Supermarkets discussion

[jon0844]

To some of them it is! Some can make a lot of money too.

All week our local FB page has reported a guy approaching people at our local shopping mall asking for around £3.50 to help with his broken down car.

My wife encountered him this afternoon, so he's either still trying to sort his car or has found a lucrative money earner with a high turnover of visitors and plenty of new 'marks'.

It doesn't seem the police or shopping centre security care, just as they didn't when two guys were offering to help people fill up their cars with fuel at Asda and I was told by Asda security to call the police myself as they couldn't do anything.

This guy was hanging around cars day and night and making people feel uncomfortable, looking into car windows and boots, and asking for money (sadly the fuel station itself is card only, but he asked for spare change that the car owner might keep inside). The second guy was standing further away watching and if one got money, it was transferred to the other.

These beggars can be pretty organised!

 

[Trackman]

All week our local FB page has reported a guy approaching people at our local shopping mall asking for around £3.50 to help with his broken down car.

My wife encountered him this afternoon, so he's either still trying to sort his car or has found a lucrative money earner with a high turnover of visitors and plenty of new 'marks'.

It doesn't seem the police or shopping centre security care, just as they didn't when two guys were offering to help people fill up their cars with fuel at Asda and I was told by Asda security to call the police myself as they couldn't do anything.

This guy was hanging around cars day and night and making people feel uncomfortable, looking into car windows and boots, and asking for money (sadly the fuel station itself is card only, but he asked for spare change that the car owner might keep inside). The second guy was standing further away watching and if one got money, it was transferred to the other.

These beggars can be pretty organised!

Those windscreen washers at traffic lights seems to be en vogue at the moment. Wont last, most people know now not to wind down your window at traffic lights.

Anyway, back on topic, I've been going on about Birds Eye charcoal grills for a while on this thread - last week when I bought some were £1.25 - pre covid prices! Anyway, it's back on form this week and back to £2.50 a pack.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Anyway, back on topic, I've been going on about Birds Eye charcoal grills for a while on this thread - last week when I bought some were £1.25 - pre covid prices! Anyway, it's back on form this week and back to £2.50 a pack.

Can, I think, currently be bought on offer at 4 for £5 at Asda or at 10 for £10 at Iceland. Talking here about the original (2 per pack) Birds Eye chicken chargrill variant.

 

[londonbridge]

Tesco returning to Sunderland city centre. Last time I was there the old unit inside The Bridges was still empty but the council have approved a planning application and they are opening a new store outside in the Market Square entrance later this year.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

While in Camden Town yesterday, I stumbled across an Aldi Local. I don't ever use Aldi and had no idea they too had jumped on the convenience store bandwagon. And in a way, Aldi Local almost sounds like a contradiction, since one thing I don't associate Aldi with is paying-more-for-convenience! But out of curiosity I went in. Prices seemed good in comparison with Sainsburys and Tesco local stores, and I experimentally bought a doughnut (purely in the interests of scientific study, you understand) - it turned out to be dry-ish and decidedly not worth it.

One thing I did like though: At the self service checkout, when I touched to pay, the machine actually went straight to point of me paying. None of the endless annoying questions you get at other supermarkets (Do you want a bag? Do you want to donate to charity?) that all have to be responded to when all I want to do is wave my card over the reader and take my stuff.

 

[Thirteen]

While in Camden Town yesterday, I stumbled across an Aldi Local. I don't ever use Aldi and had no idea they too had jumped on the convenience store bandwagon. And in a way, Aldi Local almost sounds like a contradiction, since one thing I don't associate Aldi with is paying-more-for-convenience! But out of curiosity I went in. Prices seemed good in comparison with Sainsburys and Tesco local stores, and I experimentally bought a doughnut (purely in the interests of scientific study, you understand) - it turned out to be dry-ish and decidedly not worth it.

One thing I did like though: At the self service checkout, when I touched to pay, the machine actually went straight to point of me paying. None of the endless annoying questions you get at other supermarkets (Do you want a bag? Do you want to donate to charity?) that all have to be responded to when all I want to do is wave my card over the reader and take my stuff.

Aldi Local has been a thing for a while, there's one in the O2 Centre on Finchley Road and one in Archway.

 

[Hadders]

The beggars are highly organised - to many of them it is their job.

Pre-covid I'd walk from Kings Cross along the Grays Inn Road to my office. Every day, there was always a beggar outside the Pret on the corner of Grays Inn Road and Clerkenwell Road. He looked unkempt, wore tatty clothes, old trainers with holes in them, used to hold a piece of card saying he was homeless etc. He seemed to do quite well with people giving him money and food.

He seemed to do very well at Christmas, one year first day back after the Christmas holidays he'd got a new tent that he eas sat in and he was proudly wearing a pair of new Nike trainers, I assume someone had bought them for him. His takings mustove suffered because within a couple of days the tent and trainers had gone - he was back to sitting on the pavement with his old trainers and tatty cardboard begging for money.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

I noticed something that rather amused me in Sainsburys this week:

1 pint of milk is 90p, but but 500ml Stamford Street natural yoghurt is just 35p. According to the ingredients, this yoghurt contains nothing except milk. So apparently, doing the extra processing on the milk to turn it in to yoghurt reduces the cost by almost 2/3! Something doesn't seem to add up here!

