Asda have also jumped onto the loyalty card band-wagon with the Asda Rewards scheme (all digital via an app; no physical cards are involved). Rather than reducing the cost of items up front in the vain of Clubcard/Nectar Prices, it gives you credit for particular products, either 10% of the value of the item or a set amount like a pound or two, with that credit then able to be used to make vouchers to give money off your shopping once you've accrued enough of it.I've noticed that Asda certainly are getting more competitive on price and in my opinion if you've not got a Loyalty Card (Nectar, Clubcard, More Card) they are the best price store for a lot of items. Aldi in Hinckley seem to have a big problem retaining staff as they are always advertising and the staff which are there are so awfully miserable-seems to be a problem store- so I'm going there much less now and prefering Asda.
Our Co-Op still plays it.
Asda rewards is a game to a certain extent like Pokémon, well... sort of, plus they give away freebies from time to time.Asda have also jumped onto the loyalty card band-wagon with the Asda Rewards scheme (all digital via an app; no physical cards are involved). Rather than reducing the cost of items up front in the vain of Clubcard/Nectar Prices, it gives you credit for particular products, either 10% of the value of the item or a set amount like a pound or two, with that credit then able to be used to make vouchers to give money off your shopping once you've accrued enough of it.
The irony is that Asda always used to say that they didn't have a loyalty card or reward scheme to enable them to offer the best prices up front compared to their rivals. I imagine the Issa Brothers decided to change that once they saw Lidl and Co-op join Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons in offering a rewards scheme/loyalty card. I believe only Aldi do not offer a loyalty card or rewards scheme of some sort (Waitrose has the My Waitrose scheme).
Ugh. The only thing more irritating than a loyalty card is an app. I get that the deluded big-data wonks believe that if they can just get their next hit of data then they will discover the one big insight, and I understand that an app gets them access to more of my data and theoretically more of my attention.Asda have also jumped onto the loyalty card band-wagon with the Asda Rewards scheme (all digital via an app; no physical cards are involved). Rather than reducing the cost of items up front in the vain of Clubcard/Nectar Prices, it gives you credit for particular products, either 10% of the value of the item or a set amount like a pound or two, with that credit then able to be used to make vouchers to give money off your shopping once you've accrued enough of it.
The irony is that Asda always used to say that they didn't have a loyalty card or reward scheme to enable them to offer the best prices up front compared to their rivals. I imagine the Issa Brothers decided to change that once they saw Lidl and Co-op join Tesco, Sainsburys and Morrisons in offering a rewards scheme/loyalty card. I believe only Aldi do not offer a loyalty card or rewards scheme of some sort (Waitrose has the My Waitrose scheme).
Shoppers have also claimed they are struggling to pay for their goods at tills, with some complaining that their local stores are closed.
Sainsbury’s said in a statement: “We're experiencing technical issues affecting some stores, our Groceries Online service and our ability to contact customers. Unfortunately, we will not be able to fulfil the vast majority of today's Groceries Online deliveries.
How bizarre it apparently affects contactless but not chip and pin payments in storeSainsbury’s having major IT problems today with some shops closed and home deliveries being cancelled.
Sainsbury's hit by major tech failure with thousands of customers' orders impacted
The supermarket said it will be unable to fulfil the 'vast majority of today's Groceries Online deliveries'www.gbnews.com
Would that be because contactless requires periodic bank verification based on recent transactions, but a correct pin is locally verified against coding on the card.How bizarre it apparently affects contactless but not chip and pin payments in store
Thankfully my local Sainsbury's was open this morning - they had staff at the entrance letting people know about the paying-by-card problems, apparently customers could pay at the regular checkouts but needed to do chip-and-PIN. The self-checkouts which accepted cash were open but the ones which accepted card were closed. Big queues for the regular checkouts!Sainsbury’s having major IT problems today with some shops closed and home deliveries being cancelled.
Sainsbury's hit by major tech failure with thousands of customers' orders impacted
The supermarket said it will be unable to fulfil the 'vast majority of today's Groceries Online deliveries'www.gbnews.com
It's quite possible they use a completely different provider for the two, or that they have a more basic backup provider which can't handle contactless. From the description of the disruption they seem to have lost their primary data centre, and somebody decided (possibly correctly) that full disaster recovery wasn't worth the costHow bizarre it apparently affects contactless but not chip and pin payments in store
The pin is verified locally but it should still need an online authorisation from the bank in my (limited) understanding.Would that be because contactless requires periodic bank verification based on recent transactions, but a correct pin is locally verified against coding on the card.
A backup provider is an good idea. I don't know in person payments at all, but having different providers for contactless and chip+pin on the same machine sounds odd, but given that the entire banking industry is a cursed house of cards waiting to fall down I could see itIt's quite possible they use a completely different provider for the two, or that they have a more basic backup provider which can't handle contactless. From the description of the disruption they seem to have lost their primary data centre, and somebody decided (possibly correctly) that full disaster recovery wasn't worth the cost
Maybe large organisations like Sainsburys have an agreement to carry the risk of local only authorisation, just like Amazon will accept an order without 2nd ID verification.The pin is verified locally but it should still need an online authorisation from the bank in my (limited) understanding.
Sainsbury’s have said the issue was caused by a software update overnight.
No, test the software update properly and have simple backout procedures following a test which demonstrates that the update hasn't worked. It's standard stuff that I did in the 1980s, and nothing has changed to make it invalid since then.Either do it Saturday night heading into the quietest morning of the week or keep it during the week so less staff are inconvenienced and less money is spent on overtime / days off in lieu etc
It is at times like this when thankfully cash has not been ended as means of payment.Who'd have thunk it? Cash is still being accepted!
Have Tesco had any problems this weekend?
To be fair there isn't any indication that the updates weren't tested and didn't have a backout plan, it's just that these things don't always work. As I recall they didn't always work in the 90s either. I could equally believe that they've cut their operations staff to the bone, or have a software product which has been acquired in the past and doesn't support sensible ops requirements because nobody wanted to pay for it.No, test the software update properly and have simple backout procedures following a test which demonstrates that the update hasn't worked. It's standard stuff that I did in the 1980s, and nothing has changed to make it invalid since then.
There was a big banking update last night so I've heard, maybe Sainsbury's or Tesco's used this organisation.Yes. Maybe they were matching a Sainsbury's software update....
He doesn't need to, we will do it ourselves.Or....as the ultimate conspiracy theory....perhaps it's all part of Mr Putin's grand strategy to destabilise the Western economy?
Very true!He doesn't need to, we will do it ourselves.
They did a software update on a friday night??? That was always one of the biggest no-nos when i worked in software development, one reason being most developers are drunk by about 7pm on a friday night.
It's a funny conspiracy theory when it's his declared aim, unless you believe he's only kidding, like he was about 'taking back' Ukraine.Or....as the ultimate conspiracy theory....perhaps it's all part of Mr Putin's grand strategy to destabilise the Western economy?