Alert! tesco have stopped taking internet printed coupons

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taxiphil wrote: »

Hmmm... I find your moral highground a bit confusing, given one of your previous posts:

I cannot see how it is confusing... Fire Fox already said she(he?) is not having a go at anyone, she(he?) is just being able to see the issue from business point of view...

chipbeck

Fire_Fox wrote: »

From what I have read on this board, there are people who buy almost all of their supermarket shopping with coupons from newspapers, magazines and printed off the net. Eventually this level of abuse is going to mean the system is tightened up.

Fair comments but from what I have seen shopping in Supermarkets.

At least 90% of people do not use coupons, very conservative estimate here as it's probably 95% or above. This to me means that from a business perspective even if the other 5% give it some hammer they aren't going to reach the redemption expected by the supermarkets. Hope that makes sense.

Fire_Fox

taxiphil wrote: »

Hmmm... I find your moral highground a bit confusing, given one of your previous posts:

You are assuming I am taking a moral stance on this issue - I am not. Fact: some people are doing virtually all of their food shopping with coupons. Fact: the supermarkets will make a loss on these individuals and will want to close the loophole.

As an analogy in my job (health/ fitness) if I state that a client is overweight or obese it is a medical 'diagnosis' NOT an insult or judgement. I understand the reasons some individuals are an unhealthy weight are many and complex, just as I understand the reasons shoppers use coupons are many and complex. Supermarkets don't give a toss about food poverty, they care about the bottom line.

Jordii

Haha.. sorry I have caused I right little arguement here :P

tbw

chipbeck wrote: »

Fair comments but from what I have seen shopping in Supermarkets.

At least 90% of people do not use coupons, very conservative estimate here as it's probably 95% or above. This to me means that from a business perspective even if the other 5% give it some hammer they aren't going to reach the redemption expected by the supermarkets. Hope that makes sense.

This is true but unfortunately Tesco staff are human and, like everyone else, they do sometimes get a bit green eyed when they see others getting a real bargain on their shopping. Especially so if they can't quite get the hang of how its done and so can't do the same themselves. A percentage of them also do genuinely feel that its just plain WRONG to use coupons against incorrect products and get uppity over that. When some people are getting say, £100 worth of goods for less than a couple of quid week in, week out, its hardly surprising that a fair bit of !!!!!ing goes on behind the scenes - and also face to face with unfortunate customers ! Eventually the Store Managers will cotton on and take notice and then is likely to clamp down really hard, label even moderate coupon use as abuse and restrict it so much that it just isn't worth bothering with.

This is exactly what has happened in my nearest Tesco - after years of using 4/5 coupons per visit (admitedly on a smallish 'shop') with no trouble at all from any staff, the Manager has now said '10% only' - and staff are fiddling about with the figures cos half of them haven't got any idea on what 10% is ! He hasn't done this cos he's losing money as he gets full redemption plus a handling fee. He's done it because several other shoppers have been using bundles of coupons and, even though they have probably been sticking to the rules of 1 of each kind etc, its still got right up his perishing nose to think that some people are getting their shopping practically free of charge.

I can quite see this happening all over the country sooner or later. Its called Sour Grapes!!!

Finefoot

I agree. Some of the till staff behave as if it is coming out of their own pockets. Stores do get them back from the manufacturers, so why the hassle?

ranger1066

Finefoot wrote: »

I agree. Some of the till staff behave as if it is coming out of their own pockets. Stores do get them back from the manufacturers, so why the hassle?

I used to work in Tesco when i was in uni, if i accepted coupons that weren't for the item purchased i used to get it in the neck from the manager for this. So if someone came in and handed over a bunch of coupons for items not purchased i refused them, as for little over minimum wage the hassle from management was not worth it. So before you make such comments, perhaps you need to think of it from the staff's point of view.

tbw

ranger1066 wrote: »

I used to work in Tesco when i was in uni, if i accepted coupons that weren't for the item purchased i used to get it in the neck from the manager for this. So if someone came in and handed over a bunch of coupons for items not purchased i refused them, as for little over minimum wage the hassle from management was not worth it. So before you make such comments, perhaps you need to think of it from the staff's point of view.

Ranger, I do understand where you are coming from on this - and I don't blame you at all for being careful. But some staff, who clearly work in stores where the usual accepted practice is in line with national policy, DO seem to take perverse pleasure in treating customers who use coupons with contempt. They also spin the most incredible yarns to justify their refusal to take the coupons and generally make life as embarrassing and awkward as they can for the porr old customer.

I'm not suggesting its the norm (personally I've been VERY lucky with staff attitude up till now) but it does happen at times. I'm sure the earlier comments were not aimed at you or others in your situation.

chipbeck

ranger1066 wrote: »

I used to work in Tesco when i was in uni, if i accepted coupons that weren't for the item purchased i used to get it in the neck from the manager for this. So if someone came in and handed over a bunch of coupons for items not purchased i refused them, as for little over minimum wage the hassle from management was not worth it. So before you make such comments, perhaps you need to think of it from the staff's point of view.

Your manager was out of order as he wasn't following Tesco policy. Saying that I'd have taken the same action, who needs the grief.

Re the earlier comment about people getting £100 shopping for a couple of quid........................... I'm sorry but



I don't believe it!

tbw

Chipbeck, I didn't believe it either at first but, if its untrue then an awful lot of people on here and PTS are telling porky pies! (And so is the Manager and half the staff at my local Tesco - but I'm less srprised at that).