Morrisons refusing to remove Russian products from sale.

[Paintyourpaletteblueandgrey]

I went shopping to Morrisons last night. Wandering the alcohol aisle I found a full lit up display of Russian Standard vodka which is made in St Petersberg. Morrisons announced earlier that week that they, like all other supermarkets, were withdrawing all Russian products for sale due to the ongoing Ukraine crisis so I was quite surprised to see it there.

As I was leaving I spoke to customer services asking why the vodka was still on the shelves. The store manager came down with an email from the head office to show me. Basically Morrisons have withdrawn the vodka online but have decided to continue to sell it on their stores. Their view is that regardless of what is going on in Ukraine, they have bought the vodka and don't believe they should lose out on the profits for it (manager's words not mine). I asked why they had announced that they were banning Russian products when it was untrue and was told 'well why should we lose money?'

Am I being unreasonable thinking that Morrisons have just jumped on the Ukraine bandwagon with no actual intent to stand by their comments. They are putting money before morality. Surely we should be making a stand against Russia rather than paying lip service to them. I tweeted Morrisons last night but surprise surprise, they have ignored my tweet.

My mum noticed the same in her local morrisons and asked to see the manager. He refused to come down from the offices so she rang head office who told her that it should be removed from stores aswell. They asked her for the stores location.
When she went over there was a manger stood at the customer service desk so she told him he was wrong and said she put him on the picture where he had gone wrong! Love my mum

How much if the boycott do you sent to be performative, and how much do you want it to be am actual sanction?

That vodka has already been paid for - the Russiam company has that money now. What purpose is being served by Morrisons not now selling it on? Russian Standard don't care if if they sell it, pour it down the sink, or use it an an accelerant on a picture of Putin, do they?

But it's true, they've bought it and if People want to buy it they can.

I couldn't give less fucks about vodka being on sale because I detest waste of consumables. Don't buy it, it'll run out eventually.

They'll have already paid for it anyway. Better it gets sold and used rather than thrown and wasted.

I wouldn't expect them to buy more, but selling old stock is fine and the right thing to do.

If they have cancelled further orders for the vodka they might as well sell the stock they have on the shelves because they will have already been invoiced for it.

I can't get worked up about this. The stock is already bought, the Russian company has already been paid. People can simply choose not to buy it and Morrisons can stop purchasing further stock from Russian companies.

I agree with Morrisons actually. If they've already bought and paid for it then there is nothing for Russia to gain from them now selling it. The only people to lose out would be Morrisons. They should absolutely stop buying anymore, but what has already been purchased might as well be sold/consumed.

If we boycott Russian-made products, ultimately who are we harming? Let’s imagine, everyone stops drinking Russian Standard, the business goes bust - who is being penalised here? Just the company, or also the normal, everyday people who work in the distillery?

Morrisons have a restructure every 2 years where a load of people lose their jobs. Surely it's better to sell the stock they've got? What are you doing to fight the cause in Ukraine?

But once they boycott one thing you have to boycott them all. Shops should be there to sell products not preach to us .

Besides I think if they did start to boycott all products made from unethical means we'd have an empty shop.

We are not self sufficient as a country. We couldn't possibly provide for our population without imports. And that's on us as the public are the ones refusing to pay the ££ for ethically made local.products. mich preferring cheap imported sweat shop clothes and meat from fuck knows where

Since they’ve paid for the product any boycott is not going to serve as a sanction on Russia although it’s a positive show of solidarity to the Ukrainians.

I don’t have a strong view whether they should sell it or not but they definitely shouldn’t make a statement around not selling it and then continue to do so. That is performative bullshit.

My understanding was that Morrison's strategy is to take the product off its online sales 'shelves'; and not re-order any more stock from its suppliers for sale in-store. So once its existing stock is sold in its stores, then there's no more available.

I don't think they ever said they were taking all the vodka out and destroying it? And they can't stick it in food warehouses - space is tight enough as it is with our nation's Just In Time supply system. Nor can they donate vodka to charity.

Would you wish the supermarkets to find a way to destroy all the goods from Russia? Perhaps some are - does anyone know?

But it’s already paid for
Seems a waste of money not to sell it

RampantIvy

If they have cancelled further orders for the vodka they might as well sell the stock they have on the shelves because they will have already been invoiced for it“

This.

I don’t necessarily support these boycotts but if a company says they are doing it then they should

These boycotts are performative and only serve to strengthen anti-Russian sentiment harming the innocent person. Do you really think Putin will give two hoots about countries boycotting products? No, if anything he’ll see it as hostile and be more likely to turn on us too. Meanwhile the innocent members of the general public who work for said companies will be further penalised making their life even harder than it is already.
I fully support Ukraine in this, but I have too many Russian friends living in Russia who didn’t vote for Putin and who would protest but are too scared of the terrible consequences of doing so under his regimes.

You don't have to buy

@Hadjab

If we boycott Russian-made products, ultimately who are we harming? Let’s imagine, everyone stops drinking Russian Standard, the business goes bust - who is being penalised here? Just the company, or also the normal, everyday people who work in the distillery?

The normal, everyday people. But that's the point isn't it. To make things unbearable for Putin at home. To cause an uprising or similar. To send the message to the Russian people that the rest of the world doesn't agree with what's happening there. I don't think anyone thinks Putin is personally bothered whether Morrisons sells Russian Vodka or not.

As long as they don't restock it once it's sold. As for harming normal Russians if we don't buy their products, sorry but the average Russian citizen needs to take accountability for their leader as well. They can't all just pretend it's not happening. And yes I know it's much more complex than that but at the end of the day buying Russian products is the same as condoning the war imo.

They are doing it. Removing means not ordering any more stock. If you don't want to buy the already paid for stock that is your choice as a customer. The people who don't understand this are being stupid and wasteful and damaging a uk business.

Buff said** I agree

@NuffSaidSam

I agree with Morrisons actually. If they've already bought and paid for it then there is nothing for Russia to gain from them now selling it. The only people to lose out would be Morrisons. They should absolutely stop buying anymore, but what has already been purchased might as well be sold/consumed.

Totally agree with this. Also disposing of consumables is wasteful and in this case totally unnecessary. If the items have already been bought and paid for there is absolutely no issue with them now being sold.

As a PP pointed out the produce has already been bought and paid for so why wouldn't they sell it. As long as they said they won't be buying any more once paid for stocks are used that would be good enough for me. Yes I feel terrible for people living in Russia as it isn't their fault but I guess that comes with the terriroty.

*Nuffsaid

Yeah I agree OP, they should throw it down the drain and raise the price of other items across the store to recoup the loss for them seen as though they will have either paid for them or be committed to pay. It would be absolutely absurd to assume they mean they will be reviewing future orders.