No free parking for just formula

[SquawkFish]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3929020/Demonised-buying-baby-milk-Tesco-bans-mother-s-car-park-discount-bought-formula-milk-s-EU-rules.html

Just a bit shocked by this despite thinking I was quite pro breastfeeding. Would be interested to hear others views, particularly as the baby is being formula fed due to medical reasons.

[roundaboutthetown]

But they are not boycotting Nestle, are they? So I fail to see what you are nodding about. Not all formula milk is made by Nestle. All KitKats are made by Nestle. Ergo, their parking rules have nothing to do with Nestle.

[OurBlanche]

roundabout I think you are being obtuse. There are, obviously, 2 separate 'things' being talked about:

The law and the reason behind it. For some the 2 are indelibly linked.

No one has said Tesco are boycotting Nestle.

I, and others, have said we are boycotting Nestle.

It is possible to read into the current legislation re promotion of formula that any incentive is banned.

Tesco have chosen to read it that way. I think that is fine!

I would acknowledge Tesco's stance even more if it weren't for the unfortunate issue of their having had a number of 'accidental' promotional offers for formula.

Ergo: we still disagree. So what? It doesn't mean either of us is wrong, just that we see this differently!

I have acknowledged my bias!

[roundaboutthetown]

I am biased against formula milk. I breastfed both my children until they were a year old specifically to avoid it. That doesn't make me incapable of seeing when the law is being misinterpreted. Leaving formula milk out of the free parking when to all other intents and purposes you can buy anything else is disincentivising the purchase of formula milk. The law does not require you to do that. Allowing someone to choose to buy formula milk that is not being actively promoted in your store is not promoting formula milk.

[OurBlanche]

OK... there is black and there is white and you have no space for grey. I get it!

[roundaboutthetown]

I have plenty of space for grey. This, however, is not a grey area, it's being tortuous with the English language to the point it becomes laughable and brings the law into disrepute.

[OurBlanche]

OK. That's fine. As I said, we disagree!

I shall continue to ride my high horse and hate The Baby Killer.

[blueturtle6]

Surely parking refund isn't a discount. The shops charge the parking fee to stop non shoppers parking there??

[RitchyBestingFace]

Do you honestly think that it would be fair to extort money out of women who have to ff either by choice or because they couldn't bf. Your "maximum pricing" comment implies that women should have to pay through the nose for formula because they are too feckless or lazy to bf their babies. Or that maximum pricing will magically make everyone bf.

Blueberry, I made that comment and, as a PP said, you've misunderstood. Maximum pricing means formula companies would be capped on what they can charge for Formula Milk. You seem to have taken this as the opposite.

[OurBlanche]

Surely parking refund isn't a discount. Don't know. You could argue for or against that... until the cos come home. I doubt there is a specific right/wrong answer.

But it does seem to be Tesco policy.

[roundaboutthetown]

By all means continue to hate The Baby Killer, OurBlanche, but I think it is playing into their hands to make them look unfairly discriminated against. Twisting the law is no way to get your point across. There are too many good reasons not to use Nestle to fall into that trap.

[BertieBotts]

It's not a discount, it's a promotion. First stage formula is not allowed to be included in any promotions. It's to stop them giving it away with other things, it's not intended to stop people from getting free parking. It's just that free parking happens to fall under the umbrella of "promotions".

You cannot "buy anything else" because there will be other products which are also exempt from this kind of thing. One of those, as mentioned earlier, is phone credit. I believe prescription medications also come under the exemption. Neither are bad or shameful things to buy; finding the law embarrassing or shameful is just a personal interpretation based on other factors.

[purplefizz26]

No advantage card points for buying formula I can understand, but no parking voucher because formula made up the minimum spend is bull shit.

[roundaboutthetown]

Paying for your parking at the supermarket is, in reality, a penalty charged against those who don't purchase goods from the supermarket. The pharmacies inside aren't run by the supermarket. That's why they only charge people if the car park is near the centre of town - otherwise, their car park would fill up with town centre shoppers who want free parking and official customers won't be able to find a space in the car park. No way is it, in reality, a promotion, particularly since they always want you to spend more than the cost of paying to park elsewhere, which would generally put you off unless you wanted something in the supermarket anyway.

[roundaboutthetown]

I have never had to pay for parking in a supermarket that is not in close proximity to other shops. A supermarket without free parking for customers would be a fairly empty one!

[PassiveAgressiveQueen]

I understand they are not allowed to promote ff, but this isn't promoting ff it is promoting tesco. Come us to for free parking.

