Supermarkets that stop doing products you like

[vincent1989]

What Morrisons tend to do very often, is put say a 2 for 1 offer on then put a very similarly packaged item on the shelf that isn't part of the offer. Either that or do half price on say something that is 210g and pack the shelf with versions that way say 170g so you don't notice. It's by far to frequent to be casual error.

i work on nights at sainsburys and believe me this isn't done on purpose, it's usually done by those less skilled at the job with poor literacy skills, the bane of my life , i must spend a good 30 minutes a night fixing problems caused by lazy colleagues.

 

[4T5]

another problem i've experienced is interfering ****ing managers who pull tickets off when something is out of stock and then fill the gap to make it look like there are no gaps on the shelves, because there are no gaps it wont be manually scanned and re-ordered and if the computerised system has inaccurate sales figures it may lead to the product not being brought back in until the independent stock check (upon which they discover there aren't actually any in stock and so order more). often if the back-stock isn't being worked efficiently it will exacerbate this problem.

You actually know what you are talking about don't you.

 

[vincent1989]

You actually know what you are talking about don't you.

yes

 

[DominicStar]

i work on nights at sainsburys and believe me this isn't done on purpose, it's usually done by those less skilled at the job with poor literacy skills, the bane of my life , i must spend a good 30 minutes a night fixing problems caused by lazy colleagues.

Ah well I take it back then, though I have never experienced it except in Morrisons hence the assumption.

 

[4T5]

i work on nights at sainsburys and believe me this isn't done on purpose, it's usually done by those less skilled at the job with poor literacy skills, the bane of my life , i must spend a good 30 minutes a night fixing problems caused by lazy colleagues.

You are wrong here though as it's Company policy to use the Branded products to kick sales off & then introduce Own brand in to replace it giving the company a bigger share of the profits for the item sold.

I do know what you mean about Numptys filling wrong though but if your Manager was any good he would Notice it & stop it happening.

 

[vincent1989]

You are wrong here though as it's Company policy to use the Branded products to kick sales off & then introduce Own brand in to replace it giving the company a bigger share of the profits for the item sold.

i've noticed it happening more this last year or so though, when i was working at sainsburys the first time (2005-2008) i noticed it much less which is why i blame the recession to an extent.

I do know what you mean about Numptys filling wrong though but if your Manager was any good he would Notice it & stop it happening.

you're right but again this wasn't happening (or or happening to such and extent) in my 05-08 stint. I think at the store i'm in now it's partially due to bad management but mostly due to staff cuts and new staff who are just out of school and after a bit of weekend beer money. In my opinion (based on 3 inductions) a decrease in the quality of training (the last 2 stores i've been in (out of 3) give you the answers to the questions in your training) is also partly to blame.

 

[4T5]

Training is a Complete Joke.
My Team leaders/Managers come up & just say Sign this.
All they are doing is passing on the responsibility for Health & Safety if anything happens, There is No actual training at all.

I have used my Induction training video to over rule Managers for ***** sake.
They come up to me & say one thing & I inform them that that is Not the way I was shown in the Induction video & I suggest they go watch it again.
Honestly the whole place is one big Front of BS.

 

[PiKe]

Can a mod change the thread title to Malc's venting thread please?

 

[apeZ]

Training is a Complete Joke.
My Team leaders/Managers come up & just say Sign this.
All they are doing is passing on the responsibility for Health & Safety if anything happens, There is No actual training at all.

Although I agree with this entirely, and I work in retail too, it is hardly a demanding job in terms of knowledge/training. Once you know how to work the stock and tills, there is little else you need to know unless you are gunning for the mighty 'till controller' position

 

[Vulcan]

Honestly the whole place is one big Front of BS.

Can I vent too?

My manager asks us to falsify wastage reports by purposely damaging out of date products, because damages aren't checked.

He also puts reduced priced stickers on out of date products and sticks them in the reduction area in the hope that customers don't notice. Very illegal.

 

[swanseajack]

Tesco own make curry flavour crisps, yummy but they stopped selling them around 1990

 

[Puppetmaster]

i used to work in a supermarket as was handling some areas of stock control. When people (be it managers or the people at the bottom) over face products and remove the ticket, really causes aggro. You get all sorts of customers having a go at you


My local tesco (Lewes) keeps stopping stuff i like too. They used to sell some really nice baked bean and sausage pies. Whats really stupid, is they only sell Mr Kiplin Bakewell Tarts when they are on offer. I have to drive 20 miles in the other direction to get them from Tesco lol.

