Letter: Not every little offer helps at Tesco
Friday 6th August 2010, 7:01AM BST.
Letter: Recently, my wife and I were invited to a barbecue and went into Tesco in Madeley to buy some beer and a bottle of wine to give our host.
Whilst we were looking at what to buy, I noticed some of the promotions. I could buy a pack of beer for £3.50 or two packs for £7.50. Whilst we were laughing about this “offer” I saw another that beggared belief. One bottle of beer was £1.50, but I could buy two bottles for £3.00.
Do Tesco think we can’t add up? Or do they think no-one looks at the labels? Or is it a case that Tesco staff can’t do simple mathematics? Whatever the answer it gave us a good laugh and taught us to check every so-called offer in the future.
Ian Lowe
Madeley
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The reason that this actually happpens is that tesco in particular issue price decreases every night for the next day as they check prices against its competitors etc. They cannot immediately withdraw offers such as 2 for 1 or 2 for 2 for £7 even if it is cheaper because the offers have to run for a given period typically 3-4 weeks ad prices vary between tesco superstores and expresses and the label formats for all the stores are the same.
I wish people such as the writer of this letter would actually not knock a success such as tesco because they are in fact run by humans and mistakes do happen. In this case actually the business is trying to make things even cheaper for customers but yet we still ridicule. Hmmm interesting that
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In a similar way sometimes it is cheaper to buy two packets of a smaller size than one big one. This is trading off the fact that most people asume that a bigger packet will be better value. Fruit and veg is also very overpriced compared to what you would pay at the market. I don’t see why Tesco should be immune from criticism. Their success has partly at the expense of others as they have been selling beer below cost price and putting the final nail in the coffin for pubs and also putting local shops out of business.
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There is (or was) a page on Facebook dedicated to these little pricing anomolies at Tesco, but after seeing the unbelievable transformation in Madeley since Tesco came to town, I refuse to hear a bad word against them.
Tesco seem to have more customers per hour than Sommerfield had in a week, and can well relate to the comment below about having to brush against the great-unwashed drunks etc just to buy an over priced bottle of milk from a checkout operator who hasn’t smiled since 1975.
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Ridiculous. What do you mean they ‘cannot’ withdraw offers and that these offers myst run for a given period of time? I’ve never heard of anything so silly in my life. Good for Ian bringing this to our attention.
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tesco deserve every thing they get i know i worked for them dont belive what you read
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Perhaps we should go back to the days of customer friendly Somerfield staff and having to walk your children past drunks and smackheads just to buy a pint of milk.
Oh how we could have a good laugh about that.
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One tip when buying beer from supermarkets… ignore the pack price, always look at the cost per litre, which is usually stated on the shelf edge label. Because of various offers and promotions – and depending on which products are being sold at a loss that day – the most cost effective way of buying may change from one visit to the next. You would think that buying a slab would be the best value, but sometimes it’s cheaper to buy multiple four-packs.
Having said that, my overriding advice is don’t buy lager, buy real ale instead. It’s a far more rewarding drink :-)
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It’s more than that, some of the other beers on the shelf that are also on offer maybe £4.50 each, perhaps £3.00 each (hypothetical pricing of course). However when you purchase them together it will reduce to the offer price at the till of £3.00. In this particular example, one bottle of beer may have been £1.50, but if you combined it with another bottle included on the offer say its £2.00, you would actually save 50p (£1.50 + £2.00 = £3.50) SAVING = 50P. The offer price is there as a guide, you need to use your eyes and see what other products are included in the price. I know this because I look before I buy, so many people today jump to conclusions and moan about it before actually understanding.
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My main gripe with the new Tesco’s is that a lot of the staff seem to have been inherited from Sommerfields – either that or there’s something in the air. They all seem more interested in having a moan – I haven’t had my break yet, it’s draughty here by the door, miserable weather again – or chatting to their mates than actually getting the job done. Definitely not up to the standard of staff at other Tesco stores.
Also, I don’t think we’ve had time yet to judge the effect on other local shops. I think a number of them will go under as they can never compete with Tesco’s buying power. Some are already struggling.
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Nobody has done their weekly/monthly shop at the local corner shop for 40 years or so, have they??.
The only thing that i’ve noticed is that i don’t have to do a 20 minute drive to the nearest supermarket anymore.
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you pay peanuts – you get monkeys!
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I can only assume people are willing to walk a bit further even for the odds and sods they used to get from smaller shops, people don’t just use supermarkets for weekly/monthly shops.
Also, Tescos have agreed not to have a pharmacy, although they always prefer to. Fine – until they undercut the local chemist by so much on shampoo, soap etc. that the chemists can’t survive. Then Tescos will have its pharmacy.
What the middle of Madeley could do with is a decent cafe, but Greggs have negotiated a monopoly on sandwiches (except for Tescos, and Greggs can’t argue with them as they own the building).
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Kath, I can’t wholesale agree with you on the attitude of the staff. They are generally a great bunch (particularly the ladies on the deli) but there are one or two that are letting the side down. I thought that the majority of the Sommerfield staff had been kicked into touch – especially the down right miserable and rude former checkout staff.
BUT, i do totally agree with your point about a cafe. A sit-in coffee shop with snacks would just about complete the place.
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Why don’t you go and speak to the manager of the store, or phone up the head office and point this out, I very often do this when I shopt in other stores.
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Well, I haven’t been in often but I speak as I find. It’s the checkout staff I’m talking about. I finally had to politely interrupt one chatting away to her friend when the goods were paid for and packed, and ask if I could get served.
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My favorite with tesco is when they reduce a two for one item. or buy one get one free.
Let me explain.
Pair of jockey shorts 4.99 buy one get one free.
Reduced to 2.50
Go to the till with two pairs. Pay 2.50 and 2.50. The till autonmatically takes 4.99 off because it is buy one get one free.
You pay 1p for two pairs shorts.
The best ever was new potatos. 1.09 a pack. Buy one get one free.
Reduced at the end of the day because they were going out of date to 10p per pack.
Buy two and pay 2x10p= 20p BUT the till takes off 1.09. Therefore they owe you 89p for every two packs bought. Thankyou very much. I will have 40 packs of those please.
Dont know if they still have this system but despite telling them many times no one ever seemed to do anything about it up to five years ago when I left the country.
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As previously commented, Tesco lower their prices to compete with their competitors. I think the comment in the original letter that ‘… is it a case that Tesco staff can’t do simple mathematics?’ is a little harsh also considering Tesco is one of the most successful businesses in Britain! I work for my local Tesco store part time whilst I am studying for my degree. I will bear in mind in future that people consider I cannot count just because I work in Tesco!
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True story. Peas in the pod were in season and I put some in a plastic bag went to the till with all my other goods and when the peas in the pod came up the young girl at the till asked what they were as she did not have a card telling her what they were. I told her that they were fresh peas in the pod and asked her if she had ever seen fresh peas her reply was ‘We get so many different fruits from other countries and they don’t tell us what they are.’ I rest my case. Pay peanuts and get monkeys.
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Re Beer and lager prices. Best to look at the strength of the product before making assumptions. For example.
Stella Artois comes in at least three strengths, two of them 4.5 and 5.0% come in the same labelled container (except for the percentage figure) recently Tesco were selling boxes of cans of the 4.5% brew at what appeared to be a very low price compared to a pack of the 5% which appeared to be the same, unless you studied the label!(5% alcohol attracts a higher duty obviously).
I can only praise the staff in the Newtown Tesco store for their great attitude and helpful demeanor.
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