Supermarkets discussion

[malc-c]

We've been buying Helmans tomato ketchup as it was £1.00 and better than ASDA's own. Daughter just sent me this



That's some inflation !!!!

 

[Bald Rick]

Well they aren't doing their job because they should have reasonable grounds for suspicion before making any allegations. You will see from the examples people have given that the shop staff have been very careful not to make any specific allegations. 'Can I just have a quick look in your bag please?' is, in essence, a fishing expedition. The police aren't allowed to do that and neither is anyone else. A good old fashioned 'store detective' would be watching the perpetrator and gathering their evidence (ie putting items under the pram cushion and walking out without paying for said item) before approaching the suspect.

Walking into, through, then out of a store is not suspicious activity. People do it all the time for any number of reasons, perhaps because the shop didn't have in stock what the customer was looking for, or they wanted to compare prices.

As for compo, I was thinking along the lines of 'unlawful arrest', 'false imprisonment (detention)' and even 'malicious prosecution' if it went that far. But I will leave it to the retail / legal experts to state exactly where the thresholds lay and what may or may not constitute 'reasonable suspicion' etc.

Fine. Opinions differ.

If I’m ever stopped by a security guard at a supermarket (I haven’t yet…) and they ask to look in my bag, they can. I‘ve got nothing to hide, and I’d rather be on my way without delay, or an argument.

 

[Mojo]

We've been buying Helmans tomato ketchup as it was £1.00 and better than ASDA's own. Daughter just sent me this

View attachment 134810

That's some inflation !!!!

Although that picture clearly taken in Tesco. According to Asda’s website they still charge £1.00 when I looked a few minutes ago.

 

[Tetchytyke]

We've been buying Helmans tomato ketchup as it was £1.00 and better than ASDA's own. Daughter just sent me this

Likewise, and I had a similar reaction when I saw the price. I was only buying it because M&S changed the recipe of their own brand ketchup, which was lovely and is now horrible.

Unilever are taking the absolute p155 on a lot of their prices at the moment though.

Heinz is back to being cheaper than that!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

We've been buying Helmans tomato ketchup as it was £1.00 and better than ASDA's own.

According to Asda’s website they still charge £1.00 when I looked a few minutes ago.

Sure £1 wasn't the price for Asda's own-brand equivalent?

 

[Hadders]

A few years ago a security guard at Tesco in Milton Keynes stopped me as I was leaving the store. I was leaving via the entrance door having collected a parcel from their click and colleect department on the mezzanine floor. The store had etrny barriers but next to it was a gate for customers exiting without purchasing, I went through this gate.

I complied with the security guard and was civilised with him, taking the opportunity to ask him under what circumstances he had been told to challenge people leaving the store. Some of what he told me didn't seem quite right so I called Tesco customer relations and a few days later had a call from their Regional Security Manager.

Overall I think this is a much better way of dealing with things than simply walking off.

 

[Mojo]

Sure £1 wasn't the price for Asda's own-brand equivalent?

Yes, because I took a screenshot.

 

[66701GBRF]

Well they aren't doing their job because they should have reasonable grounds for suspicion before making any allegations.

What you find as reasonable grounds or suspicion might differ to that of someone that works in the security industry. Just because you don’t think there are grounds doesn’t mean there isn’t or that the security guard is incorrect to apply their actions.

 

[RuddA]

Last month I was distracted at the Sainsbury's selfscan terminal and walked passed two sets of sensors and into the carpark before I realised I hadn't paid. Turned around and went back in. Machine was still waiting for payment, paid and left again.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

What you find as reasonable grounds or suspicion might differ to that of someone that works in the security industry. Just because you don’t think there are grounds doesn’t mean there isn’t or that the security guard is incorrect to apply their actions.

It doesn't matter what I think reasonable grounds are, or what the security person thinks reasonable grounds are. What matters is what the law says and reasonableness established by precedent.

"Your bag looks a bit heavy".
Does it, gosh, I didn't appreciate there was now a law about carrying heavy bags.

 

[maniacmartin]

The only time I've been accused of shoplifting it was for an item with a competiting shop's own-brand label, which they obviously didn't stock

 

[hexagon789]

Yes, because I took a screenshot.

