Cost of ice cream

[FigSlice]

Listening to our local BBC radio station. just heard a recording of a eight year old wanting to buy ice-cream cones for herself and her twin sister from an ice-cream van in Burnley. £9 for two cones, and they only take cards. Wanted to pay by cash. Therefore no ice-cream and clearly not happy!

[equinox]

If a cash transaction was available, would the 8 year old have made a purchase?

(I find it very hard to believe that an ice cream van would turn down cash)

[alboclaret]

Malham cafe. £6.50 for 1. (ONE)

[ŽižkovClaret]

And yet, a vienetta seems to have been pretty much recession proof since the late 90s

[AGENT_CLARET]

And yet, a vienetta seems to have been pretty much recession proof since the late 90s

Love a mint Vienetta or an Artic Roll

[Jel]

The cost of the ingredients is probably about 50p

[Inchy]

As a parent of two young children I have mastered the economics of ice creams.

Rule 1 is sparingly buy an ice cream from a van which linger around the neighbourhoods. It’s overpriced

Rule 2 never, ever buy an ice cream from a van which has a captive audience. Parks, village fetes, theme parks, petting zoos etc all charge an absolute fortune for ice cream. The price goes up the more middle class the location or activity you’re captured in.

Rule 3 always buy ice creams in multipacks. Last weekend I was spectating the Leeds marathon with the wife and kids. Kids wanted an ice cream and it was boiling hot and they had done a lot of walking so had earned it. 1 cornetto from the specific small ice cream freezer in Sainsburys was £2.90p. 4 Sainsburys style cornetto in the big freezer = £2.50

I’m always amazed that it’s cheaper to buy a multipack of ice creams than one individual ice cream

[Sutton-Claret]

And yet, a vienetta seems to have been pretty much recession proof since the late 90s

Have you seen how they're made? - they must make millions each week...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jGJ6RKPHblY

[zippybid]

You can buy 6 Cornettos in a box for around £2.50

[kentonclaret]

And yet, a vienetta seems to have been pretty much recession proof since the late 90s

I used to work for a refrigeration company that was jointly owned by Lyon’s and Wall’s ice cream and I remember the excitement when Vienetta was first launched (1982).
When first launched I recall some people talking about it as a dessert for posh people. At least it is still proving popular today and seemingly reasonably priced.

[Bosscat]

We buy the Supermarket own brand "Cornetto style" and "Magnum style" for the freezer ... a 1/3 of the price at least ... its a no brainer

[Clovius Boofus]

Listening to our local BBC radio station. just heard a recording of a eight year old wanting to buy ice-cream cones for herself and her twin sister from an ice-cream van in Burnley. £9 for two cones, and they only take cards. Wanted to pay by cash. Therefore no ice-cream and clearly not happy!

This is it here. I love the kid's highly justifiable rant.

https://twitter.com/gritty20202/status/ ... Kw7j6M1Wxw

[Clovius Boofus]

By the way, we very nearly got stung too in Towneley Park a couple of years ago. I think he was trying to charge us around £7.50 for two ice creams.

[Jakubclaret]

The pricing is pretty much dictated by whether people buy the product clearly some people are for them to carry on charging the prices they do. You'll get some people with more money than sense spoiling it for others & I'm all for the ice cream seller making a decent living greed aside.

[miele-man]

I think the ice cream van wants to avoid taking cash because it’s expensive banking it , if he can find a bank to put it in.
Debit cards keep the costs lower and also avoid having to have a float also not having the risk of giving the wrong change .
The guy selling it is only trying to earn a living just like everyone else.

[forzagranata]

This is it here. I love the kid's highly justifiable rant.

https://twitter.com/gritty20202/status/ ... Kw7j6M1Wxw

Got to love parents who set-up their kids to swear on camera for the likes on social media.......

[Rowls]

As a parent of two young children I have mastered the economics of ice creams.

Rule 1 is sparingly buy an ice cream from a van which linger around the neighbourhoods. It’s overpriced

Rule 2 never, ever buy an ice cream from a van which has a captive audience. Parks, village fetes, theme parks, petting zoos etc all charge an absolute fortune for ice cream. The price goes up the more middle class the location or activity you’re captured in.

Rule 3 always buy ice creams in multipacks. Last weekend I was spectating the Leeds marathon with the wife and kids. Kids wanted an ice cream and it was boiling hot and they had done a lot of walking so had earned it. 1 cornetto from the specific small ice cream freezer in Sainsburys was £2.90p. 4 Sainsburys style cornetto in the big freezer = £2.50

I’m always amazed that it’s cheaper to buy a multipack of ice creams than one individual ice cream

All good rules Inchy.

However, perhaps you might consider a 4th rule:

Buy ice cream as sparingly as possible, in all its forms because it is a luxury good and full of fat and sugar.

You probably do this anyway.

[Clovius Boofus]

The council must license these robdogs? After all, I don't think anyone can simply rock-up in Towneley park and start trading. The vendors must catch many people unawares, and they pay up to save embarrassment.

