4 February (Part 2) - Salty Bacon
When I moved to this part of London I found the water quality was awful, bath water and soap would turn into a diluted form of tapioca and I lost little time in installing a water softener. I think the water may have improved a bit since but when the softener failed a couple of years ago I replaced it anyway. The new model uses very little salt and I get it from a local company in blocks costing £4.50 (including VAT) a pair. Nearer £4 if I pick up a car boot full in one go. What I wouldn’t do is buy it from Bexley council’s salt supplier where the same stuff costs £16 plus VAT a pack.
Bexley council has been selling brown rock salt to residents supposedly at cost price to help clear snow since September.
Maybe it didn’t sell very well because they were still advertising it
on Twitter last month.
Maybe Bexley council should find a cheaper supplier.
Brown rock salt is sold in quantity by Bexley’s contracted supplier at
£3.85 (plus VAT) a 25kg bag which is nearer to £4.50 than
Bexley’s so called bargain fiver. But anyone can Google ’Brown rock salt’ and
find prices as low as £1.50 plus VAT for 25kg. Prices around the three
pound mark are not uncommon but you have to look long and hard to find anyone
selling the stuff at £3.85; but Bexley council managed it.
Maybe it’s the same slackness over contracts that gave Redrow
such a bargain. Gareth Bacon’s generous offer is not quite what it seems. Nothing is in Bexley.
Note: B&Q’s price for 25kg of rock salt was £3.49 including
VAT last year but they seem to have stopped selling it.