Tesco =Hypocritical

chickenlady_3

Gosh you lot are judgemental! I assume that as we are all posting here we are on the same side and therefore supportive and helpful comments are more helpful than oneupmanship!

I agree with the original poster. Tescos and most of the other big supermarket chains are hypocritical. Even when English apples are in season they still fly them in from the other side of the globe, and only stock one or two different varieties of British apple. Even when out of season here, they are often available from France - a bit closer than NZ I think. It is the same with many other types of produce.

IvanOpinion

chickenlady wrote:

Gosh you lot are judgemental! I assume that as we are all posting here we are on the same side and therefore supportive and helpful comments are more helpful than oneupmanship!

I agree with the original poster. Tescos and most of the other big supermarket chains are hypocritical. Even when English apples are in season they still fly them in from the other side of the globe, and only stock one or two different varieties of British apple. Even when out of season here, they are often available from France - a bit closer than NZ I think. It is the same with many other types of produce.

I will go back to my original post then and ask how is it hypocritical?

Ivan

Freddie_Snowbits

My local super market, Strawberries half price at £1.69. My local Grocer 99P.

Do not use the supermarkets

chickenlady_3

IvanOpinion wrote:

I will go back to my original post then and ask how is it hypocritical?

Ivan

Blimey, where to start? #

They make a big song and dance about getting people to recycle their Christmas cards, they have a huge press launch because one of their new stores has wind turbines on it, they sell longer lasting carrier bags, sell a bit of organic food - all because these things are good for the environment.

At the same time they (and the other big chains)
-demand the lowest possible prices from farmers, causing them to use as many pesticides as possible to produce cheap food,
-ship and fly products which are in season here from countries miles away causing massive amounts of CO2 to be released into the atmosphere (this applies to the organic stuff too - it might be produced with fewer pesticides but if it comes from New Zealand....!),
-even if stuff is produced in the UK it is likely to have been driven from the producer to a central warehouse before being packaged up and driven to all the different stores (it might have been produced down the road from the store but will still have had to go through this process)
-because food is transported so far it is more likely to be overpackaged, causing tremendous amounts of usually non biodegradeable plastic waste
-give out millions of free plastic carrier bags to each customer so that few of us bother to take our own reusable bags

I could go on!

However, I do not think that the supermarkets will ever go away now, so it is up to us as consumers to apply pressure to make them different, and I mean REALLY environmentally responsible rather than giving the impression of caring by using clever PR.

IvanOpinion

chickenlady wrote:

Blimey, where to start? #

They make a big song and dance about getting people to recycle their Christmas cards, they have a huge press launch because one of their new stores has wind turbines on it, they sell longer lasting carrier bags, sell a bit of organic food - all because these things are good for the environment.

At the same time they (and the other big chains)
-demand the lowest possible prices from farmers, causing them to use as many pesticides as possible to produce cheap food,
-ship and fly products which are in season here from countries miles away causing massive amounts of CO2 to be released into the atmosphere (this applies to the organic stuff too - it might be produced with fewer pesticides but if it comes from New Zealand....!),
-even if stuff is produced in the UK it is likely to have been driven from the producer to a central warehouse before being packaged up and driven to all the different stores (it might have been produced down the road from the store but will still have had to go through this process)
-because food is transported so far it is more likely to be overpackaged, causing tremendous amounts of usually non biodegradeable plastic waste
-give out millions of free plastic carrier bags to each customer so that few of us bother to take our own reusable bags

I could go on!

However, I do not think that the supermarkets will ever go away now, so it is up to us as consumers to apply pressure to make them different, and I mean REALLY environmentally responsible rather than giving the impression of caring by using clever PR.

All great examples of the hypocricy of the customers who are demanding lower prices and convenience foods with their salads already being chopped, meals prepared etc. etc. The customers don't seem to care how their food is manufactured .. just as long as it is cheap.

Tescos is only providing what the customers are demanding and buying (they remove items that do not sell from their lists). I have been a long time believer that plastic bags should be banned and we should go back to paper or better still NO bags ... I believe that all plastic bottles should be banned and we should go back to using recyclable glass ... I believe that all this pre-packed stuff should be banned (if someone is too flamin lazy to chop a lettuce or a few carrots then let them starve) ... however the biggest thing I believe in is that everybody has to REDUCE what they are using and stop causing 25% of all food produced in this country to ultimately end up in the bin. But that is up to each individual to deal with .. there is no sense in passing the blame onto someone else .. it is the customer that is demanding these products from the supermarket and then complaining about the supermarket providing them

Ivan

chickenlady_3

I hear what you are saying, Ivan, and agree with much of what you say. We as consumers do have a responsibility. If we all stopped buying this stuff the supermarkets would certainly stop selling it.

However, many people are ignorant (maybe willfully so) of the environmental cost of what they eat and tend to feel that if the supermarkets sell it, it must be OK. People bury their heads in the sand, and will continue to do so for as long as they can get away with it.

The supermarkets are just one aspect of a society which puts money and profit above all else. If the supermarkets won't act more responsibly the Government needs to legislate to make them. What annoys me and lots of others is that the supermarkets pretend to be looking after the environment when they blatently are not.

gromituk

IvanOpinion wrote:

All great examples of the hypocricy of the customers who are demanding lower prices and convenience foods with their salads already being chopped, meals prepared etc. etc. The customers don't seem to care how their food is manufactured .. just as long as it is cheap.

