'Stinky Chicken' from Sainsburys?

[CaptainCarCrash]

Yes Eagle,

They should be proud working for a pitence while their corporate masters reveal their record profits year on year.

If they work hard they could work their way up to a section manager and be in charge of the corn flakes.

[Eagle]

With so many out of a job you would think they would be keen to hold onto theirs.

Why is it wrong to have pride in your work.

[CaptainCarCrash]

Pride in the job?

When it's called for yes, a fair days work for a fair days pay but I suppose the problematic workforce is between the ages of 16-24 and we all know low skill=low pay but there is a trade off with employing da yout, you're not going to get really conciencous workers because at that age the level of commitment to stacking shelvs is low.

[Eagle]

I assume if they impress they could get promotion. Surely easier to be happy and smile at work rather than be miserable.
In a commercial world a fair days pay is what your employer can afford to pay you.

Maybe to help so many into work they should , at least for couple of years , ditch the minimum wage.

[Rachael]

Right, unsubscribing from this thread now. I'm clearly not going to get any more sensible answers to my original questions.

As you were.

[CaptainCarCrash]

Back to the topic of doing a Sherlock Holmes over a chicken.

Not to be the instigator of all things ridiculous but life is to short to worry about the misadventure/life cycle of a stinkin chicken. If I buy anything and their is something wrong with it then I go back to the shop and make a complaint, I do doubt I'd create a thread about it on every single forum in the land.

Different strokes for different folks.

William Rose don't sell stinky chickens, you could up your game and come to East Dulwich, the queues are long and the prices expensive but the quality is unquestionably excellent.

You could try contacting that twit Jamie Oliver, I'm sure he'll be on twitter with all the other Z listers, considering he is the voice/ambassador of all things Sainsbos.

[CaptainCarCrash]

Just one more thing.

The SE23.com post was about buying poultry from the reduced counter.

There in lies the danger, although it should be ok if you're pinching pennies and you go for stuff approaching it's sell by date then you could end up with egg on your face, or in this case a humming bird/stinky chicken.

[Rachael]

Two forums, not every forum in the land.

The SE23.com thread started about reduced items. But it wasn't what I posted about.

I had the worst t-bone steak ever from Wm Rose and have not been back since.

[mosy]

Being a bit of a foodie, I'd say some good points have been made on both threads (now having read them).
E,g, that food not stored at the correct temperature once out of chilled delivery vans before going into the supermarket's own chiller,

Plus ditto when taken out and into the sale fridges is one (or two) things;

Another is people taking things out of fridges and leaving them at the checkout (or elsewhere just ditching when mind changed so warming up for however long before being put back;

Another is if "inert-gas-packed trays" have been pierced by howsoever unnoticeably;

Another is simply running supermarkets on a shoestring staff - they all do;

Another is if label says not freezable it will go off within 3 days-ish in a domestic fridge whatever it is (most foods do anyway, even if homemade), or if meat (certainly fish), it will go off more quickly than fresh if previously frozen.

There is a caveat to prefrozen which is that chilled fresh as I understand it means being held at 0°C (so technically hasn't been frozen) before going into the sales chilled cabinet (which will be above 0°C. I think a label or sign has to state if an item has been previously frozen, though I'd have to check FSA Standard on that.

Toxins are funny things. It's a common misconception that all can be seen or smelled - they can't, botulism for example - or killed off by heat, which some can't, but some can provided enough heat, i.e. the internal temperature using a meat "prong" thermometer will reach the required number of degrees. (Which is why beefburgers especially are iffy on barbecues as the centre might not reach proper temp.)

At a personal shopping level (not in Sainsbury), I've seen someone about to buy a piece of steak which was green for like half an inch around the edge thinking it was meant to be like that due to a herb or something (I don't know what she thought). I suggested she to put it back pronto, reported it "You've got to be kidding that you're selling that!" and all such items were gone in seconds from the shelf. (I stood and made sure of course.) That green was green! so not to be confused with the phosphorescence on pork/ham sometimes which is normal from the way it's processed.

Buyer beware I reckon.

[Annie]

There is a culture of bullying that goes on in Sainsburys,The management want to hit targets and expect their employees to work at such a pace that mistakes happen.
But, there is also a work shy element who couldn't give a toss, other than to get out at the end of their shift.
I have seen both.

Let's stick you on minimum wage and see how conscientious you become eh?

There is an old saying.

If you pay peanuts you get monkeys.

I know someone who works there, and on minimum wage.

[CaptainCarCrash]

I know someone who works there, and on minimum wage.

