Supermarkets discussion

[BuhSnarf]

Shouldn't Inspector Sands be called for something like that?

Haha, sadly not. We did have a customer name for dodgy looking shopper but it's been that long that I've forgotten the name. It was interesting how many of the call outs used to be code for the staff rather than the customers, though. For example we used call out for a cleaner in the warehouse to be that we'd go for a chat out back

 

[jon0844]

Whenever I hear certain announcements I'm always assuming it's a coded message. This goes way back to working my first exhibition stand/booth at Earls Court and us having a list of messages for things like doing a sweep for a possible bomb and more. I recall one was for a certain person to return to a stand, and other messages along the same lines.

 

[Silver Cobra]

Been a long time since the 'Persil' free train tickets / rail voucher offer of the mid 1980s, which whilst not a supermarket promotion as such, was likely something you did buy from a supermarket.

Last year's promotion between Dairylea/Mondelez and Trainline was a pretty good one. Purchasing a £1 Dairylea 'Luncher' could net a voucher from Trainline for £50 off train tickets (I took advantage of this, but it took several days of trying; codes ran out every day very quickly, so I had to go on the required website at midnight to claim a voucher in the end).

I believe the cleaners at ASDA used to be called "ASDA Aces" or something similar.

ASDA also used to play Ant & Dec's "Let's get ready to rumble" over the PA at various times in the day and that was the hint that we all had to do a 'rumble' which was going down each aisle we were responsible for and removing any cardboard trays that customers had left, face up all the product and generally make sure everything looked good.

Judging by my visits to ASDA over the past ten years I don't think has happened for a long time...

Ever since the Aces were brought directly into employment with ASDA rather than being part of City Management they've just simply been referred to as 'cleaners' rather than Aces.

Have to say, in the 12 years I've been working for ASDA, I've never heard my store use 'Lets Get Ready to Rumble' to signal when the tidy-up needs doing. Though frankly, these days we don't have enough staff to often do a dedicated 'rumble'/tidy-up, so have to rely purely on 'tidy as you work' mostly. It's quite the struggle trying to keep tidy the fresh section as the sole colleague on the department for a lot of the day. Another frustration for me is how my store opens up almost every day in an absolute mess over on fresh, as the evening colleagues didn't have time to tidy up before finishing their shifts and/or home shopping has decimated the shelves before the store opens (we open at 7am, but home shopping pickers start from 3am).

 

[MalaiseForever]

I made the mistake of going into Asda at about 1930 today and it was like a plague of locusts had descended. Not a single fresh fruit to be found.

 

[GusB]

Shouldn't Inspector Sands be called for something like that?

I recall some of my former colleagues referring to a Mr Black and a Mrs White (it may have been the other way around). That was in a store that was formerly part of Norco, a now-defunct co-operative in the north of Scotland.

Safeway had "Customer Service 50" and "Customer Service 100" tannoy calls; the former alerted the presence of a suspected shoplifter while the latter indicated that the suspect had left the building and that the security staff, along with the entire grocery team, should leg it and try to detain them.

 

[david1212]

In my experience, for what is in my typical family shopping basket, Aldi are the same price as Sainsburys, on average. And Sainsbury’s has a much better range, and is a MUCH nicer experience all round.

Of course this depends on your typical basket but not my recent experience.
Recently I have only bough the odd item in Sainsburys but a couple of weeks ago it was convenient for my weekly base shop to use a fairly new store around 10 miles away, not massive with a large area of non-food but 'full-size' not a Local. I expected to pay more and buy slightly different but as I became more disappointed with the range ( not because items out of stock ) put back the first items and left empty handed. The next day I went to Lidl, from home near than Aldi.

Back 25+ years ago Sainsburys was by convenience where I did my main shop. Tesco then opened a new store. Initially I stayed loyal to Sainsburys but after items too often out of stock or poor soon swapped to Tesco.

Don't presume Sainsburys items and particularly those price match to Aldi and effectively Lidl too are better. Check the ingredients and nutrition labelling e.g. Sainsburys Stamford Street ham has a lower pork content than the Lidl equivalent.

Went to B & M earlier today. Long queue as just 1 till open. No effort to open another one. No self service tills.
Prices for some stuff gone up a lot. Asda and Tesco aren't much more for some stuff. Not a store I'd rush to go.
Poundland can be similar though they do have self service which helps (most stores been to have them)

For a while now I have been disappointed with B&M. For the food they have you have to watch the pack size / weight and it can even be higher price than Tesco etc., the same applies to Poundland. For toiletries and cleaning my first choice is Savers. Little DIY and poor quality.

... TBH I prefer Home Bargains. My old local was bright, airy and I found it to be better value/ less filled with tat than B&M. No HB near me now though....
...
Conversely, Home Bargains saw like for like sales and profit increase in the last tax year compared to before. Clearly HB are doing something B&M aren't.

Interesting but like you I have not got a local Home Bargains, nearest ~15 miles and not near anywhere else I go.

No food of course but for other items an ASDA Living is nearer and I find better choice and value than B&M.

