Slater

Not true for us! we will embrace any improvements.
My Grandad used to know Tess and Cohen, later to become TESCO when they traded from stalls on Westminster Bridge! that was well before he was bombed out of London during the war, and relocated to sunny Worthing where he was know as "Bombed out George"!
Shit here we go again, only came on to find out some info and here I am getting involved again!

Slater

ozzieeagle

Ahh what you need, is to redeem your flybuys points for a well earned break


Then you can join us again.


Whats really intriguing about this thread, is it's mostly blokes 'cept for the odd kiwi, that are doing the debating..... whats more only one appears to be slinging mud, and apparently the same had a hiatus from this BBS for copping mud LOL..

This thread has been one of best real debates I've seen on this BBS in 18 months. How about world peace, or bird flu next time guys


Right I'm orf to Safeways, for an electric fan and groceries and some frozen meals lol

Vash the Stampede

I understand the "Cohen", but who's the "Tess" you're referring to here?

TillyG

I always thought the Tess (or Tessa, as I'd heard it) was Mr Cohen's wife - and he named the store in her honour.

blieble

This is what it says on their corporate website:
"The first own-brand product sold by Jack was Tesco Tea – before the company was called Tesco. The name comes from the initials of TE Stockwell, who was a partner in the firm of tea suppliers, and CO from Jack’s surname."

So there you have it! But you never know, his wife may still have been called Tess!

Regards,
Dazz

TillyG

See, you learn a new thing everyday lol

OzTennis

And not forgetting who Tess/Cohen's daughter is - Dame Shirley Porter. Yes, the ultra right wing Tory former Lady Mayoress of Westminster who tried to rig votes in her constituency by repatriating Labour voters, was lucky to escape jail, fined millions and now living in her 'homeland' (because I suspect she will be arrested if she sets foot in the UK?)

Tesco owes most of its success to Ian (now Lord) McLaurin who embarked on the 'beat Sainsbury's to #1 on sales and then profits' strategy in the early 90's. He has been succeeded by Sir Terency Leahy who has taken up the baton handed over by McLaurin. Incidentally, Leahy is also an advisor to the board of Everton FC and it is interesting to see how he is described on the fans website ("Sir Terence Leahy, one of the world’s greatest proponents of screwing every last penny out of as many people as is possible").

As Vash says some of the ways they have achieved their success are questionable but it depends which viewpoint you have. If it only matters about prices to the consumer and nothing else then they have been very successful. If you look at ethics and the wider picture then you question their success. As I said earlier there is no 'truth' in matters of opinion and people will just have to agree to disagree.

BTW I've seen comments earlier about the IGA's etc in Australia and how their prices are higher than the leading supermarkets. The same thing happens in the UK! Try comparing prices in Spar, Kwiksave (which is struggling so much it has just been sold off) etc with the leading supermarkets. They don't/can't compete just on price they compete on convenience (often in a smaller site on the High St) and longer opening hours. Well, at least they used to but Tesco etc now match or beat their opening hours.

Price is also not the only thing that matters. The Co-op have been very successful with their Fairtrade ethical products and quality for a few pennies more has always been the important thing for a lot of consumers. M & S, Waitrose and Sainsbury's customers are prepared to pay a premium for better quality on most food lines for example.

It is also ludicrous and beggars belief that it would be expected that supermarket prices in Australia could match those in the UK, especially at Tesco. The market is 1/3 of the size, transport distances involve 34 times the geographic area, crucially the market is also not close to bigger sources of supplies like the UK is to Europe. Australian supermarkets can't source from France, Germany, Italy etc (NZ, Fiji and PNG aren't exactly comparative and they are further away anyway). If Vash's stats are correct and mark-ups are lower in Oz then with UK mark-ups prices would be even higher. We'll see what happens if Tesco comes to Australia and they don't have their UK and European suppliers nearby and such big orders to place.

