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Supermarket Update

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DannyMich2018

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If any one fancies half price on certain breakfasts Morrison's last day is this Sunday 26th. I had a lovely small one earlier today and a pot of tea for about £3.22!!
 

Mojo

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I’ve heard of lots of reductions at supermarkets over today and yesterday, caused by queues for petrol stations blocking access to the main shop car park.
 

Peter Sarf

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I’ve heard of lots of reductions at supermarkets over today and yesterday, caused by queues for petrol stations blocking access to the main shop car park.
Damn, I should have walked over to my local Morrisons.
 

DelayRepay

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I know this has been mentioned before, but as well as shortages is anyone noticing very poor shelf-life at the moment?

E.g. yesterday in Tesco I wanted a packet of sausages. The longest use-by date I could find was 29 September. I am sure they used to have a longer shelf life than that. It's the same with a lot of fresh food - the choice is limited and what items they have are going to expire in the next few days.

Bread is another issue - seems to go dry and stale the day after it's bought.

I guess this is because the products are taking longer to reach the stores due to the issues.
 

dk1

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Sainsbury’s shelves at the Pound Lane store in Norwich where all reasonably full in the two occasions I called in this week. Oddly however on both visits the only item I couldn’t get was Domestos bleach. This has been ongoing for a few weeks although it’s been plentiful in Wilko & others.
 

SteveM70

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I know this has been mentioned before, but as well as shortages is anyone noticing very poor shelf-life at the moment?

Partly delays in the retailers’ supply chains as you mention, but also partly delays upstream of that with the vendors. (And for most big retailers bread is direct store delivery rather than through the retailers’ networks)

At the moment Coop are (with notice from the suppliers and where sensible) allowing in shorter life stock than normal on the basis that anything is better than nothing
 

DelayRepay

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At the moment Coop are (with notice from the suppliers and where sensible) allowing in shorter life stock than normal on the basis that anything is better than nothing

I agree anything is better than nothing - but not ideal if, like me, you end up binning half the loaf. And yes, I could freeze it but I'm using freezer space for meat and veg at the moment, given those products also have a short shelf life and I would prefer not to have to shop several times a week!

I'm not blaming the retailers - I know this is all beyond their control. But prices are rising and quality (in terms of shelf life) is dropping.
 

DelW

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Sainsbury’s shelves at the Pound Lane store in Norwich where all reasonably full in the two occasions I called in this week. Oddly however on both visits the only item I couldn’t get was Domestos bleach. This has been ongoing for a few weeks although it’s been plentiful in Wilko & others.
Sainsbury's own-brand equivalent of Shreddies has just reappeared in my local branch after an absence of several weeks. The real thing from Nestle was available throughout, but at three times the price for a rather smaller box; and since I can't tell the difference, I was reluctant to pay that. Otherwise I haven't encountered unusual shortages of anything recently.

Over the last eighteen months, I've gone from just-in-time replenishment to maintaining a month or two's stock of most things (more for some essentials). This means I'm less likely to run out of anything, but the disadvantages include over-full cupboards and having to make sure that I use age-sensitive items in roughly the right order.

About two or three years ago, I switched to making my own bread, and wouldn't go back. Even last year, I was always able to buy bread flour from a local supplier via a farm shop, although not always my preferred type. I admit to using a bread maker, which purists decry, but which cuts my time taken to around 10 minutes a loaf. Well worth it in my opinion!
 

SteveM70

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Sainsbury's own-brand equivalent of Shreddies has just reappeared in my local branch after an absence of several weeks. The real thing from Nestle was available throughout, but at three times the price for a rather smaller box; and since I can't tell the difference

No idea who makes the own brand product, but one thing that definitely happened last year in the initial phase of panic buying was manufacturers trying to increase production efficiency by limiting the number of line changes. This generally meant not making supermarket branded stuff
 

Peter Sarf

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I suggest that with a shortage in the supply chain the brand offerings are going to get simplified. It would follow that a manufacturer with limited distribution camability will produce their most profitabe lines as a prioity. An alternative theory would be that the supermarket branded products get sold in larger volumes and so normaly get re-supplied more often. But that then means, when the supply chain creakes, it is the faster moving products that run out first and more often.

I too have been steadily building up stocks of longer life products - cannned food and cereals in particular. But strictly no more than we would normally consume over the life of the product. Loo rolls do not go off either but there has been no problem since the panic before Easter last year ( i.e. 2020). I remember it was before Easter because my local Morrisons filled up the empty loo roll shelves with - Easter eggs !.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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My twin son who lives in Poynton has just called with a pack of 6 big-size Volvic still water in clear plastic bottles that I use when making cordials. He said the garden centre shop selling them had put a limit of one six-pack per customer. Locally, no shortages of Roberts bread nor Cravendale blue and green top milk that costs a tad more, but lasts longer. It makes life a little easier now that I only have to buy for one.
 

island

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I suggest that with a shortage in the supply chain the brand offerings are going to get simplified. It would follow that a manufacturer with limited distribution camability will produce their most profitabe lines as a prioity. An alternative theory would be that the supermarket branded products get sold in larger volumes and so normaly get re-supplied more often. But that then means, when the supply chain creakes, it is the faster moving products that run out first and more often.
It’s a slight variation on the above – they will produce more of the branded lines so they don’t have to turn the production lines off to swap out the packaging etc. to a different supermarket’s colours. The named brands can be sent to any supermarket.
 

Mojo

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I had a Sainsbury’s delivery in the week & ended up with a handful of substitutes; in most cases however it wasn’t too much of a problem as the substitute was the same item but just own brand. The good thing about Sainsbury’s is that if the replacement item costs more then they give you a money off voucher for next time.
 

Cowley

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Evening everyone. We’re closing a couple of threads tonight because they’ve run their course and it’s time to thin things out a little in this section as things move on. This is one of them…
Thanks all.
 
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