Supermarkets....

[Braders]

I work at Asda and it is crap. Their own brand food tastes like . The only thing it's good for is cheaper proper brands, but the range of stuff sold is pretty dire sometimes. The pay's good though!

which one the marina one or the decent one (if there is such a thing)

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

I used to work at Asda. While there I found tins of soup which expired in 1996. This was 2000. Bare in mind that soup in tins lasts for years.

That soup had been sat on that shelf for the best part of a decade.

 

[Turkey]

I like the Asda noodles. Very cheap and so mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

[Fran Hagarty]

Hollingbury Asda is pikey, I agree, and the range and quality is on the whole poor. The "takeaway curry" is good though. Haywards Heath Sainsburys is boring - unfortunately I work nearby and it's convenient, but that's about all. Burgess Hill Tesco is OK (BZ used to shop there too!) but best of all for quality is Waitrose or M&S but both are too expensive for general shopping.

 

[dwayne]

Asda is unbeatable, it is so cheap.

u don't have to look at fellow shopper's or buy there own brand product, u fools.

 

[Yorkie]

The Germans are turning away from the more established supermarkets in their country to the really 'pikey' Lidl and Aldi because they are fed up with paying high prices for food.

The supermarkets are really beginning to worry because their profits are tumbling rapidly.

 

[Shizuoka Dolphin]

Had a curry-for-one tonight from Safeway (the shop, not the erstwhile poster). Pretty good it was too, you got loads and it was nice and spicy. Tried an Asda Takeaway Korma once, but the plastic meat container was ready to burst because I think it had gone off. Ate it anyway. I wasn’t ill or anything and it was rather nice.

 

[dwayne]

The Germans are turning away from the more established supermarkets in their country to the really 'pikey' Lidl and Aldi because they are fed up with paying high prices for food.

The supermarkets are really beginning to worry because their profits are tumbling rapidly.

There's a general shift all over the world. Companies like Walmart (who own Asda) are market leaders in the states now by quite a margin because they leverage effective supply chain techniques such as E.D.I. so effectively...they've got 0 wasteage and tighter collaboration with food companies. If you're too much of a snob to shop there, then u are the 1 missing out.

 

[Sigull]

.

 

[Sam]

ASDA is probably the best supermarket for value, and the bags are quite strong!


I feel a "best supermarket poll" coming on!!!

 

[Gwylan]

Supermarkets are a necessary evil. Wherever possible I shop at individual stores but that's not always possible in London - supermarkets stay open longer and are everywhere, so I do pop down to Sainsbury's sometimes. Hell, I even once worked for a supermarket chain on business development.

I don't understand this obsession with price. Supermarkets cut prices aggressively but they don't do this for altruistic motives, despite what their advertising likes to imply. It certainly doesn't affect their profits -what happens is that their suppliers get screwed over even more on price. One of the factors that led to the BSE crisis was the British obsession with cheap food - this contrasts with most of mainland Europe where quality is seen as a more important factor. One of the reasons why many British farmers are in trouble is in the way that supermarkets are constantly screwing prices down, that leads to lower standards in food husbandry, leading to more food crises.

Supermarket chains have tremendous buying power in the developing world as well and screw foreign farmers even more.

It would be instructive to carry out a poll of shoppers in Asda and ask them how important low prices are to them - I bet a large majority would say that price was the most important criterion for them when it came to shopping.

Then ask the same people about their attitude to asylum seekers/economic migrants. I don't know but am guessing that the majority would be hostile. And yet, the buying policies of western supermarkets are contributing to the economic problems of the developing world, the same problems that are leading to economic migrants. Furthermore, it's our obsession with cheap food which drives farmers to employ cheap, illegal labour to pick their crops, one of the reasons why migrants are so keen to come to the UK is that a) we have a large demand for cheap labour and b) we have no identity cards meaning that a black economy can thrive. But if you told the average supermarket shopper that they were encouraging illegal immigration, they would be affronted.

