Shortages in supermarkets and in other shops

Damn government control freaks. Do they think they are our Nannies or something ?

Calendar girl the checkout person was right. It’s true come September, all sugary/naughty-but -nice things must not be displayed near to the tills.
What a bore

Not too many shortages but the price hikes!! ???‍♀️?

As part of the government anti-obesity campaign supermarkets are no longer allowed to display sweets (and possibly crisps) in the racks at the end of aisles. I discussed this with someone working in Waitrose. They have to be in the middle of shelving in aisles, so that they are not prominent.

Seem to me, those buying sweets in supermarkets, will soon discover where the sweets are 'hidden' and buy them as usual. Most supermarkets seem only to sell sweets in three plus packs, so hardly an impulse buy.

Supermarkets are also rationalising their product lines and cutting low volume items out.

That is interesting.

I found a Financial Times article that was free to read, but the link that I intended to post here, when tested, had a pay wall.

The article is from June this year and apprently it has to be done by October for shops with more than some size.

It seems that some supermarkets are doing it now at the same time as removing Platinum Jubilee "stuff".

Also, apparently for online shopping there are restrictions on what can be suggested in the suggestions page that one sometimes gets as one heads towards the checkout page.

Calendargirl

Wheniwasyourage

Yes, when doing my Tesco shop yesterday, everything was in a different place. I was in a hurry as DH had a GP appointment, so just omitted non essentials that I couldn’t find.

I mentioned this at the checkout, I thought it was a) a shortage of products so moving stuff around to mask that or b) a subtle ploy to encourage us to buy more, but the checkout chap said it was government driven, all to do with sugar and salt guidance.



Not sure if that is the reason, but that’s what he said.

(It had created a lot of work for the staff obviously).

Yes when I queried everything being moved about at my local Tesco’s the manager told me that it was government driven to do with sugar and salt apparently. ?

Calendargirl I cannot imagine how shopping the sweet aisle for the tinned fruit is government driven! Still for Tesco staff and customers…..ours not to reason why!

Now you mention it, I have had problems getting semi-skimmed milk in the bottle size I prefer. That's gone on for a while now.

The 'shortages' are so (seemingly) random that I can't make sense of it.

Just back from Sainsburys, no skimmed today, not a lot of semi skimmed either, but that's quite unusual.

vissos

Rosalyn69

I have cat food issues. My Lily will only eat Sheba trays and they are as rare as hens teeth at the moment.
Last week I couldn’t get strawberries or blueberries on line.
It varies tremendously. One gets quite good at substitution.

Have you tried Amazon?

Try here, cheaper for dog food than Amazon

www.zooplus.co.uk/search/results?q=Sheba

Can't get Brazil nuts anywhere at a price that I can afford. Been out of stock at Lidl for weeks now

Ah, that's interesting, Calendargirl. thank you. I'll have a look next week and see if there is any logical answer to where they have put things with that in mind. However, the only thing that struck me as I wandered cluelessly around was that there seemed to be more chocolate on display than before. Don't think that would go with anyone's health guidelines somehow!

Wheniwasyourage

Yes, when doing my Tesco shop yesterday, everything was in a different place. I was in a hurry as DH had a GP appointment, so just omitted non essentials that I couldn’t find.

I mentioned this at the checkout, I thought it was a) a shortage of products so moving stuff around to mask that or b) a subtle ploy to encourage us to buy more, but the checkout chap said it was government driven, all to do with sugar and salt guidance.



Not sure if that is the reason, but that’s what he said.

(It had created a lot of work for the staff obviously).

My cats think I am mad buying Lidl cat food, why would they eat that ? They don’t. I passed it on to my daughter and her cats think the same.

I shopped in person in Asda yesterday, first time since pandemic and having home deliveries. I hated it as it was untidy, gaps in shelves and loads of shelf edge prices missing. I can understand that as prices are changing so rapidly but customers do need to know what things cost particularly as everything is getting more expensive so quickly.

In Tesco this morning there were several empty shelves, but it turned out that they were moving things around and reorganising. Can't imagine why, as it seemed perfectly logical before, and I had to search for some of the things I wanted. I found everything I was looking for in the end.

If the idea is to make you look at new things and be tempted to buy them it didn't work on me (pats self on back in superior fashion) (and then realises that she forgot to put frozen peas on the list. Hey ho).

Mine

Sainsburys wanted £7.50 for a jar of Kenco Coffee.....Its the only coffee my husband likes...He refused to put it in the trolley on Tues said he would just drink tea...I got the same jar in Asda this morning for £5.00...Why can't groceries be the same price in every shop

Have you thought about filling an empty Kenco jar with a cheaper, but similar looking coffee, and seeing if your DH knows the difference?

It’s surprising how we are so often focused on the brand or label that we are blinkered in our perception of the product.

Just be prepared for him being cross if he spots your ploy!

Aldi in my area in the East Anglia , had no skimmed milk or semi skimmed at all today.. First time I've ever seen no milk in Aldi.

Hit or miss with some products. 4 supermarkets in area found stock problems in all four

Our local Lidl had very empty shelve a few weeks ago. It was so bad I asked if they were closing down. The cashier said they were having trouble at the warehouse training new staff in picking shop orders. It seems to have sorted itself out now. There only seem to be occasional short term shortages.

Tesco may have a dispute re. Heinz prices but that's not to help their customers.Tesco can't get the same profit margin they want !!

Coffee does seem to be one of the problems. Supplies are quite infrequent to my local supermarkets, so I’m building up a (coffee only) stockpile as it’s the one thing neither my son who lives with me or myself are prepared to compromise on, and we prefer different types. Having been caught out in the pandemic we are making sure it doesn’t happen again. Sadly nothing else measures up, I’m happy with Aldi, or preferably Lidl for the vast majority of things, but not coffee, or dog food.

We tend to use Lidl, Tesco (previously Waitrose), and Sainsbury’s. No problem if we shop before 4-5 pm except there have been no Tesco coffee filters for months. Plenty of decaf and French coffee filters but not my preferred choice.

ordinarygirl

I thought our local Lidl had been robbed the other day. So many bare shelves. I was told that there are few staff in the warehouse to process the orders . As for prices - they go up by a minimum of 10p but usually 30p or more per item

Indeed. And when a 10p price rise happens on something costing one pound, that's 10% inflation!

Perhaps they will stop issuing copper coins!

I wonder what the inflation rate will be for September 2022, the figure to be used for the State Pension increase in April 2023 (unless wage rises are greater!).

And that won't take into account the predicted huge rise in the energy price cap in October 2022.

Everything fine in Oxfordshire

I agree about Waitrose . We shop there as it’s the nearest supermarket to us . It’s always been good but for the past month there have definitely been shortages, especially in own brands .