Supermarkets discussion

[Mojo]

Thanks for the heads up. Mine are bizarrely easy, 5 lots of earning 50 points and getting 300 bonus.

In fact it’s so easy I’m already half way through the third challenge having only done one shop with four items and which came to just over £5!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Needing medically to get out of the house much more than in the past, rather than making "the big shop" once a week at Sainsburys, Cheadle Royal, by walking the short distance there then returning by taxi with heavy bags of shopping and paying £5-£6 taxi fare, I now make four visits weekly to Iceland (10% pensioner discount on Tuesday) and the local Co-op, using my ENCTS pass.

 

[PeterY]

I'm not supermarket loyal. It's taken me nearly a year to collect 500 Nectar points but I do look out for Nectar prices.

 

[styles]

I'm not supermarket loyal. It's taken me nearly a year to collect 500 Nectar points but I do look out for Nectar prices.

Ditto.

I've been trying to shop more 'local'. It was easier where I lived last as we had a fish van come to the village, eggs/milk/honey from a local farmer, and in the next village there was a butchers, bakers, sadly no candlestick makers. Where I am now we don't have any of that.

In the meantime, Tesco is the closest 'big supermarket', so we shop there. Surprised Tesco haven't queried the joke name, phone number, and address on my Clubcard account yet. Had it open for years now!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'm not supermarket loyal. It's taken me nearly a year to collect 500 Nectar points but I do look out for Nectar prices.

Worth £2.50 off groceries at Sainsbury's, or something like that?

 

[styles]

Worth £2.50 off groceries at Sainsbury's, or something like that?

5p per litre off fuel at Esso for a fixed 300 points.

Any hot (or cold?) drink at Caffe Nero for 400 points.

Like Clubcard, the best value is usually to spend them not on groceries. Clubcard used to be 3x the value more often, but seems it's all 2x the value now.

 

[davehsug]

Morrisons started a Christmas points collector last week. Just 15,000 for 3 weeks collecting. It's very early and much less than usual. Whether there will be another one in November/December is anyone's guess.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Morrisons started a Christmas points collector last week. Just 15,000 for 3 weeks collecting. It's very early and much less than usual. Whether there will be another one in November/December is anyone's guess.

The monthly points boosters at pretty lucrative at Morrisons. Pick 10 categories from a choice of about 15-20 and hit the target spend of typically £8 - £13 and bingo.

Looking at the two I’ve screenshotted here as an example:

£12 spend = 2,200 points = £2.20

£11 spend = 2,000 points = £2.00

Both represent about 18% of the spend.

Most months I get about £12 back just by buying stuff I’d be buying anyway so over £150 a year, and because the points last 12 months it means I can save them up and get the Xmas booze for free every year.

 

[Hadders]

I’ve got a home delivery coming from Sainsbury’s later today. I’ve just been emailed the receipt.

The order cost £69
I’ve got 69 Nectar points for the base spend .
And 1,630 Nectar points for purchasing personalised Nectar offers.
I also got 110 Avios for clicking through to Sainsbury’s from Avios shopping portal and 104 Avios for paying with my credit card.

The Nectar points are worth at least £8.64 if spend at Sainsbury’s. Alternatively you can convert to Avios - 400 Nectar points gets 250 Avios. They frequently have a boost offer on conversions so you can get an extra 20% if you wait till a conversion offer is on.

So in total, today’s £69 spend at Sainsbury’s will get me 1,275 Avios.

 

[styles]

I’ve got a home delivery coming from Sainsbury’s later today. I’ve just been emailed the receipt.

The order cost £69
I’ve got 69 Nectar points for the base spend .
And 1,630 Nectar points for purchasing personalised Nectar offers.
I also got 110 Avios for clicking through to Sainsbury’s from Avios shopping portal and 104 Avios for paying with my credit card.

The Nectar points are worth at least £8.64 if spend at Sainsbury’s. Alternatively you can convert to Avios - 400 Nectar points gets 250 Avios. They frequently have a boost offer on conversions so you can get an extra 20% if you wait till a conversion offer is on.

So in total, today’s £69 spend at Sainsbury’s will get me 1,275 Avios.

It's almost always the case that converting to Avios, if available, is the best option. 8 use it for almost every credit or loyalty scheme going.

 

[davehsug]

The monthly points boosters at pretty lucrative at Morrisons. Pick 10 categories from a choice of about 15-20 and hit the target spend of typically £8 - £13 and bingo.

Looking at the two I’ve screenshotted here as an example:

£12 spend = 2,200 points = £2.20

£11 spend = 2,000 points = £2.00

Both represent about 18% of the spend.

Most months I get about £12 back just by buying stuff I’d be buying anyway so over £150 a year, and because the points last 12 months it means I can save them up and get the Xmas booze for free every year.

