A thumbs up for T***o

[Milims]

Ok so T***o may not be the fave place for flowers but I'm giving them a thumbs up - my points coupons came thru today and theres one for a free bag for life and a reminder that they give a point for every bag that we reuse. Every little helps!!

[Muddypause]

Oh dear. I hate to do it (and I guess you must be expecting someone to), but I'm going to dampen down your bonfire. All those points, and even the bag-for-life itself is intended to make you spend more money in their store. They really aren't doing it because they have your best interests at heart; they are doing it solely to part you from your money.

We are getting a new Tescos here, not more than 200 yards from where I live. They've spent months clearing the site of an old hospital, and a huge commecial complex is to be started soon.

Before permission to develop was given, a tree preservation order was placed on all the trees on site. But oops, oh dear, they all got felled by mistake. Of course the only thing that Tescos will face as a result of that little mishap is a fine, which will probably be covered by a single morning's trading, so why should they care?

Leaves a bit of a bad taste in the mouth, that does. Still, every little helps their profits.

[shiney]

I am staying well away from Tescos. I have points, I have vouchers etc from ages ago, but I have bunged 'em out.

Someone told me and don't hold me to this, that the recycle your plakky bag bins in the entrance of the store are emptied into the skip and dumped! Do you think this could be true? I mean what do you do with 1000's of used bags? Can you recycle them?

[Shirley]

I am staying well away from Tescos. I have points, I have vouchers etc from ages ago, but I have bunged 'em out.

Someone told me and don't hold me to this, that the recycle your plakky bag bins in the entrance of the store are emptied into the skip and dumped! Do you think this could be true? I mean what do you do with 1000's of used bags? Can you recycle them?

I've heard that before Shiney! My T***o vouchers went into the recycling bin

The green bag points only amount to a penny anyway - not much when you are spending £20 to fill one is it.

[red]

I still think its a step in the right direction.

even if they are doing it for their own gains and to look like good guys when really they are stinky tree killers

[ina]

No, can't agree there - the only step in the right direction would be to charge for all the bags they give out. After all, they cost to be produced - not only money, also the environment - so why should folk not pay for what they take away home with them? Points are a gimmick, that everybody pays for, that are financed out of their profits. Plus, of course, these cards are a massive invasion into your privacy - all that information on you that's stored on there! And just the administration of the cards costs loads, which also has to be financed out of their profits... Just imagine how much cheaper everything could be if supermarkets didn't waste money on free bags and gimmicky cards! (Or, alternatively, that producers could actually get a fair price for their products...)

[red]

but people.. not you and me people.. but most of the population people.. are greedy.. they would be horrified at having to *pay* for bags... but a reward system might just do it. yes of course... it would be much better if they saved the money and were just a cheaper nicer shop.. but you know as it happens cheap but unsexy shops are not popular with greedy people. Big supermarkets go with what works. if the change of tide is such now that they are beginign to try to do 'green' things like encouraging people to reuse bags, then thats good because A it might encourage people to reuse bags.. and in fact consider the whole thing.. maybe they will carry bags to other shops too and B its a sign that they feel that they need to look green to compete.. I think this will only accelerate.

of course attaching the green thing to coupons is a ploy. the whole loyalty card thing is a ploy. and yes I think they should charge for bags.. cos that would really do it. not having bags available at all would work even better. But I do think it might make just a few people change their thinking about bags,, and that.. is a step in the right direction. (even if T are doing it for their own gains)

[colhut]

all that information on you that's stored on there! And just the administration of the cards costs loads, which also has to be financed out of their profits...

Yes they spend millions on loyalty cards, but you are wrong if you think it costs them money, they don't do those things. they administer card schemes because it MAKES them money. They will analyse the data endlessly, they will send you a special offer designed to get you personally into the store wher you will buy other things as well. They do these schems cos they work, and work very well.

If you want to be really scared about the amount of information available to them think about this. Lots of clothing now carries an RFID tag in the label, so when you buy a pair of jeans from Asda,Tescos etc they can track that pair of jeans, knowing it is you who bought it. They can not just track you through the door but around the store. Those nice little tv displays around the store could well be targeting just you as you pass them !