Click on it and find on ADSA's website, because I can't - it just opens to a generic search for Tomato Ketchup not the individual Hellman's brand product:


On Google as per your screenshot

But them following that link from Google:



And I cannot find the Hellmans product on ASDA's website.

I was curious because I thought I'd try a bottle at that price! But now I can't find it on their website, I wonder if they'd actually have it in my local store.

 

[Mojo]

Click on it and find on ADSA's website, because I can't - it just opens to a generic search for Tomato Ketchup not the individual Hellman's brand product:

View attachment 134861
On Google as per your screenshot

But them following that link from Google:

View attachment 134862

And I cannot find the Hellmans product on ASDA's website.

I was curious because I thought I'd try a bottle at that price! But now I can't find it on their website, I wonder if they'd actually have it in my local store.

It looks like they’ve stopped selling Hellpersons Ketchup, at least online (Asda’s online range seems quite limited). That was yesterday I looked and it’s no longer avaliable for purchase.

 

[Kite159]

I noticed the "4 cans of 330ml Fizzy Pop for £1.00" offer in Tesco has changed to 6 cans for £1.80 [or 55p each]. I've been expecting that to go up for a while, or even change to be 3 cans for £1.

Still better than Sainsburys where a 6 pack of own brand Lemonade is £2-odd

 

[Baxenden Bank]

I noticed the "4 cans of 330ml Fizzy Pop for £1.00" offer in Tesco has changed to 6 cans for £1.80 [or 55p each]. I've been expecting that to go up for a while, or even change to be 3 cans for £1.

Still better than Sainsburys where a 6 pack of own brand Lemonade is £2-odd

A 10% increase on the individual cans and a 20% increase for the offer (pro rata). They say inflation has peaked!

 

[Silver Cobra]

I noticed the "4 cans of 330ml Fizzy Pop for £1.00" offer in Tesco has changed to 6 cans for £1.80 [or 55p each]. I've been expecting that to go up for a while, or even change to be 3 cans for £1.

Still better than Sainsburys where a 6 pack of own brand Lemonade is £2-odd

For anyone who only wants Lemonade Asda looks to be the cheapest for 6-packs of cans. They are still only £1.50 right now (25p per can). Though I must admit Asda's range of own-brand canned soft drinks is rather poor these days, only offering Lemonade and Tropical Crush.

 

[david1212]

This is interesting

The supermarket where prices have gone up the most

The price of food has shot up over the past few months as Britons continue to feel the pinch of the cost of living crisis.

uk.news.yahoo.com

Percentage price rises of the UK’s major supermarkets between May 2022 and May 2023:

• Co-op: 5.6%
• Sainsbury’s: 3.9%
• Iceland: 3.9%
• Morrisons: 2.8%
• Asda: 2%
• Tesco: 1.6%
• Waitrose: 0.1%
• Ocado: -0.8%
• Aldi: -1.4%

For Aldi while for the combined list of items used the price drop is 1.4% even since January my typical baskets over a month are an increase. The only item I have noticed to cost less is 4 pints of milk at £1.55 from £1.65.

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Why shouldn’t he? Take 3 seconds, Easier for everyone, and proves innocence.

Innocent until proved guilty?

But in this situation, the security guy isn't declaring you're guilty: He's asking you to let him investigate to check whether you've done something. It's perfectly normal to investigate innocent people.

Or if the police wanted to ask you a couple of questions as part of some investigation, would you tell them that you're innocent of any crime, and therefore, on the basis of, innocent until proven guilty, they can't ask you anything?

Or ditto at an airport (or pub/club) bag check. Would you say that no-one should be able to look in your bags because you're not carrying anything bad, and... innocent until proven guilty.

 

[jon0844]

Look at the ever growing sovereign citizen movement, and you'll see that's exactly how some people act - and it's getting worse all the time. It's how becoming a problem on the railway too.

