the festive season but the cost will be £48.'

Well, he thinks, if I can't have it in time for Christmas I might as well speak to my old mate Amazon. 'Yes sir, delivery will be roughly 1 January and the cost will be £25 inclusive of postage.'

As my wife's birthday is very early in the new year it is the start of her birthday presents.

Every story has a moral and the moral of this one is simple. We are not all stupid and a lot of us have prepared for our old age with investments and savings and pensions. We can count our pennies and don't like being ripped off.

Shop local – you are having a laugh.

GRAHAM SKUSE.