Tesco =Hypocritical

SusanCarter

se999 wrote:

Some people are very ratty on this thread.
Susancarter - Local shops. The nearest shop is a 4 mile round trip, and limited range and pricey, there is a small town about 10 mile round trip, with a small supermarket limited range & pricey. We do try to combine shopping with our normal trips when we're there too. Using either of the alternative shops is not as enviromentally efficent as a multiple drop off point van, and would be too expensive to be used other than for odd items.

I was not being "ratty" whatever that means. I was just wondering whether you had any alternatives. For all I knew, you hadn't considered using shops other than Tesco hence the inconvenience of it being ten miles away. On the other hand, maybe Tesco was the only shop for ten miles (or for ten miles in a direction you would travel anyway). I just asked - I didn't lambast you for using Tesco.

Obviously there are a lot of factors to consider such as how far you would travel to a shop compared with the extra miles a delivery van would do vs. the environmental impact of the food etc. you are buying. For example a four mile special trip to a shop could be better if all the produce is local rather than being jetted around the world.

There are many factors to consider and these include practicalities (hence my qualification about taking your own stuff with you) so I cannot (and would not take it upon myself to) comment on whether your particular choices are right. You presumably are trying to do the right thing or you would not be so defensive about this situation where Tesco seems to be the only choice.

My comment about taking food with you was meant as a general comment which might be helpful to anybody reading the forum.

IvanOpinion

gromituk wrote:

Yes, my point was that on the one hand you absolve supermarkets of all environmental resposibility for what they sell, but on the other you expect them to act responsibly in their provision of polythene bags.

I do not absolve supermarkets or anyone else of their responsibilities to society and future generations however we live in a global economy were sanctions and surcharges are frowned upon. I always wondered why New Zealand can grow top quality lamb and ship it half way round the world for less than we pay for home grown varieties. I am a great fan of supporting British and Irish products but sometimes the market can not be met. I have heard that sometimes produce gets on a plane travels to somewhere central only to be put on a plane back to were it first started ... wasteful and silly but you can not blame that on supermarkets .. they have to buy from the suppliers.

If people don't purchase the product the supermarket will soon enough stop selling it therefore the onus is on the customer to shop more ethically ... a supermarket can only go so far. I reckon if supermarkets adhered to every single rule or request that they are asked to then the shelves would be empty.

Ivan

se999

Susan Carter this was my reply in post 37 which covered yours and Deanos's replies.

"Edit - The thread was originally about Tesco's, my post was about an aspect of their operation which I found useful. Yours was to criticise the fact that I mentioned flying, and the other post I mentioned was also trying to criticise my actions, neither was really about Tesco's. Why not assume that most people are trying to do the best they can next time."

Edit - Forgot to say your next guesses/excuses weren't any more accurate.

gromituk

IvanOpinion wrote:

I reckon if supermarkets adhered to every single rule or request that they are asked to then the shelves would be empty.

Indeed, which is why I am only suggesting that they allow their customers to make an informed choice about what they buy by labelling all their products with environmental information.

Contains_Mild_Peril

snu wrote:

P.S
If you are having trouble with getting about, on Tesco's website if you go to store locator you can search for stores with a free bus service near you. They give you a number to ring,i have only just discovered this - may be worth keeping in mind.

When my local monstrous Tesco Extra (and I do mean local - as in virtually on my doorstep, where there used to be a nice green play area for local kids) was controversially granted planning permission, one of the conditions was a free bus service to and from the town centre. They did indeed introduce a bus service, but it's not free, and I have a sneaking suspicion they may even by profiting directly from it.
While I can accept the point that stocking out-of-season foreign produce is driven by customer demand, a while ago local farmers protested outside Tesco because they were selling imported South American beef. Good quality Scottish beef was still available and is never out of season, just a bit more expensive than cheap imports (and since importing refridgerated foods from far-flung places is not cheap, we have to ask ourselves how it can still be cheaper. Are farming standards much lower? Is it simply a case of seriously underpaid workers?)

IvanOpinion wrote:

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 ...

