Thanks MARTIN for stopping Coupon Acceptance At Tesco and it would now seem Waitrose

hnscott

THANKS A BUNCH:mad::mad::mad::mad:

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MSE Insert from MSE Archna:

Martin is away at the moment but has asked me to post this message from him...

“I'm saddened to hear of some nasty posts on here about Tesco's change of policy (see the Tesco changes coupon policy and would ask those whose vitriole may’ve overtaken them to step back a second and think about it.

• Do you want MSE and I to become a discrete users club?
  
  Is this what people want. A small club of those in the know pushing the system. If we did – who would be in the in-crowd, when would we’ve locked the forum down so only existing members could share hidden info? How many is enough?
  
  The policy of the site (and I) has always been to reach as many people as possible and spread information, both on hard and soft financial subjects. I believe we’ve done it well and the vast range of users is a great credit to that. We’re very proud of it and don’t intend to change it – this will never be a private members club only for those in the know.
  
  Yet of course, with some of the techniques, which mean perhaps a disproportionate amount of money going into people's pockets and out of companies, there comes a critical mass reached where it ends (and here it's only for one supermarket so far).
  
  We’ve had it with countless issues before – intro bank account freebies with no need to change salary – balance transfer bonuses payments – cashback on 0% deals – bonus points boots on low costs goods. People use them then at some point someone in an organisation realises that financially it doesn’t add up.

• There’s been a push from manufacturers for this to happen
  
  The change of policy by Tesco has been a long time in the coming. There has been a huge amount of pressure put on the supermarkets by the Institute of Sales Promotions – they originally contacted us making threatening noises equating people using the wrong coupons as theft (See the ISP theft news story).
  
  The trade press who cover this have made a splash of the use of these coupons for the last year, and the manufacturers displeasure. The ISP has undergone a lobbying change to stop supermarkets accepting them for non-use – as it's the manufacturers who pay.
  
  This was targeted as I remember at the users of the MSE forums and some individuals who pushed the boundaries on it as well as our coupons guide – where the possibility of being upfront and asking if vouchers were accepted has always been a part.
  
  From that moment there has been strong lobbying on the ‘misuse’ of vouchers to the supermarkets – as it is the manufacturers who bear the brunt.
  
  Of course we robustly defended the forum users. To start trying to point the finger at anyone isn’t of any use at all – and it certainly isn’t what this site or this forum is or at least should be about.
  
  However at that time my aim was to try and hope that those who used the ‘non-purchase’ coupons route would do it within limits and not go overboard. We worked hard on the prose used on the site to about it – i’ve been consistent in my broadcasts on it – as well as doing the story about the ISP to try and stop mass abuse e.g. multi-using the same voucher or using self-service tills – or anything else which breaks terms or is dishonest.
  
  Apparently in the last week there’s been a specific high value voucher that’s been used and from what I understand – quite substantially abused – and sadly when these flood through the tills – someone sits up and takes notice – Tesco is a bottom line organisation after all.

• Growth and publicity has of course contributed to it.
  
  The growth of easy to print online coupons means that voucher repeatability has grown rapidly. There are now a wide number of coupon sites as Im sure you’re aware – and of course our own Grocery Coupons page. There are also a wide number of forums big and small, where people discuss the use of coupons for non bought products.
  
  As apparently some vitriole was aimed at my GMTV appearance, before doing so it is worth watching what was said (watch it yourself) – all of it is balanced about how and whether you should do it rather than a big encouraging factor.
  
  In fact the influence of that appearance is no where near as big as you may assume, certainly it doesn’t even register compared to the traffic from putting the grocery coupon note in the weekly email.
  
  Yet of course it is publicity for the issue, and there is a chance that it had an effect, though if you do a press search you can see the issue of coupons and vouchers has grown from zero about 18 months ago to a regular stream now. All the newspapers have got in on it – with most now running their own voucher sites.
  
  All of this combined of course changes the critical mass of voucher usage and quite possibly played a role.

