MSE News: Nectar points cut in half at Sainsbury's and points for bag reuse scrapped 14 October 2014 at 1:10PM in Food shopping & groceries 71 replies 19.6K views

jrawle

Few people are mentioning the loss of Nectar points for re-using bags. It was already halved from 2 points per bag some time ago. Points for buying petrol but not for re-using bags doesn't really send out the right message. Having said that, the government are going to introduce compulsory charges for bags in England and Scotland in October next year.

As it is, I rarely see anyone re-using bags. It'll be interesting to see how they enforce the charge at self-service checkouts. Presumably they won't be able to have any bags left out and people will have to ask for them. The frustrating thing about Sainsbury's self-service tills is how sensitive they are. If you use your own bag, you will get "unexpected item" 50% of the time.

stator

jrawle wrote: »

Few people are mentioning the loss of Nectar points for re-using bags. It was already halved from 2 points per bag some time ago. Points for buying petrol but not for re-using bags doesn't really send out the right message. Having said that, the government are going to introduce compulsory charges for bags in England and Scotland in October next year.

As it is, I rarely see anyone re-using bags. It'll be interesting to see how they enforce the charge at self-service checkouts. Presumably they won't be able to have any bags left out and people will have to ask for them. The frustrating thing about Sainsbury's self-service tills is how sensitive they are. If you use your own bag, you will get "unexpected item" 50% of the time.

In my experience you're usually okay if you use 3 or less of the large reusable stiff sainsburys bags with fabric handles. If you use 4 it seems to be too much.

prowla

I don't let the points influence where I shop; the days of building up a good points balance for a nice purchase appear to be behind us.

Tesco's petrol points seem to be a decent deal, if you were going to shop there anyway.

Nectar have never been that good anyway, IMHO.

Smidster

jrawle wrote: »

Few people are mentioning the loss of Nectar points for re-using bags. It was already halved from 2 points per bag some time ago. Points for buying petrol but not for re-using bags doesn't really send out the right message. Having said that, the government are going to introduce compulsory charges for bags in England and Scotland in October next year.

As it is, I rarely see anyone re-using bags. It'll be interesting to see how they enforce the charge at self-service checkouts. Presumably they won't be able to have any bags left out and people will have to ask for them. The frustrating thing about Sainsbury's self-service tills is how sensitive they are. If you use your own bag, you will get "unexpected item" 50% of the time.

For me they have changed the bag rules in advance of the charge coming into force next year - especially now there are fees in both Wales and Scotland.

Don't expect Tesco to keep Green Points for bag reuse for much longer - take advantage while you can.

deely

They also have removed Nectar points from Spirits as they say it's the ruling about minimum price but Tesco still give points on their spirits - anyone know why?

A._Badger

deely wrote: »

They also have removed Nectar points from Spirits as they say it's the ruling about minimum price but Tesco still give points on their spirits - anyone know why?

I noticed this, too. Moreover, Sainsbury's was the leader in the last price-ramping routine and their own brand vodka (to cite just one example) is now a whole pound a bottle more expensive than Aldi's equivalent.

Yet another reason to wave a (not so) fond farewell to Sainsbury's.

prowla

deely wrote: »

They also have removed Nectar points from Spirits as they say it's the ruling about minimum price but Tesco still give points on their spirits - anyone know why?

Sainsburys aren't very competitive for buying drinks anyway; I rarely buy from them.

maman

deely wrote: »

They also have removed Nectar points from Spirits as they say it's the ruling about minimum price but Tesco still give points on their spirits - anyone know why?

It's the same sort of reason they gave for dropping the 5% on 6 bottles of wine. At the same time they were giving out till spits for alcohol. It's all a con. Just hiding behind the 'Drink Responsibly' banner to try to fool customers.


Don't they realise that the more they treat us like idiots the more we're likely to be alienated and vote with our feet.

Marksfish

I know this thread is about Sainsbury's, but the Nectar offer has been declining for a while now. We moved over to Nectar from the original Sainsbury's loyalty card some years ago. Back then, it was a good scheme and I got good points from BP, Amex and Sainsbury's, my 3 main points providers. Some years ago, BP reduced their points on fuel to 1 per litre from 2 per £ (when fuel became £1 per litre iirc), although you still get 2 points per £ in store. Last year Amex halved their points unless you pay £25pa for the higher scoring card. Now Sainsbury's are doing the same. With the annual shopping, my 50,000 miles per year and no company fuel card, I used to get about £300pa to spend in Sainsbury's at Christmas. With all the points reductions (and my now having a fuel card), last year we still managed about £180 chrimbo spend. This year (now the Amex cuts have kicked in), we are almost at December and we have just achieved £90. So it is going to big a big loss for me (again) when Sainsbury's cut their offering.

Andik1962_2

Just got told tonight that I can only spend £2.50 worth of our Nectar points at a time in Sainsburys. Anyone know about this? If so, really mean and will not bother collecting them any more