Pricewatch »

• Bartering is back

  October 5, 2009 @ 10:21 am | by Conor Pope

  Every Saturday morning throughout the mid-1970s, Irish children – at least those living in places where BBC TV was available – would gather to watch Noel Edmonds and Keith Chegwin help kids living in glamorous sounding locations, like Wigan and Hull, swap toys.

  For three hours, as part of the Multi-Coloured Swap Shop , people phoned in offers and requests – badminton racket for alarm clock, stylophone for cuddly toy, guitar for Evel Knievel stunt bike – with the most headline grabbing swaps making it onto the top ten swap board. It was cheap, addictive TV for kids but, in the early 1980s as those kids grew up, the swapping stopped and the programme disappeared.

  Well swapping is back in vogue and has been given a 21st century make-over. The credit crunch, enhanced frugality and easy web access have seen people swapping and bartering with a gusto not seen since global capitalism was a twinkle in Adam Smith’s eye.
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• Those so-called lo-calls

  November 24, 2008 @ 11:23 am | by Conor Pope

  WHILE IT MAY sound peculiar that people who contact the National Consumer Agency (NCA) to complain about rip-off prices have to fork out as much as €3.50 for a 10-minute call to one of its agents, that can be the case if the call is made using a mobile phone rather than a landline.
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