It also seems curious that they are selling milk in imperial measurements, but yoghurt in metric measurements

 

[jfollows]

I noticed something that rather amused me in Sainsburys this week:

1 pint of milk is 90p, but but 500ml Stamford Street natural yoghurt is just 35p. According to the ingredients, this yoghurt contains nothing except milk. So apparently, doing the extra processing on the milk to turn it in to yoghurt reduces the cost by almost 2/3! Something doesn't seem to add up here!

It also seems curious that they are selling milk in imperial measurements, but yoghurt in metric measurements

Weights and measures: the law

Weights and measures - find out the law on trading standards for packaging and selling products

www.gov.uk

The only products you can sell in imperial measures are:

• draught beer or cider by pint
• milk in returnable containers by pint
• precious metals by troy ounce

 

[jon81uk]

It also seems curious that they are selling milk in imperial measurements, but yoghurt in metric measurements

The milk is sold in metric, the container is 568ml.

 

[Typhoon]

The milk is sold in metric, the container is 568ml.

Some isn't
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-british-semi-skimmed-milk-1-pint

Also 2 pints, 4 pints, 6 pints available.

As quoted by @jfollows in #1209, it has to be in returnable containers, so, for instance, long-life in cartons is in metric.

 

[jon81uk]

Some isn't
https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/sainsburys-british-semi-skimmed-milk-1-pint

Also 2 pints, 4 pints, 6 pints available.

Although the description is 1 pint, the legal size of the container is 568ml, as it would be illegal to sell it in 1 pint containers with no metric sizing on them. Only milk in returnable containers can be sold by pint, so the supermarket plastic ones are 568ml, 1.13L, 2.27L etc.

 

[Typhoon]

Although the description is 1 pint, the legal size of the container is 568ml, as it would be illegal to sell it in 1 pint containers with no metric sizing on them. Only milk in returnable containers can be sold by pint, so the supermarket plastic ones are 568ml, 1.13L, 2.27L etc.

So in glass bottles is OK but recyclable containers is not? Interesting.

 

[YorkRailFan]

Interestingly (and surprisingly) my local ALDI has installed self check-outs, staff were being trained on them this morning.

 

[gg1]

So in glass bottles is OK but recyclable containers is not? Interesting.

It does highlight how ridiculous this exemption is. Britain should have gone fully metric decades ago rather than the silly 'almost but not quite' situation we have now.

 

[jfollows]

It does highlight how ridiculous this exemption is. Britain should have gone fully metric decades ago rather than the silly 'almost but not quite' situation we have now.

I agree, but we appear as a country to have a particular ability to invent a “special case” to get exemption from the rules. IT projects, especially in the public sector, appear to be the same - end result is a disaster of a “customised” solution whereas it would have been easier and better to un-customise working practices.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

It does highlight how ridiculous this exemption is. Britain should have gone fully metric decades ago rather than the silly 'almost but not quite' situation we have now.

Don't mess with the voting public's pints / pintas!

What is ridiculous is certain stores selling milk in 500ml / 1litre / 2 litre containers, but at the exact same price points as the larger 1 pint / 2 pint / 4 pint supermarket equivalents.

 

[jon81uk]

So in glass bottles is OK but recyclable containers is not? Interesting.

The glass bottles are reusable, the milk delivery person takes them back to be washed.

But yes its a silly leftover from the metric law, but if they tried to change the glass milk bottles one then it would lead to issues with the beer pints as well I expect.

 

[Typhoon]

The glass bottles are reusable, the milk delivery person takes them back to be washed.

But yes its a silly leftover from the metric law, but if they tried to change the glass milk bottles one then it would lead to issues with the beer pints as well I expect.

They would incur the wrath of Farage, no doubt (and lead to claims of drinkers being short-changed). I assume that beer sold in pint size plastic 'glasses' is OK?.

 

[Silver Cobra]

I noticed something that rather amused me in Sainsburys this week:

1 pint of milk is 90p, but but 500ml Stamford Street natural yoghurt is just 35p. According to the ingredients, this yoghurt contains nothing except milk. So apparently, doing the extra processing on the milk to turn it in to yoghurt reduces the cost by almost 2/3! Something doesn't seem to add up here!

It also seems curious that they are selling milk in imperial measurements, but yoghurt in metric measurements

1 pint bottles of milk have one of the most ridiculous percentages of mark-up on them out of everything sold in supermarkets. From the last time I was able to check (my supermarket hasn't sold these for the best part of a year now), the mark-up was somewhere in the region of 75-80%, so that much of the price is pure profit for the supermarket. I know I should really support my industry being able to make profit, but this feels way too egregious.

