Elite 11+ shopping and chat thread

Tinyshoes

purpledonkey wrote: »

They are usually just next to or below the minis. I found two more earlier and got another mini to make it £3.

I was planning to have a low/no spending day until saw them. There's a nice little place to park for free outside of the congestion charge zone in London for 2 hours - my mum was bored and I wanted to Pokemon hunt, so we took a packed lunch and went to Tower Hill, used our Costa points to get a free drink and the went to Ms. Thanks Aau, now have about 20 packs of sprinkles/mini marshmallows

That was good thinking batman :T

Ladyshopper

purpledonkey wrote: »

They are usually just next to or below the minis. I found two more earlier and got another mini to make it £3.

I was planning to have a low/no spending day until saw them. There's a nice little place to park for free outside of the congestion charge zone in London for 2 hours - my mum was bored and I wanted to Pokemon hunt, so we took a packed lunch and went to Tower Hill, used our Costa points to get a free drink and the went to Ms. Thanks Aau, now have about 20 packs of sprinkles/mini marshmallows

This made me laugh! Pokemon hunting is obviously a big problem at train stations, as when I went to London yesterday both at my home station and Euston the tv screens had signs on them about Pokemon hunting and how dangerous train tracks were!

josie_ann57

MKS wrote: »

Had a go tonight. Enjoyed it, thanks for the recipe. Will put a little less soy sauce in next time. Any more recipes, gladly received.

Glad you liked it, I use light soy sauce. I'm making it tomorrow as my brother is staying over on Thursday and there will be plenty left over and taste nicer the next day.

auto.armadillo

izzy65 wrote: »

Hi AA, I must admit in years past mine had the leftover mince, and actually anything that the kids left made it the dogs bowl:o, since it's become more widely known, thanks to the tinternet, we are very careful what max gets, I did have a girl who loved grapes too, we would share a bunch , was reading earlier today and there is even advocado on the no no list , feeding the kids was easier.:)

lol yeah mine love fresh fish with carrots and broccoli and I also give them shreddies with whatever milk substitute carton is cheap eg rice dream and I occasionally treat them to pizza x

davemorton

Ladyshopper wrote: »

Have a lovely time.
I stopped there on one of my cruises, seemed a really nice place.

I might just have overdone it on the alcohol I've bought to smuggle on in my rum runners. Hope I don't get caught or I will have a lot of explaining to do!! :eek::rotfl:

If I don't get caught, the party will definitely be in my cabin. :beer:

How did you decide to smuggle your booze in the end?

purpledonkey

Ladyshopper wrote: »

This made me laugh! Pokemon hunting is obviously a big problem at train stations, as when I went to London yesterday both at my home station and Euston the tv screens had signs on them about Pokemon hunting and how dangerous train tracks were!

:rotfl: Emma and I were talking about that the other day. We make sure we triple check crossing the road as we don't want to be the muppets who injure ourselves playing that game. Alexandra Palace also has one of those signs... and lots of Squirtles (not a euphemism). How was your trip?

Savvybuyer

preciousillusions wrote: »

Wondering if someone might be able to answer a question for me relating to Tesco's Brand Guarantee that I can't quite figure out from the terms. Basically, are reduced (yellow sticker) items supposed to be included? Terms state 'price cut' products are but not 'reduced to clear' ones. So which category do everyday items that are reduced come under for the brand guarantee? I assumed reduced to clear and so they'd be discounted from being compared.

However today I had the reduced price from Tesco counted and compared against S, M & A, meaning I lost out as T was cheaper. Confused.

I think you are getting confused between RTC at T and RTC at the competitors. The terms mean that TBG should not compare against RTC prices of a competitor. In simple terms, they won't match an RTC price of a competitor and you'll end up paying more! The complex version, however, is later as that's not entirely true.

Where an item is reduced at T (it could be RTC or could be any reduced item such as a whoopsie), it should compare against the standard price at the competitor if it is a branded item. This will almost certainly be more expensive than T and you'll end up having your discount reduced - in effect, if everything else was cheaper at the competitor in a target shop, you'll pay T the standard competitor price (which could be full price) for the item and not the whoopsied price you thought at all! Price matching is not always a good thing - they match higher prices of competitors too!

As I understand it, all grocery items (that is all items that T sells that aren't excluded under the terms) are included, whether reduced or not. This means you should avoid buying any branded items (non-T own label) on a targeted shop that are reduced in T (lest you end up paying the competitor's full price for them!). Simple way is to avoid all reduced branded items, unless you are absolutely sure that the competitor does not sell the same item.

It's normally seen as 'safe' to buy reduced own label stuff as own label should not compare. Nonetheless, we did have recently a case where some own label eggs, that should not have been compared as they weren't branded, picked up the competitor's own label item in error. That was a glitch on the system. So, they shouldn't compare but there's no absolute guarantee that they won't. Normally however it won't be any issue and own label reduced is safe. Basically, you ought to have done all the calculations in advance and know precisely what your total of the items you hope to get at competitor's prices (or better if glitched) and the T own label or non-comparables should be charging you and, if the till wants more money than you've already in advance worked out that you should pay, then clearly something is wrong and I'd abandon the whole transaction.