Clearly common sense and context needs to apply, while we need to realise that things like freedom of speech or innocent until proven guilty mean very specific things.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Apologies if I've already grumbled about this, but one of the most annoying things about grocery shopping is only being able to buy baps* in packs of four large or six small. I live alone with very little kitchen space, and if I buy a pack of six at least three of them will end up in the bin.
Thankfully Morrisons still does them in packs of 2, though my nearest ones are a bit further away than their competitors. Larger Asda stores used to have them in packs of 2, but no longer.

*=also known as cobs, rolls, barms, and in some weird posh places "plain teacakes".

 

[Acey]

Apologies if I've already grumbled about this, but one of the most annoying things about grocery shopping is only being able to buy baps* in packs of four large or six small. I live alone with very little kitchen space, and if I buy a pack of six at least three of them will end up in the bin.
Thankfully Morrisons still does them in packs of 2, though my nearest ones are a bit further away than their competitors. Larger Asda stores used to have them in packs of 2, but no longer.

*=also known as cobs, rolls, barms, and in some weird posh places "plain teacakes".

Could you not freeze for another day,it's what I do

 

[D6130]

and in some weird posh places "plain teacakes".

.....weird posh places like Keighley for example? Whereas nine miles up the road in weird posh Skipton, they call them bread cakes. In Scotland we used to call them morning rolls and they were delivered by the milkman....often still warm!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Could you not freeze for another day,it's what I do

I only have a small freezer, so I can't go clogging it up with bread that needs hours to defrost and comes out all gross and soggy anyway due to the ice crystals.

.....weird posh places like Keighley for example? Whereas nine miles up the road in weird posh Skipton, they call them bread cakes. In Scotland we used to call them morning rolls and they were delivered by the milkman....often still warm!

I thought Scotch Morning Rolls were a slightly different thing- both Asda and Tesco do those, they're slightly denser than regular baps.

A weird quirk I noticed earlier was that Lidl do a four pack of "Oven Bottom Muffins" for 69p, and a four pack of what they call "Mini Stotties" for 85p. These come in almost identical packaging and look like they're the exact same product. I was tempted to buy a pack of each to see what (if any) differences there are... but then I'd fall into the "too much bread" trap!

 

[JamesT]

I only have a small freezer, so I can't go clogging it up with bread that needs hours to defrost and comes out all gross and soggy anyway due to the ice crystals.

Sliced bread comes out weird from the freezer, but I generally find rolls defrost relatively quickly and have normal taste and texture.

 

[GusB]

.....weird posh places like Keighley for example? Whereas nine miles up the road in weird posh Skipton, they call them bread cakes. In Scotland we used to call them morning rolls and they were delivered by the milkman....often still warm!

I thought Scotch Morning Rolls were a slightly different thing- both Asda and Tesco do those, they're slightly denser than regular baps.

Would that be white rolls, softies, rowies or "Glasgow Rolls"?

I think the safest thing to say in this thread is... "Don't go there!" (The subject of roll naming, not Scotland, obviously )

 

[gg1]

Sliced bread comes out weird from the freezer, but I generally find rolls defrost relatively quickly and have normal taste and texture.

I think the type/brand of bread must make a difference.

My parents used to freeze sliced loaves and I never liked the ones that had been frozen so as a result never did the same after I moved out. In the first COVID lockdown back in spring 2020 we started buying two at a time and freezing one of them, neither me or my partner can tell any difference at all between fresh and frozen Hovis sliced bread in either taste or texture. I can't remember the brand my parents used to buy but it would definitely have been one of the cheapest ones.

 

[Energy]

Well they aren't doing their job because they should have reasonable grounds for suspicion before making any allegations. You will see from the examples people have given that the shop staff have been very careful not to make any specific allegations. 'Can I just have a quick look in your bag please?' is, in essence, a fishing expedition. The police aren't allowed to do that and neither is anyone else. A good old fashioned 'store detective' would be watching the perpetrator and gathering their evidence (ie putting items under the pram cushion and walking out without paying for said item) before approaching the suspect.

Walking into, through, then out of a store is not suspicious activity. People do it all the time for any number of reasons, perhaps because the shop didn't have in stock what the customer was looking for, or they wanted to compare prices.