 

[jon81uk]

1 pint bottles of milk have one of the most ridiculous percentages of mark-up on them out of everything sold in supermarkets. From the last time I was able to check (my supermarket hasn't sold these for the best part of a year now), the mark-up was somewhere in the region of 75-80%, so that much of the price is pure profit for the supermarket. I know I should really support my industry being able to make profit, but this feels way too egregious.

Assuming you mean the price differential between one and four pint bottles, I think thats been the case for as long as milk has been sold in plastic bottles, the larger containers have offered a "discount" compared to the small ones.

I think milk is generally too cheap and considering the effort it takes to farm it the price should be much higher.

 

[takno]

Assuming you mean the price differential between one and four pint bottles, I think thats been the case for as long as milk has been sold in plastic bottles, the larger containers have offered a "discount" compared to the small ones.

I think milk is generally too cheap and considering the effort it takes to farm it the price should be much higher.

As a rule I've always taken the single price pint as reflective of what milk actually "should" cost. Four pint jugs were in with white sliced bread and beans as the classic things which were sold as loss leaders in the 90s.

For whatever reason the 4 pint milk just never really went back up, excepting that they've managed to transfer the richer part of the customer base over to 2l jugs of filtered milk, and people are for various reasons buying plant milks and lactose free milk for more than double the price.

 

[skyhigh]

1 pint bottles of milk have one of the most ridiculous percentages of mark-up on them out of everything sold in supermarkets. From the last time I was able to check (my supermarket hasn't sold these for the best part of a year now), the mark-up was somewhere in the region of 75-80%, so that much of the price is pure profit for the supermarket. I know I should really support my industry being able to make profit, but this feels way too egregious.

From memory (when I used to work in the food industry), the production and filling/sealing costs of the physical plastic 1 pint bottle were pretty much the same as a 2 pint bottle.

From my local Sainsbury's - 90p for a 1 pint bottle, £1.20 for a 2 pint bottle. So for the 1 pint bottle you are paying 90p per pint, 60p per pint for the 2 pint bottle. That makes the 1 pint bottle 50% more per pint.

Farm gate milk price per litre in March 24 was 37.42ppl. 2 pints is very roughly 1 litre, so for a 2 pint bottle roughly 19p extra goes to the farmer. Transport/processing costs on the additional would probably account for a lot of the remainder of the 30p price difference.

So yes, there is a mark-up on a 1 pint bottle, but given the costs involved I don't think it's fair to describe it as "pure profit" or "way too egregious".

 

[ComUtoR]

From memory (when I used to work in the food industry), the production and filling/sealing costs of the physical plastic 1 pint bottle were pretty much the same as a 2 pint bottle.

From my local Sainsbury's - 90p for a 1 pint bottle, £1.20 for a 2 pint bottle. So for the 1 pint bottle you are paying 90p per pint, 60p per pint for the 2 pint bottle. That makes the 1 pint bottle 50% more per pint.

From my retail days. This was known as "cost to package"

Those bottle caps are a small part. Generally, you will have more packaging as you increase the pack size. A 2l milk carton is significantly larger that a 1l. Bottle caps are the same and filling differences may be infinitesimal in terms of speed/volume but there is an additional cost to package.

 

[Mojo]

As a rule I've always taken the single price pint as reflective of what milk actually "should" cost.

That’s an interesting point of view and one I’ve never really considered. I’m minded to agree with you and @jon81uk. Milk in the major supermarkets is now £1.45 for a 2.272l bottle, this is down from the £1.55 charged at the end of last year and is actually cheaper than it was in late 2010, when it retailed for £1.53.

 

[dangie]

We do a ‘big shop’ every two weeks in Tesco. Since our last visit they have had a massive move around of stock. Hardly anything was where it used to be. Four times I had to ask a member of staff where something was. I was close to giving the girl my shopping list and trolley and asking her to go around with it and meet me at the till when she was done.

These large stores will say there’s a good reason why they shift stock around, but for the life of me I don’t see what it is. If they think I’ll buy more goods they are wrong. I’d probably buy less.

 

[zero]

Milk in the major supermarkets is now £1.45 for a 2.272l bottle, this is down from the £1.55 charged at the end of last year and is actually cheaper than it was in late 2010, when it retailed for £1.53.

Although it was £1.11 in 2007/8

 

[Hadders]

I agree that milk really is too cheap. I remember a 4pint bottle breaking the £1 barrier when I managed a supermarket in 1993.

My dad worked in the milk industry all his working life and used to say the cost of a pint of milk, a decent loaf of bread and a 1st class stamp were all around the same price. That's not the case now.

 

[Blindtraveler]

Another vote in favour of the let's increase the price of milk by a few pence per 5 00 ml or whatever and give farmers some true recognition for the amount of effort that goes into producing it

 

[takno]

Another vote in favour of the let's increase the price of milk by a few pence per 5 00 ml or whatever and give farmers some true recognition for the amount of effort that goes into producing it

I'd probably switch to 80% oat milk if that happened, but fair is fair