BS: Sainsbury's merger

Subject: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 07:07 AM

Jeremy Corbyn says workers should have a say in the merger of Asda and Morrisons. This may come as rather a shock to Sainsburys who thought they were merging with Asda!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 07:09 AM

And employees of Sainsbury's only have a say if they are shareholders !!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Raggytash
Date: 13 May 18 - 07:12 AM

It is not unreasonable to suggest that workers (even if they are not shareholders) should have a say in their own futures.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 07:53 AM

Amongst themselves perhaps, but in practice it's the owners who have the final say - possibly stated in the Companies Act - oddly enough brought in by a Labour Government!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 09:00 AM

Companies Act 2006 that is.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 May 18 - 09:22 AM

sod the employees. a few years ago, American mudcatters were warning us, that one day we would open our eyes to find out that Walmart was the only shopping option open to us.

everything that happens over there, happens over here eventually.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 May 18 - 10:04 AM

Within the "greater Edinburgh" area rhere are several Sainsbury's and ASDA stores: and in two areas the two supermarkets are less than half a mile apart. Pretty obvious that both sores in each location will not both survive if there should be a merger.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: BobL
Date: 13 May 18 - 10:29 AM

"both sores" - a Freudian slip perhaps?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Jos
Date: 13 May 18 - 10:51 AM

Surely the point of the original post was a comment not so much on the rights of the workers, but on the Labour leader's grasp of current affairs?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: DMcG
Date: 13 May 18 - 11:37 AM

Perhaps, but I am finding it difficult to find him saying that via a Google search. Have you a link, please?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 May 18 - 12:06 PM

I can't either DMcG. I've looked at what he said at the TUC rally yesterday, but can't find any direct reference to the merger of the two supermarkets.

I smiled when the Asda/Sainsbury's merger was announced a while ago. Sainsbury's is frightfully posh and Asda, well... We often visit the latter (keen prices) but Sainsbury's is a bit expensive for us. Wonder what the hybrid will be like?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Jos
Date: 13 May 18 - 12:44 PM

I was wondering whether it will eventually be called Asburys or Sainsda.
I never thought of Sainsbury's as very posh (I have never been to Asda as there isn't one nearby). Waitrose can be rather genteel, but have you tried a Marks & Spencer food hall? It's a completely different world.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 12:52 PM

"Surely the point of the original post was a comment not so much on the rights of the workers, but on the Labour leader's grasp of current affairs?"

Full marks that lad!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 May 18 - 12:52 PM

Waitrose and M&S are far too posh and expensive for the likes of us Jos. Also, we're right out in the sticks, and try not to use up too much petrol. Asda and Tesco are reasonably convenient for us (although even they are a fair trek away!)

Personally, I like farmers' markets, little stalls and local produce.
We go to Roys of Wroxham where most of their stuff is locally sourced.
And we grow quite a bit ourselves. You should see our rhubarb at the moment, after all that rain - it's gigantic, like a triffid!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 12:55 PM

There are good bits and bad bits in all supermarkets - worst of all being the "colleague announcements" to be heard in Sainsbury's, Tescos, Co-op and probably others.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Raggytash
Date: 13 May 18 - 01:06 PM

"Wonder what the hybrid will be like?"

I might be wrong Eliza but I would suggest it will be Sainsburys prices for the most part.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 May 18 - 01:24 PM

From what I can gather it is not so much a merger as Sainsbury's buying the Asda name from Wal-Mart. But I could be wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 May 18 - 01:27 PM

That would be a shame Raggytash, because 'our' Asda is an excellent place for people on low incomes to get real bargains and reduced prices. It also seems to us to be the most 'multi-cultural' of the lot. We often see people we know by sight from many countries in there, and their food too is diverse (halal for example, and unusual, exotic vegetables, chillies and so on)

I think we'll be driven to buying a smallholding and raising chickens, pigs and lamb ourselves, plus all the vegetables we need. That way we'll get cheap food and will sell our surplus. If we weren't so aged, that idea appeals...