I don't know that they monitor to this level yet, but they can and the comercial advantage is clear enough, so if they don't now they probably will soon.

[2steps]

they only do these kind of things because they think it will keep people coming back spending money. I heard the thing about the carriers too but don't know if its true. I am also really unhappy about the whole 'tagging' issue. now obviously they don'y tag the food but I don't want to go there and not be able to buy anything non food and then go elsewhere for those.

[loopybretonbunny]

I too think the only answer is not to provide free bags. In Brittany all the supermarkets no longer have "free" bags but you can buy 'bags for life'. They will even replace them free if they split.

[Milims]

Ooops - I guess I opened up another can of worms here!!
The thing is - my local supermarket is utterly c**p. When it was of another chain it was allegedly the second most expensive in the country, I do know that in comparison with others of the same group in other areas it was much more expensive. There is no competition in the town so they can charge what they like (great for a town that is apparently an area of socio-economic deprivation) and the range was chronic. In the recent past they were taken over by another supermarket chain and at first it was better. The range was better, the prices were better and they had a place to re-cycle carrier bags. However now its just back to the same old thing. So now I tend to shop at T***o on my way home from college. The range is much better and so are the prices and since I'm not an "ultimate consumer" I tend to go in, buy what I need to and ignore the TVs!! Disciplined or what!! lol!!
I know that I should be enouraging local production and trade by shopping locally but round here its a big tourist area so any basics to be found locally - like bread, milk, eggs and meat - are charged an arm and a leg for, they insist on giving you a plastic bag because it advertises the local paper on it, and anything else available is the kind of stuff you'd only give someone as a present from your holidays!!
So for me, being able to call at a supermarket on my way home from somewhere else, not having to travel there specifically and use up lots of petrol (which they also charge an arm and a leg for here!), to be able to buy good, basic, affordable food, to be encouraged to re-use plastic bags or have one "for life" and to be given a bonus on something I'd be buying anyway is better than the crud I'd have to put up with somewhere else!!

[DaisyDaisy]

Have I missed something here? Is it just Tescos or is it all of the "big 5" supermarkets that are the bad boys ? I don't shop at Tescos because others are more handy, and what little shopping I do at a supermarket I try to fulfill my shopping list with organic, fairly traded and local produce to confirm to them that there is indeed a demand for these, and use my canvas shopping bags to show there is indeed no demand from me for their carrier bags. I'm only one little voice, but many voices make a big noise!

[red]

I can never understand why T***o is singled out as the bad guy. the large supermarket chains are all the same really aren't they? and the critisms I hear could be applied to any of them. If people said 'boycott big chains' or' boycott big powerful companies' I would get it.

yup Daisy.. the biggest vote is the one made with your purse.

[Muddypause]

Yes and no.

Waitrose is part of the John Lewis Parnership, and as such all memebrs of staff own a share of the company, so in a way it has a more acceptable existance.

The Co-Op is owned, well co-operatively - ie, there aren't a bunch of uninvolved shareholders who's only interest is the return on their investment. The Co-Op also has to conform to other co-operative stuff, the nature of which I used to know and have now completely forgotten (I did once set up a co-operative, but I can only remember that there was a pile of paperwork that we had to go through in order to be incorporated and registered as a co-op at Company's House).

The Co-Op also claims to have a certain ethical stance on the things it buys or puts money into, and, for example, uses biodegradeable carrier bags.

As for the rest - take your pick; Tescos is currently top of the pile, so naturally comes in for enhanced critisism, and there are several examples of them moving in on a town and squeezing local traders out. But that is undoubtedly true of the others too. I believe there are several studies that show a supermarket is, overall, bad for the local economy of a town. And they all seem to run roughshod over planning policies and the like.

Of course they have a cast iron excuse as soon as they open their doors - people use the places and spend a great deal of money there[1], thus showing that the developers were justified in what they have done; the people have voted with their feet, and the people want what the people get.

[1] Well, of course; what option do they have when other traders have been forced out of business?

[Millymollymandy]

Is there anything wrong with collecting points on a card? I got my bicycle that way! Every supermarket and mini market (where I live) has loyalty cards so it's not something specific to one to make you shop there above others.