Now the complex version about TBG not including the RTC prices of a competitor. I think this would relate to Tvs M as prices for A and S are taken from online and they don't have RTC items online. TBG says it does not compare against RTC of a competitor. However, if an item is RTC in M but the price collection Ms do not contain any indication of that on the SEL, then I don't see how the collectors would know to exclude it and therefore I think it is possible that TBG could compare against RTC prices unknowingly in this situation. If an item is marked as RTC in their M or Ms however, whichever ones they have it in, then it should not compare. This does not rule out the possibility of human error including it. So, if you have an item that is on better reduction than the RTC price of M, then you may include the item in your shop and, hopefully, it will be excluded. This would be for the real experts however as you never know what they might pick up (maybe four times as high full price as the only store they had it in was an M that hadn't changed its SEL:rotfl::(). Or they might be N/A anyway if they do not have the product in any of their three Ms.

On a separate matter, I think my TBG vs M list (incorporated within "Buy in M") is going to be pretty hit and miss. I suspect if you bought all the italicised items, they might have half or more of them fail to compare against M and return N/A:(. Some of these items I have in only one out of my six stores. TBG checks half of that number, so someone can work out what the chances are that of an item in only one of six stores, what proportion of sets of three within that fail to include that one store versus the proportion that manage to hit it? The Brioche Croissants look good for a fail - as I've no doubt they'll have been available at £1 on Monday in an M that failed to display a SEL - most Ms it seems have now shifted the stock and removed their SEL: I had no trace of the product from six Ms on Monday and I'll be removing the item tomorrow if I have no trace again (in all six I intend to do - all different to Monday's so no foregone conclusion) as the last BB date I had was Monday.

I had this image late last night, when I finally returned from M, of some M, somewhere in the country, that forgot to put up a SEL, clearing them all out at whoopsie time at much cheaper than £1. I just had the image of a load of croissants at some M hundreds of miles away that I've never visited doing this but I wasn't there to see it!:rotfl::rotfl:

The Frijj 4 pack chocolate milkshake is the other good one. I am having trouble on some chilled items these days. I found this on Monday in only one of the six stores - and the stock was there without a SEL. It was, of course, still £2 - I checked at SS! - and use by dates on stock of 15th and 16th September. So, they will still be in some M, somewhere, on the next price collection day and I've no doubt that they will be unchanged in price - especially if they haven't shifted them through not showing a SEL (so that, even if TBG was in such a store, I think it couldn't get a price - if so, if you targeted M you'd end up paying T's higher price). However, with me only having a single store that had them now - and having to use six stores before I found that - TBG maybe has half the chance of having a store with it, let alone having one that has a price SEL that can actually be picked up. I suspect it's highly likely this product is now in none of the TBG collection stores - if it ever was in any of them in the first place.

I've gone on for a while now, about something else. However, in short, avoid branded whoopsies and other branded reduced items on a target shop in T. Don't get confused about the exclusion of RTCs - it's talking about not matching competitor's reductions. So, if that's so, and if T doesn't have an even better reduction, then my riposte to T is: well, I'm shopping at the competitor for them then:p. Of course, neither do they really care at all I suspect - as customers generally do not behave this way and simply shop at a store, unaware of competitor price or offers, and simply hope for the best. Indeed, the TBG may give them the impression they don't need to worry to check competitor prices as T does it all for them:doh:. In fact, in my view, the price schemes increase, not remove, the need to shop around as, unless you target shops and know all the prices, you will end up paying a competitor's price on items that compared against that competitor where the overall competitor came out with them the most difference below T, including getting, in effect, all of the competitor's higher-priced items, which compared, at those higher prices. You'll also pay T the full T shelf price (assuming that is correct) on all items that did not compare against the 'best' competitor, even if they are branded items that are cheaper at another competitor.

But, anyway, avoid branded whoopsies/reduced branded items on a TBG shop. Own label whoopsies/reductions should be safe and normally are. It's good now that your T own label whoopsies loaf of bread at 9p should not compare against anywhere and should be a good filler if found. However, don't go putting a Warburtons loaf (or any other brand) at 9p into your shop as doubtless you will pay full £1 price or even higher for that depending on what the price of non-reduced stock at the competitor is at that time. And don't go buying items that are on RTC elsewhere and (usually therefore) much cheaper than T's price - as they should be N/A so you will end up paying much more if that's so, so buy them at the competitor!:D

Those are the rules (as far as I understand them) for TBG - and they don't always follow their own rules in cases of technical failure etc. The rules for APG are different. There, items do not count and do not appear and are not one of your eight items, if they appear as "REDUCED" on your receipt - basically this should be store-specific whoopsies. However, items on reduced price in your A, which are lower price than online, do appear at that lower price and will reduce your APG accordingly if the competitor is much more expensive than the price you paid (unless there is a mbuy online and you buy the mbuy number - in which case your reduced items should compare from much higher mbuy price, which may be to your advantage). So, on APG, store-specific whoopsies should be safe (make sure the reduced sticker is scanned though rather than the SA scanning the normal BC and then reducing the price:() - however there is no point buying them on a shop to get the eight items as they do not count. They need to be described as "REDUCED" on the receipt. Otherwise, in other words if your receipt does not say "REDUCED", then if they are grocery items they should appear on the comparison:( if they are in stock on a.com. If they are OOS on .com, they may still appear for up to a week and may give rise to an mbuy glitch if part of an mbuy and you buy the mbuy number, however if they are got at reduced price that price will invariably be identified as it's going by the individual price you pay and not the mbuy that fails to appear when an item part of an mbuy is OOS on a.com but still in the system as it's not yet at the date at which it's dropped off. Then, at that point, once it has been unavailable online for so long for it to have dropped off the APG altogether, you'd be okay buying the item, for it not to appear and compare (almost inevitably against a competitor's much higher price), that was no longer on .com or had been OOS for so long that it was now a no appear.

elainemn

Good morning everyone

underperky

Good morning

Serendipitious

Good morning all