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 May 18 - 01:45 PM

If I am right about the circumstances it will be Sainsbury's diving into the budget brand market without compromising their reputation. Again, I could be reading it wrong.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:19 PM

And here we have the problem with public discourse today. Bonzo introduces a topic, with a purported quote from Jeremy Corbyn, which taken at face value implies a somewhat shaky grasp of current affairs. Bonzo then posts again, agreeing with himself. Jos, not au fait with Bonzo's modus operandi, expresses the view that the quote implies that Corbyn is not up with current affairs. "Well done lad" says Bonzo. Everyone then goes off at a tangent, leaving the lie not nailed, and the impression in the thread that Corbyn has dropped a clanger. But he hasn't because he didn't say that. This sums up the reptilian dishonesty of the British right. And that is being extremely unfair to reptiles.

What this also does, is to mask a real and even more worrying possibility, because in response to the proposed ASDA/Sainsbury's merger, Amazon has floated the idea of buying Morrisons.

I am sure that Jeremy Corbyn is up to speed with all of this, and will react appropriately, or not at all if that is instead appropriate.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:21 PM

And anyway, all of these guys are being absolutely eaten up by ALDI and LIDL.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:32 PM

i love Wroxham. its a lovely place, george formby used to live there. and l believe - WH Auden's dad was the vicar - or something like that, fabulously beautiful place, needs a folk club though.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:37 PM

BobL: maybe not Freudian but might be accurate.

Going back a bit to when Safeway's went out of business, there were hardly any store closures, but what they then became in this area was determined by the degree of poshness of the neighbourhood: so in Morningside and Stockbridge they became Waitrose, middle of the road areas they became Morrison's, and the less posh ones were Somerfield - but then THEY disappeared and the stores (with a T!) became Cooperatives. And M&S opened Simply Food stores everywhere!

Aldi and Lidl are good for some things but don't seem to carry the same range of goods consistently.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:42 PM

Our Safeway became a Sommerfield and then an ADLI. And very excellent it is too. Far keener prices than the nearby Sainsbury and Tesco. I only ever go in Sainsbury and Tesco when ALDI doesn't have something I want. Thats increasingly rare, and 90% of the time Sainsbury and Tesco turn out not to have it either. Yesterday it was Celeriac. And nobody has it in.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 May 18 - 03:44 PM

M&S food I find a waste of time. I went in to the nearest one looking for an Aubergine. ALDI said they were out of stock. M&S didn't even know what one was.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 13 May 18 - 04:02 PM

Our Sainsbury's delivery guy told us that staff are not treated well, and he was starting at Waitrose the following week.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: DaveRo
Date: 13 May 18 - 04:22 PM

It's not clear whether Corbyn ever said this. Here's the original tweet:
https://mobile.twitter.com/carldinnen/status/995305548366172160

Carl Dinnon works for ITV, so not an obvious troll. Peter J Nicholls tries to verify the quote but Dinnon doesn't give him much to go on. Nobody else reports it so I suspect it's untrue.

Most respondents seem happy to bash Corbyn and, particularly, Diane Abbott.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 13 May 18 - 04:38 PM

And thats typical. No verification. But the twitterati lap it up as if its fact, as it reinforces their prejudices. As they say, I lie can be half way round the world before the truth can get its boots on. Its sad that Carl Dinnen, son of a well respected Church of Ireland rector, should stoop to this.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 13 May 18 - 04:52 PM

Morrisons are already in bed with Amazon in more ways than one but, coming from a position of working for Morrisons, I cannot see why Amazon would want to acquire a high street supermarket. For the third time, I could be wrong!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 13 May 18 - 05:15 PM

Well David Carter, both DMcG and myself did search for any reference to Corbyn's alleged 'slip' and admitted we couldn't find any.

It's only natural that a discussion would ensue here in BS about the proposed merger of two big supermarket chains which are very different.

Big Al, I got chatting to a bloke in Wroxham's McDonald's (went in there for a cuppa) who was the Squire of a Morris side and was also a member of a folk-dancing and folk-singing club, all in Wroxham. We nattered on so long my tea got cold. Husband nearly dozed off.