This is how it works - people being too proud to tell them where to shove it. I'd have a licencing agreement where the seller always has to tell the customer the price BEFORE they press the start button.

[Bosscat]

Listening to our local BBC radio station. just heard a recording of a eight year old wanting to buy ice-cream cones for herself and her twin sister from an ice-cream van in Burnley. £9 for two cones, and they only take cards. Wanted to pay by cash. Therefore no ice-cream and clearly not happy!

At least it wasn't bitcoin like the advert on tele for the chap buying onions at a roadside stall

[Jakubclaret]

Better planning would save money for sure but ice creams are spontaneous purchases prompted by needy children & hot weather instead of cool boxes & setting off for the day. Busy parents have got enough things to think about without loading cool boxes up. You don't plan on having ice cream children tend not to infants don't have that mental capacity.

[ŽižkovClaret]

If you're in Thompson Park, a crafty parent could nip up to sainsburys for a pack of 3 Magnums, or the even cheaper Iceland equivalents

[kentonclaret]

Using the same argument the coffee shops would be empty. You can buy a jar of coffee in the supermarket for the price of 2 coffees in Costa or Starbucks. Ice cream is very much an impulse buy when you are out on a hot sunny day. It is a matter of individual choice if you decide to go without because you have a pack of 6 back home in the freezer.

[dandeclaret]

As a parent of two young children I have mastered the economics of ice creams.

Rule 1 is sparingly buy an ice cream from a van which linger around the neighbourhoods. It’s overpriced

Rule 2 never, ever buy an ice cream from a van which has a captive audience. Parks, village fetes, theme parks, petting zoos etc all charge an absolute fortune for ice cream. The price goes up the more middle class the location or activity you’re captured in.

Rule 3 always buy ice creams in multipacks. Last weekend I was spectating the Leeds marathon with the wife and kids. Kids wanted an ice cream and it was boiling hot and they had done a lot of walking so had earned it. 1 cornetto from the specific small ice cream freezer in Sainsburys was £2.90p. 4 Sainsburys style cornetto in the big freezer = £2.50

I’m always amazed that it’s cheaper to buy a multipack of ice creams than one individual ice cream

Rule 1a - tell them when the music is playing, it means they've sold out.

[Taffy on the wing]

You can buy 6 Cornettos in a box for around £2.50

"I only wanta one....geev it too me!"

[Robbie_painter]

Using the same argument the coffee shops would be empty. You can buy a jar of coffee in the supermarket for the price of 2 coffees in Costa or Starbucks. Ice cream is very much an impulse buy when you are out on a hot sunny day. It is a matter of individual choice if you decide to go without because you have a pack of 6 back home in the freezer.

Got conned by the daughter into buying 2 Frappuccino’s yesterday from Starbucks (had no idea what they were)Culminated in me losing £10.60 drinking a shitty cold coffee and her walking home.

[Rileybobs]

The kids on my cul-de-sac are often playing on the street so between about April and September the local ice cream swindler makes it part of his daily round, he swings by at about 7.15 in the evening just as the kids are settling down and getting ready for bed. The sound of Greensleeves often accompanies carnage as we try to explain that ice creams aren’t a daily treat. Occasionally we end up in ice cream debt to neighbours who buy our children ice creams when they’re buying for their kids, not aided by the ice cream swindler’s £4 minimum purchase on card policy.

Which leads me to my question, is it legal for ice cream swindlers to sell on any public road or are there any restrictions such as time and location?

[Cabbage]

https://youtu.be/Ag-bAy36yXc?si=SkKnGsMe1QGUNEJU

[Stalbansclaret]

Am currently on Symi, a small Greek island, and very pleasant to find good size cones with proper nice gelato style ice cream are only 2.5 Euros each. Much cheaper than your typical Mr Whippy from a van back home.

[forzagranata]

I find this sort of outrage about prices understandable but fundamentally parents need to grow a pair and tell their kids 'No you can't have an ice cream, they are too expensive'.

Most of us grew up with parents who told us we couldn't have certain things because of cost. And some of us weren't scared to teach our own kids some economic realities either - even if they sulked.

"You can have a Lidl Magnum when you get home" is the answer to over-priced ice-cream vans.

[Dyched]

I think the ice cream van wants to avoid taking cash because it’s expensive banking it , if he can find a bank to put it in.
Debit cards keep the costs lower and also avoid having to have a float also not having the risk of giving the wrong change .
The guy selling it is only trying to earn a living just like everyone else.

He doesn’t get all the money. They’ll be transaction fees every time someone buys something so the pricing will be higher for that as well.

[Sutton-Claret]

We buy the Supermarket own brand "Cornetto style" and "Magnum style" for the freezer ... a 1/3 of the price at least ... its a no brainer

Did you know that a Magnum style icecream was invented by Roger Moore by basically putting a stick into a choc ice and marketing it........

[equinox]

Probably a 'Royd Ices' Van who operate out of Mytholmroyd.

They employ alot of East Europeans who they don't trust with cash.

