Where did all the 'Whoops' go?

SammyFace

Over the last couple of months I've noticed a real drop in the amount of 'Whoops' offers in my usual supermarkets.

When in the Co Op last week in the middle of the afternoon an assistant was busily removing all the reduced items from the 'Whoops' section. I asked her if I was too late and she told me that the 'manager was being weird'.

Has anyone else noticed a real drop in the bargains? Are they just disappearing or have I just been unlucky? I love the challenge of snapping up the bargains and turning them into tasty meals.

Middy

Could be that store.

My store, has plenty of whoops and each store has a different policy. At the store I work, you can pick up whoops with a third off at lunchtime. Then by 5pm, they are reduced again. The next store up the road, only have reductions after 6pm.

sharloid

I think stores are probably being more cautious with how much they order or something.

I used to get bag loads of bread loaves/rolls reduced to 2p/5p/10p in Asda but now the cheapest they get are 30p, it's just not the same!

geordie_joe

My local Morrisons changed it reductions policy ages ago. Instead of waiting until the end of the day, for most items, and reducing them a lot, to reducing them by a small amount at the beginning of the day.

As an example, a pack of pork chops at £1.99 and sell by today. They use to wait until 6ppm then reduce them to 50p. But now they reduce them to £1.95 at 8am, and some ferker buys them!!!!!!

The management say they are making more money by doing this, but I'm not so sure.

I think the only way anyone would buy a £1.99 pack of chops that had been reduced to £1.95 is if they came in to buy them in the first place. So they may be buying the ones reduced by 4p, but now they won't buy the full price ones they came in for.

I can't see anyone going into the shop, not to buy chops, and grabbing them because they are such a bargain.

danandjens_worldtravels

Our local Tesco has hardly any and not nearly as much off in the past two or three months.

We've noticed that they are only about half price, rather than the pennies they have been for the past year and less choice of products. I think they are lowering the prices earlier and letting the goods go over a longer period rather than a dramatic drop at 5pm.

Its certainly costing more!

Storck

Our local Tesco do the following. They scan everything the night before if it is on todays date. If there is loads and loads of it then they get reduced then for the following day. The next morning they reduce everything else on that date 30% off, repeat at 4pm 65%, repeat at 8pm 80%. Remove everything just before 10pm and skip it.

Microwave_Dinner

My nearest Sainsburys reduces stuff gradually throughout the day, a bit in the morning then more drastically at 5pm. Having said that, sometimes they reduce stuff a couple of days before the BBE

wendym

A couple of times I'd been in M&S the day after the Meal Deal finished, and the leftovers were all half price. I was in my local M&S this morning, and anything left over was back to full price. Was I just lucky the first couple of times? Have they changed their policy nationally, or is it just my store? It's never a source of bargains.

Storck

Probably depends on how many they have got left and if they think they will sell through.

neveranymoney

I totally agree, SammyFace. I used to be able to find real bargains all the time, wether in Tesco, Asda or Sainsburys and now find it really difficult to find anything. I definitely think the stores have cottoned on to the fact that more and more people are struggling with grocery bills and are buying whoopsied items. 50p off a packet of mince or a £3 pizza is not good enough!!! The last I got anything to write home about was just after Christmas when the shops obviously had a surplus of stuff - fancy hams and huge bags of potatoes for 10p etc. Just waiting now until Easter is over and hopefully it will be the same!

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

I agree, I have just got back from my usual wednesday morning foray to whoopsie land (aka co-op) and found nowt. I refuse to pay nearly £2 for a loaf od bread so luckily have my breadmaker on stand by and a sh!tload of flour.

I think there are 2 options here...either the supermarkets are ordering less to avoid overstock that needs reducing, or people are cottoning onto the fact that OOD stuff gets reduced.

Be afraid...be very afraid...