That is true for a certain type of customer, but for others, how "green" something is can be extremely confusing. What the supermarkets must do is an environmental audit of everything they sell, and include the results on the products. They can do this for nutritional value so why not for environmental impact? Then, people will actually be able to make an informed choice. Not doing this is hypocritical.

I believe that all plastic bottles should be banned and we should go back to using recyclable glass

But many plastic bottles can be recycled (my council collects them), and they are also a lot less dense than glass, so you expend a lot less energy transporting them. Also, I imagine that much less energy is required for recycling than glass, because of the lower temperatures involved. But this is just a guess, which illustrates how hard it is to ascertain these things.

however the biggest thing I believe in is that everybody has to REDUCE what they are using

I'll drink to that!

ts_aly2000

Everyone buy from the sellers on the side of the road, small shops etc. We have our eggs and they truly are free-range, literally when they're wandering about everywhere (the chickens, not the eggs!). This place is near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk and sells ALOT of eggs, they're delicious, especially the double-yolked ones. They charge £1.50 per dozen but I always pay £2 at least. It's also accepted that you return the egg boxes too. It all works rather well.

This business of people buying things all year round, it's just common greed and glutany. And the stuff they're buying is ugh! so tasteless. Have you tried read tomatoes lately? Have you tried real strawberries?

People are being denied the real food that is out there, and Tesco's are all too happy to let you think you're getting it and at a good price.

tip: if you're in Sainsbury's anytime soon, pick out the strawberries from Hereford. Use your nose to tell you which ones they are

seraphina

chickenlady wrote:

I hear what you are saying, Ivan, and agree with much of what you say. We as consumers do have a responsibility. If we all stopped buying this stuff the supermarkets would certainly stop selling it.

However, many people are ignorant (maybe willfully so) of the environmental cost of what they eat and tend to feel that if the supermarkets sell it, it must be OK. People bury their heads in the sand, and will continue to do so for as long as they can get away with it.

The supermarkets are just one aspect of a society which puts money and profit above all else. If the supermarkets won't act more responsibly the Government needs to legislate to make them. What annoys me and lots of others is that the supermarkets pretend to be looking after the environment when they blatently are not.

Sorry, I don't think supermarkets are hypocritical in the slightest. Certainly Tesco's have never presented themselves as an ethical supermarket at all in my area. They are businesses, there to make a profit. They do this by selling stuff that people want at a price they can afford. Who are you to tell them what they can and cannot sell?

If you want to change the food consumption culture in this country, educate people. For example people are gradually starting to become more aware of nutritional values of food - think Jamie's School Dinners etc. As such, supermarkets are now at least providing clearer labelling. This is the way to get them to be more environmentally concious - through consumer demand. Frankly a lot of the posts on this section come across as patronising - the average consumer is too thick to realise the "goodness" or "badness" in their supermarket choices and we must lambast supermarkets for taking advantage of the poor thick consumer!

As for prepared vegetables etc, I occasionally (maybe even frequently?) buy bagged salads. I work long hours (another reason why supermarkets get my business - farm shops only open 9-5 are missing a HUGE market!). For me, if I can chuck a salad on a plate, I'll eat it. If I have to get out a lettuce, pick off the outer leaves, wash it and dry it then I'm not going to eat it, full stop. I do draw the line at ready chopped vegetables though!

We all want change for the better on this board. But supermarkets are a fact of everyday life, and for the average person, they are a great help. You're not going to change anything by slagging of a supermarket or two. Coming up with constructive ideas and consumer education will, however, change things. It's a question of priorities - if your priority is UK food, ethically reared then you might choose Waitrose or M&S over Tesco; if your priority is cheapness, reliability or conveinience then you will choose Asda/Tesco/your local supermarket over Waitrose/M&S. And who are we to say that someone's choice is more valid than ours? By all means educate them as to your opinions, but to then hold supermarkets accountable for individual choices is lunacy.

IvanOpinion

chickenlady wrote:

I hear what you are saying, Ivan, and agree with much of what you say. We as consumers do have a responsibility. If we all stopped buying this stuff the supermarkets would certainly stop selling it.

However, many people are ignorant (maybe willfully so) of the environmental cost of what they eat and tend to feel that if the supermarkets sell it, it must be OK. People bury their heads in the sand, and will continue to do so for as long as they can get away with it.

The supermarkets are just one aspect of a society which puts money and profit above all else. If the supermarkets won't act more responsibly the Government needs to legislate to make them. What annoys me and lots of others is that the supermarkets pretend to be looking after the environment when they blatently are not.

Supermarkets (and the manufacturers are continually fighting against the government and in particular the EC ... why? ... generally because the EC continually panders the dumbest in society. A few years ago one could buy a little plastic bottle of 50 aspirin for a few pence .. now the EC dictates that they must be packed in layer after layer of plastic, paper and cardboard.

Supermarkets can only do so much in the same way as each and every consumer must do their bit as well. Yes stuff gets flown around the world but that is the result of a global and (semi) free economy in which we send loads of stuff offshore as well. It wasn't that long ago that I can remember the complaints because people could only get strawberries for a few months of the year .. now they are available pretty much throughout the year (albeit many of them seem to be of dubious quality).

Also you will have your boundaries as to what you think a supermarket should or should not be doing. An environmentalist friend of mine thinks all supermarkets should be banned and people should be made to WALK to farm shops and CARRY their groceries home (NO excuses). The same person also believes ALL cars should be banned .. extreme I know but it shows were someone elses boundaries are.

Ivan