To dislike store offering NHS discounts

[TryingNotToBeLate]

The store gets to look kind and generous but surly they don’t take it out of their profit but just adjust their pricing accordingly, ie regular price goes up a bit to balance out the few who will pay less.
Same with x % goes to charity - sounds nice but realistically it is the customer paying for it.

@swimminginthesun yes I am in England and am a psychotherapist. Have only recently qualified and was just a bit mind blown how much private companies offer. I guess you don't get the benefits like the pension though!

@Beneficialchampion2 job satisfaction is worth more to me than a paycheck, I get this isn't true for everyone. The vulnerable people that I most enjoy working with would not be able to pay private prices. So sure, I am not just doing it cos it of morals, but also cos I wouldnt get much job satisfaction of going private despite the huge jump in pay. But morals are deffo in there, i dont think it is ethical not to provide a service to the most vulnerable. This is why lots of people end up doing half NHS half private. Each to their own though!

I signed up to give NHS staff discounts from my shop. Cost me £500 to put the ad in a booklet that would be distributed to all NHS staff.
it was a complete Con run by the NHS. only one of many friends who work for the NHS ever saw a copy of the booklet and that was 11 months after we placed the ad.

also talked to some other local businesses who had the same experience.

I feel sorry for the businesses that offer the discounts as they are out of pocket.

Yanbu. Just pay healthcare workers what they're worth and ditch the attention seeking discounts.

@thebutcherswife but do you not get staff discount for the store you work in? Is that not a perk?

In the last 2 companies I have worked for (all private) we get store discounts at lots of places such as tesco, nike, currys, john lewis, b&q, gym places, odeon etc, it is pretty common. Most places that offer discounts to nhs will offer discounts to other large organisations that have schemes and approach them.

My parents used to run a small independent shop. . It was standard to give other shop owners 10% discount and it was reciprocated.

I agree. I’m a health care professional, that does not work for the NHS - so also excluded from the virtue signalling 👍

I'm a social worker working for a local authority and have a blue light card. Anyone who is a care worker, working in public services etc can apply for one it's not just an NHS discount.

you pay a fiver for it.

it works to get people 'through the door' OP so I don't think the shops care that they get slightly less profit on individual sales if overall it sends more of the customers their way. As an example from just my team of social workers two have swapped their large weekly shop to Asda because Asda offers a good BLC discount.

personally I refitted a kitchen and found that the items were wanted were all available from both Curry's and from AO. Curry's offered a BLC discount and AO didn't so Curry's got my money and AO didn't.

Where I work I get free veterinary consultations including out of hours, 50% off any procedures and medication at cost price.

I also get 'points' to spend on a scheme called Perk Box which gives you discount vouchers and free Greggs sausage rolls 😆

Blue light cards are different to NHS discounts as far as I’m aware, I have a blue light card, and work in the private sector. Some shops however, will only offer discounts to NHS workers - regardless of the blue light card.

I agree it is virtue signalling. We live in a deprived area so if you have a job in the NHS you aren't doing badly even if only a cleaner etc. So care home staff, other emergency staff, supermarket workers don't get a discount but overpaid admin staff in the NHS do. I'm not talking about blue light cards just shops with signs saying 20% discount for NHS workers.

It is not virtue signalling - businesses are trying to target a demographic of workers to gain their loyalty. Just see above about shoppers who switched their regular shop to Asda because of the BLC discount (which was then moved over to their rewards scheme so they could collect your data and has since been downgraded - many will continue to shop there so it has been a success for them). Likewise for the person who compared with Currys and AO - it wouldn't surprise me if AO price-match if you asked for it but people just go with cheapest so Currys won.

Your comment about 'overpaid admin workers' just stinks of resentment. If they get so much money for such little work, I recommend you join them. The admin staff in the team I used to work were absolute heroes and I could not have done my job without them. Deserved far more then they were paid too for the stress and abuse they received (latter from patients)

The fact that you live in a deprived area is irrelevant - most of the businesses are chains with stores up and down the country. They make a decision based on majority, not who needs it most. As a former NHS worker who is now in private sector, I can tell you without hesitation that I get far more through corporate discounts then I ever did as a NHS employee.

It's just another marketing tool.
I feel the same about restaurants offering free meals for children - so I choose not to use them.
I dislike Holland & Barrett because they have so many "buy one, buy a second for 1p type offers" - the goods must be overpriced in the first place to facilitate that.
There was a post recently about stores offering discounts to loyalty card holders.
Stores paying for advertising will also build the costs of that to be covered by their pricing.

If you don't like a particular form of marketing, don't use the store.