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Elderly and vulnerable being 'unfairly discriminated against' as supermarkets shift to apps

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Comments

  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 8,261 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    SadieO said:
    Stangi said:
    I am quite tec savvy enough to use a 10 inch tablet (and enlarge font for cataracts), but cannot use a smartphone because of my arthritic digits, (tried friend's old one for three days, and pressed three on-screen letters instead of one every time I tried to text or type.)
    Have you tried a stylus? They are incredibly cheap eg here is 10 for £4
    https://amzn.eu/d/fyC1Eio
    I bought a cheap stylus.  It worked for about an hour then gave up.  It was fully charged.  
  • Farway
    Farway Posts: 15,485 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Homepage Hero Name Dropper
    SadieO said:
    Stangi said:
    I am quite tec savvy enough to use a 10 inch tablet (and enlarge font for cataracts), but cannot use a smartphone because of my arthritic digits, (tried friend's old one for three days, and pressed three on-screen letters instead of one every time I tried to text or type.)
    Have you tried a stylus? They are incredibly cheap eg here is 10 for £4
    https://amzn.eu/d/fyC1Eio
    I bought a cheap stylus.  It worked for about an hour then gave up.  It was fully charged.  
    ?? Must be at different stylus, the ones recommended were just a rubber tipped "prodder", similar to an eraser topped pencil.

    When an eel bites your bum, that's a Moray
  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 8,261 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Farway said:
    SadieO said:
    Stangi said:
    I am quite tec savvy enough to use a 10 inch tablet (and enlarge font for cataracts), but cannot use a smartphone because of my arthritic digits, (tried friend's old one for three days, and pressed three on-screen letters instead of one every time I tried to text or type.)
    Have you tried a stylus? They are incredibly cheap eg here is 10 for £4
    https://amzn.eu/d/fyC1Eio
    I bought a cheap stylus.  It worked for about an hour then gave up.  It was fully charged.  
    ?? Must be at different stylus, the ones recommended were just a rubber tipped "prodder", similar to an eraser topped pencil.

    It was a dupe for the Apple stylus pen.  They cost over £100.  My dupe was a lot less 😹
  • SadieO
    SadieO Posts: 481 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Yes I just meant the "prodder" type. You just use them instead of your finger to press the touch screen. Entirely phsyical, nothing to charge! 
  • A quick search on Amazon UK turned up an Android 10 smartphone at £70 ish.  Then there is connection cost.  I now do not use my house phone at all, thus saving on call costs and pay Plusnet £6 / month for unlimited calls/txts and 6GB data/month.  

    Unfortunately I think that having a smartphone is going to be a necessity in the very near future.  Already many banks are using a smartphone app for verification purposes.  Supermarkets are just following the direction of travel.....

    I am not that comfortable using a smartphone but if you use a PC/tablet then a smartphone is possible to work out though it can be different and not intuitive.

    I am ambilivant about this.  Waitrose should make it much, much easier to print out coupons.  BUT it is easy to use the smartphone to bring up the coupons and scan, and Waitrose has free WIFI too.

    I am intrigued by Tesco and their clubcard offers.  Not sure how sustainable that is as a business model because there does not seem to be a limit .....

    Maybe if you don't have/don't want a smartphone but want to take advantage of offers get a clubcard and shop at Tescos.....



    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ulefone-Note-8P-Smartphone-Full-Screen/dp/B088ZD6B3Q/ref=sr_1_11?adgrpid=52732307003&gclid=CjwKCAjwopWSBhB6EiwAjxmqDRk8esxxFWvXhXMMaaSK4rkl4we2zk6WISH5o5LJwb5XuEpM04tkEhoCp0EQAvD_BwE&hvadid=578427693997&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9045353&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3299907669047337765&hvtargid=kwd-296523122776&hydadcr=5084_2287809&keywords=cheapest+smartphone+uk&qid=1648735760&sr=8-11

    One of the issues is learning. My mum has HATED computers for years as she kept telling my dad and I (my dad liked gaming, even into his 80s and up to his passing) but mum has always hated them. Now he's gone she's realising she's going to have to learn but at 81 really struggles with anything technical. So even getting cheap smartphone, she'll struggle to know who to use it.

    The annoying part about all this is these large supermarkets coped with paper based before. But because their share holders want more and more profit, they're ignoring the old or people who just dislike tech and instead just concentrating on what is easier for them.

