Tesco fricking Club Card / two tier pricing

It’s a shame for your mum. My mum is the same, she wouldn’t be able to use loyalty cards, she would get very confused, even though she could reel off the exact dates things have happened in the past few years. But we do her shopping for her or with her so in her case it’s not an issue. I do feel for people who have to manage alone.

But the wheels of progress have to continue to run. it does raise the question of whether Tesco should automatically give elderly and other vulnerable customers their best available price for items, regardless of whether the customer has a Clubcard or not.

If enough people write to them they may take notice.

What I meant was, until she was about 82, my mother was perfectly comfortable with modern technology, having used it since the 80's. And before. She did keep up, as did her friends. She's never been a technophobe.

But her mid 80's have robbed her of this. She literally has a wallet with cash and one card in because have multiple cards ends up with her confused. This is pretty common as people get very elderly.

But thanks for the super patronising message on how technology has changed since the 1980s

Yes, but muscle memory keeps your skills. My mother has dementia and can't learn anything new, but she can still use "techy" things that she uses every day, such as the Sky TV remote and programmer, electronic timers, electronic microwave, telephone banking, electronic chess game, pocket electronic crossword solver, etc etc - all the things she does regularly! She's not lost the ability to do any of that, and she's in her 80's. It's the "new" stuff that she struggles with, mostly because she didn't want to do "new" things in the last 10/20 years. If she'd been more amenable to new tech, before dementia, then she'd probably be capable of learning it and still doing it today.

Using a computer in the 80s is VERY different to using a smart phone or tablet in 2023. It was all keyboard and numeric menus, i.e. press 1 for data entry, press 5 for reports, press 9 for settings. Things changed massively in the 90s and noughties with "point and click" either with mouse or touchpad. You really can't compare a 80s PC with a modern smart phone or tablet, especially if your mother didn't move with the times or didn't regularly use a (more modern) PC in latter years.

My mother was the same. Extensive use of PC in office work in the 80s, but when she retired, she didn't have a home computer, and continued using an old fashioned mobile phone until a couple of years ago (keypad for text etc) rather than a touch screen. The phone broke as it was over 10 years old, and she got a new style iphone but has never got to grips with it because she just can't understand the idea of using a touchscreen. That's not because of her age (well it is as she can't learn anything new), but more because the way you make a phone call or send a text is completely different that she was used to.

It's like comparing the keyboard driven old Lotus 123 spreadsheet with the mouse/touchscreen driven Excel spreadsheet. Same thing, but very different user interface. My mother could probably still use Lotus 123, but she'd not know where to start with Excel. That's not her forgetting how to use a computer, it's the user interface moving on and leaving her behind because she's not kept up, and as time passes, the chasm gets bigger. The earlier versions of Excel
incorporated the backslash \ menu driven system to help people move over from backslash menu to mouse, but if you weren't actively transitioning and kept using Lotus 123 and then ultimately stop using it, you'd have a much harder job coming back and starting to use Excel 20 years later.

80s computers and original mobiles are nothing like modern ones. Unless you move with the times and replace old tech with new, then you're going to fall behind whatever your age. Sadly, a lot of older people saw no need to keep up and continued using old tech (or no tech at all) despite all the warning signs that literally everything was going more and more "techy" so have caused themselves to fall behind. Use it or lose it!

My mother could use a computer before I could. Age means she now struggles. It is common for cognition and fine motor skills to decline. It is rare for that to happen in your sixties though, most people are still working.

My mother was very computer literate. She was using a computer in the 1980's, had a mobile phone from 1990. Unfortunately, age has a tendency to remove the ability to remember and use things. She's well over 80, and like most of her friends, in getting increasingly forgetful and confused by things.

But excellent that YOUR mother could use it fine.

I find the pricing a bit bonkers and i think it is intentional so you lose track of the real value of things. My local small Tesco supposedly has great club card prices which are basically the usual price with a much, much higher price next to it to make it look like good value. I shop at Aldi and Asda and occasionally Sainsburys, so I know the true value of most things. I guess it works if you are in a nice market town and Tesco and Waitrose are the only options, but anyone where I live (surrounded by all of the big supermarkets) would be an utter numskull to fall for Tescos weird pricing.

We were on holiday and shopped there recently. Didn't have a club card, but it didn't effect what we were shopping for as we just avoided the weird pricing system, but I still found it pricey. Can't say it's two tier system has convinced me to swap supermarkets.

If Tesco are deliberately inflating prices in order to reduce them, they are being very smart about it.

120 Tetley teabags are cheaper than 80, and a pack of 8 fruit shoots are only slightly more expensive than a pack of 4. So are they increasing the price of the smaller pack sizes to make the clubcard price seem like a good offer?

Exactly! If you feel that strongly.

I’ve always done scan and shop since they brought it in. Couldn’t imagine self checkout or queuing at a til in Tesco ever again. Price comes down automatically as you have to scan your club card to release the hand scanning machine.

Is it that the Clubcard deals are bargains or do they just hike up everything else?

Presumably because OP says this happens in the absence of having the card handy. So presumably customers asking to be looked up on system etc.

I hope Tesco get taken to the cleaners by the investigating watchdog.

And their customers will pay the bill so you really don’t give a shit about them. Tesco certainly won’t be out of pocket.

Put your principles where your purse is and don’t use a club card to get the discount

You seem to have some issues and stop with the faux concern for the elderly etc. My MIL and DM had loyalty cards before they died and computers and mobiles with no issues. Im the next generation of old people, im in my 60s' all my friends are more than computer savvy enough to cope with loyalty cards or order a shop on line.

Lidl does have two tier pricing, you get discounts if you have the App, Waitrose has a loyalty card , i never shop in Aldi, i dont have one in walking distance) so no idea if they do loyalty cards or not.

This. ^ Some people don't give a shit that some people are affected by this stupid shitty clubcard scam. Some people have only one particular store to go to, as they can't drive/are disabled/are elderly, and they struggle to get a storecard for various reasons. So they are being routinely ripped off. This whole storecard scam is scummy. I hope Tesco get taken to the cleaners by the investigating watchdog.

Makes me happy.

If it's any consolation to you, I very rarely shop in Sainsbury's as the nearest branch charges the top tier prices. I generally only go in for things I can't get in Waitrose like the Marmite 10 year old version.

I thought your posts were funny! 😂

You’ve probably pissed off the ALDI mafia 😂

Is that aimed at me? If it is 🤣🤣🤣

You want to lay off the Bailey's a bit mate.

And they also get our data..... win win!

So they can send me offers that appeal to me like cheap alcohol!

I worked out today that the Tesco Clubcard Baileys is actually cheaper than the Aldi knock off.

*spent

I got my £10 Clubcard Christmas Baileys, don't a further £30 in the process!

I wonder if this thread was a clever marketing thread by Tesco and @mantyzer is actually on the board!