Asda and Sainsbury's merge-good news?

As long as it isn’t bigger than Tesco ( who are set to take over the world, if Starbucks or China don’t beat them to it) then I can’t see there is a problem.
There are still choices, Morrisons, Aldi, Lidl, Co-op etc.

It will be bigger than Tescos.

Farmers will be the losers. Sainsbury's have already been turning the screws on producers resulting in cost cutting and loss of jobs. It will only get worse.

There are laws to do with sizes of mergers, so if it breaks any, it won’t be allowed to go ahead.

I don’t believe the promises either. We have a big brand spanking new Asda within 5 min walk of a smaller pretty old Sainsbury, I can’t see the smaller shop lasting long at all.

Walmart aren't exactly known for their lily-white practises.

They do seem to be an unlikely combination.

Did anyone see the CEO of Sainsbury's caught on camera singing in between interviews:
"We're in the Money
We're in the money;
We've got a lot of what it takes to get along!"

Yes I saw that did he really not know he was on camera what a strange thing to do outside the walls of your own home smug bxxxxxx

They don't seem a good fit really, do they?

My first thought was the producers merlot.

Do you know, I begin to feel I don't want to listen to the news anymore, it always seems to ruin my day!! I guess my generation will be ok, but the future? It doesn't look good.

I saw that Jalima an unguarded moment as they say, there is no privacy now. Perhaps he should be more aware.
I agree with others that this merger will not be good news for producers.

At the age of 60 I managed to secure a job at Asda and felt so lucky to have got a job at my age after looking after dh for many years.
I have been there 2 yrs in August and enjoy going and having my little wage...I for one and many others hope that job losses and store closes will not be on the cards..to find another job at my age for another 5 yrs I'm certain will be near impossible..

I feel for anyone that may have job loss looming over them.
In our smallish town we have Large Tesco/Asda/Liddl/Aldi all within 1/4 of a mile within each other, we also have a Home Bargain and Large B n M who have now started selling food/frozen/fresh products..we have a really good choice of supermarkets so all very competitive.

We shall have to wait and see.

We have, fairly near to us, a very nice Sainsburys and an awful Asda. Will they 'down' one and 'up' the other. I hate really dislike the Asda, bit snobby of me, but that's me

I agree with tanith I am aware of the stores she was mentioning. They cannot both survive.

I feel so sorry for the small farmers- they do not have the clout to stand up to those bullies. 10% decrease would be good but not at the small farmer or producers expense.

How can they expect to continue without store closures and job losses? Do they think our memories are feeble?

No Asda, Sainsbury's or .Tesco here

Auntieflo -we have a huge Asda with a very limited selection of goods. The Sainsbury we shop at is smaller, cleaner, has a great selection of good food. Additionally the staff at the Sainsbury supermarket have mostly been there for years, customer service is excellent.
This proposed merger feels like very bad news for suppliers, employees and customers. I loathe evil empires!

How can prices be constantly lowered? Somewhere somebody always pays.....that will be the producers then!

I do find it amusing that some people who consider Sainsbury’s to be a somewhat ‘superior’ supermarket, on what evidence I don’t know, are really offended by the idea of this merger. I have a friend like that.

In our town we already have what many think as a plethora of Super stores.......and far too many.We have Tesco,Morrisons,Lidl,Aldi and of course the Food Hall at M & S.
We have neither Sainsburies or Aldi ............quite frankly I do not think we need one either.
But we have little choice I suppose, and will have to accept the voice of change........again.Some will undoubtedly benefit, whilst others will not,especially anyone losing their job.

I wish we had a Waitrose nearby - sadly although they deliver the service wasn't he best.
I think its Sainsbury's suppliers that are going to suffer.

So do I Iam64 but unfortunately this appears to be the future and it seems to be because of the threat of Amazon moving into the cheaper grocery market. For goods to be cheap someone has to suffer somewhere down the line and you can guess it won't be the "in the money" CEO of Sainsbury. I envisage a future where there will be one giant shop that sells everything and without competition consumers will be stuffed!

You're right, Teetime and it's not just the small farmers.

Sainsbury's have been grinding the large producers down for some time. The threat of losing contracts has led to redundancies.

DD was the health and safety manager for one such company until Christmas. They merged HR and H&S to save money. All her hard work for the last ten years as the firm grew counted for very little in the end.

Thanks a bunch, Sainsbury's

Too many lives are disrupted by the arbitrary decisions made by the too-powerful supermarkets.
It's interesting (and disturbing too) to know that it is not just the small producers who are at their mercy.

I wish I could find a supermarket that I liked. I wish we still had some small local shops so that I didn’t have to use a supermarket.
I hate all the sales tactics. I hate the deliberate misleading on the special offers. I hate having to walk miles to get what I want and then they don’t have it anyway. I hate the queues to pay because there’s not enough staff.
I hate it so much that I walked out of Asda yesterday and didn’t have anything to eat for dinner last night!