 

[SuspectUsual]

I haven’t used Sainsbury’s for a few weeks, purely because of circumstances, but in the last week I’ve received a £5 off £30 voucher and I’ve noticed all the 20 bonus points offers in the app for buying particular products are now 50 or 60 points

 

[DelW]

Don't presume Sainsburys items and particularly those price match to Aldi and effectively Lidl too are better. Check the ingredients and nutrition labelling e.g. Sainsburys Stamford Street ham has a lower pork content than the Lidl equivalent.

My recollection is that Sainsbury's 'Stamford Street' branding replaced Basics as Sainsbury's cheapest range. Many items are available there in three ranges, Taste the Difference as highest quality and price, normal Sainsbury's midrange, and Stamford Street as lowest quality and price. Of course your comparison is still valid if the Stamford Street price is comparable with Lidl's.

I have mixed views on Stamford Street versions. Some seem almost indistinguishable from the norm, so I usually choose them, whereas with others I think it worth paying the extra for one of the 'better' ranges.

 

[Harpo]

I haven’t used Sainsbury’s for a few weeks, purely because of circumstances, but in the last week I’ve received a £5 off £30 voucher

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a cash discount voucher from Sainsburys, just (once in a while) those derisory ‘Triple Points on £30’ type offers that give you all of 60p extra back in points.

 

[BuhSnarf]

Ever since the Aces were brought directly into employment with ASDA rather than being part of City Management they've just simply been referred to as 'cleaners' rather than Aces.

Have to say, in the 12 years I've been working for ASDA, I've never heard my store use 'Lets Get Ready to Rumble' to signal when the tidy-up needs doing. Though frankly, these days we don't have enough staff to often do a dedicated 'rumble'/tidy-up, so have to rely purely on 'tidy as you work' mostly. It's quite the struggle trying to keep tidy the fresh section as the sole colleague on the department for a lot of the day. Another frustration for me is how my store opens up almost every day in an absolute mess over on fresh, as the evening colleagues didn't have time to tidy up before finishing their shifts and/or home shopping has decimated the shelves before the store opens (we open at 7am, but home shopping pickers start from 3am).

I'm not sure you'd get away with playing PJ & Duncan (sorry not Ant & Dec!) every couple of hours now. This was back in the Walmart days - probably early 2000s, deffo pre-2005. We had so many staff compared to what I see in store now.

We had a dedicated night team with 30-40 people, but no cages and pallets were allowed on the shop floor before close, whereas nowadays I can be going in at 8 and there will be pallets on the end of each aisle. I used to work grocery mainly and we had probably a colleague per 2 aisles on quiet days and during the weekends we'd have a colleague per aisle tidying, helping customers and bringing stock out from the back on small trolleys as we weren't allowed cages (except carboard cages for the rumble) on the shop floor. We also all had "miles of smiles" which was books of vouchers that colleagues would carry and if there was something out of stock or customers were unhappy we could quickly resolve issues on the aisle by giving them a voucher for 50p for the next brand up or get them to pick a treat from the bakery and then comp it with the voucher. I know a lot of people didn't like the Walmart era, but I think they did do a lot right.

Sadly as well I hear that ASDA FM is no more or at least it's not live any more? I used to love working the night shifts and you'd be able to do call outs to your colleagues or request songs.

 

[TravelDream]

Don't presume Sainsburys items and particularly those price match to Aldi and effectively Lidl too are better. Check the ingredients and nutrition labelling e.g. Sainsburys Stamford Street ham has a lower pork content than the Lidl equivalent.

Yes, I am frequent purchaser of the pre-cooked chicken slices, either plain or with Tikka or hot and spicy coating, as a 'healthier' alternative to more processed sliced meats.
They claim to price match with Aldi, however, the Aldi version is so much better quality, has a more 'natural' chicken texture and less watery.

For a while now I have been disappointed with B&M. For the food they have you have to watch the pack size / weight and it can even be higher price than Tesco etc., the same applies to Poundland. For toiletries and cleaning my first choice is Savers. Little DIY and poor quality.

Always have to be careful with discounters over this.
5 bags of crisps instead of 6 or 227g of sauce instead of 250g. That's with the external packaging being the same size.

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a cash discount voucher from Sainsburys, just (once in a while) those derisory ‘Triple Points on £30’ type offers that give you all of 60p extra back in points.

The app has multiple each week.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I couldn’t tell you the last time I had a cash discount voucher from Sainsburys, just (once in a while) those derisory ‘Triple Points on £30’ type offers that give you all of 60p extra back in points.

Isn't that actually only an extra 30p worth of points?

 

[Buzby]

Sadly as well I hear that ASDA FM is no more or at least it's not live any more?

Shame! I was delighted when I found this on my Amstrad satellite receiver on an obscure sub-carrier. The music was good, and when they announced an in-store deal or promotion that I thought was good, I could nip round and grab it. Happy Days long gone!

 

[Bald Rick]

Of course this depends on your typical basket

Of course.

Don't presume Sainsburys items and particularly those price match to Aldi and effectively Lidl too are better. Check the ingredients and nutrition labelling e.g. Sainsburys Stamford Street ham has a lower pork content than the Lidl equivalent.