We tried Lidl (they've opened a huge new store in Norwich) and we didn't much rate it. Decided not to go there again.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 May 18 - 02:50 AM

i once bought a curry from asda and found a bit of plastic tray in my mouth from a vegetable crate. i took it in and the mean bastardsjust refunded the cost of the curry, seeing as i had saved them answering some very awkward questions as to how it got there, i felt hard done to.

next time i find a piece of arsenic floating in the earl grey tea, i will definitely inform the authorities.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 May 18 - 03:11 AM

A couple of Christmasses ago, we found what looked like a huge ball of fluff in a box of 80 Taylor's Yorkshire Tea-bags. We reported it to them, they sent us a prepaid envelope for us to return it to them. A week or so later, we received a very nice letter explaining that it was a ball of glue-strands from the bagging process, which was harmless but which should have been spotted and dealt with by QC during packaging, and a few days after that we received a large box containing a number of 160-bag packs of tea-bags. Didn't have to buy tea bags for about six months.

Taylor's Yorkshire Tea Company - Top Banana! (Errrrmmm...Tea Bag?). :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 May 18 - 03:14 AM

Hee hee Al, one pays extra for added arsenic.

Does anyone know when this proposed merger is due to take place?

I'm so ancient I remember just after the War my mother, with me in tow, used to shop at Sainsbury's, which was then just a large grocer's. There were marble counters, and a lady used to serve one with butter using wooden butter pats. It was wrapped in grease-proof paper. I particularly liked the red bacon-slicing machine. The lady slammed a huge side of bacon on to the spikes. One selected the thickness from a series of lines, and the lady turned the handle while the thing shot to and fro. She caught the slices in her hand, and yet more grease-proof paper was used to wrap it up. I was an evil little monster and hoped against hope she'd slice her hand.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 14 May 18 - 03:26 AM

Yes Sen, both you and DtG did search, and like me didn't find anything. Moreover, as DaveRo says, people on the twitter feed couldn't find anything. No apology from Bonzo though, he has smeared a principled man and then vanished.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 May 18 - 03:58 AM

"No apology from Bonzo though, he has smeared a principled man and then vanished."

Of course he has, in the absence of any policies they dare admit to, it's the only tactic the Tories know.

(You're excluded from that comment, Sen - you're a jolly good egg AFAIC!).

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 May 18 - 04:10 AM

Not my smear at all, somebody put it on Twitter, take it however you like squire!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 May 18 - 04:16 AM

Heh heh thanks Backwoodsman. I expect they'll engrave my tombstone with

'Here lies Eliza
   O Memento Mori
   Backwoodsman said she was
   A Good Egg, but a Tory'

I agree with Dave Carter that unsubstantiated scurrilous remarks are out of order. There are enough of those all over the Internet and people tend to believe what they want to believe.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 May 18 - 04:23 AM

It seems that the merger may be stopped in its tracks.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 14 May 18 - 05:19 AM

Oh bugger, Bozo's morphing into Keefy!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 14 May 18 - 05:56 AM

Not good enough Bonzo, by a long chalk. You started the original post in this thread with:

"Jeremy Corbyn says ..."

You could have started it:

"An unsubstantiated tweet from a journalist alleges that Jeremy Corbyn says ..."

Which would have been truthful. But you didn't, you just chose to repeat the allegation without attribution, substantiation, or qualification. You are complicit in this, you are as bad as the tweeter.

And still you try to divert from your perfidy, by getting people to talk about the merger which may or may not take place.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 14 May 18 - 06:22 AM

Oh dear, please stop being unkind to Bonzo. I like this thread which he started, and I like Bonzo too. There's no need for nastiness, surely?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 14 May 18 - 06:46 AM

Thank you Senoufou, some of these people take life so seriously!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: David Carter (UK)
Date: 14 May 18 - 06:58 AM

I like Jeremy Corbyn. And most of the nastiness is directed at him.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 14 May 18 - 10:38 AM

So do I. I wrote a song about him, which for some reason he has not adopted as his campaign anthem


https://soundcloud.com/denise_whittle/jeremy-corbyn-song


but am I bitter...?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Mr Red
Date: 15 May 18 - 03:25 AM

I cannot see why Amazon would want to acquire a high street supermarket.

