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Original poster

Urgent Query before I embarrass myself in Tesco

59 replies

XmasGridlock · 27/12/2020 15:15

Elderly relative has given us some Tesco saving Stamps for Christmas. Have never heard of these and all I can find online dates back to 2010 ish. Nothing on Tesco website about them. Do they still exist? Can I use them?

OP posts:
Wapalim · 27/12/2020 15:16

Yeah you can still buy them. Cashiers generally don’t know what to do with them but they are perfectly valid

FourDecades · 27/12/2020 15:48

Mum used to get them for me each Christmas. Cashers are always stumped as how to use them. Think they are meant to class them as cash and to give any change back as cash.

modgepodge · 27/12/2020 15:54

Ooh, I saw the machine which sold these in Tesco the other day, I guess it’s always been there but I’d never noticed it before. Fairly sure it was no longer functioning.

Sorry OP, no idea how they work!

Mrsemcgregor · 27/12/2020 16:08

My grandma gets us a book of £50 of them each Xmas bless her. Perfectly valid still, the cashier will need to buzz a supervisor to put them through most likely!

BigTallyWacker · 27/12/2020 16:09

You can buy something for £1 and they’ll give you the change in cash. I save them up every year.

Nunoftheother · 27/12/2020 16:43

What is the point of savings stamps? Rather than, say, a voucher?

PetertheWalrus · 27/12/2020 16:46

@Nunoftheother

What is the point of savings stamps? Rather than, say, a voucher?
Vouchers have to be paid for in one go. Stamps can be built up week-by-week to the required sum (I think).
Nunoftheother · 27/12/2020 16:47

@PetertheWalrus - ah, I see. Thanks.

Bunnybigears · 27/12/2020 16:47

What is the point of savings stamps? Rather than, say, a voucher?

If you want to buy a voucher for £50 you have to pay £50 there and then, with savjng stamps you can pay a £1 each week when you do your shopping.

Laiste · 27/12/2020 16:49

Why would you go to the trouble of exchanging cash for Tesco stamps all year and then go back to Tesco and change them back to cash?

Why not just bung your pound coins in a jar at home?

Frazzlefrazle · 27/12/2020 16:49

Yes still valid. MIL buys them for us every year. Like everyone has said the cashier will have no idea how to put it through the till though.

ThePricklySheep · 27/12/2020 16:51

@Laiste

Why would you go to the trouble of exchanging cash for Tesco stamps all year and then go back to Tesco and change them back to cash?

Why not just bung your pound coins in a jar at home?

Because some people know that they will fritter them away.
andawaywego · 27/12/2020 16:54

Wow, not seen those for years. Our local store, which is a bit of a rundown, crappy Tesco, still has the machine covered in tape!

I remember my grandma used to get £2 a week in stamps after doing her weekly shop, then by Xmas she'd have enough for her big shop. I suppose back then it was a good way to save towards Xmas food expenses if you were frugal and organised. I'm surprised they haven't got a digital version now, where you can load a few quid onto a card or something.

Charlie63849 · 27/12/2020 16:58

I do these... well I did about £3 worth and kept forgetting to get anymore... they are still valid. This was only a couple months ago

Izzabellasasperella · 27/12/2020 17:01

I think you can use Tesco club card points on food but it's better to use them on their deals. Saves us a fortune on ferry costs.

SuperbGorgonzola · 27/12/2020 17:01

They're a good idea if you're a loyal shopper. Morrisons still do them too I think? Or did until recently.

They did a little booklet in January that you buy two stamps for each week with a couple of "free" squares and you end up with about £100 for your Christmas shop.

WellTidy · 27/12/2020 17:04

My mum, sisters and their mum would buy stamps every week to save for Christmas. Not just Tesco stamps, but butchers too. And they would also buy tv licence, BT and electric savings stamps for when the bills came. It was a known way of budgeting.

MrsMop1964 · 27/12/2020 17:07

Just check at the customer service desk before shopping. No embarrassment necessary.

RickiTarr · 27/12/2020 17:20

@WellTidy

My mum, sisters and their mum would buy stamps every week to save for Christmas. Not just Tesco stamps, but butchers too. And they would also buy tv licence, BT and electric savings stamps for when the bills came. It was a known way of budgeting.
Yes I can remember queuing with my child benefit book at the post office behind women asking for various combinations of this and that stamp.
maddiemookins16mum · 27/12/2020 17:22

I remember ‘back in the day’ going to the Post Office to get my £2 car tax stamps, used to stick them in a card. This was the early/mid 80s.

KitKat1985 · 27/12/2020 17:26

Oh gosh my Nan used to buy one saving stamp on every weekly shop, and then used them to buy Christmas goodies in December. I'd nearly forgotten about this.

BrutusMcDogface · 27/12/2020 17:26

This has brought back memories from the depths of my brain, that I probably haven’t thought about since they happened! My mum also collected stamps for one thing or another! Seems a good way to budget.

HollowTalk · 27/12/2020 17:30

They changed to savings cards, where you could add something every time you shopped. One year I did that by rounding up the shopping to the nearest £10 - it was a really easy way of saving for Christmas.

StanfordPines · 27/12/2020 17:31

It’s not unlike a Christmas club in a way.
It reminds you to save and means it doesn’t get frittered away on other things. You can spread the cost.

Crinkle77 · 27/12/2020 17:34

@Mrsemcgregor

My grandma gets us a book of £50 of them each Xmas bless her. Perfectly valid still, the cashier will need to buzz a supervisor to put them through most likely!
I used them on the scan as you shop tills the other day. No need to call a supervisor. The woman staffing that area just had to do something on the screen and that was it. I think you need to use them before the end of December though OP.