Yes, we use that every month, but it;s not nearly as good as it was last year. There's much less of what we buy, and the targets are generally higher. Last year we managed £220 in total overall, this year, we'll barely break £100.

 

[317 forever]

The points targets are personalised and are designed to lock in loyalty and stretch your spending in the run up to the most important trading period of the year.

I've got a high points target but I do collect lots of them - I don't spend that much in the grand scheme of things but what I frequently do is make use of the bonus Nectar point offers. That's the easiest way to build your Nectar point balance.

I think last year I bought some dry food in advance, in order to get those points while I could.

This had the advantage of easier shopping trips just afterwards.

 

[Sonic1234]

Any hot (or cold?) drink at Caffe Nero for 400 points.

No longer available

 

[SuspectUsual]

Yes, we use that every month, but it;s not nearly as good as it was last year. There's much less of what we buy, and the targets are generally higher. Last year we managed £220 in total overall, this year, we'll barely break £100.

We've found that it fluctuates - I have one offer this month that is effectively a 28% discount rather than the normal 18%ish, and there are months with "big ticket" items like cases of beer which help. Other months there's a bias to fresh products which as a household of two limits the amount we can buy

 

[davehsug]

We've found that it fluctuates - I have one offer this month that is effectively a 28% discount rather than the normal 18%ish, and there are months with "big ticket" items like cases of beer which help. Other months there's a bias to fresh products which as a household of two limits the amount we can buy

Yes, that's what we find. Pretty difficult to purchase £10 woth of bananas in 4 weeks between 2!

 

[Mojo]

I was subject to a full rescan in Sainsbury’s this afternoon.

One thing that interested me is that everything that the checkout attendant was not able to scan (the loose fruit / veg), I never ended up paying for and the receipt at the bottom shows that they were all deducted

 

[styles]

I was subject to a full rescan in Sainsbury’s this afternoon.

One thing that interested me is that everything that the checkout attendant was not able to scan (the loose fruit / veg), I never ended up paying for and the receipt at the bottom shows that they were all deducted

Not related to self-scan per se, but Asda for a good couple of years it seems had a small handful of products which just didn't scan. One of them was a packet of tomatoes we used to buy, and every time for I'd say maybe 2 years, a staff member would have to manually enter the code, whether it was at the main 'manned' checkouts, or the self-service machines.

None of the staff knew why this was the case, but they knew the product codes off by heart because they were doing it so often.

 

[Kite159]

I noticed when I was in Asda near to Regents Centre in Newcastle the meal deal promotion seems to have changed to the more common Main, Drink & Snack for a set £3,74 rather than the 'buy 3 items and get the cheapest free'.

 

[Russel]

I noticed when I was in Asda near to Regents Centre in Newcastle the meal deal promotion seems to have changed to the more common Main, Drink & Snack for a set £3,74 rather than the 'buy 3 items and get the cheapest free'.

Finally caught up with what the competition has been doing for many years...

 

[Kite159]

Finally caught up with what the competition has been doing for many years...

Indeed, makes it an option for a meal deal. Assuming the sandwich/wrap quality is reasonable.

Although it shows how often I visit Asda these days, only popped in to use the toilet

In a way it's a bit of a shame regarding the way Asda is going, considering they own some waste land on the outskirts of Salisbury and finally got planning permission to build a store earlier in the year. I can't imagine the costs of building a new store is high on their agenda so I can picture that waste land remaining undeveloped as more and more houses are built in that area

 

[Bald Rick]

I was subject to a full rescan in Sainsbury’s this afternoon.

Me too last week - and I’m reasonably sure it was because the ‘checker’ scanned one item twice, when I only had one of them. Interestignly, rather than taking me to a till to do it all manually, she let me do it all myself at the self service, which rather defeats the object.

Not related to self-scan per se, but Asda for a good couple of years it seems had a small handful of products which just didn't scan.

I have had this for self-weighed broccoli at Sainsburys for years. Scans about 20% of the time. (I use the mobile app rather than the shop mobile scanner)

Now for some reason (in the last three months) the app has stopped scanning any barcodes on wine where it is around the bottle rather than along it. This wasn’t a problem before but is now. And it means I always end up having to scan these at the till after I have ‘sent’ the shopping, and when I’m checked I can’t help but think it looks suspicious that I have to declare several one or two bottles of wine that the system didn’t scan through.

 

[styles]

Now for some reason (in the last three months) the app has stopped scanning any barcodes on wine where it is around the bottle rather than along it. This wasn’t a problem before but is now. And it means I always end up having to scan these at the till after I have ‘sent’ the shopping, and when I’m checked I can’t help but think it looks suspicious that I have to declare several one or two bottles of wine that the system didn’t scan through.

