NOW OPEN: the MSE Forum 'Ask An Expert' event. This time we'd like your questions on TRAVEL & HOLIDAY DEALS. Post by Wed and deals expert MSE Oli will answer as many as he can.
Do you share food bargains or take the lot?
This discussion has been closed.
Latest MSE News and Guides
Replies
Ah well, I think I'd rather be civilized.
I remember shopping in m & S xmas 2009 and it must have been just before they were about to close for New Year perhaps hence there were lots of reductions being made and the lady that was making them was being followed by a hoard of people - I felt really sorry for her. and didn't bother to join the throng to get a "bargain"
M & s food is expensive to start off with so unless its a fantastic reduction then it can still be pricey and is not a bargain unless you wanted it in the first place or it is something you eat anyway. I'm always amused by the pudding reductions because at the bargain price - it only encourages you to eat more.... when you wouldn't have bought it at full price....
I do better in my local $ainsburys. I go in before my fitness class and look at the reductions - normally a third off and then go back after my fitness class when the items have been further reduced and get the real bargains then. eg 79p pack of coriander - 9 pence - £2.00 mango - 19 pence.
I don't agree that one person should claim all the bargains but it is very much a first come, first served scenario. Its rude to push and shove though and to hound the person making the reductions. I'm too polite unfortunately and wait for the item to be reduced and put back on the shelf - I don't have the nerve to take out the assistant's hand as soon as it has been reduced which means I miss out but hey I do get the odd bargain sometimes so I can't complain.
There was this one customer standing there (throughout the time she was doing it) waiting for her to finish so he could jump in the reductions first! Such a creep.
Glee Goodie Bag!
These are clearly noted on the signs and brochures.
For example, if a brand of butter is on sale, each customer is limited to 2 containers of butter.
When I was a cashier there, there were times when I had to take items away from customers and tell them they could't buy them because they were over the limit.
Of course, you will sometimes get a family of five coming in, with every member purchasing 2 containers of butter, but basically the system works well.
I don't know why UK shops don't institute this system as well. Often people who come in filling up their trolleys with sale items aren't the store's regular customers. They are there because they heard somewhere that there is a sale on x item at the shop. If it were cheaper elsewhere, they would go there. So by placing limits on the number of sales items you can buy, the store would be making things more pleasant for regular customers.
US stores also issue "rainchecks." If you come into a store to buy something on sale and there are no more in stock, you get a piece of paper (a raincheck) which says that when you come back after the sales is over, you get to pay for it at the sale price. This means that it is to the disadvantage of the supermarket to let a few people buy out all the items when they are on sale, because they will then have to issue lots of raincheck. I don't think I've ever seen this practice in the UK (have lived here almost 6 years).
It's really unfair of the store to allow a first-come, first-served policy because not everyone is able to go shopping at the same time. You could have one person who is home all day long and can get to the shop the day the sale starts, and another who works full time and can only get there the following weekend.
Regarding the race issue, I have had plenty of white people push in front of me to reach for something on the shelf before I could get to it. Rudeness is colour-blind.
Of course rudeness is colour blind but it is also obvious that there is no such thing as patiently queue-ing in some cultures and some countries.
In Britain we are a nation of queue-ers, however not all those who have been welcomed to these shores practice this.
I can sort of understand the 'good for her' attitude, but Id have done what you did and left a few for the people behind, especially if there were other people at the fridge. If it was something that we really like/eat I'd probably have taken half of it, or a few more if there was nobody else there obviously wanting it. Don't see why bargain hunting should be at the expense of courtesy myself!
Remember in M&S one Christmas when I had my children in a double buggy, an old lady literally shoving us out her way, I very loudly but politely told her to stop pushing us and to wait her turn like everyone else and where on earth had her manners gone! I absolutely loath people who are so rude.
thats fab, Go You!! x :beer: