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?

I know that all supermarkets think that self-service is the way to go but it really isn't. It's putting customers off. Self service is only OK if you have a few items and if the machines work (which they quite often don't!!!! In our Morrisons, for some strange reason, it's always the machines that accept cash that don't work ).
Our ASDA introduced a policy of shutting down the cashier-tills after 6pm! Another reason to go to a different supermarket!

I only venture into Asda once a year. I know this, because the '14 sleeps till xmas' tree is always up 😂

It's huge and takes 2 weeks to get from the clothes to the bread and milk at the back.
Their strategic product placing has the reverse effect on me.

The clothes are awful too. Cheap tent-like nylon flowing dresses.
Prefer Tesco & Sainsbury's clothes and in general.

I think it varies by store. The two Asdas around here seem quite good- clean, busy with plenty of stock. I've noticed recently some supermarkets looking very run down and badly stocked while others are fine. Staff morale seems very low which I'm sure doesn't help!

Yes, I agree, Asda used to be so popular and was the cheapest supermarket for so many years (before German discounters arrived) unfortunately there maybe financial issues, relationship issues, between the brothers, reported in the press that one brother has left his wife of many years for another woman. The staffing issues are because they are not replacing staff when they leave. The minimum wage increases from April, this will effect a lot of businesses and be the tipping point. It’s such a competitive space, lots of choice for shoppers.

This is exactly what our closest one is like! I tend to go later in the day a couple of times of week. One of these times is mostly to kill a bit of waiting around time so is about 8pm, j understand this is quite late but oh my goodness the place is a shambles. There are pallets and crates in literally every aisle. It’s practically un-shoppable. I wondered if it was just our one but it sounds like there must be something higher up the asda chain going wrong.

Yesterday seemed chaotic everywhere. I went to Aldi and it was rammed, I was after a big pack of chicken so spoke to a shop assistant who got me one from the back, she said as soon as they are putting food out it goes. Everywhere seemed unusually busy. My guess was it's payday weekend before Easter

Yep, I regularly shop in my big Asda and was chatting to one of the checkout people. Apparently they are not recruiting new staff when people leave, so they can pay existing staff more. I really notice, regularly one checkout person on so there is a massive queue. And on self service it can take ages to get someone to sign off on alcohol etc. also took ages to get click and collect orders. I said to her you can really notice the difference and she agrees!

We have become friendly with one of the cashiers at our local Asda as she has been serving us for years. The tills and card readers are very old and slow and were going to be renewed. She told us the other day that this will not now happen because of ‘trouble at the top’.
They are very short of staff and the queues at the tills are often very long. There was a big sign near the tills recently trying to recruit staff.

I’ve always hated Asda. Never understood the appeal! And those dreadful gnomes are petrifying!

I hate Asda. The massive one in Sheffield is horrible.

Dh went once on Christmas Eve morning. He came home looking white. Described it as feral and like a third world country. The only thing on the shelves were peoples kids lying on them.

Is this the one by the Parkway?
I used to work near there and often popped there at lunchtime. It was a pretty good shop back then.

My Asda delivery driver told me not to get a Monday morning slot anymore as they have gotten rid of the shelf stackers on a Sunday.

This means first thing on Monday the pickers have no stock and substitutions are high

Ah. I remember when this store first opened. My best mate got a job there when we were students. It's always been a lovely store. I recently had the misfortune of having to do a mystery shop in the Wallsend store, though and it was horrid.

I have started having asda delivery.so far it has been OK. My substitutes have been larger so it is good. Just bought a yearly pass. Think my delivery is picked in a very large store about 10 miles away. The local one to me has gone down hill too. I don't drive and husband works shifts. Their reward app is good. Do use lidl for top ups.

My neighbour works as a picker there and the posts about getting rid of staff have reminded me that she said the same for our local store (the one with forever out of date stuff). Also they're treating the ones they do still have awfully and bosses and team leaders either don't work consistently (a big boss was aware she was off after sending her home because she was visibly very poorly. The doctor diagnosed her with three infections on top of each other l. The nice boss was in touch with her as a friend not a boss to see if she was OK and needed any meds or similar taking to her. A team leader tried to screw her sidewards for being off claiming it wasn't known about and she had been lying about being ill despite being sent home and having a comprehensive well note or whatever they're called now) or lack real common sense (expecting 2 people to do the work of 5 and then getting on their backs wheh they can't etc.) it sounds a really unpleasant place to work.

I'm going to a huge one in a couple of hours, I'll report back!

Oh my gosh that’s disgusting. It did make me laugh though- better quality of unwanted creature 🤣. I initially called and they offered me £3 then £5. I took it then called the store and they said bring the receipt so I did with pictures and they refunded me the salad plus all the food I had put in with the salad so £7

Got chatting to someone at the bus stop once who worked for them for 20years and finally found another job as she said they were awful employers and the managers were terrible.
She was on the delivery side in the latter years and that wasn't much better.
Her teen works for them and she feels she is already burnt out by all the pressure of it all.
Our local one is usually grubby and under stocked and has music blaring out
I rarely go near it, but most supermarkets do seem like this these days.
Feel sorry for the staff

Yeah it is.

I knew someone who worked there. He told me some guy wanked himself off in the changing rooms.

I haven’t been back since🤢

I shop in Asda for the blue light discount, but without that I would be going to Lidl.

There is so little choice in the meat aisle whilst acres of space have been set aside for the bakery and pizzas. I rarely buy tinned stuff or toiletries as I can get those cheaper elsewhere.

Our Asda is relatively new, but it just looks grubby. Our massive Tescos is always clean and well stocked - but so much more expensive.

The Asda till staff used to always be happy and chatty, but now there are usually only three till open and the staff just seem so sad. I dread having to go to customer services as it's usually staffed by one person also manning lottery sales and cigarettes and the queue is huge.

I live near the big one in Spondon, Derby, OP - wondering if that’s the one you mean? I used to shop there all the time but it’s so bloody huge, it takes twice as long so go to Morrisons or Aldi now. Had no idea it wasn’t owned by Walmart any more tbh.

@MuggedByReality was it fosse park by any chance? That store has gone to the dogs recently shocking service

This video is about a girl who was told off for wearing perfectly normal clothing in Asda, I don’t know if she was apologised to by the manager, I assume so and that it’s just a problem with the one employee but pretty shocking behaviour from the staff member.

My nearest one has been like this for years. Half empty shelves and a mess. But in terms of Easter eggs, it’s the weekend before so I’d expect lower stock now, that’s usually the case in most supermarkets at this point.

im not sure who used it but ‘grubby’ is the perfect word for Asda!