Asda - WTF is going on?

[MuggedByReality]

I went into a big out of town Asda store in the East Midlands this afternoon. The place was a chaotic shambles, it looked like some sort of organisational meltdown had happened. Empty wooden pallets scattered around. Empty shelves all over the store. Piles of boxes of stock which should have been on said shelves dumped & piled up in aisles. Massive queues at the customer service desk. Very few staff visible anywhere. I gave up & went to the nearby Sainsbury’s instead which was completely fine.

Is Asda struggling? Has anyone else noticed major problems recently or was this just one store having a bad day?

Last Monday evening our local large one had 5 staff in / around checkouts / kiosk / customer services, one was taken off the checkouts thus shutting the checkouts ( 6pm ) and was removing cardboard from the grocery shelves.

The security guy was...
removing cardboard from the shelves !!!

That left 4 staff, one in kiosk/customer services, one on self scan and trolly shop - 12 tills in total, and one in basket shop 12 tills in total.

Apparently the removal of cardboard from shelves is called ' rumbling ' or something like that and the assistant store manager had no grocery staff available so he used checkouts staff instead.

The 4th member of staff was to cover all the staff breaks - 30 mins each including their self ! get replacement items for customers / check prices for customers / empty bins / empty security tags / and a whole list of other things to do - hence being called a runner ! and accompany an assistant manager when emptying the checkout tills/cashing up.

Ours seems to be doing OK (Longwell Green, Bristol). They've just had a bit of a revamp. My only complaint is that the mens and womens clothing section seems to have got smaller and the kids clothing section seems larger as does the homewares section.

I went on for a box of chocolates which I’d seen in Waitrose and hoped would be cheaper in Asda. They were actually more expensive

I have noticed from MN that you can't generalise about supermarkets. There seems to be permanent argument about who is best/worst for fresh fruit & veg.
Here, ASDA wins hands down over Aldi / Lidl for f&v. They also have other stuff that the Germans don't have e.g. gluten-free.
So I'm back to the good old days when I used to shop in several places instead of doing everything in the one supermarket. Luckily I have time to traipse around.

I work in a fairly rough area and the ASDA there is absolutely bouncing 😂😂 literally full at all times. In fact, it seems like the Go To place in the town.

If you are a really cool local, then it’s also the place to be to hang around outside, spit on the floor, smoke and swear loudly. More socialising done there than the local pubs..

not sure thats what ASDA are aiming for in regards to customer satisfaction

Very true @senua . I really hope it's a blip as I do prefer a lot of their stuff compared to the other supermarkets, although they do seem more expensive than Sainsburys however their petrol is the cheapest around here. I feel for the poor staff though.

Online groceries not good quality.

@MuggedByReality Wasn't Asda Fosse Park was it?! That's a right shithole 😂
I went in last week to get cheap Easter Eggs and thought I might as well do my shop whilst I'm there.
It was so awful that I bought 6 eggs, milk, and nothing else because I couldn't face it. I'm not sure if all Asdas are the same, but that one makes me want to bath in bleach when I get home. Filthy, no stock, no staff, massive queues at the tills, which were almost all self service.
A hideous experience!

I work there and wouldn’t shop there.
overpriced, shit quality and because i know how fucking awful they treat the staff i wont give them a penny of my wages.

I go to ASDA to buy a few specific things and stock up. Their own brand continence pads are much better than other cheaper pads. More like expensive branded ones.

But they seem to have cut staff to the bone. There just seems to be hardly anyone working there. The queues for self scan and tills are always long. I go prepared with my phone to browse and post on MN while waiting.

I’m in the East Midlands and our nearest Asda is generally ok, the biggest downside being the self scan checkouts, which need improving as they’re so poor at reading the bar codes on items you try to scan

We only have one Asda here and the stock levels have been awful for the last couple of years.

It’s mostly fresh stuff that they seem to struggle with, but Aldi, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose and M&S never seem to have the same issues.

Last time I went to Asda I gave up as I couldn’t get about 3/4s of what I went in for - nothing fancy, mince, chicken breasts, milk, veg and fruit, oven chips for the freezer, etc. I went to Sainsbury’s - full shelves.

The place is a shithole, although the store is only a few years old, the petrol station isn’t manned anymore, they’ve got rid of most of the cleaning staff, there’s always cages of stock everywhere, home shoppers with those massive trolleys blocking every aisle, the freezers are always broken and they’re massively short staffed.

I have a few friends who work for our local store, they all say they got a new store manager about 2 years who seems to be about as much use as a chocolate fire guard - it coincides with it going massively downhill.

Stopped going into Asda Local when the Manager insisted it was fine to store cooked chicken on the same shelf as raw chicken.

Stopped going to the “Big Asda” as it was never clean, lots of bits of cardboard around on the floor, cafe full of tables that weren’t cleared, food debris on the floor longer than necessary, trollies were filthy and they seemed to get rid of all the lovely staff and replace them with machines.

We have very little choice of supermarkets where I live, so for years when I visited a relative I'd do a big Asda shop on the way home. Last two trips I've walked out with next to nothing. It's a huge store, but it's been gappy, dirty, and expensive with poor stock levels. It also has sections walled in, so you are forced to walk in a certain (longer) route.

Oooh which one was it OP?

I think the asda brothers have fallen out

No, this isn’t true - Asda are actually taking over the Coop petrol stations as they have bought these out

Since the take over by Wamart and then Asda brother (can't remember their names), it had gone down hill.

Yes, there’s one near here.
I have 2 Asdas within easy reach, a medium and a big one. Both still as OK as they ever were. Most of my food shopping is done at Asda. For anything a bit special I go to M&S or Waitrose.

Ours is fine no issues at all
i I think in general they struggle to recruit staff the further south you go

Ours is fine. Fully stocked up on Easter eggs too. (In Cornwall).

This! I popped into my local Asda last week and the kids clothes and homeware sections have grown hugely. Way more than seems necessary (but it obviously is necessary or they wouldn't have grown) 🙄

My local one is decent and is where I do all my food shopping. It is clean, mostly full shelves and the staff are nice (even though I have witnessed them being terribly by some customers!).

The one in Gosforth is very good. Well, it was in December. It is huge and the choice of foods is much wider than the supermarkets near me.

I was in our local one ( essex) yesterday, to buy fresh salad bread and veg . It was mad ! Pallets everywhere. This was about 9 . One till
open , I joined a queue for self service , eventually I got to a till , only to find my eggs were broken, I had to leave everything and go and get myself more , no help available. The poor staff were so thin on the ground . When I was putting my things in the boot , the next car had an employee putting her things away. She said it’s due to new owners being broke . No staff , if someone leaves , they are not replaced. It’s a biggish store and she said there are 6 staff to get all the produce out in the morning as can’t be done overnight due. to houses . It’s not a shop I’d choose, but it’s on way home from the gym , so handy but it was a shambles!