I can. They have one store chain in America and need physical presence to learn the bits they don't know, about UK shoppers. I did notice Amazon lockers in a Morrisons I go to. (because they have a noticeboard I can use for Stroud Ceilidhs publicity). Oats are cheaper there too. And Painsbury's don't always have notice boards. And curiously Painsbury's have mixed policies on being collection points for E-Bay. My nearest Argos & Painsbury's don't. Go figure. Such inconsistency only alienates customers.

I did once complain to Lidl about a remaindered product missing an item and they offered alternative stores (for obsolete stuff!) to swap out the product but I suggested they paid for the bit at about 1 GBP and after sticking to my guns they gave me 5 GBP. go figure.

Asda and Morrisons wanted a store in Stroud, Aldi did also. Aldi won, and the site is being cleared, not that far from Painsbury's

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 15 May 18 - 04:56 AM

Not only Amazon lockers but Amazon fulfill some Morrisons deliveries and we use Amazon Web Services as our cloud base. But I still cannot see that they would need that physical presence here just yet. Still, if they did, I guess it would not affect me, seeing as I have very little time left to work at Mozzers! If they could time it so I was made redundant round about November it would be ideal :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 15 May 18 - 05:32 AM

Wouldn't a high street Amazon just be like an Argos with bollocks?

Oi, Dave, at least if Amazon took over Morrisons at least there'd be a better chance of them reducing the Nero d'Avola down to five quid. It's been a bloody poor do lately. Mrs Steve's patience is wearing thin over my transparent attempts to incorporate the five-quid vouchers into my wine-buying creative accounting...

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 May 18 - 07:28 AM

Hahaha Steve, you and your Nero d'Avola! You're as bad as me and my crumpets.

The attraction for us with Amazon is the convenience of delivery to our door (saves a lot of petrol as we are out in the sticks) and the very keen prices. If they opened shops, one would have to actually go there.
And that type of system would put up the costs.

We're supermarket tarts really, we haunt Asda, Morrisons and Tesco indiscriminately as the mood takes us, and also to obtain good prices and stuff which only one or the other stocks. But the store has to have a nice atmosphere, a cafe if possible and some clothes/household goods for yours truly to have a browse.

I used years ago to go to Waitrose with a (very posh) friend who looked and spoke a bit like Joanna Lumley, with a great sense of humour. She was happy to pay through the nose for what seemed to me stuff which was much cheaper elsewhere. I reckon she liked the 'ethos'. She lives in Somerset now, and shops in Bristol at all the posh places.

I also used to accompany my old Norfolk neighbour to what she called 'Lidl's For Diddles', and it was the opposite, poor quality stuff but keen prices. Didn't like that much either.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 May 18 - 07:39 AM

Mickey MacConnell

The Ballad of Lidl and Aldi

Well the wife she broke her ankle when she tumbled off the bike
Leaving me to do the housework, a job I never liked
And doing the weekly shopping seemed a dreadful chore to me
'Til I discovered LidldiAldi, LidldiAldi LidldiAldi Lidldidee.

Now I just can't wait for Thursdays when the specials go on view
I'm the first man to the trolleys; I'm the first man in the queue
For now I know what women mean about retail therapy
It's LidldiAldi, LidldiAldi LidldiAldi Lidldidee.

