Great 'supermarket staff, tell us your reduction policies' Hunt

lors71

mab30 wrote: »

hi all
new to this, but was interested in the 'use by' 'sell by' threads - please note that it IS illegal for a retailer to sell a product where the 'SELL BY' date has already expired - the fine is substantial and it may even be worth speaking to the retailer that you've identified a product that is due to expire, if they'd like to 'offload' it at a discount. The guerilla alternative is to make the purchase, leave the store and then contact the retailer stating that you've been sold goods unfit for consumption as they're beyond their legal SELL BY date.

I used to work for sainsburys and asda and Morrisons (for a week they were awful) and your point about asking a retailer if they would sell you an item say dated todays date at a reduced price,is a common sense suggestion,BUT reductions have to be accounted for and if its not on a reduction list its not getting reduced..thats why its still on the shelf un reduced .also try asking a shop floor member if they can reduce it and you can guaranteee it wont be their dept ,and they wont have a clue what your on about..and they will trot off to find someone to help(well actually they will go through the back to dither about and pretend to try to help)then come back and say "no sorry its not for reduction" or if your lucky you will find a manager on the shop floor who wont know how to do reductions either and give you some speel about stock loss reports...even if you buy it OOD they wont really care i have taken stuff back to Somerfield that was OOD,it was dried fruit i think and the rest of the OOD stock sat on the shelves for weeks after i returned my one(which peed me off as it was kids lunchbox stuff)...i got a sorry and a refund

mab30

hi Lors

thnx 4 the shout.
At least u got the refund - everyone must realise that sale after OOD (OOD - Out Of Date i.e. specifically after SELL BY date is a criminal offence - punishable by law) the penalties are serious and are PER OFFENCE, so if ya manage to buy several items, then EACH ONE is liable to prosecution if challenged. I'm not aiming to challenge a business' right to sell products, but from other posts, then some businesses are in flagrant violation of law - the challenge is out there to stop being ripped off - don't forget that some OOD products are not only perishable, but also high risk for food poisoning eg pies / some meats / pre-produced meals / rice - if the retailer is willing to sell an OOD high risk product, then they should be willing to face the legal consequences.

All - please comment???

fizz1987

hi all

my local tesco still reduces things to 10p
i got loads of fruit and veg and bread bacon sausages and put them in the freezer all at 10p@

purplepardalis

The M&S I go to almost every day is the one on Moorgate (round the corner from where I work). They reduce some fresh items almost everyday - usually sandwiches, prepared veg and ready meals. By contrast, the M&S Simply Food at Waterloo station which must be only a mile or two away just takes it off the shelf and dumps it in the lockable bins out the back. Which has always really bugged me due to the number of homeless people in the local vicinity. If Pret can take their unsold sandwiches to feed the homeless each night then why can't M&S? What a waste. Especially after seeing packs of prawns that have been carefully grown in Thailand by people earning pence per day being thrown out. This blatant waste really gets on my nerves!!!

Suzanna1004

purplepardalis wrote: »

The M&S I go to almost every day is the one on Moorgate (round the corner from where I work). They reduce some fresh items almost everyday - usually sandwiches, prepared veg and ready meals. By contrast, the M&S Simply Food at Waterloo station which must be only a mile or two away just takes it off the shelf and dumps it in the lockable bins out the back. Which has always really bugged me due to the number of homeless people in the local vicinity. If Pret can take their unsold sandwiches to feed the homeless each night then why can't M&S? What a waste. Especially after seeing packs of prawns that have been carefully grown in Thailand by people earning pence per day being thrown out. This blatant waste really gets on my nerves!!!

M&S used to donate all the food going out of date to homeless shelters until someone got ill (obviously it could not be proved it was from something that was donated to the shelter) and since then its stopped - I can understand M&S policy as its just asking for compension claims

Doc_N

suzanna1004 wrote: »

M&S used to donate all the food going out of date to homeless shelters until someone got ill (obviously it could not be proved it was from something that was donated to the shelter) and since then its stopped - I can understand M&S policy as its just asking for compension claims

There are ways round this, legally and practically - Pret obviously take the appropriate measures to protect themselves.

M&S should be ashamed of themselves that they haven't bothered to take the same steps, so that some benefit can be obtained from all the food that they're wasting every day. But then, M&S these days is a shadow of its former self - with Waitrose taking away a lot of its food trade and Primark etc taking its clothing sales. It's lost its way, and I'm very glad I ditched my M&S shares some time back!

Thriftybynature

My local Tesco is a 24 hour one but they throw away all the reduced stuff by 10pm which horrifies me - things like spuds would last for ages and surely they could donate it to a charity provided there was some sort of agreement that the food was cooked that same night. I had previously thought Freegans (skip divers) were a bit odd but after being told I couldn't take things off the trolley that was intended for the skip I now fully agree with them. Not dared do it myself yet though, I need a partner in 'crime' to egg me on.

(mild) rant over!

The SA who was removing the stuff to be binned did look embarrassed when he said it gets binned and told me that around 9.30pm they start removing stuff and by 10pm it's all in the skip.

I would think a lot more about a supermarket if I heard they donated food to charity instead of binning it.

WickedAunt

Tesco stores in Hertfordshire don't reduce items as much as they used to - like other folk posting in this forum, I've found very few items reduced below £1 in the past year. Same goes for Sainsbury's.
Asda in Hatfield doesn't make large reductions, but it is worth going into Asda in Stevenage in the evening. Food is often reduced and bakery items may be available marked down to 10-50p. However, the main 'reduction' fridge has just been removed.
M&S in WGC and Stevenage do mark down food items for customers.

geordie_joe

mab30 wrote: »

hi all
new to this, but was interested in the 'use by' 'sell by' threads - please note that it IS illegal for a retailer to sell a product where the 'SELL BY' date has already expired - the fine is substantial

Not according to these sites

http://www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/environment/food/standards/sellby_displayuntil.htm

and

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/foodlabels/asksamlabellingrules/

Care to tell us why you believe otherwise?

mab30

apols
when the Sell By and the Use By have both expired, then that's the illegal bit - true, Sell by is a retailer guide - but if there's a short life / high risk product, then it should have Sell By + Use By to give the consumer a defined date after which the item should neither be available for sale or consumption, rather than Sell By + Best Before which is more vague.