We don’t buy Stamford Street stuff. Other than fresh stuff, our basket is almost entirely branded.

 

[dgl]

The problem with the made up brand names in supermarkets other than Aldi/Lidl is that it generally replaced the branding on their value ranges, whereas it's Aldi/Lidl's standard range. This makes the price matches a bit meaningless as in most cases it's not a like-for-like comparison.

 

[Harpo]

Isn't that actually only an extra 30p worth of points?

Yes - Of course. Shrinkflation at work!

 

[TravelDream]

The problem with the made up brand names in supermarkets other than Aldi/Lidl is that it generally replaced the branding on their value ranges, whereas it's Aldi/Lidl's standard range. This makes the price matches a bit meaningless as in most cases it's not a like-for-like comparison.

Very fair point.
Especially when Aldi/ Lidl brands tend to be better quality than their supermarket 'value' comparisons.

Like the slicked chicken breast mentioned above. Sainsbury's Stamford Street slices are a hell of a lot worse than Aldi's even though they are price match partners.

 

[Peter Sarf]

On a positive note for Morrisons. Yet again the Marstons Pedigree (500ml ale) is £1 a bottle. I have never seen that matched by any other supermarket and I really thought it was unlikely to ever happen again as it has been going on occasionally for years - base price has crept up eye wateringly over a few years.

 

[TravelDream]

On a positive note for Morrisons.

Plenty of good things about Morrisons.

Their meal deal is the best around with the salad bar and several drinks no other supermarket has in their meal deal offer. And certainly none of the ridiculousness of Tesco (a samosa is a main) or Sainsbury's (a yogurt is a main).

 

[DannyMich2018]

Plenty of good things about Morrisons.

Their meal deal is the best around with the salad bar and several drinks no other supermarket has in their meal deal offer. And certainly none of the ridiculousness of Tesco (a samosa is a main) or Sainsbury's (a yogurt is a main).

Yes definitely. I work in the Hinckley store, people come from Nuneaton and other nearby places just for the salad bar, deli etc. Only store in Hinckley with a proper petrol station which isn't self service only.
I just wish we had more investment in the store and more colleagues, this store has a fantastic location next to a busy road with many nearby warehouses and new houses and been a strong store since Safeway days.

 

[route101]

I have been a few B&Ms and noticed a lot of gaps in stock, possibly a range review in food section.

 

[sprunt]

I went in a B&M on Wednesday evening and it was like walking into an oven. I felt sorry for the staff in there. All the chocolate was melted.

 

[Harpo]

Aldi alert. My local Aldi has had it’s first ever game of musical shelves since expanding to 4 aisles a few years ago, moving all veg to aisle 1, pasta/rice etc to aisle 2 and more. Eggs got hidden at the end of cereals.

Is this a new template?

 

[BuhSnarf]

Nah, Aldi stores do tend to move things round every so often. Obviously with less aisles they do it less than the 'big boys' but all our local ones have had a few moves in the past ten years or so. Usually it's when they're moving on to a new design, our most recent ones gained more prominence on fresh food so moved a lot of that to the first and second aisles.

 

[route101]

I went in a B&M on Wednesday evening and it was like walking into an oven. I felt sorry for the staff in there. All the chocolate was melted.

I have noticed that with B&M, stores warm. Even beer can be spoiled by warm places.

 

[styles]

Aldi alert. My local Aldi has had it’s first ever game of musical shelves since expanding to 4 aisles a few years ago, moving all veg to aisle 1, pasta/rice etc to aisle 2 and more. Eggs got hidden at the end of cereals.

Is this a new template?

That sounds like how our local Aldi has been laid out for a while tbh.

 

[RuddA]

For the first time in weeks I have the Lidl Happy Hour bakery discount available in the app again.
Hopefully they have decided that removing it was a bad idea.

 

[SteveHFC]

For the first time in weeks I have the Lidl Happy Hour bakery discount available in the app again.
Hopefully they have decided that removing it was a bad idea.

It never went away for me.

 

[londonbridge]

This weeks Co-Op offers included 20p off milk, so I added it to my card. Went to the shop, got the milk, scanned it, scanned my Co-Op card, till came up with the offer price. I then realised I’d forgotten to pick up my bank card, had left my phone indoors on charge, and the self serve tills were card only…….luckily I had a bit of cash in my pocket so I called a staff member, explained the situation and said I’d have to give him cash on the main bank tills. He voided the transaction on the self serve and we went to the main bank, where he scanned the milk and my members card, then asked for the full price. I said I had an offer on my card but he repeated that the till was showing the full amount. I said maybe it was because I’d already scanned my card on the self serve till. Gave him the full amount and came home. Checked my account, yes, the 20p off offer is now showing as redeemed, even though he voided the self scan transaction and I did not actually use the offer.

 

[Buzby]

Same thing happened to me with Sainsbury’s Nectar… original offers and reductions (that are one-offs) disappear on a rescan, multibuys will still remain. I lost £5 in discounts because the till ‘crashed’.