Its angle grinders and black puddings and a pot of German jam
A lump of hairy bacon and a wet suit from Japan
And a pack of streaky rashers, a crate of Russian stout
And a portable generator just in case the lights go out

Alloy wheels and windscreen wipers and a bag of Rooster spuds
An inflatable rubber dinghy to help survive the floods
Spanners, sockets and fish fingers, they're so cheap they're damn near free
At LidldiAldi, LidldiAldi, LidldiAldi, Lidldidee

Now there's welding rods and prime organic beef to make a hearty stew
A hiking staff and spiky boots for climbing Kathmandu
Big heads of curly cabbage to make you eat your fill
Sledgehammers and bananas and a lovely cordless drill

And there's hatchets and hamburgers and there's tins of beans and peas
And a petrol driven chainsaw for cutting bits off trees
Strimmers, sabres, saws and sausages, computers and TVs
At LidldiAldi, LidldiAldi LidldiAldi Lidldidee.

Now the wife has gone ballistic, marriage heading for the rocks
With her crutches and her shopping bag now she's hobbling round the shops
And she's cut up all me credit cards, I'm sad as sad can be
No more Aldi LidldiAldi, no more Lidldidee for me.

For the shed is full of plastic shit I didn't really want
And the gardens full of furniture and the house is full of plants
And I'm living in the doghouse; Rover, Fido, Shep and me
Because of Aldi LidldiAldi LidldiAldi Lidldidee.

So no more angle grinders nor black puddings, no more pots of German jam
No lumps of hairy bacon, no more wet suits from Japan
No packs of streaky rashers, and I'll have to do without
Another portable generator just in case the lights go out

No alloy wheels, no windscreen wipers, no bags of Rooster spuds
No inflatable rubber dinghies to help survive the floods
For I am living in the doghouse I'm as sad as sad can be
No more Aldi LidldiAldi, no more Lidldidee for me!

© Mickey MacConnell

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Jos
Date: 15 May 18 - 08:26 AM

Recently when I went to Aldi for a bit of shopping (organic spuds and some basic cheese), there was a woman about to return her trolley to the trolley rank so I offered her a pound coin to save her the trouble. She took the coin and scarpered before I realised that the trolley didn't have a coin in it. She had made a £1 profit and my shopping cost me £1 more than necessary - so now I don't trust Aldi customers and I'm off to Waitrose for a free cup of coffee to make up for it.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Jos
Date: 15 May 18 - 08:28 AM

PS
I love Raggytash's song. Does it have a tune?

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 May 18 - 08:35 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL7jyXCQ2Zc

Here you go Jos, the man himself singing it.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Raggytash
Date: 15 May 18 - 08:36 AM

Lidl & Aldi

Try that again!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Jos
Date: 15 May 18 - 09:18 AM

That's great. Thanks.

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 May 18 - 12:07 PM

Aye that was running through my head when Lidl and Aldi were first mentioned: Mickey is brother of Cathal McConnell btw.

"Supermarket tarts" Senofou! That's me too, often depending who has given me the best vouchers! ASDA don't but their wine prices can be VERY good! And my husband knows all the times and places to go for the real knock-down prices: one branch of M & S in particular: stuff that was £3 marked down to 20p!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Senoufou
Date: 15 May 18 - 12:35 PM

Ah yes, Tattie, we have a Tesco Clubcard, and just today we received vouchers for £13.50 in the post. Very handy. Sadly our freezer is microscopic, so we can't buy large quantities on offer to stash away.

Another reason we go to the various supermarkets on our list is the collection of African acquaintances we seem to have made. There's Jeme (Gambia) at Morrisons, Simeon (Nigeria) and Albert (Kenya) at the local small Tesco shop, Nelson (Angola) on the fish counter at the Superstore Tesco, a lady from Ghana on the till in Asda (don't know her name yet) and the opticians' receptionist in Tesco (now Vision Express) from Ghana too. I also like to natter to Shamima (Bangladesh) a customer, who is often browsing the exotic veggies with my husband. It's absolutely lovely, they all know us well and give us hugs and smiles. It's more like a very nice party than a supermarket shopping trip!

Subject: RE: BS: Sainsbury's merger
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 May 18 - 12:26 PM

Your shopping trips sound fab, Senofou! I don't enjoy shopping, but that could be OK!
And I got the same Tesco vouchers: some spent on wine, some on food and toiletries. So ASDA and Sainsbury's missed out this week!