[TaliZorahVasNormandy]

I know that Tesco. You dont have to pay to park. Unless they've changed it.

[itsawonderfulworld]

I FF because I had to. Because my babies would have starved otherwise. My GM had no milk (luckily she found a nanny who knew how to make supplement as there was no formula available in the 1940s). My mother tried her best (I remember her pumping for my baby brother and producing only blood) in the early 80s.
I was so determined to BF. Armed with all the modern knowledge I was confident it would be fine. We even hired a private lactation consultant who made me take an insane amount of fenugreek every day.
For a month I BFd religiously every 3 hours, even though that meant at least half an hour of trying to wake Baby up (severely jaundiced due to not enough fluids and very sleepy) - undressing him, putting him on the floor etc - then an hour or so of trying to get him to latch on (even though there was very little milk). Then feeding him with the top-up formula needed to keep him alive, then washing and sterilising bottles. And repeat, as by then the 3 hours were up. Luckily I had plenty of support or I wouldn't even have eaten. Most days I managed a slice of toast by midday.
I'm incredibly proud that I managed to feed my first child partially for 5 months (by the end that was literally an ounce or so a day). And I'm heartbroken that I couldn't do the same for child no 2. He latched on beautifully in the delivery room and I was so happy! But then complications set in and I was readmitted while he was not. Nurses gave him a bottle, and from then on he simply refused to BF. Once home, I spent 48h literally trying to get him to latch on, with no success. Our health visitor said "how do you propose to manage this once your parents fly home next week and you have to manage your toddler too". One of the hardest decisions I've made, but I had to. DC2 was raised entirely on formula.
This is a very raw topic for me but even so: the shop did nothing wrong in this case. And the law isn't wrong either. Formula shouldn't be promoted as the "easier" option. The shop didn't shame the mother or discriminate against her, her purchase just didn't qualify for the promotion, that's all.

[blueberryporridge]

Maximum pricing means formula companies would be capped on what they can charge for Formula Milk.

Oops, I stand corrected then - sorry! Would be very supportive of a cap on formula prices.

(I have come across women who really don't seem to be able to grasp that there can be very good reasons for not bf which is why I jumped to thinking that this was yet another way of having a go at ff mums..)

[ReallyTired]

Laws against formula promotion protect babies who have to be formula fed. Changing formula is not a trivial decision as babies get used to a particular formula. It's essential that the costs of a particular brand of formula are clear from the outset. A temporary promotion hides the true cost of formula.

If a particular formula is only available at supermarket X which provides free parking for all those who buy formula X one week and then the next week the offer of free parking has been removed then the price of buying formula X had risen significantly. The first week the mother thought that formula X was affordable and the second week she is in finanical trouble. Her baby is refusing the drink formula Z which is now on offer because it tastes different.

However it's a bit heavy handed the formula mum can't get free parking. I think the issue is with the parking rules and what consitutes a promotion.

[Tomorrowillbeachicken]

If it stops companies like Nestle etc being able to market the formulas to women in countries with unclean water, leading to babies dying, I think we can deal with the inconvenience.

[roundaboutthetown]

A woman not being allowed to park for free at Tesco doesn't stop Nestle marketing in countries with unclean water, it just gives bad publicity to a law that is being interpreted bizarrely and the Daily Mail another excuse to be inaccurately rude about EU law (and it doesn't matter if what they say is the truth if they are feeding pre-existing prejudices...).

[roundaboutthetown]

Another irritation is that the signs about free parking do not specify that formula milk is not included. By the time you have parked, gone in and found out it is not included, you have to pay for the parking. You would not have parked at all if you had known that, you would have gone somewhere else where you could park for free (like most other supermarkets), but it isn't on the small print in the car park. If you are going to extend bizarre rules to your car park, they should be clearly advertised at the entrance to the car park.

[Ledkr]

Sorry if it's been said a hundred times already but, as if free parking it a few club card points would influence how any even slightly intelligent person feeds their baby

[teenyrabbit]

Surely anyone with half a brain doesn't base their feeding choices on free parking at tesco?

All this outrage over formula is ridiculous.

You can't get free parking for formula (which your baby needs to survive) but you can get free parking buying chicken nuggets, chips and chocolate for your toddler.

Why don't they just give out parking vouchers to those who only buy organic veg and brown rice, wouldn't want to promote the Less healthy option would they

I don't see why the formula thing is an issue in the uk, it's not promoted and even if it was we have the means to make it safely!