Supermarkets are taking the pi$$

[ButterflyTable]

I can’t believe how expensive food is now especially in the likes of Sainsbury’s for the same product. Total P-take, e.g. Organic Milk Sainsbury’s £2 Aldi £1.79.

Why give us ‘nectar’ prices when they are inflated prices in the first place? £5.50 for a Pizza Express Margherita and £2.75 on Nectar. I think actually it’s the fakery with making us think we are getting a good deal that’s pissing me off.

I went to Aldi today (we don’t have one near us) as I was doing a drop off nearby and the price difference is huge!!

I shop in Tesco, Sainsbury's and occasionally Waitrose. Their economy range is excellent

I ALWAYS use the scan and shop. Apart from the once-in-a-blue-moon check it is SO much quicker and easier

Quite!

I can't bare Sainsbury, i have tried 4 different stores and they are all awful. Lidl and Aldi are fantastic, both in our town are clean and well stocked.

@newmum0604 , because it's retaining information about you.
You go to the shop and buy something then they extrapolate the data to make a profile.

Do you want to have someone know about, for example, what sanitary and personal hygiene products you buy, that you bought a packet of condoms and a pregnancy test, that your baby uses certain nappies, that you bought a bottle of sherry and a pack of doughnuts etc?

A real surprise is trying out your local farm shop. We live in an area with a lot of farms. Our nearest farm shop, which sells local fresh fruit and veg, freshly baked bread, and has a butcher and fishmonger is invariably cheaper than Sainsburys

@MerryChristmasToYou

i wouldn’t give a shit tbh 🤷‍♀️

Scan and shop that you do yourself is a game changer !

no more assistants licking their fingers to open bags or coughing or blowing their nose before handling your stuff

hurrah

I'm not hugely fussed if tesco know I buy a BLT for lunch every wednesday.

What these schemes do though, is put barriers in the way for people to get cheaper shopping.

It's a statistical fact that the people who would benefit the most from cheaper prices are the least likely to have clubcards/ apps etc. As is often the case, the poorer you are, the more life costs. This is absolutely morally indefensible.

Sorry - but what are the "drastically different"health benefits and "ingredients" between apple juice (regular) and apple juice (organic)?

(Or hand over the plastic card sent to you through the post )

Sainsbury’s yesterday had the bag chucked at me - where do you live that they help pack your bags still? It’s only if the cashier happens to be particularly good at customer service/in a helpful mood. Coop lady the other week saw I had a screaming toddler and two other older children with me and just sat there looking bored while I tried to pack everything into a their weird fake tan smelling weak plastic bags…and coop is insanely priced!

all of the supermarkets are shit. Waitrose is just beyond a joke. And the shopping experience is so not good enough to be worth the price difference of 9-11 pounds a pack of nappies to 2-4 pounds at Aldi. Really it’s not.

I've always did Tesco online/delivered for sundries and M&S for Sunday dinner and accompaniments through the week (mash, potato slices etc). I tried Aldi for a couple of weeks, and the saving was quite significant. Most stuff in Aldi is own brand though, and our meals just weren't as tasty using Aldi's sauces, tinned tomatoes, puree and such like. And I didn't like their fresh orange or smoothies, nor their kitchen towel/toilet tissue. So yes, big savings in Aldi, but I still prefer Tesco and M&S!

There is a range of supermarkets, so people can choose where to shop based on their priorities and preferences. If you like Aldi, shop there. Personally I dislike the budget supermarkets because of their lack of range and inconsistency of stock. I can't reliably do a full shop there and don't want to faff about going to more than one shop to get what I need for the week. I am happy to pay more for the things I value in a supermarket, so that's what I do.

@Magnastorm is right. They’re all different, in different parts of the country. Here, Aldi is fine- a new shop with wide aisles and a good selection. Lidl is newish, but not well maintained and a bit grubby. Sainsbury’s is fine and Tesco isn’t. I saw a programme about the Tesco and Sainsbury price comparison and it’s pretty much a con, as are the Nectar cards and whatever Tesco scheme is.

It really is horses for courses and it isn’t that one is superior to another. Even M&S has some stuff that goes off quickly and isn’t nice.

