|
Source: (consider it)
|
Thread: Hell: Unexpected item in bagging area
|
Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
|
Posted
When the supermarkets take over the railways to provide their click-and-collect service, can we expect announcements of "Unexpected item on the line" everytime there's a bit of snow or autumn leaves falling?
--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Golden Key:
These days, I mostly shop at Trader Joe's.
![[Overused]](graemlins/notworthy.gif)
Good food, few or no icky additives, many of their own brand items, and prices are generally lower than the average supermarket. (Say, Safeway.) No self-checkouts. Lots of friendly human clerks, who are fun to chat with. TJ's can help your budget, while simultaneously improving your health and standard of living. NOTE: TJ's is insanely popular, so it's important to take note of busy and slow times.
I love Trader Joe's! For all the reasons you gave.
![[Axe murder]](graemlins/lovedrops.gif)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
orfeo, there's an optional scale for weighing things sold by weight in the scanning area of the self-service checkout.
Fine.
quote:
There's also a scale in the bagging area to check things are scanned before going into the bagging area. And very light things don't always register, like greeting cards.
Pointlessly stupid. Among the reasons I go to the self-service checkout is if I only have a couple of things that I can carry in my hands. Being ordered by a machine to put them down so that it can 'see' what I've got is just ludicrous.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Gracious rebel:
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Look, clearly the British have got this whole supermarket shopping business COMPLETELY arsed up:
1. The notion of handheld scanners and attempting to scan while collecting items instead of after finishing the collecting. There is clearly no time saving involved, it just means you spend more time wandering the aisles instead of at the checkout.
I vehemently disagree. There is most definitely a time saving. You only have to move the items ONCE from the shelf straight into your bags.
And have you factored in the time you spend either:
1. Veering all over the supermarket ensuring that you purchase things in the order that you want them to be in the bag; or
2. Rearranging the contents of your bag every time you pick up something that ought to be below the more delicate things you've already got in there?
Thought not.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
RuthW
liberal "peace first" hankie squeezer
# 13
|
Posted
The thing that makes me crazy at the self check-out stands is how often they don't recognize reusable bags people bring in. A local ordinance forbids supermarkets from giving away plastic grocery bags and requires them to charge 10 cents for each paper bag, so I usually bring my own reusable bags. The stands all have an option for this -- you're supposed to put your bags on the scale in the bagging area before you do anything else and push the appropriate button for that so the damn thing knows these are not the dreaded unexpected items, but every single time I get the message that it doesn't recognize my bags and an assistant has been called. Assistants in all the local stores say it's not just me; the check-out stands almost never recognize bags people bring in.
The weird thing is that they usually do fine with the string bags I crocheted, but can't handle the reusable bags I've purchased at grocery stores.
Also, Trader Joe's is a gift from the gods. But all the money I save on staples like milk and eggs I spend on their imported cheese.
Posts: 24453 | From: La La Land | Registered: Apr 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Karl: Liberal Backslider
Shipmate
# 76
|
Posted
I totally confused ours by slinging my bike panniers on the scale...
--------------------
Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Click and collect is available at some tube stations.
And I had always thought they were places for catching trains ...
A Good Idea, actually. What would Bob Crow (RIP) have thought of it? Are the stores replacing he Ticket Offices?
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
I won't hear a word against grocers at railway stations. When we got off the train the other day - 9 o'clock at night, been travelling 14 hours - the M&S at Waverley was like a wee oasis. We got sufficient for a dinner and breakfast - and an offer of plastic cutlery (since the place is staffed by Actual People).
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Baptist Trainfan:
quote:
Originally posted by Curiosity killed ...:
Click and collect is available at some tube stations.
And I had always thought they were places for catching trains ...
A Good Idea, actually. What would Bob Crow (RIP) have thought of it? Are the stores replacing he Ticket Offices?
No, not sure how it works actually, just got leafleted for a week, and the barriers now have advertisements on them - but I have seen lurking delivery vans outside, so I suspect you collect off the delivery van.
--------------------
Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
Also, Trader Joe's is a gift from the gods. But all the money I save on staples like milk and eggs I spend on their imported cheese.
Compared to what you would be paying for that cheese at any other store, you probably still end up saving money. (Og, who finally shoved his way through the hordes of California transplants to check out the new TJ's in his neighborhood and got sucked into the cult.)