I wonder if the wine logic is that the bottles presumably weigh very similar amounts, so it would be easy to put a £20 bottle through as a £5 bottle? Just a guess though.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I wonder if the wine logic is that the bottles presumably weigh very similar amounts, so it would be easy to put a £20 bottle through as a £5 bottle? Just a guess though.

If the issue is the orientation of the barcode and the scanner not being able to read a barcode that curves away from the scanner head, which I think is what is being said, then its not going to be that

 

[styles]

If the issue is the orientation of the barcode and the scanner not being able to read a barcode that curves away from the scanner head, which I think is what is being said, then its not going to be that

Oh yes I read that too quickly and missed that detail. That is odd!

 

[Hadders]

One thing that interested me is that everything that the checkout attendant was not able to scan (the loose fruit / veg), I never ended up paying for and the receipt at the bottom shows that they were all deducted

That's operator error. They should weighing the loose fruit & veg.

Me too last week - and I’m reasonably sure it was because the ‘checker’ scanned one item twice, when I only had one of them.

That's happened to me before! Got selected for a partial rescan and when the member of staff scanned the first item they accidentally pressed the button twice. That meant the partial rescan failed and so moved to a full one.

Interestignly, rather than taking me to a till to do it all manually, she let me do it all myself at the self service, which rather defeats the object.

That certainly isn't the process!

I have had this for self-weighed broccoli at Sainsburys for years. Scans about 20% of the time. (I use the mobile app rather than the shop mobile scanner)

Investigation into high stock loss items has sometimes uncovered issues with barcode print quaity.

I wonder if the wine logic is that the bottles presumably weigh very similar amounts, so it would be easy to put a £20 bottle through as a £5 bottle? Just a guess though.

If you're using smartshop (whether through handsets or the app) then the weight doesn't come into it becuase the items aren't placed on the weigh scales. Weight is only considered if you use a self-service checkout.

 

[Mojo]

That's operator error. They should weighing the loose fruit & veg.

To be fair, l couldn't see an easy method for him to do that, as the Smartshop tills don't have scales, and some of these were items that you scan the shelf edge tags as they're a fixed price (lemons, limes and peppers in my case FWIW) as opposed to items that you get a sticker for.

l was more amused that rather than assuming the checkout operator had made a mistake, it assumed that l had scanned something l didn't put in my trolley, and thus l ended up with the items free.

 

[Russel]

Decided to call it a day with using my local Morrisons superstore this evening, standards have been slipping for a few years, the shop floor is a cluttered mess, loads of empty shelves, no staff to be seen and every other product I picked up had a sticky residue on it...

Aldi have just opened a nice new store within a mile, so it'll be interesting to see how many more people give up with Morrisons.

 

[Hadders]

To be fair, l couldn't see an easy method for him to do that, as the Smartshop tills don't have scales, and some of these were items that you scan the shelf edge tags as they're a fixed price (lemons, limes and peppers in my case FWIW) as opposed to items that you get a sticker for.

l was more amused that rather than assuming the checkout operator had made a mistake, it assumed that l had scanned something l didn't put in my trolley, and thus l ended up with the items free.

The process is that the full rescan should take place at a staffed checkout so that scales are available and so there is more room to unpack and repack bags.

Decided to call it a day with using my local Morrisons superstore this evening, standards have been slipping for a few years, the shop floor is a cluttered mess, loads of empty shelves, no staff to be seen and every other product I picked up had a sticky residue on it...

Aldi have just opened a nice new store within a mile, so it'll be interesting to see how many more people give up with Morrisons.

I popped into a Morrisons store yesterday to buy a sandwich as I was working nearby. Standards weren't great.

They are under lots of pressure at the moment - they're losing market share and their costs are going up, mainly driven by increased labour costs (another inflation busting minimum wage increase won't help them). Their point of difference are their counters but these are very labour intensive.

 

[cactustwirly]

Decided to call it a day with using my local Morrisons superstore this evening, standards have been slipping for a few years, the shop floor is a cluttered mess, loads of empty shelves, no staff to be seen and every other product I picked up had a sticky residue on it...

Aldi have just opened a nice new store within a mile, so it'll be interesting to see how many more people give up with Morrisons.

I bet you'll find Aldi to be better quality and significantly cheaper for a shop.
Plus it'll take half the time

 

[DannyMich2018]

I bet you'll find Aldi to be better quality and significantly cheaper for a shop.
Plus it'll take half the time

Aldi may be cheapest out of all stores, however in my opinion quality is worst of all them, some of their frozen food especially ready meals are vile. Also had some awful tasting nan bread too from Aldi. Iceland best for frozen food.