Asda's prices are cheaper because they especially tough on their suppliers and because their owner, Wal Mart, is strongly anti-union, ensuring that they keep their labour costs to a minimum.
If you to get an idea of what it's like there, I strongly recommend a book by Barbara Ehrenreich called Nickel and Dimed. The author takes a series of low-paid jobs across the US (including one at Wal Mart) and is generally screwed by employers everywhere - it's a real eye opener.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

Personally I think locality is the most important issue. I always preferred Tesco in the UK, but when I lived in the marina I only ever shopped in ASDA. Price isn't really the issue.

However, if you haven't got much money & you're supporting 3 kids then I'm sure price does become more important.

Problem with ASDA in the marina is that it was generally full of pikies, as DtG said in the first page of this thread. I reckon there should be a pikie-metre at the gates of the marina, preventing the riff-raff that somehow get in

 

[pasty]

But can anyone tell me what ASDA stands for or means

OK, I'll bite.

It comes from ASsociated DAiries which is who they were before Wallmart bought them.


*hangs head in shame for knowing*

 

[dwayne]

[BAsda's prices are cheaper because they especially tough on their suppliers and because their owner, Wal Mart, is strongly anti-union, ensuring that they keep their labour costs to a minimum.
If you to get an idea of what it's like there, I strongly recommend a book by Barbara Ehrenreich called Nickel and Dimed. The author takes a series of low-paid jobs across the US (including one at Wal Mart) and is generally screwed by employers everywhere - it's a real eye opener. [/B]

I would debate 2 points here.

a)Asda have very good relationships with their suppliers and even help them out on many occasions., look up "CPFR".

b) Asda do NOT treat their employees badly in this country inface they are consistantly voted as one oth best employers in the whole of the country!!

Asda best employer

 

[Braders]

there ok to work for !

 

[Goring Gull]

What about Iceland?

 

[simon swagbag]

Ooh get me...

On a Saturday morning me & the kids get on our bikes & ride to the farm shop! Big free range eggs, veg with plenty of taste, cheaper too.
They've got cocks for sale too And chickens, obviously
One of my neighbours has been having a pop at me about noise recently - I've been playing with cars in the drive - & my kids are nagging me to have chickens & a cockerel in the back. If that neighbour nags me about noise again it's gonna be COCK-A-DOODLE-DO at 5am every morning!
Apart from that, it's Safeway for me.

 

[Hilton]

It's the Hollingbury one I work at, and you can't help than look at the customers, they're bloody huge! Most of them are scary too. The parents of children are almost funny to watch, the number of times I have heard a 3 year old child to shut the f**k up or f**k off is beyond counting! I dread to think what goes into the Shepards pies that were 57p for 4, and how dodgy the toilet paper is that was 20p for 4 rolls.

Saying that however, I spent last night putting out our Christmas stuff and some of it is pretty cool. Especially our dancing/singing dogs, turkeys and cows.

However, it must be alright as I have seen Adam Virgo in there recently and Ian Chapman last night.

 

[Cheeky Monkey]

Asda 'Smart Price' baked beans at 9p a can, you JUST don't argue with that kinda price....and you JUST don't buy them either. Lidl used to do beans/spaghetti hoops for 5p a can and your lips ended up a radioactive orange colour which took about a fortnight to fade. The beauty of Asda is standing behind a woman with streaked hair (Asda 'Smart Price' home streaking kit), threekids hanging off her arms, and her entire weeks shopping is from the 'Smart Price' range.

Swagbag, you haven't got much choice with Safeway if you live in Seaford....Safeway IS Seaford's entire economy and the sole reason for the town's continued existence.

 

[zefarelly]

Tesco are streets ahead of Sainsburys, and working in the industry indirectly I see a lot behind the scenes (free cakes )

Somerfield in Shoreham has come on leaps and bounds recently

Morrisons is the northern cheap supermarket isnt it? dont get them round here that I know of

I dont shop in Sainsburys . . .most people in there think theyre posh just because . . . .sorry . .but if your that posh, you wouldnt be doing shopping, get some proper clothes, burn the shell suit, loose the ratners gold . . . . .sorry, lost it there, thats Crawley for you

Marks and sparks is just over priced . . .nice custard though ;-)