--------------------
"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
|
Posted
I've only used home delivery twice - once when I was going to do Christmas for my dad, and school didn't finish until the 21st, and again when I thought I had the dreaded swine lurgy. Not too badly, but I didn't want to go breathing it about in public. It has surprised me how, whenever I have been unwell, despite having cupboards and freezers stocked with enough to keep me for at least a month, I do not have anything I feel like eating under the circumstances.
And now I can't take advantage of W-----e's offer of £75 off my first home deliveries, because I have already had them, and anyway I can't think of what to spend the minimum amount on. Not even with topping up for the food bank.
[ 19. March 2014, 18:07: Message edited by: Penny S ]
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I won't hear a word against grocers at railway stations. When we got off the train the other day - 9 o'clock at night, been travelling 14 hours - the M&S at Waverley was like a wee oasis. We got sufficient for a dinner and breakfast - and an offer of plastic cutlery (since the place is staffed by Actual People).
I think I'm far too old and nowhere near middle-middle-class enough to buy food from Marks and Sparks. Its an underwear shop. Too much cognitive dissonance to buy food there.
And as for collecting food from railway stations - or ordering it to be delivered - it has no appeal at all. I want to see food before I buy it. How do I know I want to eat it until I can see it and smell it? Street markets and corner shops are best. Supermarkets if I have to. But mail order? No way.
--------------------
Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
I won't hear a word against grocers at railway stations. When we got off the train the other day - 9 o'clock at night, been travelling 14 hours - the M&S at Waverley was like a wee oasis.
Totally. It really can be a godsend sometimes as the railway station ones are often open late when everything else has given up. You do pay a bit more but you know you're getting good quality.
quote:
Originally posted by RuthW:
...every single time I get the message that it doesn't recognize my bags and an assistant has been called.
"Please wait while an assistant verifies your bags."
It drives me crackers. I think the whole thing could be translated from machine-speak as: "I don't like the look of this customer." In fact I'm surprised the machine doesn't sometimes say, "Please wait. An assistant is coming to verify this unexpected customer."
Oh, and don't ever try buying alcohol at one of these. This is one occasion when they really do have to come and verify you. As well as your bag.
[ 19. March 2014, 18:39: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
I once approached an autocheck with a beer bottle in hand, and an assistant practically tackled me. "I'll take that!" (wrench)
When she scanned it for me and it started screaming at her, and she slapped it back with a masterful hand, I thanked her for intruding. She smiled and said "I knew it would give you trouble."
And Ruth-- word up about the bag weight nonsense. If they goal is to encourage people to bring their own bags, why do they make it so damn hard?
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Moo
Ship's tough old bird
# 107
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ruth W
Assistants in all the local stores say it's not just me; the check-out stands almost never recognize bags people bring in.
My daughter routinely uses her own bags when she shops at HEB in Texas. There is never any problem. Maybe the California stores should ask HEB how they do it.
Moo
--------------------
Kerygmania host
---------------------
See you later, alligator.
Posts: 20365 | From: Alleghany Mountains of Virginia | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
|
|
Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
|
Posted
I press the YES button when asked "Are you using your own bags?", then put my bag in the bagging area. If it recognises it I just get on with scanning and bagging. If it doesn't recognise it I press "cancel", and press the NO button instead ... then start scanning and bagging into my bag still sitting in the bagging area.
However, I'm not worried about it assuming because I'm not using my own bag I must be using one of theirs. When they start charging for flimsy carrier bags that will be different - I'll object to paying for a carrier bag in the first place, doubly so if it's for one I didn't use.
There is also the problem of using multiple bags. It's fine with the first bag. The second one becomes one of those unexpected items. There's a bag in the bagging area! I didn't expect that!
--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
This is exactly what makes those "Terminator" type scenarios of machines taking over the world so hilarious. They only get more neurotic the more sentient they get. In 50 years we will have half our services provided by Woody Allen clones.
"Ya see,you pushed 'no bags,' but I think that you really do want bags, but would rather play the martyr than just say so. I wish you would learn to communicate."
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
The only thing mine asks at the start is whether I'm doing shopping or just taking money out - using the supermarket as a bank... never done that.
