Sainsbury Self Service Checkouts

[Kite159]

Sainsbury's often gives me double or triple Nectar points vouchers when I shop, but in addition to them expiring in about a week, the latest triple points one I got had a minimum spend of £90. Seriously? I've done a £50+ shop and you want me to spend another £90 in seven days? Insane!

I know it's common to get vouchers to try and get you to spend a bit more (so average spend is £50 they give you a voucher for x points when you spend £60 (or £6 off when you spend £60).

Although some of the vouchers they print out are rubbish and just fill the bins or introduced to the fire on my weekly burn.

My local Sainsburys keeps blu-rays behind the customer service desk, to reduce thieves, still a pain when they go over to get a proper copy of the title (although always an added bonus if they take out the more expensive version by mistake)

 

[jon0844]

I don't so much mind the voucher requiring a £90 spend, or whatever it might be, but these vouchers expire so soon. Ones for a few extra points on cat food might be valid for ages.

I understand the business logic, but it backfires when I get a voucher that I am unlikely to use and it makes me angry at the same time! It would be better to not give the voucher at all!

 

[DownSouth]

Sainsbury's often gives me double or triple Nectar points vouchers when I shop, but in addition to them expiring in about a week, the latest triple points one I got had a minimum spend of £90. Seriously? I've done a £50+ shop and you want me to spend another £90 in seven days? Insane!

Store loyalty schemes are run for the benefit of the store, not for you! The only time the conditions will grant you a reward is if it's in their interests to do so, i.e. if you've spent enough that it's still profitable to give you a few extra points.

It is possible to get the upper hand at times, for example by purchasing large enough quantities of non-perishable items (e.g. cleaning materials like dishwashing powder) in one go that you'll reach the threshold to get the reward.

However, point-based loyalty schemes don't work well for the majority of people who will be far better off by simply shopping around to get the best prices available at the time, because there will usually be far greater savings to be made than the value of the reward points gained by paying the higher prices.

 

[jon0844]

I obviously know that. But if you do something that angers (okay, annoys) a customer, it's not good business sense. How likely is it someone will shop again so soon? Why the ridiculously short expiry date?

Perhaps it works by getting someone to finally take the plunge and buy that new TV or games console, or maybe they bank on there being a low chance of it being used but I will remember being given such a voucher and think good things of Sainsbury's even though I actually didn't benefit at all.

Perhaps Sainsbury's needs to update my account to have 'old cynic' flagged so I stop getting them, when others will think they're being really well treated!

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I obviously know that. But if you do something that angers (okay, annoys) a customer, it's not good business sense. How likely is it someone will shop again so soon? Why the ridiculously short expiry date?

Perhaps it works by getting someone to finally take the plunge and buy that new TV or games console, or maybe they bank on there being a low chance of it being used but I will remember being given such a voucher and think good things of Sainsbury's even though I actually didn't benefit at all.

Perhaps Sainsbury's needs to update my account to have 'old cynic' flagged so I stop getting them, when others will think they're being really well treated!

I am forever being offered vouchers for £x off my first on-line shop - from Tesco and Sainsbury.

Similarly £3 off my next shop over £30. Firstly, I would find it difficult to actually spend £30 in a single shop (unless I buy several bottles of wine), secondly, if I did manage it, I would not be able to carry it all home. I'm not sure how the system works but, having failed to use my £3 off £30 vouchers, I now get £2 off £20 instead, which I can use. I do have a houseful of socks as a result though

I rarely buy household goods from the main supermarkets - high street discounters are significantly cheaper - my usual shampoo, on 2 for 1 offer at Tesco, just about matched my usual high street discounter.

Tuna - 4 tins: Tesco £6, sometimes on offer for £4. Always £3.69 in B & M!

Q) Why do Tesco maintain this higher price?
A) Because people believe the line 'always cheaper' and assume it is a good price being offered by Tesco because they are such jolly decent chaps!

PS no malice to Tesco, they are all much the same, it's just that I use Tesco more than the others - but only when I have price checked first!

 

[DownSouth]

Tuna - 4 tins: Tesco £6, sometimes on offer for £4. Always £3.69 in B & M!

Q) Why do Tesco maintain this higher price?
A) Because people believe the line 'always cheaper' and assume it is a good price being offered by Tesco because they are such jolly decent chaps!

PS no malice to Tesco, they are all much the same, it's just that I use Tesco more than the others - but only when I have price checked first!

A2) Because they need those higher prices to both pay for themselves and bring in the profit that is lost from using other items as loss leaders. Have a public price war on a select few items and quietly ratchet up prices on everything else, ideally when product lines get updated.

