Co-op - Putting Profits Before Healthy Eating?

fallen121

I live in a remote village in the East Neuk of Fife. To give you some idea how remote we are, we don't even have mains gas!

I use my car as little as I can, work from home and walk 6 miles to the nearest village to do my glass recycling and fetch groceries for my family. There is a bus, but it's infrequent, expensive and spews diesel fumes everywhere. With the local timetables, often it's quicker to walk, especially on Sundays! We have a village shop, but that's only really good for canned goods etc.

The next village has a small Co-op. It's small but stocks everything we need. There is a larger one, but it's a 13 mile walk so I don't go very often, or maybe take the car once a month.

The Co-op I use was recently remodelled to install denser shelving and I was all for this because they now carry lots more lines so here's more choice for us. In fact, as well as ordinary milk they now stock organic and filtered milk in whole and semi skimmed. However, the shelf space this requires means that they no longer stock skimmed milk in any size (they previously carried 1 pint, 2 pint and 4 pint sizes). Because of a special diet, several members of my family can no longer drink even 1% milk. Therefore for several days now I've been walking 13 miles to the bigger Co-op who stock it and I'm exhausted.

Today I spoke to the Manager of the smaller Co-op about their inability to stock skimmed milk and his attitude was that 'you're the first to complain'. Basically he couldn't care less.

It's a battle to buy skimmed milk at the best of times. I accept that small local village stores can't afford to sell it, and I rely on places like the Co-op who have the buying power and the clout to be able to offer a better range. I'm dismayed that they appear to care more about profit than offering a service to the community and I feel that their promises about promoting healthy eating is in fact a lie.

We live in a country where obesity is a ongoing problem. We're encouraged to lead a healthy lifestyle, but many places won't stock healthy products 'because people won't buy them'. And because they don't stock them, people don't buy them. It's a vicious circle.

I'm going to write the the Co-op, but I don't live in hopes of anything other than platitudes. So unless I want to be a stranger to my family, it's back to using the car to go to Tescos. I don't want to do this, but I feel I'm being forced into it.

1jim

I dont think that each coop can decide what they stock, in the village where I live they stock what is "on plan", I am led to believe that someone at head office decides what is stocked in each type of store and it is then up to the local coop to sell it. This may not be right but it is what I was told when I asked if they could sell a particular product previously (one they used to stock and then stopped). I guess a letter ro head office is your best bet (are you a member of the coop?? dont know if that will make a difference or not but they must be obliged to take members views into consideration..although probably not obliged to act on them)

good luck with it though,
jim

geordie_joe

1jim wrote: »

I dont think that each coop can decide what they stock, in the village where I live they stock what is "on plan", I am led to believe that someone at head office decides what is stocked in each type of store and it is then up to the local coop to sell it. This may not be right but it is what I was told when I asked if they could sell a particular product previously (one they used to stock and then stopped). I guess a letter ro head office is your best bet (are you a member of the coop?? dont know if that will make a difference or not but they must be obliged to take members views into consideration..although probably not obliged to act on them)

good luck with it though,
jim

It sounds like they were fobbing you off. They decided a product wasn't worth stocking and when you asked they blamed head office.

While I am sure head office can say what is and isn't stocked, in the end it is down to each individual store, as only they know what is selling well and what isn't.

fallen121

1jim wrote: »

I guess a letter ro head office is your best bet (are you a member of the coop?? dont know if that will make a difference or not but they must be obliged to take members views into consideration..although probably not obliged to act on them)

good luck with it though,
jim

Yes I am a member, although whether that will make any difference I don't know!! I was seriously in danger of cutting up my card and throwing it in the Manager's face, his 'take it or leave it' attitude is unfortunately just typical of so many shop staff these days. A letter to head office is currently in course of preparation. I expect the usual canned response though.

Whilst wandering around I noticed that they now stock 3 different types of Coco Pops but have stopped selling Raisin Bran (and it was their own brand too, not the Kelloggs one).

loadsacash

I live next door to a very large co-op and I have found that at least a third of the space is occupied by alcohol. It is everywhere!

I do not agree that the co-op is into leading a healthy lifestyle at all!

geordie_joe

loadsacash wrote: »

I do not agree that the co-op is into leading a healthy lifestyle at all!

Like all supermarkets, they are into selling whatever the customer wants to buy. If the booze wasn't selling well then they would change it to something that was.

They may say they promote a healthy life style, but they also cater for the vast majority of customers who don't shive a git and just buy what they like.

sheena4711

I work in a very small town centre co-op and we have recently started taking in organic milk which is, as previously stated, required by us to order due to a change in the milk plan which is supplied to us by manchester head office. However, we still order skimmed milk even though it is the worst selling of all the milks in the store. I would have another word with the manager or a member of the management team and tell him/her that if he is not forthcoming that you will make a complaint via the customer helpline, i forget what the telephone number is now but i can get it for you if you need it. They are normally pretty good at sorting out complaints and get in touch with the specific store if need be. I can't see how they cannot stock this milk for you as a milk order is sent every day and it wouldn't take up much room in their chill store. As the supplier is the same for the whole of Scotland i can also give you the ordering codes if that's their excuse.

unrich

I know some folks who just buy the UHT skimmed version in bulk. I know it has a different taste but you'll just have to get used to it.

fallen121

unrich wrote: »

I know some folks who just buy the UHT skimmed version in bulk. I know it has a different taste but you'll just have to get used to it.

Yes, we have this stuff for emergencies/bad weather etc, but our six year old refuses to eat cereal with it on and then won't eat anything else. I try and save any fresh milk we have for cereal and use UHT in the tea, I'd rather do that than have her going off to school with no breakfast - and school mornings are no time for meal time battles.

echelon101

If you are concered about not being able to buy skimmed milk and that it "quantifies" healthy eating then there is something seriously wrong. There is a 10kcal difference per 100ml between semi and skimmed and a 30kcal difference between skimmed and whole. If you are having to worry about maybe a 50kcal difference assuming you drink 500ml of milk then something else is wrong with your diet.

Sorry to be harsh.

Co-op can decide what to stock. Since they are in a rather remote location they are going to stock what sells best and not risk obtaining stock that "might" sell.

fallen121

echelon101 wrote: »

If you are concered about not being able to buy skimmed milk and that it "quantifies" healthy eating then there is something seriously wrong. There is a 10kcal difference per 100ml between semi and skimmed and a 30kcal difference between skimmed and whole. If you are having to worry about maybe a 50kcal difference assuming you drink 500ml of milk then something else is wrong with your diet.

Sorry to be harsh.

I wasn't equating skimmed milk with healthy eating per se, I was saying that a company shouldn't promote healthy eating and then remove non profitable lines which contain (for example) less sugar or fat so they can devote more shelf space to higher fat/sugar alternatives which make them more money. I am merely advocating more balance. If that Co-op had never stocked skimmed milk then fair enough. To offer it in three different sizes and then remove it completely in favour of being able to offer whole milk in ordinary, organic, filtered and flavoured just smacks of profiteering.

As to the reason WHY we drink skimmed milk, two members of the family do so for medical reasons. Would you like me to elaborate, or would you like to continue to lecture me on what may be 'wrong' with our diet?

:rolleyes: