To be fed up with all the NHS discount codes?

[YouDoYouHun]

Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of respect for NHS workers on the front line dealing with the pandemic, that's not what this thread is about, but AIBU to have had enough of shops and businesses offering NHS discount only? Generally, this isn't a new thing and has been around since last March, but this past week or so I have received quite a few emails from various shops/businesses (I won't name) including national and local, offering discount codes for NHS staff only. Great, they deserve it....but what about everyone else too? What about supermarket workers? Council workers? Labourers? Delivery drivers? The postal service? What about the people who have lost their jobs too? Granted, disposable income will be low to non existent so frivolous online shopping purchases will likely not be high on the priority list, but wouldn't that be more reason to offer a discount? for people struggling? How about a pandemic discount code so everyone can enjoy a treat rather than just singling out the NHS and sending the message that unless you work for the NHS you are undeserving?

The NHS also covers a huge variation of roles and I don't particularly find it fair that Mary who works behind the scenes gets the discount just because she is an NHS employee but Barry who works in a supermarket doesn't receive any discount because he doesn't work for the NHS? Not the greatest example, but you hopefully get my point.

This isn't meant to sound grabby. It's not about the discount. Shops/businesses are struggling too and don't have to offer any discount at all. My point is, if there is going to be a discount offered, why effectively invalidate other professions by sending the message that they haven't worked hard enough/suffererd enough to receive the 'prize' that is a discount code?

YABU - what are you talking about? Only NHS employees should receive discounts.

YANBU - This pandemic has affected us all in different ways and we shouldn't be made to feel any less important because we don't work for the NHS.

[quote YouDoYouHun]@bookriddle I'm sorry for what your wife has gone/is going through but "don't you dare compare her line of working with someone working in a fucking shop" is out of line and also offensive to shop workers. I never once did compare. I don't know your wife personally. I never directly compared her to anyone or compared others to each other. I specifically said that some have suffered more than others and that most have suffered to some extent, to varying degrees.[/quote]
But @Bookriddle is right!

It’s not offensive to point out something so glaringly obvious. All key workers have done amazing, but you can’t compare someone working in aldi to an ITU nurse dealing with death and despair daily. It’s completely incomparable.

OP I think your backpedalling is meaning it is difficult to see what your actual point is here.

If you want a discount ask those companies for one. Don't come on Mumsnet implying that NHS discounts are not fair or justified.

@beautifulstranger101

What a horrible, mean spirited thread.

Geez.

This

It’s not offensive to point out something so glaringly obvious. All key workers have done amazing, but you can’t compare someone working in aldi to an ITU nurse dealing with death and despair daily. It’s completely incomparable

Agreed. Of course those two jobs have value (every job has value) but they are not remotely the same in terms of personal stress, fatigue and burden of responsibility and to imply they are is quite shockingly ignorant. A nurse on an ITU ward who is nursing dying people and having to deal with relatives grief etc is under far more stress than someone who works in a shop. Sorry if you dont like that but that doesnt make it untrue.

@beautifulstranger101 I don't see what is mean spirited about fundamentally saying that everyone's had a shitty time and I don't agree with indirectly being pitted against each other based on an employer? Some posters have derailed and there are a lot of negative comments and NHS bashing which was not the intention of the thread despite what some other posters may think.

@Brieminewine I never made that direct comparison.

@Eleganz please point me to the comment where I said the NHS discounts weren't justified? I didn't. I have stated plenty of times that NHS workers should receive discounts. But my view is that other roles should also be recognised to the same extent.

Emerald99 I am a member of the great British Public ,and in no way resent a small discount for our NHS staff! Please dont tar us all with the same petty brush! Our family and friends and many others in the Country are extremely grateful for all you have done/are doing for us! Redfrogsrule My thoughts go out to you and your DD .I always wanted to be a Nurse ,but didnt in the end .However I wonder now if I would have been able to cope .Your DD is doing sterling work .My DH was incredulous when watching the News at 10 ,and demonstrators outside were waving posters saying "This is a Conspiracy" while Docs and Nurses were having to walk by them to get to work FFS!

And yes, companies have always offered discounts. But pushing the marketing around this time to focus solely on NHS is insensitive to some extent. Sports Direct for example offered around 60% discount to NHS staff last year. Do NHS staff deserve it? Of course! it's a great idea. But are there also others who also deserve it and would benefit? Yes.

Nobody deserves any discount, but of course everyone would benefit from one.

However, as repeatedly stated, you can’t give a discount to everyone and it’s up to business owners to decide if they can afford to give one and if they can then to whom they will do so.

Group A having a discount doesn’t mean Group B/C/D should get one too just because A does.

And let’s not forget those working in care homes too. The stress they have been under not only that they will often have built up relationships with those they care for and have had to replace the support their families will have given having to deal with so much grief around them is absolutely awful.

I work in mh it’s so stressful just when we free of covid or think we are once again a someone tests positive. Family can’t visit them, some have been scared, some just don’t get or forget they have to self isolate which is awful for them. Then there is the practical side how we manage their medication, the constant risk assessments, the changes, the staff shortages my workload now is far beyond what is was pre covid and we are all drained but hey I get 20% off one Nando’s meal so shouldn’t complain

But my work isn’t comparable to those in icu or in care homes what three have been through and still are is horrendous

But my view is that other roles should also be recognised to the same extent.

Why? Who would choose what roles were “worthy” enough?

Someone’s always going to feel left out; that’s just life.

It's only on here that people seem so miserable that they don't want anyone else to have nice things! Bad luck, you're not getting it but why be so mean? I'm sure you've had something that others haven't at some point.

Again, businesses aren’t doing it because NHS staff deserve it - they’re doing it because it’s good for business. If it weren’t they wouldn’t do it.

I didn't vote as I don't agree with either of the options. I agree that shops should be able to offer discounts to whole they want. I don't agree that no other profession is deserving but I also don't agree that offering nhs discounts is unfair.

Student discounts, police discounts, carer discounts and many many more are all a thing

I'm intrigued as to whole the people are offering nhs discounts currently?

At the start of the pandemic there were a lot. But now it seems back to the ones it has always been (eg Dorothy perkins) other than pets at home and morrisons

There's always a tricky line because there has been many threads about people daring to ask if there is an nhs discount and how entitled this is, yet in my experience most of the shops that have one, you have to ask to get it and its not advertised.

I have benefited from free council parking, but I'd argue that's a separate issue because in my eyes its madness that the nhs hub I work in with over a 100 staff is £8.50 a day parking when having a car is mandatory, and part of my job description

@PurpleWh1teGreen

By offering NHS workers and other a discount, companies are effectively requiring other customers to pay higher prices. And I’m not sure companies are best places to do that reallocation of resources and make decisions about who is deserving and not, I’d much prefer that front line key workers were properly rewarded in the forms of their salaries in the first place.

Except that they are not. The company will have done their calculations to make sure they still make a profit after offering their discount, just a slightly smaller one. The NHS is a large employer of people who are still earning. Offering a discount to such groups is good business sense.

Morrisons average gross profit is less than 10%, so they ARE making a loss on the average basket of goods bought by a NHS worker. That means they have to charge other people more to make up the loss.

@emilyfrost

But my view is that other roles should also be recognised to the same extent.

Why? Who would choose what roles were “worthy” enough?

Someone’s always going to feel left out; that’s just life.

NHS is not responsible for other companies FFS.

Not quite the same, but I often give packs of biscuits to our binmen.

They have worked right through, doing a lousy job, in all weathers , and I think they deserve a pat on the back occasionally.

There are many groups of workers deserving of thanks , including NHS workers!

@SchrodingersImmigrant

The clap for heroes thing originated in Italy I think. Plenty of other countries appreciating their health services right now. They didn't clap and bang pans every week though. That's what I am talking about. Show respect, but like... Normally. There is appreciation and respect. Then there is weird obsession basically just because it's free at point of entry.

No, it definitely didn't. Friends came to stay with me in Italy just before lockdown (here) and told me about the "clap for carers" thing in the UK.

@Tippexy

Just use the codes? Anyone can sign up to Health Service Discounts 🤷🏽

No you can't, you need an NHS email address and then they send that code to that email. This is to prevent dishonest people.......like yourself

You need your NHS email for Blue Light Card @CostaDelCovid, not Health Service Discounts...

@YouDoYouHun I completely agree OP. However all you will get on here, is people purposely ignoring the fact that you've quite clearly stated that you DO NOT BEGRUDGE NHS STAFF GETTING DISCOUNT, resulting in hundreds & hundreds of posts vilifying you for "daring to begrudge the NHS of discount", "How petty" & "Are you really that broke?"

When in real life, most of these people would be pretty indignant if they were making a large purchase, only to discover that if their employer was the NHS, then they'd potentially save 10s if not 100s of pounds.

Personally I think Teachers should get the same (not just in Morrisons) and where possible, Key Workers & Carers also. However that may not be feasible for many businesses as the list of Keyworker roles is so extensive. Not to mention those who stretch the truth with it. Ie: otherwise Brownies leader (with no other job) describing themselves as being in 'Education' and therefore a Keyworker...
Businesses such as Morrisons just for example, would end up giving discount to the majority of the population.....!

Hotpeppsau Did you quote the wrong person?

This pandemic has really brought out the 'it's not fair' , foot - stamping in people. So many threads where people are looking for something another group is getting that their not. In the grand scheme does it really matter?
Companies giving NHS discount is a commercial decision not about fairness or morals. The NHS have a massive workforce, therefore lots of potential business. As well as driving business, offering these discounts is good PR. Student discount has been a feature of life for similar reasons too.

I completely agree OP. However all you will get on here, is people purposely ignoring the fact that you've quite clearly stated that you DO NOT BEGRUDGE NHS STAFF GETTING DISCOUNT, resulting in hundreds & hundreds of posts vilifying you for "daring to begrudge the NHS of discount", "How petty" & "Are you really that broke?

Because it’s a goady post! It’s like people who put the disclaimer ‘no offence’ in front of a really offensive comment It doesn’t magically make it non offensive.

What the OP’s post boils down to is I’m fed up of the NHS getting discounts because in my opinion they don’t actually deserve it any more than the rest of us regardless of how many ‘disclaimers’ the OP has tried to include that is the crux of what they are saying and that’s why people are calling them out on it!

No offence...but you’re a massive fatty ‘why are you you upset? I said no offence didn’t I?’

NHS staff have a whole website of discounts. Some places give a discount when you show your pass - Nandos for example, others you sign up with your email address.
These are extra and it's up to the shop who they give discounts to.

'The blue light card gives firemen the same discount as my DD. They turned up at a care home the other day stood in the porch and advised the low pay carer how to check for a fire (fire alarm continuous and home full of vulnerable disabled adults) because it was too unsafe to enter in case of Covid. So a fireman in full haz suit watched a woman in a plastic apron, gloves and mask run around a three storey house searching for the cause of the fire alarm...he gets discount and she doesn’t. Fair? no.'

Ok and what would have happened if the firefighter had entered the building, putting them (and the residents) and their team at unnecessary risk, all contracted covid and you have a car crash a few days later and no one is there to cut you out of your vehicle?