In Australia, this is most notoriously done with generic branded milk and bread, the milk is the same as the big brands but the bread is fit only for feeding the magpies so they don't get aggressive during spring.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

A2) Because they need those higher prices to both pay for themselves and bring in the profit that is lost from using other items as loss leaders. Have a public price war on a select few items and quietly ratchet up prices on everything else, ideally when product lines get updated.

In Australia, this is most notoriously done with generic branded milk and bread, the milk is the same as the big brands but the bread is fit only for feeding the magpies so they don't get aggressive during spring.

A2) yes indeed. Which is why the big four supermarket groups in the UK are getting worried as people start shopping around rather than doing one big shop. If people only buy the loss leaders and go to other stores for the other stuff, a hole appears in the store profits.

My favourite custard tarts (pack of 2) have increased by 30% since I shopped last week. I can't imagine the cost of the ingredients has increased by such an amount so Mr Tesco is having a laugh at my expense. Or not, as I shall not be buying until he brings the price down again.

 

[Welshman]

Whenever I go to Sainsburys' and get one of those "money off" vouchers for my next shop, I usually mischievously ask if I can have the cash now rather than banking with John Sainsbury for the next week or so!

But I'm sure this is unconnected with the high incidence of "this till is now closing" signs which seem to be placed on the conveyor belt immediately ahead of me.

 

[Kite159]

Whenever a supermarket announces a round of price cuts, they won't announce the round of price increases to cover the cuts.

Or increase the price of a product in the few weeks they have to sell it at, before they can reduce the price again, sometimes slightly below the original price, often at the original price.

The likes of Lidl are laughing at the downturn of the big 4 supermarkets

 

[IanD]

Or increase the price of a product in the few weeks they have to sell it at, before they can reduce the price again, sometimes slightly below the original price, often at the original price.

There is no set time any more only a "reasonable" time - which seems to be about 7 days in Tesco for grocery items.

My favourite sandwich is usually £2 in Asda (has been for about 6 months). Last week it was part of a meal deal at £2.50 with a bottle of water and some hula hoops. This week it's on its own again but at a "special offer" price of £2. Asda must really think their customers are just stupid or something.

 

[jon0844]

Asda must really think their customers are just stupid or something.

When I go to my local Asda, I think that's a fair assumption.

 

[AM9]

When I go to my local Asda, I think that's a fair assumption.

I find that Waitrose is nowhere as expensive as many assume. Many comparisons of branded goods show that the prices are the same. Own brand goods should be compared 'like for like', i.e. their cheapest 'Essential' range is way above the quality of the Sainsbury 'basics' or Tesco 'value' offerings. What's more, I get a nice cup of coffee and when I spend over £5 (£10 weekends) I get a choice of a free newspaper.
The staff seem to treat you like valued customers as well.

 

[jon0844]

I really like Waitrose. My wife shops there at lunch quite often, and the self scan is particularly good (even though Sainsbury's and Tesco now have it too) and was the first place I got to use it - and it was enough to make me want to shop there ALL the time.

I agree that many prices are the same, but sadly many things aren't the same - and are quite considerably more expensive (minced meat is particularly expensive, unless there's a 2 for 1 or 3 for £nn deal). That's why we now tend to shop around. Waitrose is near where my wife works, and Aldi next door to our sons nursery. In between that is Sainsbury's.

The free coffee is more hassle than it's worth as there's always a queue and the machine keeps breaking, so I think in the last year I've had no more than 5 coffees. Every other time I've just thought 'sod it' and gone without.

 

[Busaholic]

I really like Waitrose. My wife shops there at lunch quite often, and the self scan is particularly good (even though Sainsbury's and Tesco now have it too) and was the first place I got to use it - and it was enough to make me want to shop there ALL the time.

I agree that many prices are the same, but sadly many things aren't the same - and are quite considerably more expensive (minced meat is particularly expensive, unless there's a 2 for 1 or 3 for £nn deal). That's why we now tend to shop around. Waitrose is near where my wife works, and Aldi next door to our sons nursery. In between that is Sainsbury's.

The free coffee is more hassle than it's worth as there's always a queue and the machine keeps breaking, so I think in the last year I've had no more than 5 coffees. Every other time I've just thought 'sod it' and gone without.

The thought of the free coffee is not enough to induce me to make the 140 mile round trip to my nearest Waitrose!

 

[jon0844]

Could still be cheaper than Costa!

 

[Busaholic]

Could still be cheaper than Costa!

What isn't, especially at Motorway Services?

 

[fowler9]

Has anyone noticed supermarket prices go down proportionately as all of the superfluous staff were let go to be replaced by self service?

 

[jon0844]

Supermarkets all claim that self checkouts haven't cost any jobs, even if I suspect that while it may be true that nobody has been made redundant, they will reduce posts and not replace some people when they leave.

Savings to us? Hahaha!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Supermarkets all claim that self checkouts haven't cost any jobs, even if I suspect that while it may be true that nobody has been made redundant, they will reduce posts and not replace some people when they leave.

