What does this sign mean?

[JDM625]

In asda tonight. They had their regular reduced fridge section along with a large cage next to it- all with yellow stickers: sausages, yorkshires, pate etc all going out today. The sign said:

'Dear Customers, Please help yourself to any yellow sticker items'

How would you interpret that?

It means they are going begging?

I think it depends - if it’s above the fridge then I’d assume it was just to signpost the usual area for reduced stuff. If it was on the cage, I’d assume it was to show that this stuff was also up for sale, rather than waiting to be put out in the fridge. They do get antsy if you start taking things off the trolley before they’ve been labelled and put in the fridge, so that would make sense to me.

Did you take it to mean they were actually giving it away for free?

That they’re free

It's free !?

Yes a few supermarkets have started to do this after a certain time of day. My local smaller shop also does.

Id assume free but ask one of the staff to check

I’d be more concerned about meat not being in a fridge

They're giving it away. Help yourself.

They are happy for you to take from the cage instead of waiting for the shelf to be stacked. You still need to pay though.

That they hadn't the opportunity to stack the shelves from the cage but that you were welcome to treat the items as if they were in the main chiller - i.e. reduced but not free.

I’d 100% read that as free. I wouldn’t make the connection that it’s meant to be put in fridge at some point

To me "help yourself" means free.

"Help yourself" means 'free' where I'm from. But if the meat items aren't in the fridge as they should be, that might be why. Things become 'free' for a reason.

I'd take it that it's free.

It's Hogmanay, they will presumably be closing soon so their staff can get off and enjoy the celebrations. They'll be closed tomorrow so stuff that isn't taken by customers will have to be disposed of before staff finish. They won't want to be dealing with minging food on Friday.

This is how I’d interpret it too

Thanks everyone.

The sign was hand written on the cage. The yellow sticker fridge next to it was too full to fit any more. I watched them wheel out the cage, so hopefully it hadn't been out of a fridge too long.

I've also heard of shops giving away yellow stickers items at the end of the day, so initially assumed they were free. I did ask though, to be told it meant you can take the yellow sticker items and pay for them!