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Supermarkets discussion
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Across the Severn Bridge?
Kite159
Veteran Member
Ignoring the places where you need to use a loyalty card to benefit from a lower price (which I think is most of the big names), Sainsburys is the first to increase the main price which most customers will be paying. Wouldn't surprise me if Morrisons & Tesco don't follow suit to add an extra 25p onto the cost of a meal deal, which for them still makes a loss depending on the options selected.
Well you get Rodda's Cornish milk as well as the own brand stuff in Axminster Tesco's and that's probably come a just as long distance. Of course we normally get Westcountry milk anyway.
Also something I find slightly interesting is that if you exclude BCP and East Dorset then you only have one more Tesco superstore than Morrison's (Dorchester, Portland, Shaftesbury and Blandford for Tesco's with Blandford, Bridport and Weymouth for Morrison's) and Lidl actually outnumbers Tesco's, with no place that has a Tesco now not having a Lidl but Weymouth, Gillingham and Bridport have a Lidl but no Tesco superstore.
Baxenden Bank
Established Member
- Joined
- 23 Oct 2013
- Messages
- 4,743
I thought Morrisons had already increased their non loyalty meal deal price to £4.00, but having looked at their website just now it is saying £3.50. Have they reduced it as I'm sure I remember standing by the shelf and saying 'how much, robbing ********'?
Kite159
Veteran Member
Pretty sure Morrisons was £4 for non loyalty cards, £3,50 for their poor excuse of a loyalty card (only reason why I've got it saved on my phone).
Sadly the area I live is a bit of a Morrisons free zone, the closest being Basingstoke or Devizes.
londonbridge
Established Member
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- 30 Jun 2010
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- 1,868
The hours still need to be made up to be paid though, a Sainsburys local worker who would usually work 5pm-11pm on Sunday will either be doing 1:30-7:30 or making the hours up elsewhere as agreed with store management
My local Morrisons has really gone down hill over the last few years, I used to use it regular but I've probably been in twice so far this year, so I don't think you're missing much really!
Is the Totton Morrisons further away than them?
That was the only one in the Southampton area.
Kite159
Veteran Member
Its a lot more awkward to reach from this area, but like the other two locations they are in places which I won't use as why drive 30-odd miles to go shopping with the price of fuel.
We're doing very well from our Morrisons card. Using the points collectors, and not buying any more than normal, but making the odd change, we've racked up £107 already, with another £27 to come shortly from the summer collector! At this rate, we won't be far off £200 by Christmas. This is not some huge family either, there are just 2 of us.
DynamicSpirit
Established Member
Does anyone know why very often at self service checkouts, multibuy savings don't show up on your total until you touch to pay. I've noticed this at a few supermarkets. Off the top of my head, I can't see any reason why the machines shouldn't be able to notice multibuy savings as soon as you have scanned in sufficient items, but it seems very common that they don't notice until you try to pay - which usually means I end up wasting time touching to pay before I actually want to pay, just to make sure the system has registered the savings, then clicking Back so I can finish scanning everything.
On another note, my local Sainsburys - which is an actual supermarket, not a Local, has all but abandoned staffed checkouts. It's converted almost the entire checkout area to dozens of self-service checkouts, with just a couple of staffed ones remaining.
On another note, my local Sainsburys - which is an actual supermarket, not a Local, has all but abandoned staffed checkouts. It's converted almost the entire checkout area to dozens of self-service checkouts, with just a couple of staffed ones remaining.
The whole multibuy thing is really annoying. I get the impression that the whole experience has been made hostage to the whims of the loyalty card teams. They are likely picturing you as like them, a person who isn't genuinely short of money and can't be bothered to actually check on prices.
They are picturing you doing all the shopping, seeing the total and then squealing with delight at how much you save when you scan the loyalty card. Not for a second does it occur to them that you know fine well that the loyalty card price is just what the old price was anyway, and that the discount is being priced into what you can afford to eat this week. They imagine that the loyalty discount is what it is for them - the price of the first cocktail of the night.
