Will Tesco minimum spend on groceries affect Southport shoppers?

by
20th July 2015
Tesco calls on Southport charities to join free food scheme

Tesco have recently issued the following letter to customers who do online grocery shopping.

Dear customer,

We wanted to let you know about an important change that will soon take place. From 23rd July 2015, the minimum basket spend when you shop online for your groceries will change from £25 to £40.

If you choose to spend below the minimum basket, orders will be subject to an additional surcharge of £4.
We understand that there may be an impact to how you shop with us, and we wanted to assure you that this decision has been given careful consideration, as we continue to evolve our online grocery delivery and Click + Collect services.

As ever, there’s no need to worry if your order falls below £40 due to substitutions or unavailable items, you will not be charged the minimum basket surcharge.

What happens if I have already placed an order for delivery after 23rd July?

If you have already placed an order for delivery after 23rd July, with a final order value between £25 and £40, you will not incur the £4 surcharge. If you amend your order after 23rd July to be below £40, you will incur the £4 surcharge.

Although I understand that these changes are no doubt national as opposed to regional, this change in policy will have an effect on the community of Southport.

When a supermarket chain moves into a community with a building that looks like the one they built in every other town and a sales policy that is aggressive enough to wipe out greengrocers general grocers and a myriad of other small businesses, it takes on  certain responsibilities towards that community.

Now think of the disabled on benefits or the elderly on a pension £25 let alone £40 is a massive slice from a finite source of money.

Now the big supermarkets charge around £3.50 for delivery and packing, possibly fair enough, (remember this was a service provided free of charge by grocers and other small businesses on a daily basis until supermarkets started culling them around the early seventies.)

So now we have the situation where a multi million supermarket chain is dictating that, if you do not spend x amount of money with us you cannot have it delivered unless you want to pay double the delivery fee.
Once again it is the poor and vulnerable that are affected by corporate thinking.

 

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