Aldi overtakes Morrisons to become fourth biggest supermarket

[dutchman]

Aldi shoppers warned of self-checkout issue - and it could make food shop more expensive



Aldi shoppers have been warned to check their receipts as customers notice a self-checkout issue which could make your shopping bill more expensive.

Shoppers at the discount supermarket chain have noticed that reductions or promotions are not automatically applied to their grocery bills when they are scanned at the self-service checkout.

Instead, you have to call over a member of staff who will then manually input the savings for you. Shoppers have taken to social media to warn others as they believe many could end up missing out on the savings.

One Aldi shopper wrote in the Aldi fan group with over 270,000 members on Facebook: "Any discounts don't automatically apply on the self-checkouts. You have to ask a human employee to take the discounts off manually. This applies for % off stickers and any multibuys etc. I don't know if this is common knowledge."

Aldi customers flocked to the comments to confirm the claims with many telling the group that they had been caught out by this and paid more for their shop. One shopper noted: "Staff have to apply the discount at normal checkouts too."

Another person said: "Yes it's because they don't change the barcode to reflect the reduced price. You just push the discount button and they come over to do it for you."

A third added: "Staff have to apply the discount on a normal till so def will have to on a self-service till. I’ve had a few missed then realised!"

One shopper said the issue was "disgusting" and that Aldi needed to have signs up telling customers they need a member of staff to help with discounts." One person said the issue was another reason why self service tills were "hopeless" adding: "They take longer than a proper till sometimes."

Aldi confirmed to the Mirror that discounts in its stores were applied at the checkout by Aldi staff and the feedback it receives about its self-service checkouts was "overwhelmingly positive".

If shoppers feel as if they have been wrongly charged, Aldi says it encourages them to get in contact with its customer service team so the issue can be rectified.

[dutchman]

I suspect this is true for other supermarket chains as well?

[dutchman]

Morrisons makes ‘sneaky’ change to self-checkouts – and ‘livid’ customers say their ‘weekly shops are ruined’



SUPERMARKET giant Morrisons plans to convert scores of self-scan tills to card only in a fresh blow for shoppers who rely on cash.

The high street favourite reckons increasing numbers of punters no longer wish to pay using coins and notes since the Covid-19 pandemic.

But some customers are up in arms at the move first spotted by Sun investigators at the Caterham store.

And campaigners have branded the move “sneaky”.

Signs at the popular Surrey branch warn shoppers that “the majority of selfscan (tills) will be converted to cards only”.

Morrisons regular Jack Catten, 68, told us: “I’m livid. I don’t have a debit card and rely on cash from my pension to buy essentials like groceries and medicine.

“Now I’m going to be forced to queue up for a special till that accepts notes and coins.

“I don’t understand why Morrisons treats its shoppers with such disrespect.

"We’re all paying customers – whether it be by cash or card.

“My weekly shopping trip is going to be completely ruined and I know a lot of others who feel just like I do.

“It seems Morrisons does not want our custom anymore.”

Critics say the move – which is being rolled out at stores nationwide - will leave scores of shoppers who still rely on cash struggling to pay.

Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices campaign group, said: "Our members regularly comment on the sneaky moves by supermarkets to phase out cash by reducing the number of cash pay points.

“There are often queues for those who can only pay by cash and sometimes these points are all out of order.

The Government claims to be protecting cash but is doing nothing to stop the supermarket giants from making cash impractical to use.

“Morrisons is saying to older customers, to hell with you if you insist on using cash, you are not welcome here. "

Marc Gander at the Consumer Action Group added: “Some people still aren't ready for this kind of thing yet and Morrisons haven't understood that.

“Of course, the people who will end up queueing longer for fewer cash tills will be the older and more vulnerable people.

“For a company which started in the North, I rather fancy that they are betraying their roots.

"I suppose this is their idea of levelling up. They want to become a 'South-East England' supermarket business and this is their way of doing it.”

[dutchman]

Morrisons accused of pensions raid



Union leaders have accused Morrisons of “fleecing” its workers as it plans to cut its employer pension contributions for tens of thousands of staff.

The supermarket chain wants to reduce its 5 per cent pension contribution to 3 per cent and to increase the amount that staff pay from 3 per cent to 5 per cent by 2025.

The changes will affect 60,000 hourly paid employees. Senior managers and directors who are not hourly paid will not be affected.

The company’s rationale is that its pensions contributions will increase under new legislation. The government is proposing to extend rights under automatic enrolment schemes in its pensions bill, which would mean that there would no longer be a lower earnings limit of £6,240.

Morrisons said: “Colleagues currently contribute 3 per cent of their salary above £6,240 to their pension and the company contributes 5 per cent. The proposal is that in March 2024 this will move to 4 per cent contribution from both parties and in March 2025 to 5 per cent for colleagues and 3 per cent from the company.

“There will be a formal consultation process lasting until early January 2024, but it’s important to note that the amount of money Morrisons is putting into colleague pensions will actually be going up when the auto enrolment changes come in.”

However, a pensions expert said he “could not see how workers won’t be worse off. The rationale is all smoke and mirrors.”

Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, said the grocer was “planning to fleece workers by hiking their pension contributions while slashing its own. This is blatant profiteering and a disgraceful new low for this well-known supermarket.

“The pension schemes are in surplus and the company is in profit. There is no justification for this attack. Unite will support its members in whatever action they choose to take and strike action is a distinct possibility.”

Morrisons was bought by Clayton Dubilier & Rice, the American private equity firm, for £7 billion at the end of 2021. The deal left the retailer with £6.6 billion of debt.

Its underlying earnings fell by 10.7 per cent to £394 million in the six months to the end of April.

[rebbonk]

Wherever there is money, someone will find a way to gain access to it. - The motor industry proved that!

[dutchman]

'We've been told there's nothing left': Morrisons worker 'takes home £800-a-month less after overtime ban'



A furious Morrisons worker claims she is losing £800 a month after the supermarket giant slashed her hours in a bid to claw back money.

New boss Rami Baitiéh has told his workers that major changes are needed in order for the chain, which is in billions of pounds worth of debt, to survive.

One employee has told how her hours have been cut and no Christmas temps have been hired causing giant queues to form in the Newcastle store.

The woman says her shifts have been slashed from 35 hours a week to only 12, costing her over £800 per month.

The worker, who doesn't want to be identified, said: 'They have cut everyone's overtime in a desperate bid to save money. We were told there was nothing left in the budget.

'I was working 35 hours at Christmas week last year and cashing in around £1260 a month - but that's been cut to 12 hours and I'm only earning around £400 now.

'Because everyone's hours have been cut, there's barely anyone on the shop floor which is making it hard for us to keep up with demand.

'It's the week before Christmas and it's manic but we don't have the numbers to make sure everything is stocked and we can serve people quickly.

'It's meant long queues and people become impatient and abusive, which we bear the brunt of.

'Bosses have also claimed they cannot afford to hire any temporary Christmas staff, meaning we're short at the busiest time of year.

'Staff are starting to leave due to the working conditions.'

[dutchman]

'Bosses have also claimed they cannot afford to hire any temporary Christmas staff, meaning we're short at the busiest time of year.'

They were short-staffed during the quietest period of the year, let alone Christmas!

[dutchman]

Our Christmas feast was ruined when Morrisons gave us frozen turkey dinosaurs instead of our festive bird for six



A FAMILY had their Christmas turkey feast ruined after Morrisons supermarket substituted the real bird with frozen Bernard Matthews dinosaur shapes.

Cassie Rule, 34, from Malvern, Worcestershire, planned to feed six people with the proper turkey.

But when her online order arrived Saturday evening she discovered to her horror that the order was short by one turkey coating £37.

Instead, her turkey had been replaced by £2.30 dinosaur shapes.

Beauty therapist Cassie and her son Charlie, 13 were devastated to find that their traditional Christmas dinner had been ruined.

The turkey which cost Cassie £37 could've fed six to eight people - but now has to stretch the dinosaur shapes to feed the family on Christmas.

Cassie said: "We’re going to have to eat that is that is all we have now.

"I can't spend Christmas Eve rushing around to find another Turkey.

"It's too late."

Cassie added: "It just won't be the same without a proper turkey."

Boody funny though!

[dutchman]

Morrisons comes FIRST for customer experience



Morrisons was today unveiled as the surprise winner in Britain's fierce Christmas supermarkets battle after retail analysts claimed it gave consumers the best shopping experience.

Analytics firm Uncrowd said people particularly enjoyed the retailer's deli and butcher's counters which have been broadly dropped by all of its rivals.

The retailer was the most attractive for five metrics - what previous experience does to drive return; how the environment sets you up to spend; store guidance and wayfinding; finding solutions to shopping questions; and delivering on brand values.

The Bradford-based chain with 497 outlets was also top for meat presentation, shop appearance and in-store inspiration - and was only beaten on price offers by Aldi.

Uncrowd had 17 quantitative analysts use an app called CrowdAF to make 72,450 observations on secret visits to 69 standard supermarket stores across England between December 14 and 19.

These visits were compiled in a report called 'Sleighing It: UK Grocery at Christmas' which gave percentages representing 'frequency of observation' - meaning that if all observers observed X at retailer Y, then that would be a 100 per cent score.

They found that Morrisons was observed to be more generous than its rivals on discounts with 89 per cent observing '20 to 50 per cent discounts' in general, and 44 per cent observing 'a few pounds in general'.

Aldi scored 63 per cent and 38 per cent respectively, while market leader Tesco was observed to mostly be 'less than 20 per cent' discounts.

While the store's appearance for Christmas was not key to winning overall, Morrisons came first with a score of 59.1 per cent ahead of Asda at 57.2 per cent and Sainsbury's at 56.8 per cent.

[dutchman]

Some idiot at Morrisons seems to think they're customers are obsessed with football and has filled every available space with 12-packs of beer and overpriced snacks. The place gets more like an oversized off-licence every day.

Meanwhile half the freezer cabinets have broken down due to lack of maintenance.

If they were trying to drive customers to neighbouring Aldi they couldn't be doing a much better job of it.