GusB
Established Member
This is quite concerning. I'm going back some years now but in my days as a checkout assistant, any link-save or multi-save offers always used to show up on the customer-facing display as soon as they were triggered - eg, if it was a three for two, once the third item in the promotion was scanned it would show up there and then.
I prefer not to use self-service checkouts if I can help it, but the Co-op shows multi-buy discounts and "member prices" before you get to the stage where you have to pay. It's a poor show if other supermarkets aren't indicating what your final bill before you pay. Your local Trading Standards team may be interested in this.
I'm afraid that you're probably banging your head against a brick wall here. My local Aldi has just installed two rows of self-service checkouts and I always refuse the invitations to use them, unless I have a handful of items. They're a useful alternative to the "10 items or
Lewisham2221
Established Member
The Aldi setup re: self service checkouts actually seems to be about right. At my local branches that have them, they discourage you from using them if you have more than a few items and, in the opposite manner to most mainstream supermarkets, close the self service checkouts towards the end of the evening - leaving only manned checkouts open until store closing time.
DannyMich2018
Member
- Joined
- 19 Dec 2018
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- 932
I've noticed that about our local big Sainsbury's in Hinckley. This is a large store and only has 5 staffed tills now, used to have about 15. Asda have had just 6 for several years Tesco still have more and here at Morrisons got 14 but are losing some this month. Aldi have 7 self service ones but like many close these after in the evening and use staffed ones. When I last went to Lidl there was no self service ones!
My local supermarket is about 200 yards away from my front door and is a medium-sized Sainsbury.
I usually do my shopping at 8am, when it opens.
At that time there's usually one staffed till, but that matches demand reasonably well. I much prefer to use it and there is a flow of generally older people who think likewise. Later in the day it has more staffed tills. In the early mornings much of the traffic is school children and they seem happy to use the automated tills, which is fine by me because I don't end up queueing behind them.
When the booked member of staff is on holiday, the current management seems incompetent, and I sometimes find no staffed tills. It's possible to make a fuss and get someone to step in. However - unlike the previous manager - I've never seen the shop manager step up to operating the till himself. My thinking is that they should, and should give up their back-office paperwork for the time until the issue can be resolved. I've had some conversations with the regular staff and they've said much the same to me. And it happens when staff are booked to be on holiday, not just because of illness.
But, apart from this, it's a good shop and the staff are friendly and helpful, and in any case it's my only sensible choice given its proximity. I chat to them because it's the nice thing to do and helps pass the time. I don't live on my own but I suspect a significant number of the older population do and for them it's perhaps important to have a human interaction, rather than fighting the terrible self-service machines (OK, they are an acquired habit that I haven't acquired).
I usually do my shopping at 8am, when it opens.
At that time there's usually one staffed till, but that matches demand reasonably well. I much prefer to use it and there is a flow of generally older people who think likewise. Later in the day it has more staffed tills. In the early mornings much of the traffic is school children and they seem happy to use the automated tills, which is fine by me because I don't end up queueing behind them.
When the booked member of staff is on holiday, the current management seems incompetent, and I sometimes find no staffed tills. It's possible to make a fuss and get someone to step in. However - unlike the previous manager - I've never seen the shop manager step up to operating the till himself. My thinking is that they should, and should give up their back-office paperwork for the time until the issue can be resolved. I've had some conversations with the regular staff and they've said much the same to me. And it happens when staff are booked to be on holiday, not just because of illness.
But, apart from this, it's a good shop and the staff are friendly and helpful, and in any case it's my only sensible choice given its proximity. I chat to them because it's the nice thing to do and helps pass the time. I don't live on my own but I suspect a significant number of the older population do and for them it's perhaps important to have a human interaction, rather than fighting the terrible self-service machines (OK, they are an acquired habit that I haven't acquired).
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They mostly don't do this anymore. It's been effectively impossible to follow what you are actually being charged for stuff as it goes through for a while. My local Tesco even seems to keep the customer-facing display turned round, so there's no way to even tell the total you're supposed to be paying if you can't understand the cashier because of language or hearing issues.