No bags? Are you assuming, then, that customers will be packing their shopping directly from the trolley into their car in the supermarket car park? What about customers who have no car, or who choose, for environmental or maybe personal health reasons, to leave it at home? Those paper bags you see on American telly programmes are awkward, and you can only carry one, or maybe two at a push, at a time. Carrier bags have their place, but since biodegradable versions are now available, I think these should be used (with BB dates on them for the benefit of customers who reuse them)whenever "free" bags are provided, alongside the strong reusable bags for sale.

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

Plastic bottles are recyclable in theory, but many councils have no facilities to recycle them. Many are shipped to China, recycled into fabrics which are made into clothes which are then sent to British shops!

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

There are various reasons why so much food ends up in the bin. One is that individual consumers buy or cook too much at a time, and finish up binning leftovers. Another is that demand for produce which looks as it's "supposed" to can result in wastage of, for example, misshapen fruit and veg. Another is that EU farming subsidies combined with cheap imports of foods which are also produced domestically and demand for impossibly cheap food can result in farmers producing unsaleable food. Another is that supermarkets often bin huge quantities of perfectly good unsold food, rather than give it to the needy (as happens in parts of America), some even going so far as firing staff caught eating or taking it.
I've just heard a news item about Waitrose introducing a range of "ugly" fruit, mostly intended for cooking, which would otherwise be rejected because it's not a uniform size or shape.
If Tesco appear to be "going green" (a particluarly ironic phrase given their habit of building inappropriately on greenfield sites) it is for one reason and one reason only: to increase profits.

gromituk wrote:

Indeed, which is why I am only suggesting that they allow their customers to make an informed choice about what they buy by labelling all their products with environmental information.

Seems a perfectly reasonable request to me.

calleyw

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

I've just heard a news item about Waitrose introducing a range of "ugly" fruit, mostly intended for cooking, which would otherwise be rejected because it's not a uniform size or shape.

:T Sorry to take this O/T but about time.

I mean the strawberries I bought from my local greengrocers on saturday would never have made class I as they where all different strange shapes. They here british and where 59p for a huge punnet or I could have ones from somewhere in europe for £1.29p for a lot smaller punnet. But hey wherevery nice.

I don't care if my fruit and veg is not class I as long as it taste good. The other day I bought value apples from Asda (I know hang my head in shame)they where the size of tennis balls big and juicy and only 64p for a bag of 8.

So we shall see if other supermarkets follow suit.


Yours


Calley

Contains_Mild_Peril

I recently bought a bag of 8 "selected seconds" perfectly nice apples for 49p in Morrisons. Unfortunately, availability of their "selected seconds" is erratic.

IvanOpinion

gromituk wrote:

Indeed, which is why I am only suggesting that they allow their customers to make an informed choice about what they buy by labelling all their products with environmental information.

I see your point but what some people have not yet realised is that all the wonderful nutritional informaiton that we are now supplied with is starting to dictate package size .. by adding even more environmental information could actually have an adverse effect. What do you want it to say ... remembering that virtually every environmental agency might want to get its message across.

A line has to be drawn somewhere and the simple solution is for those with concerns to get their message across to the consumer thereby stopping them from buying products. At that point supermarkets will stop stocking them. Its all very well saying to stop apples from New Zealand (etc.) however some would go further and say to stop ALL non-UK apples to which the logical conclusion is we import nothing (no French wine, no cars, no clothes etc.) .. where is your line?

Ivan

IvanOpinion

Contains_Mild_Peril wrote:

Good quality Scottish beef was still available and is never out of season, just a bit more expensive than cheap imports (and since importing refridgerated foods from far-flung places is not cheap, we have to ask ourselves how it can still be cheaper. Are farming standards much lower? Is it simply a case of seriously underpaid workers?)

Farming standards abroad can be much lower than our local farmers who are forced into jumping through all sorts of hoops by the EC. The problem is customer education and not listening to the sensationalist media that had us all buying cheap unhygenic cuts of meat. According to a Tescos spokesman they imported less than 5% of their beef and that was only because the customer was demanding a cheaper product (I have no idea what other supermarkets did or did not do).

