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

Treaco

Every Sunday afternoon our Lidl store put all the stuff going out of date on the Monday out the front of the store for you to take for nothing, many a Sunday I've had Chickens, cold meat, cakes, pork chops, pasties, pies all for nothing. It's well worth a trip if you have a lidl.

eagle_eye

SilverLiz wrote: »

Does anyone get good food reductions in their local Marks&Spencer store?

I don't see many in our local Felixstowe store but I do see trolleys stacked with food taken off the shelves to be reduced. I asked an assistant when they would go on the shelves and was told that these reductions were for staff only.

Is this the M&S policy nationwide? If so - lucky staff but poor show for the customers who keep the stores open.

My M&S store in Hertford does something similar. They put the produce out for a while but a couple of hours before closing most of it gets removed. Worse still the reductions are in multiples of 50p so you will never get anything really cheap.

marvell-kid

Waitrose Stevenage: has a similar policy to many other retailers.

Stock that needs to be sold by the end of the day will be reduced by these amounts:
25% the morning off (sometimes the night before) - still on shelf
50% after the lunchtime rush (around 1/2 o'clock) - still on shelf
75%+ 2 hours before close (mon-sat) - in a trolley near checkouts

Please note: as someone has said above, following the person reducing, asking if they are going to reduce an item anymore is very annoying. And because of this they might take the stock off the shop floor to reduce rather than do it while walking around.

Final reductions may be had in the last 30minutes before close. Also the final reductions can vary depending on the staff member doing the reducings and the duty manager in charge.
Some stock that has accidently been delivered or dry goods that have only a few weeks left may be reduced and left near the checkouts - good bargains on healthcare and crisps can be found here.

Reverbe

Taffy can you answer a guess as to why the M&S staff member refused to sell me a YS item rather than bin it?

voiceofreason

Reverbe wrote: »

Taffy can you answer a guess as to why the M&S staff member refused to sell me a YS item rather than bin it?

Because you were gobby and wound them up?

anguk

Reverbe wrote: »

james most of the things on our Tescos reduced shelf have always been over a £1 still. Occasionally my flatmate has found breadrolls etc for 10-30p but it is very rare.To me it is no wonder it is still there from the night before as some ppl say they can get things for a few pence while our MrT still charges over £1-£2 for each item.

It's the same at my local Tesco, they knock very little off the price. I was in the store once 10 minutes before it closed, there was a fresh chicken on the reduced shelf use by that day. They'd only knocked 50p off the price! Yet my son will tell me of all the bargains like legs of lamb for £1.50 etc that he gets from his local store.

DCFC79

Well sainsbury's is a third(but depends how much of an item(fresh, produce, meat and fish) there is as the reduction could be larger) at start of trade and then as the day goes on its reduced further and if there is still alot of a certain line then even more is reduced. Anything that is left nearer close is reduced even further to 50p. Brought in bread eg hovis etc isnt reduced though.

on the note about following the staff around i had that problem at sainsburys but i cant say ive seen it happen in a bigger sainsburys store i regulary shop at

I dont think it matters much to sainsburys if they sell everything thats going out of date on that day as whats left at end of day is sent to a incinerator as such which burns the foodstuffs and the energy created is used to power a depot

tabskitten

i would like to thank this thread as the points of view from the discount staff have made me make sure that i am courteous to the staff and other shoppers from now on when waiting for the end of day reductions.

Today i grabbed 3 loaves of discounted bread and then a lady came up behind as i was about to make off with them but i stopped and asked her if she wanted me to share. She thanked me and took a loaf and i got a real ''feel good , good deed'' feeling.

thomas0735

I work in Tesco in N Wales which is not a 24hr store and closes at 10pm, in the fresh food department (covering fruit & veg, dairy, fresh food and bakery). The policy we have is that at 7pm the night before someone goes around looking for things that are on the following days date and with a computer. A list is then made of what is to be reduced the following day, but if there are more of a single item then are expected to be sold, then they will be reduced by 25% that night but left on the shelves, anything that is on that day that has been missed by the daytime staff will then be reduced by 75% for a quick sale. Then at 12pm the following day someone will go around with the list and reduce everything on it by 25%. At 5pm they will be reduced by 50% and at 7pm anything left will be reduced by 75%

On Christmas Eve, as our store is closed Christmas Day and Bosing Day then anything with the sell by date of 24th, 25th and 26th December will be reduced.

kevanf1

There seems to be some confusion about dates on foods. I believe, and I am willing to apologise if I have this wrong, that both 'sell by' and 'best before' dates are purely for the retailer. The one date the consumer should take notice of is the 'use by' date. I also believe it is the 'use by' date that has a legal implication attached to it. The other date notices do not carry any legal implications.

Here's a link from the 'Food Standards Agency' that gives clear legal guidelines:

http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/asksam/foodlabels/asksamlabellingrules/#A219994

Sorry, I couldn't get a tiny url to work for some reason.

Hope this is of some help to everybody.

Kevan