I have an issue with money off vouchers in supermarkets

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Buddyboy

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As the title says, I have been thinking about those "spend 50 get 10 euro off" vouchers in Supervalu etc.

I have a half-formed aversion to them (while still availing of them), along the following lines.

We all know that businesses need to cover their costs and make a profit, that is a given. So regardless of any offers, loss leaders etc. they have to price things overall so that they make money at the end of the day. This means that they factor in the cost of the "10€ off" in the overall pricing of the goods sold.
It is possible that the less wealthy/poorer shoppers would be more likely to not reach or afford the required spend and therefore to avail of the discount. They would end up paying more overall for the goods that they buy. i.e. if the 10€ off didn't exist then all goods in the shop would be at a lower price.

Therefore this is in effect a tax on the poorer shoppers.

(Sgt Vimes boot theory springs to mind) https://terrypratchett.com/explore-discworld/sam-vimes-boots-theory-of-socio-economic-unfairness/

(A counter argument would be that the shop sells more goods, and therefore the fixed costs are spread over more goods, and hence they are priced lower is possible)

I'd be interested in your thoughts.
 
Gosh I don't know! I use the Dunnes ones, mainly the 5 off 25 and it's easy enough to get to it. I only buy stuff I know is the same price everywhere so mainly butter/milk/flour/sugar and then whatever special offers they have that week on veg or whatever. For example I like MiWadi lime juice but only buy when it's on offer there. If I'm struggling to get to the limit I always just buy more butter and throw it in the freezer or toilet paper is a good trolley filler too.
 
Buddyboy said:
It is possible that the less wealthy/poorer shoppers would be more likely to not reach or afford the required spend and therefore to avail of the discount. They would end up paying more overall for the goods that they buy. i.e. if the 10€ off didn't exist then all g
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I had the same type conversation with my husband last night
I recently started to shop in Dunnes, for a change. Based on these vouchers, I somewhat moved from 'discount" retailers. For me, while their marked price are a little bit higher, the vouchers largely cover the difference as I am careful to just spend the amount required
However, I was wondering what impact this had on inflation. In some other shops, in the same way, card holders only benefit from a wide range of reductions...
 
To expand a bit. When they started, we were getting 5 off 25, then it became 5 off 40, now it's 10 off 50, and all our new ones are 11 off 75. It's getting harder to reach the target, and if you miss it, based on my argument above, then it costs more overall.

(I know there are other factors, for example, people going on bigger shops once rather than a few smaller ones means the supermarket may have lower operating costs.)
 
Buddyboy said:
To expand a bit. When they started, we were getting 5 off 25, then it became 5 off 40, now it's 10 off 50, and all our new ones are 11 off 75. It's getting harder to reach the target, and if you miss it, based on my argument above, then it costs more overall.
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You could try to re-reg and see if it starts back at 5 off 35. I think 5 off 25 is long gone in Supervalu.
They were nudging me up as well, but I shopped elsewhere for a while and then it reverted back to 5 off 35.

In Dunnes it is more consistent and you can control it via your spend: 5 off 25, 10 off 50 and between 75 - 100 you get a 5 & 10 off next shop.
You can split your shop and put forward €25 of groceries first to ensure you get the 5 off 25.

I take your point about how the Supervalu 'ratchet' effect causes issues.
 
Me too. They’re an absolute scam, a classic bait n switch (price up to discount down) and I won’t on principle use any shop that uses them!
 
I can't be sure as I'm no longer in the trade but when Dunnes started doing the €10 off €50 they did so out of their own margins
and from what I can remember the increase in turnover and customer footfall more then justified the discount
I never myself noticed any price rises before or after the vouchers started and it's something I'm quite sensitive too as I track all my spending
Whatever about the other supermarkets Dunnes have always been price competitive even to the German discounters on most items

Knowing how the supermarkets work I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of this discount cost would have been factored into their LTA's with suppliers
 
I find the likes of Dunnes and SuperValu too expensive compared to the likes of Lidl/Aldi/Tesco for most staples so rarely shop there and wouldn't be tempted by voucher offers which, even after the discounts, would most likely involve me spending more than necessary. Like most such offers I see them primarily as a gimmick, and not always a loss leader one.
 
T McGibney said:
Any purchase of toilet paper in Dunnes, Tesco or Supervalu, except where unavoidable as a last resort, is almost certainly a poor value purchase.
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As opposed to what? Are you talking about Lidl/Aldi, I don't like the Lidl stuff, we all have our product preferences and mine is Dunnes own brand :D
 
Buddyboy said:
I have a half-formed aversion to them (while still availing of them), along the following lines.
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I'm not fond of them either, as you pretty much have to use them if you shop anywhere that uses them, and get penalised if you don't hit the minimum spend. I also regularly get annoyed with digging around in the SuperValu app for the voucher when Im at the till, with the app pushing promotions at me, or worse still, hanging because it can't get a data signal.

I wonder at the useful nature of the information they harvest from it all. It clearly costs them to run a discount system, and they must pass this along to their consumers. Why bother? LIDL and ALDI get by without such systems and the information they can produce.
 
T McGibney said:
In our part of the world, Mr Price and Super Savers beat the others hands down for the quality mainstream brands, as more erratically do Lidl and Aldi.
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I'm actually not gone on the mainstream brands either, have tried them all and prefer DS own brand in the blue pack.
 
kickstart said:
LIDL and ALDI get by without such systems and the information they can produce.
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Have Lidl not got something similar now with the app needed to get the special price on some things, I watch now when reading the super 6 offers each week to see which ones you need to have the app discount thing for as I just can't be bothered having another one on the phone. I actually use paper dunnes vouchers most of the time except when they send me the money off vouchers which you have to get in the app.
 
Monbretia said:
I'm actually not gone on the mainstream brands either, have tried them all and prefer DS own brand in the blue pack.
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That's your choice. My point here is directed towards anyone who is interested in finding better value on the mainstream brands.

Price comparisons are often moot between own-brand offerings.
 
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