As for compo, I was thinking along the lines of 'unlawful arrest', 'false imprisonment (detention)' and even 'malicious prosecution' if it went that far. But I will leave it to the retail / legal experts to state exactly where the thresholds lay and what may or may not constitute 'reasonable suspicion' etc.

Buying nothing from a shop isn't particularly suspicious, however going only to the alcohol isle and then buying nothing is pretty suspicious...

Unlawful arrest is an interesting take on asking to check someone's bag.

 

[Ianigsy]

But in this situation, the security guy isn't declaring you're guilty: He's asking you to let him investigate to check whether you've done something. It's perfectly normal to investigate innocent people.

Or if the police wanted to ask you a couple of questions as part of some investigation, would you tell them that you're innocent of any crime, and therefore, on the basis of, innocent until proven guilty, they can't ask you anything?

Or ditto at an airport (or pub/club) bag check. Would you say that no-one should be able to look in your bags because you're not carrying anything bad, and... innocent until proven guilty.

I was once inadvertently used as a decoy by a shoplifter in HMV in Leeds before they moved into a shopping centre. They used to wait for a paying customer to leave the shop and pass through the same set of detectors but head in the opposite direction, so any security guard had to decide which of two people heading at 180 degrees from each other to chase.

A few years ago I also used to go in a Poundstretcher during my lunch hour and it was quite common to find the layout had been altered in certain ways from one week to the next. There was a point where the shoplifters particularly favoured the pound shops because they realised that if the police were called and the shop insisted on prosecuting, there was a reasonable chance that it would never get to court for the sake of £5 worth of stock.

Having once been challenged by a Morrisons security guard because the alarms went off - it was about 8am and nobody seemed to be taking any interest when I was actually at the self checkout - I would say that a lot of the frustration comes from the fact that you know you haven’t stolen anything but you’re being inconvenienced and embarrassed in front of people for no better reason that that the supermarkets can’t calibrate their alarms so as not to be set off by random stuff in people’s bags - I have an iPod which used to be terrible for this.

 

[Cloud Strife]

Overall I think this is a much better way of dealing with things than simply walking off.

I used to think that, but after having encountered one too many security guards with an inflated ego, I simply walk on now.

A mate used to be the head of security for Mothercare, and their security guards had a strict order not to do anything unless they had visually confirmed someone stealing. Usually they had someone watching the cameras and another one at the front door, so they would have the recording secured before detaining the shoplifter. They had instructions to use common sense though, and to simply take the item off the person if it was obvious that it was a person in need as opposed to a professional shoplifter.

And just as quick and easy to let the innocent shopper continue on their way without hindrance. If the staff member is so sure of their suspicions, they can always formally detain the customer, but I guess they don't want the paperwork or compo bill which may follow!

I was formally detained once, which was quite amusing. The security guard completely overreacted and dragged me off to some office before informing me that I was being detained on suspicion of theft blah blah blah. I laughed at him, then told him to go and fetch the store manager because we needed to discuss the compensation bill. He obviously didn't take it too well, and started telling me that I could give him the stolen items or I'd be going to prison. After a few minutes, I took my phone and gave him a simple choice: either get the store manager or I'd be calling the police about an unlawful arrest. He got the hint and told me to go, so I put my feet up and told him I was quite happy to wait for the manager to come see me. He grudgingly complied and radioed for the manager.

When the manager came, I explained the situation (didn't buy anything, got beeped for some reason, kept on walking because I had a bus to catch) and that I wanted to know what the store manager had to say about one of his staff dragging me through half the shop like a criminal. The manager turned to the security guard and asked him if this was true, he nods, and the manager told him curtly to go get changed.

Ended up getting a 20 quid gift voucher and an apology. For a lippy 17 year old who knew far too much about law for his own good, it was a solid result for 10 minutes work.

 

[GusB]

In my retail days we were always told that nobody could be stopped unless there was certainty that someone had stolen an item. Usually there would be someone watching the cameras and another person keeping an eye out on the shop floor to make sure that the item(s) hadn't been discarded in the meantime. They were only when we were sure that something had been taken. There were no self-service service checkouts in those days, though.