Yes, okay, that's weird. But none of this having to tell it whether I'm using my own bag or one of theirs. In fact, if I'm using one of theirs I have to take it from the 'bagging' side so I can swipe the barcode on the bottom (another place where thin free plastic bags are no longer allowed) before using it. My own bag just goes in. No screeching required.
WTF are you doing in these other countries??
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
I think I'm far too old and nowhere near middle-middle-class enough to buy food from Marks and Sparks. Its an underwear shop. Too much cognitive dissonance to buy food there.
I'm surprised you haven't come across their Simply Food outlets, which I think is becoming their core business. I was looking for one that carried clothing last time I was in London: the people at Charing Cross directed me to the one in Long Acre - but even there, the food occupied the prime position on the ground floor and the knickers etc were bundled away upstairs.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Apparently employing Captain Queeg as a design engineer on our autochecker production projects.
"Ah, but the strawberries! That's where I had them!"
[ 19. March 2014, 21:24: Message edited by: Kelly Alves ]
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
This is exactly what makes those "Terminator" type scenarios of machines taking over the world so hilarious. They only get more neurotic the more sentient they get. In 50 years we will have half our services provided by Woody Allen clones.
"Ya see,you pushed 'no bags,' but I think that you really do want bags, but would rather play the martyr than just say so. I wish you would learn to communicate."
Or, Marvin. The Paranoid Android, not our Martian. "Here I am, brain the size of a planet, and all I do is scan beans. Call that job satisfaction, 'cause I don't"
--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
"Bags? Don't talk to me about bags!"
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
Just wait until they start commenting on your socio-economic status based on your purchases.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
Ha!
I wrote a short story for the college literary magazine when I was 20 or so, about those cash registers that announced the item and price when you scanned it. The cash register added mocking commentary for each item the customer bought.
"PEPSI, 2 LITER, ONE DOLLAR AND NINETY-NICE CENTS. SHOULDN'T YOU BE GETTING THE DIET, HONEY?"
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
"Oooh, duck pate. You're not from around here, are you honey."
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
"GILLETTE RAZOR BLADES, FOUR COUNT, 3 DOLLARS AND NINETEEN CENTS. GOOD START, LADY. VERTICAL CUTS, NOT HORIZONTAL."
It was a nasty little story. Very Stephen King derivative. And I'll shut up now.
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
Don't stop now, you're raising the readability of the thread by a considerable margin.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
I can't remember what the register said said when the cashier scanned the Summer's Eve. It's probably better that way.
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Amanda B. Reckondwythe
Dressed for Church
# 5521
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
I can't remember what the register said said when the cashier scanned the Summer's Eve. It's probably better that way.
I'll bet it wasn't "The holy time is quiet as a nun breathless with adoration." (Apologies to William Wordsworth.)
--------------------
"I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Kelly Alves
Bunny with an axe
# 2522
|
Posted
No, that is what the nozzle would say.
--------------------
I cannot expect people to believe “
Jesus loves me, this I know” of they don’t believe “Kelly loves me, this I know.”
Kelly Alves, somewhere around 2003.
Posts: 35076 | From: Pura Californiana | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
|
Posted
I'm lovin' the turn this thread has taken. Although that may be because I'm heavily into demented Christopher Moore lit lately. ![[Devil]](graemlins/devil.gif)
--------------------
"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
Posts: 11242 | From: a small canyon overlooking the city | Registered: Jan 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Vulpior
Foxier than Thou
# 12744
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
The only thing mine asks at the start is whether I'm doing shopping or just taking money out - using the supermarket as a bank... never done that.
Yes, okay, that's weird. But none of this having to tell it whether I'm using my own bag or one of theirs. In fact, if I'm using one of theirs I have to take it from the 'bagging' side so I can swipe the barcode on the bottom (another place where thin free plastic bags are no longer allowed) before using it. My own bag just goes in. No screeching required.
WTF are you doing in these other countries??
And now I can tell which half of the duopoly you use. They do banking actually, hence the wanna-be-an-ATM bit; I have a Frequent Flyer point-earning credit card with them. They code the loyalty card info onto the back so one card does two things.
I rarely have problems with their self-checkout, but always have problems at the other place. I take an esky (tr. cool bag) to the supermarket because we live so far out. Even when I go through the "I've brought my own bag" process, it's heavier than the bagging scales expect, so I need the assistant to clear the message.
