Tesco Rant Parts 1 and 2

[Tarquin Farquhar]

Tesco is tulip - not cheap either, apart from booze, but it is a tacky store, how on Earth it can be Britain's success story?

It is not as bad as many. In particular, here in France there is a "Franprix" near the office (it's not in a great area of town). It is a lot worse than Aldi & Lidl in the UK. The range of stuff is tiny, apart from cheese and disgusting ways of disguising parts of meat that you wouldn't eat otherwise. If it comes from outside France, it probably isn't there. But it's the quality, all the meat just oozes unreliability. Everything is sold on price first, if not price alone. I couldn't bring myself to buy anything of animal origin there.

Cynical as I am about Tesco (what does it really mean to sell premium meat that is not organic, but is raised "by farmers who share our values"?), I will buy even some of their meat, the stuff with "Finest" in the name. Tesco has some good stuff, you just have to be aware that it is attempting successfully to sell to the bottom end of the market too. Never buy chicken with a blue-and-white label.

I don't like their customer service much. The floor staff are rude if you don't get out of your way. By contrast Waitrose staff always do "after you" for a customer. I don't want servility but I do think that courtesy demands putting the customer first. Not for Tesco staff it doesn't.

And the quirks. If you buy a carton (10 packets) of cigarettes, they will take them all out of the carton and give them to you separately. They say this is the law, but other places such as Waitrose seem unfamiliar with this law. As ever, I mind the action a little bit, I mind the BS a lot.

[doodab]

Cynical as I am about Tesco (what does it really mean to sell premium meat that is not organic, but is raised "by farmers who share our values"?), I will buy even some of their meat, the stuff with "Finest" in the name. Tesco has some good stuff, you just have to be aware that it is attempting successfully to sell to the bottom end of the market too.

I had some tesco finest bacon the other week, it was slightly thicker sliced than the cheap stuff but otherwise no better, it still lost 50% of it's mass as water and shrivelled up to nothing when I cooked it.

[Tarquin Farquhar]

I had some tesco finest bacon the other week, it was slightly thicker sliced than the cheap stuff but otherwise no better, it still lost 50% of it's mass as water and shrivelled up to nothing when I cooked it.

Don't really want to diagree there, but it's rather that "you just can't get decent bacon any more". The general standard is so low that even the top range is not good enough. It's true that I never buy that, only non-own-brands that are dry cured (and quite a bit more expensive, which I suppose is why it's uncommon), and those usually from Waitrose.

You got me on that one but I still say it's not all quite bad enough to be called "tacky".

[Mich the Tester]

Tesco Rant
Part 1

Away from home and I wanted some food for the evening so that I could some work done in the hotel room, have a drink and nibble at the same time. Called in to Tesco and selected contractor quality French cheese, duck & orange pate some French bread and a small red wine.

Check-out busy but the self-service ones empty. Off I go to the self-service and … no bags. I looked around and then an assistant came over with a bundle of bags in her hand a screwed up the smallest possible bag and threw it on the stand. The bag obviously was not big enough for my shopping so of I go the Customer Services and ask for a proper sized bag. “No we are not allowed to issues bags, that's our policy". I tipped my basked upside-down on the counter and walked out.

In other words, it's company policy to not sell stuff.

It’s what happens when a good company becomes a big company. First the focus was on making and selling good stuff that people wanted to buy. That’s how the company becomes successful. Once they’re big the focus for most employees is on saving your ass by following ‘company policy’ and conforming to the chaotic edicts of head office and the incoherent ramblings of a ‘corporate social responsibility’ department.

It’s sad, but it’s also the reason why big companies shell out lots of money for contractors with small businesses; they need people around the place who’ll ignore the policy where necessary to get the bloody job done, otherwise they can’t make a profit.

So count your blessings and hope for a contract at Tesco; work to be done there.

[doodab]

Don't really want to diagree there, but it's rather that "you just can't get decent bacon any more". The general standard is so low that even the top range is not good enough. It's true that I never buy that, only non-own-brands that are dry cured (and quite a bit more expensive, which I suppose is why it's uncommon), and those usually from Waitrose.

You got me on that one but I still say it's not all quite bad enough to be called "tacky".

Their pizzas aren't too bad, but yes, Waitrose is better for everything. I'm not sure I would call Tesco tacky, but I would say it lacks class.

[norrahe]

I can't bring myself to even go into anything other than Waitrose (mostly for veg and household goods, meat is bought direct form the farm and if they have veg I'll get it there).

Tescos, Sainsburys, Asda et al employ unhelpful braindead idiots, the aisles are miniscule and the quality of produce, well, it leaves a lot to be desired.

[wobbegong]

Some stores have trolleys that lock wheels when going over a red-line. (One wheel works a dynamo charging LED sensor and solenoid)

Red chalk on the supermarket floor works just as well in stopping the trolly.

That's a bit high-tech for Tesco, it's all my local one can do to provide trolleys that actually go in a straight line.

[gingerjedi]

My shopping habits:

Waitrose/M&S - Bloody good contract

Sainsbury's - Good contract :

Tesco/Morrisons - Its work I suppose contract

Asda - Better than nothing contract

Lidl/Aldi - An Indian took my job

Not much choice at the moment, the local Lidl burnt down last week.

[Mich the Tester]

Lidl/Aldi - An Indian took my job

Not much choice at the moment, the local Lidl burnt down last week.

Come on, own up.

[gingerjedi]

Come on, own up.

One of my mates is the Aldi store manager so he's already in the frame.