Savings to us? Hahaha!

With the current "supermarket wars" in full swing, matters will most certainly occur. I just hope that matters like "Tesco Creative Accounting Syndrome" do not spread.

Talking of Tesco, I wonder just how much their undeveloped land bank is now worth?

 

[gingerheid]

If it can detect that a card has been inserted why can't it just start the payment process like Tescos and others do.

Reminds of of 1980s technology, when my Acorn Electron used to reject code for Missing ", and I used to think "well add it then smartypants!"

The very least it could give you is a message saying "Do you want to pay with this card?".

The other thing I find with them if that it freezes for up to 10 seconds every time you scan a second item in a BOGOF.

 

[fowler9]

Supermarkets all claim that self checkouts haven't cost any jobs, even if I suspect that while it may be true that nobody has been made redundant, they will reduce posts and not replace some people when they leave.

Savings to us? Hahaha!

True. I would imagine that agency or fixed term staff may have been let go though. I am guessing that way they could say it hasn't cost jobs, just that people at the ends of their contracts left. I could of course be wrong there.

 

[Johnuk123]

With the current "supermarket wars" in full swing, matters will most certainly occur. I just hope that matters like "Tesco Creative Accounting Syndrome" do not spread.

Talking of Tesco, I wonder just how much their undeveloped land bank is now worth?

Near me Tesco have just spent £22m diverting a river and building a new store to board it up a few weeks before opening.

You would think that once the £22m had been spent it would make sense to get it open before Christmas and get some money back.

Tesco seem to be in a right state.

 

[Busaholic]

Supermarkets all claim that self checkouts haven't cost any jobs, even if I suspect that while it may be true that nobody has been made redundant, they will reduce posts and not replace some people when they leave.

Savings to us? Hahaha!

When a job with zero hours contracted can count as a job, Sainsburys et al can just give enough people zero hours until they get the message and leave. Similarly, our wonderful 'we're all in it together' government can count these people as employed when they're no such thing and massage the figures upwards.

 

[Kite159]

Near me Tesco have just spent £22m diverting a river and building a new store to board it up a few weeks before opening.

You would think that once the £22m had been spent it would make sense to get it open before Christmas and get some money back.

Tesco seem to be in a right state.

Brings back some memories of I believe "All-days" (one of the convenience stores which got purchased by Tesco) spent some money in putting together a small convenience shop in Andover town centre, getting stocked up and everything. Would have been around 2004/05. It just never opened, the opening date came and went, a couple weeks later it got raided and most of the stock was pinched.

 

[Clip]

Has anyone noticed supermarket prices go down proportionately as all of the superfluous staff were let go to be replaced by self service?

No but have you seen a rise in unemployment from supermarkets through the introduction of self service tills?

 

[fowler9]

No but have you seen a rise in unemployment from supermarkets through the introduction of self service tills?

No I've seen a reduction in unemployment through various means of getting people off the stats which don't involve them having a job.

 

[jon0844]

No but have you seen a rise in unemployment from supermarkets through the introduction of self service tills?

Would it be easy to tell? Clearly if you have a (city of) London based store like M&S that has 40+ self checkouts and a handful of staffed ones, there are less jobs than there were before.

Where else would the people be that once manned tills that are now gone for the self checkouts (and far fewer people to oversee them).

If they have the same number of staff, they must surely be working fewer hours, or have been redeployed somewhere else (and potentially doing the job that someone else might have been hired to do).

Till trained staff used to get paid more, so if these people are kept on but moved to stacking shelves, they're presumably on a lower grade and taking home less money. Or they quit, which means no need to make anyone redundant.

 

[fowler9]

Just to clarify Clip people who have their benefits sanctioned don't show as being unemployed. Nor do people on Workfare.

 

[AM9]

When a job with zero hours contracted can count as a job, Sainsburys et al can just give enough people zero hours until they get the message and leave. Similarly, our wonderful 'we're all in it together' government can count these people as employed when they're no such thing and massage the figures upwards.

Well that fraud has just blown up in their face. The OBR has just released that the government has borrowed £5BN more in the first 6 months of this FY than they did last year as all these 'jobs' are so low paid that many of them don't create income tax payments. So these people are paying even less than some of the billionaires that are saving our economy.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Oh, like wow.

I went to a post office today, and they have installed self service machines - complete with weighing scales, measuring plates for package sizing, and rolls of 'signed for' 'special delivery' etc. sticky labels.

I used it, under guidance from an assistant, but only to buy some stamps. The stamps are not like normal 'book' stamps nor like the labels that would normally be printed at a staffed counter. Each stamp comes with a unique serial number (so they can trace my stamp back to my purchase!) - glad I paid cash.