 

[el_dazza]

possibly the biggest reason they've done this is due to the recession, people who shop at the 4-5 (asda, morrisons, tesco, co-op and sometimes sainsburys) bigger supermarkets want cheap food so instead of filling the shelves with name brands that wont shift they fill it with own brands that will (don't forget that supermarket own brands are made by the name brands, sainsburys sugar is supplied by billingtons iirc, nestle make much of the supermarket own brand cereal and so on (which is why it tastes the same from supermarket chain to supermarket chain)).

special promotions, as mentioned, will be a reason for disappearing product as well as products that are delivered by accident, often they'll be dressed in to sell it and once it's gone it's dressed off.

another problem i've experienced is interfering ****ing managers who pull tickets off when something is out of stock and then fill the gap to make it look like there are no gaps on the shelves, because there are no gaps it wont be manually scanned and re-ordered and if the computerised system has inaccurate sales figures it may lead to the product not being brought back in until the independent stock check (upon which they discover there aren't actually any in stock and so order more). often if the back-stock isn't being worked efficiently it will exacerbate this problem.

I used to work for Co-Op, and we were told we had to make a section in the grocery and chilled departments purely for own-brand goods. We were the 3rd largest store in our society, so we were given the entire range which was quite extensive. We had a whole section in our "power aisle" (all the offers for that promotion period), as well as 2 "ends" for own-brand goods, and then their own section on the grocery shelves as well. It was EVERYWHERE. I had to re-plan the entire chilled department myself to make room for all that crap (as well as produce and butchery), and nobody ever bought it. Dry goods sold well, but chilled goods didnt, mainly because it tasted god awful.

We had to leave gaps where products weren't stocked, but it made the place look awful. Once our trade had dropped due to the Americans moving in 100 yards away, we were told to face over gaps to make it look better, as we'd reduced our range dramatically in most departments. That led to some products not coming in because they hadn't been picked up as a gap, and even though I knew what was a gap and what wasn't, I didn't always sort the gaps out. It all led to our decline in the end, and eventual closure.

He also puts reduced priced stickers on out of date products and sticks them in the reduction area in the hope that customers don't notice. Very illegal.

On his head be it, that's illegal and I'm sure he knows that.

 

[Puppetmaster]

Can I vent too?

My manager asks us to falsify wastage reports by purposely damaging out of date products, because damages aren't checked.

He also puts reduced priced stickers on out of date products and sticks them in the reduction area in the hope that customers don't notice. Very illegal.

Some people @ the store i worked in used to do that with out of date products regarding damages.

Was handy when one of the nice managers was on. If we had lots of out of date stuff (as in that day, like fresh cream cakes, bread etc) she would throw most of it away but let us take some home. Always nice

 

[vincent1989]

Training is a Complete Joke.
My Team leaders/Managers come up & just say Sign this.
All they are doing is passing on the responsibility for Health & Safety if anything happens, There is No actual training at all.

completely the same in my store and i've seen liability passed on to the staff on more than one occasion due to them signing the sheet and not knowing what they're agreeing to, when i used to do the handout on checkouts a couple of years ago i knew exactly the BS they put in it and if there was anything to sign i made sure everyone knew exactly what it said.

when speaking to my HR manager a few weeks ago regarding over filling of the freezers and gap filling he merely mentioned a time when someone had called trading standards regarding his old store (ood bacon), the store was able to show all the paperwork signed by the colleague to show it was his fault, the store got off scot-free, the poor bugger got a disciplinary, probably for something he knew nothing about. basically my HR manager didn't care about the state of the freezers as long as there was someone else to blame any problems on.

I have used my Induction training video to over rule Managers for ***** sake.
They come up to me & say one thing & I inform them that that is Not the way I was shown in the Induction video & I suggest they go watch it again.
Honestly the whole place is one big Front of BS.

same again, the management really have no clue and the only people who get to be supervisors are the ones that'll listen to and do what the manager says despite it being wrong, really, really ***** me off


anyway, enough about work, nothing worse than thinking about 'that place' on a day off.

 

[Kurisu Makise]

Got to agree.

My local Asda was selling Milka chocolate bars for 50p each on a promotion. Now the Promotion's over they don't sell them at all.

first had milka when i was in spain about 8 years ago, 3/4 years later i see them in shops... nice chocolate tbh. The Asda here has always sold it.

 

[hux]

Im sure sainsburys sells milka chocolate.

Anyway two gripes for me.

Asda stuffed panini's and a cuppa coffee all for £3 it was the nuts, and at christmas they would sell a stuffing/cranberry/sausage and turkey paninni and they always sold well heck i had a job finding them half the time then one day they just decided to pull them, numpties.

The other for me is the really ruthless crisps, the salsa abondigas flavour, mexican meatballs in a hot chilli sauce yummy!!!!

 

[vincent1989]

Im sure sainsburys sells milka chocolate.

mine definitely does. but not at 50p, more like £1

 

[MikeHunt79]

No one seems to sell custard filled donuts now.

 

[Blackbadger]

Our local Co-op will stock pretty much anything you ask.

All you need to do is ask nicely.