Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To get cross about bloody Prime?

77 replies

imagemini · 27/02/2023 08:34

DS asked me for a fiver this morning so he could pay for the bottle of Prime that his friend bought him last week. His friend bought it In Sainsburys, so it cost two quid. He wanted to make £3 profit!!!
I told DS he was an idiot for agreeing and that he friend was being an unreasonable sod for charging him that. He's taken £2.50 and told his friend I won't let him pay more for it. (I know the friend and his mum very well)

DS is a confident kid so if he friend gets huffy about this he'll deal with it. But FFS! DS asked me what I'd think of it was the other way around and he'd been the one expecting to by paid a fiver but wasn't. I know he's a teenage boy and they can be pretty stupid but come on, you really need to ask? If I found out he was trying to get 150% profit out of his friends I'd be furious!!!

Not sure if my AIBU is to be incredulous that kids are selling a soft drink on the bloody black market, that I can't believe DS was so silly to agree to this, or to think that the people (yes KSI, you) who make the bloody thing should be ashamed of themselves and their limited stock?!

OP posts:
Original poster
imagemini · 27/02/2023 09:03

Swiftswatch · 27/02/2023 08:56

If a kid was buying multipacks of Mars bars then selling them at full price I guess I'd see it as enterprising. But 5 quid for something that cost 2 quid is just not on.

You’re just splitting hairs here and seem to only be against it because it’s your son paying the premium.
A multipack of mars bars resold and the single bar RRP probably has a very similar mark up to the £5 prime drink.

I guess the Mars bar thing is more about selling the individual bars at the same price that you would pay in Tescos if you just bought one in there.
Oh I don't know, I'm just perplexed!

OP posts:
IkBenDeMol · 27/02/2023 09:04

The garage close to my house was selling it for £10. Marketing genius by the makers deliberately keeping supply down and creating this shortage situation for a product which young teens believe is the must-have. A friend was telling me her son cycled about 10 miles to get some.

Your DS is a total mug but he's not alone. He'll learn, and in five years you can remind him of the time he thought that a fiver for a second-rate soft drink was a good idea.

Original poster
imagemini · 27/02/2023 09:05

picklemewalnuts · 27/02/2023 09:00

I think you have every right to tell your son not to buy or sell it.

But your lad owes his mate a bottle of prime, not £2.50.

Seriously.

Yes this Id agree with.

OP posts:
Butitsnotfunnyisititsserious · 27/02/2023 09:07

If my sons friend did that, I'd be saying not to sell it to him then tbh. Why don't you get up and get to the shops early enough to get your son some for the usual price? It's getting easier to get Prime now with more shops stocking it for its normal price.

ittakes2 · 27/02/2023 09:07

I agree you are being unreasonable - if your son could get a prime for £2.50 he would have he agreed to pay for a service and is now reneging you are making him look dodgy to others. you should have let him take the money and educated him for next time.
the kid selling the prime is learning about demand and profit. he'll be the kid making money as an adult.

latetothefisting · 27/02/2023 09:09

I agree your ds owes his mate another 2.50. He agreed to pay the price it's irrelevant how well you know the seller or if you think its a reasonable price! The mate has already done him a favour by selling it to him cheap at a fiver when he could easily have made more.

Doesn't he have his own pocket money or money from grandparents? Surely letting him spend that and then not being able to afford to buy anything else this week/have to explain to grandma when asked "what did you spend your Christmas money on" "um a bottle of flavoured water" and then the resulting consequences of "hmm perhaps I won't give you as much next year then!" Would be a better "life lesson" for him than "its OK to not stick to your promises" or "you will totally be able to get things at cost price for the rest of your life and will never have to pay any added transactional tax"....

TheOrigRights · 27/02/2023 09:25

I think it's OK to give your son your opinion, so he can make more informed decisions, but other than that, this is how kids learn the value of money.

AllOfThemWitches · 27/02/2023 09:30

This reminds me of the time my friend in secondary school bought a Pokemon card (Mr Mime, fyi) for £6. That seemed like a lot of money in the late 90s.

moose62 · 27/02/2023 09:33

I understand why you did what you did, but I think you are wrong. It is supply and demand and as your DS agreed to it, he should have been made to pay it or pay you back for it. He needs to learn his own mistakes!

RudsyFarmer · 27/02/2023 09:37

I’ve already explained to my primary aged kids about this drink and why is being so heavily marketed. The parents feeding into this are also heavily implicated in this capitalistic nonsense. Make your kids understand they are putting hundreds of millions of dollars into the pockets of influencers.

At least if you were feeding a cooperation you might be able to convince yourselves you were helping to employ people. But no, these are just two men who are now hundreds of million pounds richer off the back of a beautifully run marketing campaign. Over my rotting corpse would my kids spend their money on this shit.

