Cost of RSPB Bird Food

Hi David,  I completely agree with you about the cost of bird food we purchase from rspb;   most of us want to support this charity either with membership and/or purchasing food and other items from their shop but they are far from competitive and a lot of people are feeling the squeeze with economic pressure.    it is also the same with the rspb cafe prices at some visitors centres and although we all appreciate the source cost has increased for food (both for humans and wildlife) along with rising utility bills for these charities, I do think the charges are excessive.   When I visited Leighton Moss rspb reserve where we use the cafe, a mug of coffee cost £4.25 each and a bowl of soup and bread roll was almost £7. A slice of cake is £4.   A simple toasted teacake was something like £3.50 !!   The bird food is costing me over £10+ more a 12.55kg sack.    I did buy Christmas card packs, greetings cards and calendars from the rspb shop as I still want to support them but I now also use Gardenwildlifedirect as their products are superior quality and priced sensibly.     I have spoken to a number of people on the reserves who all say the same thing and that if the prices were more competitive they would prefer to purchase from rspb to help the charity.     So rspb, if you are reading this, you may actually make more profit if you lower your prices of your bird food and cafe food,  as a lot of people, especially pensioners (who seem to be the majority of your patrons), would be happy to support you with affordable purchases.