I understand the weight checking thing, but I wish it wouldn't check each item individually. You have to pick-scan-pack each item, and the scanner won't become active again until you've placed each item in the bagging area. Slows me down.
--------------------
I've started blogging. I don't promise you'll find anything to interest you at uncleconrad
Posts: 946 | From: Mount Fairy, NSW | Registered: Jun 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariston
Insane Unicorn
# 10894
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Kelly Alves:
No, that is what the nozzle would say.
And suddenly, the already amazing FLP potential of this thread title has gone up.
--------------------
“Therefore, let it be explained that nowhere are the proprieties quite so strictly enforced as in men’s colleges that invite young women guests, especially over-night visitors in the fraternity houses.” Emily Post, 1937.
Posts: 6849 | From: The People's Republic of Balcones | Registered: Jan 2006
| IP: Logged
|
|
Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
When we got off the train the other day - 9 o'clock at night, been travelling 14 hours - the M&S at Waverley was like a wee oasis.
Coming from Linlithgow, you'd have been quicker on foot ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
|
Posted
But not, I think, if coming from Aix-en-Provence.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Vulpior:
And now I can tell which half of the duopoly you use. They do banking actually, hence the wanna-be-an-ATM bit; I have a Frequent Flyer point-earning credit card with them. They code the loyalty card info onto the back so one card does two things.
Don't get me started on the whole 'what else can a powerful supermarket do' business. I think I mentioned on the Ship when I started seeing ads for things like car insurance and, possibly even worse, life insurance. From the supermarket. In what way does ensuring a regular supply of apples equip you to help me deal with a smash repairer? Do grieving widows get a discount at the deli?
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
|
Posted
Off the top of my head, people at Daewoo sell fridges and motor cars and the folk at Hitachi sell trains and television sets. So I wouldn't say this is so unusual.
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
Drifting Star
Drifting against the wind
# 12799
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Just wait until they start commenting on your socio-economic status based on your purchases.
If you use a loyalty card they will already have put you in your socio-economic status box. In fact, if you use a credit or debit card regularly at one chain they may well have done so. And if you have a Tesco loyalty card the majority of the commercial world probably knows all about you, and is making assumptions that are based on which brand of beans you buy.
--------------------
The soul is dyed the color of its thoughts. Heraclitus
Posts: 3126 | From: A thin place. | Registered: Jul 2007
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Just wait until they start commenting on your socio-economic status based on your purchases.
If you use a loyalty card they will already have put you in your socio-economic status box. In fact, if you use a credit or debit card regularly at one chain they may well have done so. And if you have a Tesco loyalty card the majority of the commercial world probably knows all about you, and is making assumptions that are based on which brand of beans you buy.
Oh, I'm well aware of this. Scanning my 'Everyday Rewards' card gets me a few more points on a frequent flyer program, and in return some computer somewhere knows exactly what I buy.
Which still doesn't seem to stop them pulling some of my preferred products off the shelves. Bastards. I don't care if I'm the only person in a 5km radius who likes Lapsang Souchang tea. I'll buy it if you have it!
[ 20. March 2014, 10:01: Message edited by: orfeo ]
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Anglican't:
Off the top of my head, people at Daewoo sell fridges and motor cars and the folk at Hitachi sell trains and television sets. So I wouldn't say this is so unusual.
I'll give you a clue. Both of those pairs are still in MANUFACTURING.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
quote:
Originally posted by Anglican't:
Off the top of my head, people at Daewoo sell fridges and motor cars and the folk at Hitachi sell trains and television sets. So I wouldn't say this is so unusual.
I'll give you a clue. Both of those pairs are still in MANUFACTURING.
Yes, but quite different.
When supermarkets get into the petrol station / insurance / selling you holidays game, I assume that they either buy a business already in the field and then rebrand it as a subsidiary of the supermarket or the supermarket goes out to hire specialised petrol / insurance / holiday people to run the business, rather than getting their shelf stackers to start drafting insurance policies.
In the same way, I'm sure Daewoo doesn't give Min-jun the fridge repairman a spanner and tell him to re-tune an engine.
[ 20. March 2014, 10:18: Message edited by: Anglican't ]
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
| IP: Logged
|
|
orfeo
Ship's Musical Counterpoint
# 13878
|
Posted
Yes, but it's all just an even more blatant money & power grab than usual. I don't want a single company trying to run my entire life like that.