No bags? Are you assuming, then, that customers will be packing their shopping directly from the trolley into their car in the supermarket car park? What about customers who have no car, or who choose, for environmental or maybe personal health reasons, to leave it at home? Those paper bags you see on American telly programmes are awkward, and you can only carry one, or maybe two at a push, at a time. Carrier bags have their place, but since biodegradable versions are now available, I think these should be used (with BB dates on them for the benefit of customers who reuse them)whenever "free" bags are provided, alongside the strong reusable bags for sale.

My grandmother never drove and walked the 3 mile trip to the shops nearly everyday with her little string bag and got her groceries. When she could no longer carry that she got one of those little pull along baskets with wheels. Bags are not a necessity .. just a convenience .. they should be charged for.

Plastic bottles are recyclable in theory, but many councils have no facilities to recycle them. Many are shipped to China, recycled into fabrics which are made into clothes which are then sent to British shops!

Doesn't sound very environmentally friendly .. however, at the minute the majority (supposedly) still end up in landfill.

There are various reasons why so much food ends up in the bin. One is that individual consumers buy or cook too much at a time, and finish up binning leftovers. Another is that demand for produce which looks as it's "supposed" to can result in wastage of, for example, misshapen fruit and veg. Another is that EU farming subsidies combined with cheap imports of foods which are also produced domestically and demand for impossibly cheap food can result in farmers producing unsaleable food. Another is that supermarkets often bin huge quantities of perfectly good unsold food, rather than give it to the needy (as happens in parts of America), some even going so far as firing staff caught eating or taking it.

I am really not sure what your point is here .. irrespective of the list of various meaningful and meaningless excuses we bin approximately 25% of all our foodstuffs. Up and coming technology will however penalise the wasteful in society ... and not before time.

I've just heard a news item about Waitrose introducing a range of "ugly" fruit, mostly intended for cooking, which would otherwise be rejected because it's not a uniform size or shape.

This is just a marketing gimic ... nothing more. There is no problem in getting rid of 'ugly fruit and veg at the minute ... do you honestly think those that make jars of jam, canned fruit, canned veg etc. etc. care what it looks like before it goes in the can?

If Tesco appear to be "going green" (a particluarly ironic phrase given their habit of building inappropriately on greenfield sites) it is for one reason and one reason only: to increase profits.

You have a particular problem with one store however it could not have been built without the necessary planning permission (and just because you objected to it does not mean that it was put up illegally ... or they did not supply the necessary backhanders to the councillors). No matter were anybody builds there will always be complaints however I reckon if you took a straw poll of the thousands of customers that go to it many will be sympathetic but they will still think it is very convenient and overall be happy about it.

Ivan

SusanCarter

se999 wrote:

Susan Carter this was my reply in post 37 which covered yours and Deanos's replies.

"Edit - The thread was originally about Tesco's, my post was about an aspect of their operation which I found useful. Yours was to criticise the fact that I mentioned flying, and the other post I mentioned was also trying to criticise my actions, neither was really about Tesco's. Why not assume that most people are trying to do the best they can next time."

Edit - Forgot to say your next guesses/excuses weren't any more accurate.

Exactly. I was not "trying to criticise your actions". As I have explained I was merely enquiring as to other potential options. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "guesses/excuses" not being accurate as I have not made any guesses or excuses: I merely explained what my intention was in my previous comments as you had clearly misunderstood them. I have no objection to your having misunderstood my intention as this can easily happen with the written (rather than spoken) word and as I said before you are obviously trying to do the right thing because if you weren't then you wouldn't have been offended.

I did not know there was a rule that you were only alowed to discuss what was said in the OP and not what had been said in the thread. If you thought my post was wrong then you should have reported it to abuse so it could be removed instead of doing the same thing yourself.

I am not interested in having disputes about semantics or intended meanings etc as I am here to get advice on moneysaving/green and ethical moneysaving and to discuss it with others. I am unsubscribing from this thread and will not read any further resopnses. I am sorry if you have been offended but I cannot do anything about it if you won't believe it was not my intention.