So who’s to blame? Is it the site and I for telling people? The people who abused the high value vouchers? Forum users for sharing tips which the ISP monitored? All the new people who’ve started doing this who want to save money? The manufacturers for protecting their bottom line? The supermarkets who did it in the first place?

Why do we need to blame someone... the fact is Tesco has changed its policy, the issue is one that’s obviously grown for the supermarket. We know there’s been inconsistency branch by branch in the past – we’ve even asked and helped intervene for forum users about this.

Now there is consistency and we don’t like the answer; but frankly in the same way you can’t blame the shop that says no to haggling; this was always possible. Hopefully we can stop pointing the finger and carrying on looking how people can save.
[FONT=&quot]
Martin"[/FONT]

Browntoa

nothing to do with people abusing the coupon system in the first place then ? splitting shopping trips to use multiple amounts of coupons ? think you'll find its the greedy minority have spoilt it for the rest of you ,not Martin

aimingforadebtfreelife

If people sensibly handed over £2 or £3 coupons per visit then thats fine but when some hardcore scroogers hand over £50 + then I can see why they stopped it. Tesco's only gets 1p per coupon handling charge - they lose £50 in till and can only claim back say £55 in a months time. Business sense..... no way.

Stop grumbling, get a life and move on. :silenced:

Freefall

Has waitrose stopped it now?

andrione1

leave Martin alone for goodness sake.

Halloway

andrione1 wrote: »

leave Martin alone for goodness sake.

Creep.......

andrione1

Halloway wrote: »

Creep.......

thanks friend,:cool:
are you one of the poor dears spitting out the dummy that you can't do the coupons??

Coupon-mad

Browntoa wrote: »

nothing to do with people abusing the coupon system in the first place then ? splitting shopping trips to use multiple amounts of coupons ? think you'll find its the greedy minority have spoilt it for the rest of you ,not Martin

I agree.

From what I have read, a very systematic and organised gang were practically raiding certain stores each evening, over the past couple of months. 'Raiding' - as in they were all filling a trolley and then all going to separate tills with wegdes of printed internet coupons (ones like Pedigree where there is no restriction built in - so called 'Smart Coupons' LOL!!). They chose evening staff who didn't realise the implications, and as the coupons scanned the stores naively didn't realise until they had been 'hit'.

These people were reported on this board, as having been seen putting their ill-gotten gains in their cars then going back in several times over to repeat the process. It was said a few weeks ago that some stores took more in coupons than in other payment methods when hit like this - and of course they can't redeem them all.

I believe Martin's timing when he went on GMTV was just unlucky, he didn't cause the huge abuse as it is a fact that it was already reported as going on from around August. The regulars on this board know that this is the case.

RIP coupon policy at Tesco (I understand it has been stopped for a trial period to assess if it is cost-effective). I will shop elsewhere now, we need to vote with our feet if Tesco are to realise this trial is costing them money.

Blaming anyone except the scammers is of no help IMHO. Shame they can't be arrested for their 'raids'.

fmcogg

I work at Tesco and it was stopped today as the Direct influx from GMTV and it came direct from head office to all stores and there was no mention of a trial it said our coupon policy changes from 3pm today

fuzzgun19

I was in a small 'Extra' this afternoon, and the manager told me it was going to change "as of Monday".

bulgariafairy

fmcogg wrote: »

I work at Tesco and it was stopped today as the Direct influx from GMTV and it came direct from head office to all stores and there was no mention of a trial it said our coupon policy changes from 3pm today

I work in tesco too but i know it to be a four week trial...it was meant to start on Oct 5th but too many people got wind of that so it was switched to today. i know there are a lot of abusers around BUT if staff were properly trained and no coupons allowed without being checked for signs of tampering then it wouldn't be a problem but tesco wouldn't be willing to do that. I too have been told that Martin's speech on GMTV rendered the coupon policy 'unsustainable'....meaning it was a reasonably well-kept secret that was brought too out into the open.