[Dark Cloud]

The kids on my cul-de-sac are often playing on the street so between about April and September the local ice cream swindler makes it part of his daily round, he swings by at about 7.15 in the evening just as the kids are settling down and getting ready for bed. The sound of Greensleeves often accompanies carnage as we try to explain that ice creams aren’t a daily treat. Occasionally we end up in ice cream debt to neighbours who buy our children ice creams when they’re buying for their kids, not aided by the ice cream swindler’s £4 minimum purchase on card policy.

Which leads me to my question, is it legal for ice cream swindlers to sell on any public road or are there any restrictions such as time and location?

To answer your final point I THINK it's rather like window cleaners and milk men in that sellers have an unofficial patch or route which others in the trade are expected to acknowledge and respect. Failure to follow the "code" can get pretty hairy I guess as sellers will fall out over perceived "encroachment"! The famous "Ice Cream Wars" in Glasgow bear testament to that when it ended up in extreme violence and murder!

[dougcollins]

You can buy 6 Cornettos in a box for around £2.50

But surely you only need just one?

[claret2018]

There’s some tight arses about

[Clovius Boofus]

The famous "Ice Cream Wars" in Glasgow bear testament to that when it ended up in extreme violence and murder!

The killer was as cold as ice. I also heard his family had to move away from Glasgow after they were frozen out by the local community.

[Commy]

The ice cream vans are usually franchised so they might be hiring the vehicle, and then they have to pay for the ice cream and fuel. I think they need a traders licence which, knowing councils, won't be cheap. On top of all that, they will probably earn the square root of bugger all in winter. It is expensive but for a one off I don't mind paying it.

[Clovius Boofus]

Funny thing, though. The same year one of them attempted to charge me £7.50 for two small cones in Towneley Park - I paid £4.50 for two Kelly's cones near a beach in Cornwall. I don't buy that their overheads now justify nine quid or whatever it was they tried to charge the little girl.

[Burnley1989]

Spoke to the ice cream man that comes on our estate, he said the cost of energy for his refrigerators barely made it affordable to sell ice lolly’s these days, so most push fancy ice creams instead

[Billyblah]

I'm thinking that people may be fast to criticise the cost of ice cream /associated products from vans.
As Commy points out above, it's seasonal. Those vans have to earn their keep during a limited window of opportunity, April to October.
The cost of the ice cream factors in the running costs of the van, road tax, insurance (business use), fuel, presumably the engine runs to keep the freezer compartment, mot, maintenance, depreciation, wages..runnng an ice cream van is probably pretty tough.

[IPAclaret]

First we had the Ukraine/ Russia conflict

then the terrible events unfolding with Israel/ Palestinians

and now the most important issue of our times, the extortionate cost of ice cream.

How will we all cope ?!?

[Clovius Boofus]

Some people will suck it up, or in this case, lick it off.

[Boss Hogg]

Do not buy ice cream or lollies from the vans at Towneley Park unless you like being completely ripped off. I adopt Inchy’s policy above.

[Inchy]

I don’t buy this “they can only sell April to October” mantra.

Class A drugs sell well in winter

[IanMcL]

My ice cream story.

About 60 years ago, my sister's boyfriend's brother, visited us with his new Ice cream van. He asked if I wanted to help. Of course! Num said OK.

He had no route. Just drive ring the chimes and stop near kids. We did some sales and he would tell me to restock or hand him stuff. All good.

Along the way, he said you have earned a Heart.

He produced this mammoth choc covered, heart shaped ice cream. When you bit in, there was either strawberry or raspberry ripple.

Divine!

Some time later...another and another and after 4 I was done.

Unfortunately for him, the smell chocked us both!

Wonderful day!

[Carlos the Great]

I was told as a kid when the ice cream music came on It meant he had no ice cream left …

[JohnMcGreal]

To answer your final point I THINK it's rather like window cleaners and milk men in that sellers have an unofficial patch or route which others in the trade are expected to acknowledge and respect. Failure to follow the "code" can get pretty hairy I guess as sellers will fall out over perceived "encroachment"! The famous "Ice Cream Wars" in Glasgow bear testament to that when it ended up in extreme violence and murder!

If they were only selling ice cream it probably wouldn't have been so violent / murderous.

There was a cracking documentary about it on iPlayer a couple of years back. Well worth a watch.

[Devils_Advocate]

If they were only selling ice cream it probably wouldn't have been so violent / murderous.

There was a cracking documentary about it on iPlayer a couple of years back. Well worth a watch.

I think I might have seen that documentary if its the one where Peter Kay played the Ice cream van man???

[Walton]

If you're in Thompson Park, a crafty parent could nip up to sainsburys for a pack of 3 Magnums, or the even cheaper Iceland equivalents

The ice cream counter in Thompson Park is actually very good value. Good, proper ice cream for £2.50ish.

[Tribesmen]

Hey i was thinking i was getting a good deal from my supermarket as i get two boxes of Magnuns for €6 in Ireland , everything is cheaper in the UK .