OzTennis

The Koalas

I work for one of the BIG 4 and I can tell you much of the rubbish sold is from China. Very little is sourced in Europe or the UK, the reason we can be "Cheap" is because we buy in from countries where labour is "cheap". I am not talking about food I am talking non-food. We sell surround sound systems for £29 sounds good but it is a brand you will never hear about they are cheap and nasty. The toys too are cheap and nasty and we have so many returns it's unbelivable. Last week we were told in a meeting that our company wants to get a pharmacy in store so they can out price and get Boots the chemist out of the town! They take away WH Smiths trade and are proud of it. We are now told we will be attempting to take IKEA's home furnishings crown away from them by selling garden furniture and furnishings in store, after seeing the shit that is coming in to go on the shop floor I see us bieng no threat to IKEA especaily with the garden furniture, it is all from China and will last a season in the garden if it does not collapse when building it. As for local food, for a few years we have been buying our bread from one of the countries top bakeries. They produce our own brand bread, but just after Xmas we were told that baker A had lost the contract and baker B was now going to be producing the loaves, why? because baker B can produce it for 3p a loaf less! It is all about money and squeezing the last penny out of suppliers. Baker C however does not bake any of our company's bread only their own brands and they charge full wack for the bread thus it is not cheap in store, it is a family run bakery and one of the top ones in the UK, they do not and will not at this moment in time give in to our companys demands for cheaper loaves, they know customers will buy their bread even if it is more expensive. If our company does not like it they know they can pull their loaves out and sell to our competitors and the customers will go there for their bread. Our company would love to be where Tesco are right now but Tesco are always there first with everything.
As for the way they treat staff, they have the nerve to tell shop floor staff that they can not pay wages and that they need them to work over but they must clock off first and then go back in to work!!!! Some people do, they are frightened they will loose their jobs, they are told someone out there will do it if they don't. They make millions yet expect staff to work for nothing.
I would like to buy my fruit and veg from a local Green Grocer but there isnt one, the last one left the town I live when we came to town with a big fancy supermarket.
Yes things in store are cheap but its for a reason, we have an aisle where we sell ethical trade goods from certain countries but, its all a sham because everything else non-food is produced where workers have no rights and labour is cheap and the people who make our goods are paid terrible wages.

Vash the Stampede

Very interesting and informative. Thanks for an excellent post.

It's always interesting to hear what the picture looks like from inside the company... and now we know.

Wol

>>Specific references to our Free Trade Agreement with the USA will be gratefully received. Please also address the fact that British Airways owns 40%of Qantas.<<

Not being so addicted to Google, I can't be sure - but didn't BA divest itself of its QF holdings?

Amazulu

I think you're right, although they still have an alliance/code share setup & they are both part of Oneworld.

OzTennis

Yep, BA divested itself of its Qantas shareholding to 'concentrate on its core business'. They seem to moving away from the code sharing etc - eg our Qantas flights originally had a BA flight on the London-Melbourne via Hong Kong sector but we got a change of itinerary, this sector is now a Qantas via Singapore flight. I believe BA divested their Qantas holding because they are going to have another Go (Go!) at trying to crack the low fare, Easyjet/Ryanair market.

It was very interesting to read Eric's comments from 'inside the big 4' which confirm what I've known all along. Stanton et al have been very silent on the matter about how wonderful and successful competition has been. There are more stakeholders than just the consumer and we must consider the worker (both in Tesco and in the Far East), the supplier, the environment, the local community etc in these matters - the 'bigger picture'. Perhaps we can see why the big 4 have been referred to the Competitions Commission?

There was an article in the national press at the weekend about the town we live in where a Tesco opened recently. The town brands itself as a Food Town and interestingly, since the new Tesco opened the trade at the local butchers, bakers and grocery stores has increased and Tesco have laid off 7 staff after one month of trading. It goes against the national trend but the people of this area seem to saying we don't want to pay less for your inferior quality goods, we want better quality and personal service and we are prepared to pay extra for it. It remains to be seen what will happen in the long run though. The local community also mounted such a campaign of opposition that Tesco dropped their petrol station and delicatessan in order to get planning permission. I also know that sales have been over 20% lower than the targets set by Cheshunt HO!

OzTennis

Amazulu

The rise of the supermarket chains has put a lot of smaller shops out of business but the butchers, bakers fishmongers etc that are left are really good (I guess they have to be to survive). I hardly ever used to buy meat from the supermarket in the UK. My local butcher sold better meat at the same price. There are 2 farm shops near where I lived in Surrey & they are both absolutely booming. Some of their stuff is more expensive (but not all) but the quality is superb. Go to the farmers market at Borough market in London on Friday or Saturday & you can't move because it is so busy. There are also a couple of great pubs nearby where you can go for a pint after your shopping. You can't do that at your local out of town Tesco!

There is an alternative. It's not all doom & gloom.

tucs

certainly not all doom and gloom. Some of us are thankfull to have a Tesco's. internet grocery shopping is the fastest growing new thing Tescos has at the minute. Up over 20%.

every little helps

Wol

I believe that Tesco was the only online deliverer that returned a profit a year or so ago.