To be honest this is one of the reasons I mostly use self-service checkouts, where I may have to hit total more often, but I do have a full screen view of the whole shop to look at
When it is an any 3 for 2 offer, for example Sainsbury's frozen fruit at the moment which have a range of prices, it isn't until all items have been scanned that the free one(s) can be chosen as the customer may be buying more than 3.
It used to be that it would calculate the offer as soon as there were three, but then some thieving sod decided that if you'd picked up 6 they wanted to ensure that you got the smallest possible discount across all of them. There was never any justification for this.
That seems to vary from supermarket to supermarket. If you buy a meal deal and an additional sandwich at Tesco, it will include the dearer sandwich in the meal deal, but Co-op will include the cheaper sandwich in the deal. (This may be out of date, as it's pre-pandemic since I was in an office buying meal deals.)
jon81uk
Member
Using the scan as you go round handset at Tesco and it tells me when I've missed out on a multibuy offer if I only scan one item that is in a deal.
So does Waitrose.
317 forever
Established Member
For my Sainsbury's Nectar offer, a couple of weeks ago loads of fruit offers came up at once. I was never likely to want many of them the same week.
Sainsbury's seem to have stopped selling their own tins of Ravioli. I did then see own brands in Tesco and Asda.
Sainsbury's seem to have stopped selling their own tins of Ravioli. I did then see own brands in Tesco and Asda.
dangie
On Moderation
Wife was in Poundland yesterday. She wanted Paracetamol tablets. On the stand where they sold the Paracetamol & Ibuprofen they were 0.50p per packet or 3 for £1.00. So she picked up 3 packets of Paracetamol.
She went through the cash desk and the cashier said ‘sorry you can only have two packets of Paracetamol’. The wife said about the offer of 3 for £1.00.
’Yes’ said the cashier, but you need to have 2 Paracetamol & 1 Ibuprofen or 2 Ibuprofen & 1 Paracetamol, you can’t have 3 of the same.
I know about the guidelines for shops selling painkillers, but to have an offer like this, which basically encourages shoppers to purchase more drugs than they need is a bit irresponsible.
She went through the cash desk and the cashier said ‘sorry you can only have two packets of Paracetamol’. The wife said about the offer of 3 for £1.00.
’Yes’ said the cashier, but you need to have 2 Paracetamol & 1 Ibuprofen or 2 Ibuprofen & 1 Paracetamol, you can’t have 3 of the same.
I know about the guidelines for shops selling painkillers, but to have an offer like this, which basically encourages shoppers to purchase more drugs than they need is a bit irresponsible.
I've never had an issue buying 3 packs of Ibuprofen on the offer through the self checkouts, which is quite handy because I only remember to buy them once every couple of months.
It's possible you just got a cashier who has been trained properly somewhere else, or that they've finally been pulled up on it.
I think it’s only illegal to sell >100 ibuprofen or similar in a single retail transaction, but “best practices guidelines” suggest fewer than this should be the limit, which different retailers implement differently. Sainsbury appears to be consistent at a 2 packet maximum of any combination of ibuprofen, paracetomol, etc.
See https://assets.publishing.service.g...ds/attachment_data/file/956857/Appendix_4.pdf
Sainsbury's says (https://help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/products/phc-sale-analgesic):
See https://assets.publishing.service.g...ds/attachment_data/file/956857/Appendix_4.pdf
Sainsbury's says (https://help.sainsburys.co.uk/help/products/phc-sale-analgesic):
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SuspectUsual
Established Member
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- 11 Jul 2018
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- 6,671
It’s a clumsy piece of law. The legal limit is 16 tablets in a pack unless sold under the guidance of a pharmacist, and 100 tablets per purchase. However best practice as per the MHRA is two packets maximum per purchase and to avoid multi-buys as it may encourage stockpiling
And, of course, I stockpile ibuprofen by buying two packets per visit; my need is occasional tooth problems for which I would find only having two packets too few, but I'm currently coming to the end of a tooth problem (dental hospital last week!) so I will stop buying them again for now, but have a stockpile in reserve. If they didn't limit sales to 2 packs I wouldn't feel the need to maintain my own stockpile. Go figure!