Ducksurprise · 27/02/2023 09:38

I also think you are wrong. He is a teenager so able to make his own decisions and failings without mummy laying down the law. This should have been a learning opportunity, and £3 for that is worth it.

Plus limited amount sales per person, the kid would have queued, paid up front, and delivered it to your kid. I think it is enterprising and worth £3

TokyoSushi · 27/02/2023 09:38

DS sold a half drunk bottle to his friend the other day for £4, I was slightly horrified!

NotAnotherBathBomb · 27/02/2023 09:41

AllOfThemWitches · 27/02/2023 08:46

Wow I'm out of touch, I thought you meant Amazon

Same 😂

Idkrealorfake · 27/02/2023 09:46

Gwen82 · 27/02/2023 08:37

No problem with this at all.

what my son (13) does with his money is his business. Whether he falls for the marketing blurb or whether he decides to leverage it.

It’s capitalism Op. every day you will be paying way over the odds for items and services that are profit making

You're fine with your kid being manipulated by grown men for their profit (and the other kids') because "capitalism"?

Bit shit but ok.

And yes I know how capitalism works, I just don't like kids being trained in it. It's exploitation.

LetThemEatTurnips · 27/02/2023 09:46

If a kid was buying multipacks of Mars bars then selling them at full price I guess I'd see it as enterprising. But 5 quid for something that cost 2 quid is just not on.

This is contradictory. There's no difference.

I understand you're annoyed your kid has agreed to pay £5, but that is not the other kid's problem.

I'd have paid but deducted from next allowance so it was my child's own money being used.

I think you have to give the other £2.50 and I think you've made your kid's life unnecessarily difficult here.

Pubesofsoberness · 27/02/2023 09:53

You should have let him pay the £5. He agreed to pay it, regardless of it being a good idea or not.

Can't imagine getting involved myself . Even if I did think my ds was daft for agreeing to it.

Had the same a year or so ago with bloody pokemon cards

hoochycrone · 27/02/2023 09:54

Yes, I too thought Amazon Blush
Here's an idiots guide

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-64145389

LadyKenya · 27/02/2023 09:55

Idkrealorfake · 27/02/2023 09:46

You're fine with your kid being manipulated by grown men for their profit (and the other kids') because "capitalism"?

Bit shit but ok.

And yes I know how capitalism works, I just don't like kids being trained in it. It's exploitation.

Show quote history

That people are buying into everyday. The same could be said for most things people are buying into. That overpriced face cream, that will not make a jot of difference to one's wrinkles, anyone?

Original poster
imagemini · 27/02/2023 09:57

We'll just to let you all know I feel really awful now and am going fi spend the day worrying about it!
The posts on here make sense. Unfortunately DS woke me up this morning to ask me for the money so in my half awake state I was just bloody furious. Reflecting back and reading this thread has made me think quite a bit more about it.
I still think it's bloody ridiculous, but I guess a deal is a deal.
I'll talk to DS when he gets home.

OP posts:
Original poster
imagemini · 27/02/2023 09:58

It's also hard to know when to get involved and when not to. I'm a novice at parenting a 13yo!

OP posts:
AllOfThemWitches · 27/02/2023 10:04

imagemini · 27/02/2023 09:58

It's also hard to know when to get involved and when not to. I'm a novice at parenting a 13yo!

As far as parenting 'fails' go, this is absolutely nothing OP. Next time he can use his pocket money. I wouldn't want to spend £5 on it either, am I missing something or is it just that I'm not a teenager

Gwen82 · 27/02/2023 10:08

AllOfThemWitches · 27/02/2023 10:04

As far as parenting 'fails' go, this is absolutely nothing OP. Next time he can use his pocket money. I wouldn't want to spend £5 on it either, am I missing something or is it just that I'm not a teenager

Show quote history

Bugger all to do with age

It is about what the heck a 13 year old boy can do with his money

and what the OP chooses to do with her money

and what the friend decides to do with his money

no one is conning anyone.

I don’t like my DD spending her money on an utterly nonsense of an app (a silly American horse riding game app) BUT it’s money she received for her birthday so her choice.

but if she asked me to pay for it? Not a chance!

Gwen82 · 27/02/2023 10:10

The idea of calling my son an idiot and being cross with him over capitalism and something I do every day… pay for someone or pay someone who will be making a profit from me… is alien to me!

Ellie1015 · 27/02/2023 10:11

Is it Ds's own money? If so I would advise against it but let him choose, maybe it is worth a fiver to him.

No way would i give him extra money to spend on Prime. He should not be agreeing to spend your money without asking first. I would have said tell friend you can't buy it.

Gwen82 · 27/02/2023 10:12

DS woke me up this morning to ask me for the money so in my half awake state I was just bloody furious.

i would though be a bit cross at my son being inconsiderate and thoughtless to wake me up to ask for money for this 😂