The Tesco & other non-Morrisons supermarket thread

thegeek
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gottago wrote: Mon 25 Jul, 2022 17.44 A new one for me yesterday, a small M&S Food/WHSmith hybrid on Tottenham Court Road. Didn't go in but from the outside it looked like the sort of thing you'd get in a hospital or service station. It's pretty close to a larger M&S Food and isn't coming up on Google Maps so I assume it's only just opened.
I saw that the other day and it took a few moments for it to click why it was a bit odd. The M&S Food in our local hospital is operated by WHSmith Travel Retail, so I wonder if they're making inroads into the high street. Or perhaps it's in a UCLH building and it's part of that contract.
gottago
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WillPS wrote: Tue 26 Jul, 2022 00.04
In M&S [Simply] Food (travel) stores news, I noticed one of the St. Pancras ones now has a small selection of clothing and just has the M&S logo over the door rather than food. I don't know if this means it's not run by SSP as all other railway station locations are?
I would assume it's M&S itself as it was previously (before Covid) much bigger and had a larger non-food section where the Wetherspoon is now.
BBC TV Centre
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WillPS wrote: Sun 24 Jul, 2022 20.02
bilky asko wrote: Sat 23 Jul, 2022 08.30
BBC TV Centre wrote: Fri 22 Jul, 2022 22.24
One thing I don't get is the fact that you can't remove items for yourself on a self scan checkout without staff approval, yet when you use the handhend scanners you can?

What is the reason for such disparity?
It depends on how it's set up. In the Morrisons up my end, you can remove any loaded bags into the trolley without staff approval.
But you can't remove the item from the transaction, e.g. if you accidentally catch an already-scanned barcode while removing a bag.

The only reason I can think that they might be alright with letting customers do it on SAYS but not on a self checkout is there's an element of trust-built-up with SAYS since the customer identifies themselves at the point of handset release. I've found that dicking about with the handset, scanning random things like SELs and barcodes on outers, adding things then removing them tends to make it more likely that you get selected for a service check.
Sounds a reasonable theory, however, with the increasing amount of cameras at the self checkout and the weight detection it sounds even more over the top to not let you remove anything when you are surveiled to that extent.

The scanning random barcodes certainly does trigger rescans or even a temporary ban (necessitating you to talk to the people at the CSD) - I remember catching the 2D barcode of some advert on the Sunday Times for some time by mistake for a number of weeks as it was near the till barcode.

I didn't think the software of the handheld scanners would have the ability to even pick it up.
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WillPS
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After investing heavily in PFS and rebranding their stations as Co-op, TCG are now looking to sell their stations: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/c ... 99fc953ee3
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Pete
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A shame from a branding POV as the co-op forecourts always did look stunning. Never used one tho so probs all my fault.


In Tesco news, I noticed that they've started to replace the clapped out Windows CE(?) based unlock cradles with a tablet based device.

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Interestingly in this case the Mk2 guns were updated with the new Tesco software, but are still making their default beep in addition to the "Tesco beep" which is annoying. They also don't seem to have the power to properly run the new code unlike the newer Zebra branded guns at the other Tesco and are a bit sluggish.

(I'm assuming the hardware got a bump during the Symbol > Zebra takeover but I may be wrong)
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thegeek
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WillPS wrote: Sun 28 Aug, 2022 01.02 After investing heavily in PFS and rebranding their stations as Co-op, TCG are now looking to sell their stations: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/c ... 99fc953ee3
Looks like Asda are keen:
https://news.sky.com/story/asda-eyes-de ... p-12684809
Charlie Wells
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Pete wrote: Sun 28 Aug, 2022 10.59 In Tesco news, I noticed that they've started to replace the clapped out Windows CE(?) based unlock cradles with a tablet based device.

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Interestingly in this case the Mk2 guns were updated with the new Tesco software, but are still making their default beep in addition to the "Tesco beep" which is annoying. They also don't seem to have the power to properly run the new code unlike the newer Zebra branded guns at the other Tesco and are a bit sluggish.

(I'm assuming the hardware got a bump during the Symbol > Zebra takeover but I may be wrong)
Since the handheld scanners had their software updated they've become awfully slow. It's a nightmare if you have more than one of an item, as there's a 5 second-ish delay after scanning an item before you can scan another. It wouldn't be as bad if you could increase a quantity on the handheld, without having to rescan the item.

It would be even better if they had a smartphone app that you could use instead of their old scanners. The Sainsbury's SmartShop app seems to work fairly well. Can always hope the handheld scanner software update it designed to allow this in the near future.
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Pete
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Charlie Wells wrote: Mon 29 Aug, 2022 19.30 Since the handheld scanners had their software updated they've become awfully slow. It's a nightmare if you have more than one of an item, as there's a 5 second-ish delay after scanning an item before you can scan another. It wouldn't be as bad if you could increase a quantity on the handheld, without having to rescan the item.

It would be even better if they had a smartphone app that you could use instead of their old scanners. The Sainsbury's SmartShop app seems to work fairly well. Can always hope the handheld scanner software update it designed to allow this in the near future.
which model does your branch have?
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WillPS
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thegeek wrote: Mon 29 Aug, 2022 18.41
WillPS wrote: Sun 28 Aug, 2022 01.02 After investing heavily in PFS and rebranding their stations as Co-op, TCG are now looking to sell their stations: https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/c ... 99fc953ee3
Looks like Asda are keen:
https://news.sky.com/story/asda-eyes-de ... p-12684809
This is confusing tho, didn't Asda sell all their filling stations to Eurogarages immediately after the Issa Brothers took over?
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JAS84
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No. The Issas' company EG Group IS Eurogarages - it was Asda itself that was sold to them, not just their forecourts.
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WillPS
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JAS84 wrote: Wed 31 Aug, 2022 15.15 No. The Issas' company EG Group IS Eurogarages - it was Asda itself that was sold to them, not just their forecourts.
That isn't what I meant, and what you're saying is factually incorrect.

The Issa brothers part own Asda. They also part own EG Group/EuroGarages. EuroGarages do not own Asda, but at one stage Asda was going to sell their forecourts to EG. This was later dropped.

EG franchise the 'on the move' concept from Asda for their forecourts and Asda lease space to EG for food outlets like KFC and Cinnabon in some of their supercentres. I suspect these new former-Co-op forecourts will carry the 'Asda on the move' brand and may well sublease space to EG for Greggs etc, which will make it harder for a consumer to see the difference between an EG site and an Asda site.
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