Aldi Greek yoghurt is the best I’ve found. It doesn’t go runny and watery like Sainsbury’s, M&S and Waitrose do. It’s even better than the farm shop. I think that if food is going off quickly, that’s down to the management of the store, their stock control and the handling of the produce.

I’m one of the ‘poor old dears’ @SuePotato. I can pack my shopping faster than the Aldi cashier can scan it. If I’m in Sainsbury’s I use self service or smart shop. I’m not dithering about or waiting to pack and holding everyone up. Nor am I having a lengthy conversation with the staff. Really depressing that people are so derogatory about older people. You might be one yourself one day.

@LuckySantangelo35 , I don't care enough to not use my card but some stores use the data to determine which special offers to give you.

I don't understand people going on about how much cheaper Aldi is. It's really not (obviously does depend a bit on what you regularly buy) not when compared to supermarket own brand products. I can only assume these people would be buying 'proper' branded stuff in the bigger supermarkets and not supermarket own label.

9-11 pounds for nappies??!
Tesco own brand ones are £2.89 for 56 (size 4) and this is basically comparable to Aldi ones, which are a few pence cheaper if I recall rightly from last time I went in there. Asda little angels nappies are much the same price too.

I think you're somewhat correct, in all the years I've shopped at Tesco I've never bought own brand. Cheese, milk, meat, fruit, fresh veg is all cheaper in Aldi though.

I bought a loaf of bread from Sainsburys, just this week. It was stale, I was so cross but it was too far and too much hassle to take it back. Lidl bread is never stale.

Here's an example from two different juices I found. Obviously not including pesticides.

• Water, Apple Juice from Concentrate (20%), Sugar, Acidity Regulators: Citric Acid and Malic Acid, Flavouring, Sweetener - Sucralose

vs

Organic apple juice not from concentrate. 100% pressed juice

@jengachampion maybe compare like with like? In otherwords apple juice not from concentrate one organic and one not.

Do you want to have someone know about, for example, what sanitary and personal hygiene products you buy, that you bought a packet of condoms and a pregnancy test, that your baby uses certain nappies, that you bought a bottle of sherry and a pack of doughnuts etc?

I also couldn’t give a shit.

I haven't been in a Lidl for years. Aldi's range of bread is poor though, Tesco has a much bigger range of bread and they've the bakery too. I find M&S's bakery overrated, the 'fresh' bread often doesn't taste particularly fresh - though my daughter loves their bakery pretzels.

It's such a bloody shame that customer service seems to have largely gone down the pan.

I live in a seaside town and used to work at Sainsbury's. Our customer age profile is / was much higher than average, so I would always be offering to pack bags. (I'd offer everyone, but it was mainly the elderly or disabled who took me up on it) I'd also help out a parent with a pram and maybe holding onto a toddler. It was just common sense to read the situation and help if you could.

I also made sure I went at a pace the customer was happy with as it was a personal pet peeve when shopping is rammed at you. I could also pick up on wether someone wanted a chat or not. That one's pretty important. It's amazing what body language you notice.

I noticed - especially at weekends - I'd have all the same customers coming to my till every single week and realised it was because not many of the other staff really gave a shit. I became rather fond of a few of my 'regulars'

I don't work there anymore, but I am a supermarket mystery shopper, which I love doing and is often good fun.

Totally fair point btw about the price difference in the likes of nappies. I'd imagine that's where Aldi get a lot of their loyalty from. It's mostly families that I see shopping there.

I don’t shop with any of the large supermarkets any more.

The differential pricing and need for loyalty cards puts me off Sainsbury’s and Tesco. And the quality and stock control is so variable (the Sainsbury’s in the small town near us resembles a supermarket in Moscow c.1974 half the time.)

I shopped once at Lidl and the choice and quality was so poor it put me off.

I now prefer Waitrose and use their essentials range for basics. They are a bit more expensive but the food is of high quality, there’s a good choice and they apparently have high welfare standards and treat suppliers well (my cousin supplies pork to them.)

I do top up shops at a local greengrocer or the farm shop. Our local farm shop is great for meat and has a range of local fruit, veg and other produce. Their meat is often comparable in price with the big supermarkets, and I know where it’s come from.