--------------------
Technology has brought us all closer together. Turns out a lot of the people you meet as a result are complete idiots.
Posts: 18173 | From: Under | Registered: Jul 2008
| IP: Logged
|
|
Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Drifting Star:
If you use a loyalty card they will already have put you in your socio-economic status box. In fact, if you use a credit or debit card regularly at one chain they may well have done so. And if you have a Tesco loyalty card the majority of the commercial world probably knows all about you, and is making assumptions that are based on which brand of beans you buy.
Several years ago I read about someone suing a grocery store because they had fallen on a slippery spot in the aisle. The store used their purchasing history, as recorded on their "loyalty" card, to show how much booze they regularly bought. I believe the store won their case -- though how they could prove the person drank all the booze they bought, and hadn't shared it with others, I don't know.
(I buy wine at Trader Joe's and beer at TotalWine -- that'll fool my regular grocery store!)
--------------------
"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
Posts: 9835 | From: Hogwarts | Registered: Aug 2005
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
I'm really blessed (can I use that word here?) by having a little 2-checkout Co-Op as my nearest 'supermarket'. Yes, their range of goods is limited (though sufficient for my simple needs), and is amply compensated for by the friendliness of the staff - mostly young or young-ish working Mums. Why, some of them even reach behind them to the alcohol shelf for my favourite single malt before I ask for it......and you won't get that sort of personal service everywhere......
......yes, I perhaps do need to get out more.....
Ian J.
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
ken
Ship's Roundhead
# 2460
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
quote:
Originally posted by ken:
I think I'm far too old and nowhere near middle-middle-class enough to buy food from Marks and Sparks. Its an underwear shop. Too much cognitive dissonance to buy food there.
I'm surprised you haven't come across their Simply Food outlets, which I think is becoming their core business. I was looking for one that carried clothing last time I was in London: the people at Charing Cross directed me to the one in Long Acre - but even there, the food occupied the prime position on the ground floor and the knickers etc were bundled away upstairs.
Of course I've come across them. They are just too weird to use regularly. Also perhaps the most expensive of the main supermarket chains for food. Lots of pre-cooked meals I rarely buy, not so much in the way of basic ingredients.
--------------------
Ken
L’amor che move il sole e l’altre stelle.
Posts: 39579 | From: London | Registered: Mar 2002
| IP: Logged
|
|
Alan Cresswell
Mad Scientist 先生
# 31
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by orfeo:
Yes, but it's all just an even more blatant money & power grab than usual. I don't want a single company trying to run my entire life like that.
It's the nature of corporations to expand, or rather perhaps not their nature but what market economies force them to do. Supermarkets can build more stores, make their existing stores bigger, offer new ways to try and make shopping easier and less hassle (click and collect, self-serve checkouts etc), loyalty cards. But, at the end of the day there's only so much people will buy. So, expansion means expanding into new markets. So, they put in petrol forecourts, start selling clothing and electrical goods. They all need changes to the stores, or new stores. Financial services is much easier as they don't need to change their stores much at all.
You don't have to play their game. Plenty of banks, credit cards, loans, insurance providers for you to choose from.
--------------------
Don't cling to a mistake just because you spent a lot of time making it.
Posts: 32413 | From: East Kilbride (Scotland) or 福島 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
|
Posted
Very occasionally (if visiting family in London), I pop into Marks n'Sparks at St.Pancras Station) to see what they have in the way of ready meals. Their (occasional) microwaveable chish n'phips (£2.99 last time I looked) can't (IMNSHO) be beat......absolutely bl**dy delicious....
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
Ian J.
--------------------
Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
| IP: Logged
|
|
Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
|
Posted
quote:
Originally posted by leo:
Same here - I just out everything 'naked' in 'the bagging areas', pay ans then put them into bags afterwards.
"Nude shopping night, 7-10pm." There'd be a few unexpected items in the bagging area that night, for sure.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
| IP: Logged
|
|
basso
Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
|
Posted
Reminds me of the glory days at the Marina Safeway. (Tales of the City reference - I never had the nerve to shop there on a busy night, but everybody knew about it.)
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
| IP: Logged
|
|
Printer-friendly view
