Increased food wastage at Co-op!!

PasturesNew

Feral_Moon wrote: »

Well, the last few evenings I've gone in and reductions have been just 20p-30p off the original price despite being on their last use-by date an hour before the shop closes. I put it down to lazy staff at first and walked away as I wasn't prepared to pay almost full price for items at the end of their shelf life.

Anyway, tonight it was the same again. The fridge was packed with all manner of fresh food dated today (9th Jan) yet still hadn't had a second reduction to clear them at end of day. I asked the checkout guy what time they were doing second reduction and he told me there wasn't going to be one!

Apparently, it's new policy (not sure whether store specific or nationwide) not to make huge reductions and staff aren't allowed to override the gun price. So, huge piles of edible food are now ending up in the bins every night as no one is buying the higher price reductions.

It's been like that in a lot of shops for years. I never see YS items less than a few pence off stuff, even 10-15 minutes from when the shop's closing.

It's always annoying when others seem to live near a shop that yields a golden goose for 20p for them each day, when others of us know that's not our local experience.

It does make you spit. I guess it's, in part, due to the Internet and information sharing sites/forums, telling everybody and his dog to go out for the bargains, causing shops to be more cynical of their customers' motivations.

True Dog in a Manger stuff.....

Feral_Moon

PasturesNew wrote: »

It's been like that in a lot of shops for years. I never see YS items less than a few pence off stuff, even 10-15 minutes from when the shop's closing.

It's always annoying when others seem to live near a shop that yields a golden goose for 20p for them each day, when others of us know that's not our local experience.

It does make you spit. I guess it's, in part, due to the Internet and information sharing sites/forums, telling everybody and his dog to go out for the bargains, causing shops to be more cynical of their customers' motivations.

True Dog in a Manger stuff.....

In supermarkets in local towns this has always been the case, you get pot luck reductions if you happen to be lucky enough to be there at the right time.

I'm talking about a village location here, or rather a chain of local villages, each of which has a Co-op store supplying the entire region.

It will only take me minutes to investigate whether this is store specific, local or nationwide. If I discover it's store specific then HO will be dutily notified.

HornetSaver

Pot luck is generally the way to do it from the SM's perspective. I used to go to one of the big three like clockwork to bargain hunt a certain type of product. Now it seems that they will reduce earlier and shallower when there's high volume, and virtually last knockings and giving it away when they're only trying to shift dribs and drabs. Unless they're short staffed, in which case they'll do it when the heat dies down.

As for this case, there could be any number of reasons. It could be that if they're going to make a loss they'd rather give some to homeless shelters. They may have a deal with approved food or similar, making it counterproductive to offer discounts above a certain level. The staff may get first dibs at rock bottom discounts (I have heard reliable accounts of this being the case in recent past in bakery and fruit/veg sections of two of the more upmarket food retailers). Or the company may genuinely have decided that short term waste will lead to more accurate buying forecasts and therefore less short dated stock in the longer run.

Most of the plausible reasons are good ones, just unfortunately ones that don't work to a bargain hunter's advantage.

Altarf

Feral_Moon wrote: »

So, huge piles of edible food are now ending up in the bins every night as no one is buying the higher price reductions.

I'm absolutely disgusted at this, especially in light of Hugh's War On Waste campaign!

If you were actually concerned that food is being wasted then you would do the honourable thing and buy any food that is close to the sell by date, irrespective of the price, to prevent it being thrown away.

Since you have chosen not to buy the food, then you are contributing to the waste of food, and really you are just moaning about no longer getting a bargain.

knightstyle

We have a Morrisons near us which does the same, just a few pence off before binning a lot of stuff. Yes it all goes in the bin!
However the Morrisins 8 miles away reduces prices 2 or 3 times to a fraction of the original price and most of it sells. Our DD lives near it and now gets us lots of bargains.
When I asked our Morrisons why this happens they say it is the area managers decision.

Altarf

knightstyle wrote: »

We have a Morrisons near us which does the same, just a few pence off before binning a lot of stuff. Yes it all goes in the bin!
However the Morrisins 8 miles away reduces prices 2 or 3 times to a fraction of the original price and most of it sells. Our DD lives near it and now gets us lots of bargains.
When I asked our Morrisons why this happens they say it is the area managers decision.

Another demonstration that people are not in the slightest concerned about food waste, but only in getting a bargain.

ThemeOne

I must admit if my only choice of shopping was the Co-op, I think I'd be quite keen to get reduced items too, since their normal prices are so high.

Ronaldo_Mconaldo

It's their business, they can do what they like.

societys_child

Ronaldo_Mconaldo wrote: »

It's their business, they can do what they like.

This ^ if the shop has too many regular last minute scavengers they make a loss because these "customers" never buy the items at a normal profitable price (which is the reason the shop exists in the first place)
Should imagine the shop isn't particularly bothered if the very angry op shops there or not, it's not a charity.

antrobus

DCFC79 wrote: »

Email the co op and tell them your views.

The Co Op have signed an agreement to send any food waste to Fareshare, so either someone isn't actioning this or the staff you have asked aren't in the know that the waste goes to Fareshare.

If your entirely sure it is just binned then email the Co Op as I say.

You have misunderstood.

The deal with FareShare relates solely to surplus food from warehouse depots.

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/press/press-releases/Food/the-co-operative-food-commits-to-redistributing-a-million-meals/

Food waste from retail stores is covered by a separate deal with Biffa.

http://www.co-operative.coop/corporate/press/press-releases/Food/The-Co-operative-in-drive-to-divert-all-food-store-waste-from-landfill1/