    Its much like self service. They know there is a large amount of theft with self service, even if its just not paying for a bag. But the cost savings on less staff out ways the shop lifting.
  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 8,261 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    steviebuk said:
    A quick search on Amazon UK turned up an Android 10 smartphone at £70 ish.  Then there is connection cost.  I now do not use my house phone at all, thus saving on call costs and pay Plusnet £6 / month for unlimited calls/txts and 6GB data/month.  

    Unfortunately I think that having a smartphone is going to be a necessity in the very near future.  Already many banks are using a smartphone app for verification purposes.  Supermarkets are just following the direction of travel.....

    I am not that comfortable using a smartphone but if you use a PC/tablet then a smartphone is possible to work out though it can be different and not intuitive.

    I am ambilivant about this.  Waitrose should make it much, much easier to print out coupons.  BUT it is easy to use the smartphone to bring up the coupons and scan, and Waitrose has free WIFI too.

    I am intrigued by Tesco and their clubcard offers.  Not sure how sustainable that is as a business model because there does not seem to be a limit .....

    Maybe if you don't have/don't want a smartphone but want to take advantage of offers get a clubcard and shop at Tescos.....



    https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ulefone-Note-8P-Smartphone-Full-Screen/dp/B088ZD6B3Q/ref=sr_1_11?adgrpid=52732307003&gclid=CjwKCAjwopWSBhB6EiwAjxmqDRk8esxxFWvXhXMMaaSK4rkl4we2zk6WISH5o5LJwb5XuEpM04tkEhoCp0EQAvD_BwE&hvadid=578427693997&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9045353&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=3299907669047337765&hvtargid=kwd-296523122776&hydadcr=5084_2287809&keywords=cheapest+smartphone+uk&qid=1648735760&sr=8-11

    One of the issues is learning. My mum has HATED computers for years as she kept telling my dad and I (my dad liked gaming, even into his 80s and up to his passing) but mum has always hated them. Now he's gone she's realising she's going to have to learn but at 81 really struggles with anything technical. So even getting cheap smartphone, she'll struggle to know who to use it.

    The annoying part about all this is these large supermarkets coped with paper based before. But because their share holders want more and more profit, they're ignoring the old or people who just dislike tech and instead just concentrating on what is easier for them.

    It’s much like self service. They know there is a large amount of theft with self service, even if it’s just not paying for a bag. But the cost savings on less staff out ways the shop lifting.
    I used to teach computing at evening classes.  It was a basic course and I had many pensioners who needed to get up to date with tech.  I finished the class early each week so we could have a question and answer session.

    Perhaps you could find a local class that could help.  Some of my students were her age 
  • thriftylass
    thriftylass Posts: 4,088 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    edited 23 October 2025 at 3:18PM
    I have a smart phone and am in my early 50s. But my data is never on (don't need it), I'm never logged in any apps and by the time I get to the till and someone is waiting behind me I can't be bothered to start all this. I have a screenshot of my arseda barcode but even that means opening my picture folder etc. Or maybe I should so that people get annoyed about what a hindrance this is. I will now try and print my app barcode and have that in my wallet, if they won;t take that they can wait the 5 min it takes me to open the app. I know I don't have a human right to discounts but why not have a physical card too like tescimo that you whip easily out while paying with your bank card. You'd entice more people to your shop. 
    03/26: OD £1200 600 500, CC £3914 3317, family £3100, loan £5618 5306 5036- total: £13832 12323 12003, mortgage £58,243 £57,766 57114
  • dinosaur66
    dinosaur66 Posts: 375 Forumite
    100 Posts Name Dropper First Anniversary

    i do not want to start a new thread so will ask on here how to get an iceland over 60s card/app

    i have been into 2 iceland shops to ask for the tuesday iceland over 60 card and they say they do not stock them and i have to download the app on your phone

    i tried but the app says my phone has to be an iphone 11 or newer ios17 capable

    my phone is an iphone 7

    the iceland website says the shop till staff should hand out the physical card

    i cannot see a way to order one from the iceland online menu it directs you to a digital download

    anyone been in my situation and got a card ?

  • General_Grant
    General_Grant Posts: 5,443 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    edited 13 March at 10:07AM

    You could try contacting them by "email" - there's a form to complete from the foot of this page -

    Customer Support | Iceland Contact Number

    It isn't a "tuesday iceland over 60 card": it's a Bonus Club card.

  • dinosaur66
    dinosaur66 Posts: 375 Forumite
    100 Posts Name Dropper First Anniversary

    thank you

    i tried that method but when i try to put in my date of birth it always just sends me back to the beginning

    tried different browsers and if i type it in manually or use the icon to put in the year it always sends me back to homepage

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