That's a shame, there is a profit sharing scheme but you have to stay on minimum wage for about 20 years to get a return on it

[leenewham]

Why do you think supermarket food is so cheap? They only make around 6% profit (Sainsbury's cut costs less than the likes of Tesco but more than Waitrose). Some products are sold at a loss. Is it their fault? No, we like our amazing bargains. But the suppliers, the farmers etc and the shelf stacker (I've been one) all pay the cost.

[CaptainCarCrash]

Why do you think supermarket food is so cheap? They only make around 6% profit (Sainsbury's cut costs less than the likes of Tesco but more than Waitrose). Some products are sold at a loss. Is it their fault? No, we like our amazing bargains. But the suppliers, the farmers etc and the shelf stacker (I've been one) all pay the cost.

lee, don't defend the enemy, these people are half the reason your high street is dead.

Profit means profit it doesn't mean breaking even, they are tight greedy corporate scum.

You watch the prices jump over Xmas, they take the piss.

From an undisclosed source, don't worry it's not from the daily fail.

Sainsbury's profits up 6.6%

9 November 2011 | By

Sainsbury’s has reported “strong” sales with underlying pretax profit up 6.6 per cent to £354m, excluding gains on property sales.

Like-for-like sales including VAT but excluding fuel were up 1.9 per cent. Total sales excluding VAT but including fuel were up 6.1% to £11.7m for the 28 Weeks to October 1. Total sales including VAT but excluding fuel were up 4.3 per cent.

Chief executive Justin King hailed £50m of cost savings made by the supermarket after it kept “a tight control on costs”.

Weekly transactions at Saisnbury’s are up almost 1 million on last year, to nearly 22 million and the company praised its Live Well for Less and Brand Match initiatives as it targets cash-strapped consumers.

King said: “Our further good sales growth reflects our continued hard work to help our customers cope with the tough economic environment. They are recognising the efforts we are making to help them manage their budgets and to ‘Live Well For Less’.

“We expect the economic environment to remain challenging for the foreseeable future but we are confident of further good progress in the Christmas period ahead and our ability to grow by continuing to do a great job in helping our customers ‘Live Well For Less’.”

Sainsbury’s said it has added 596,000sqft of new space to its estate, with seven new stores – including two replacements – 15 extensions and 37 convenience stores, creating over 2,700 new jobs in the process. Edit mikecg Minimum wage jobs no doubt.

Panmure Gordon analyst Philip Dorgan said: “A decent set of numbers, but difficult to get excited about.

“Sainsbury is land-locked, with decent EBITDAR margins and forced to play the space race in order to generate growth, which will probably lag Morrison in terms of both earnings and dividend. We think that the shares are reasonable value, but rather lacking in the wow factor.”

[CaptainCarCrash]

Justin King earned £3.2Million last year.

Not bad for selling stinky chickens is it.

[Eagle]

Have we really had 1,557 posts about alleged stink chicken. Hardly a poultry amount.

[CaptainCarCrash]

Eagle, you're looking at the wrong field.

We've had 35 posts 1595 views and counting.

Views > posts = the audience is watching

[marymck]

For what it's worth ...

Sainsbury's bacon is pretty grim, but usually easy to spot at the time of purchase because of the ghastly colour. (All brands BTW - not just own brand). Lately, beware of Waitrose meat. Beckenham is having a refit and their bacon and sausages have gone very dodgy ... especially if towards the front of the cabinet.

[leenewham]

lee, don't defend the enemy, these people are half the reason your high street is dead.

Profit means profit it doesn't mean breaking even, they are tight greedy corporate scum.

You watch the prices jump over Xmas, they take the piss.

“Sainsbury is land-locked, with decent EBITDAR margins and forced to play the space race in order to generate growth, which will probably lag Morrison in terms of both earnings and dividend. We think that the shares are reasonable value, but rather lacking in the wow factor.”

Mike, I'm stating facts, I don't know what the above has to do with anything I wrote! I don't think I was defending the enemy in any way. Supermarkets profit margins are razor thin. 6% or less (non food items are higher). They do this by forcing the supply chain to cut costs which means cutting corners. Buyone get one free offers are either loss leaders or the supplier has been forced to cut costs and supply at a loss. They make huge profits because they get lots of people through the door. They manage this because it's easier for people to shop there and often it's cheaper, or at the very least,it's perceived to be cheaper.

Sainbury's at least has led the way recently in selling Fairtrade products which is undeniable. All CEO's of supermarkets make massive salaries, of course profits will go up if they expand.

People are easily led. The largest brand in the UK is Tesco Finest. If you put a new flash on a pack sales will go up by up to 25% even if it means they have just tweaked the ingredients or changed a supplier and it's essentially the same product. Take an existing product in standard own brand and make it 'Finest' and you can charge far more and sell more. But supermarkets are successful because they are good at finding out what people want, marketing and advertising in the right way and people have bought into it. They gave people what they thought they wanted.

The high streets didn't adapt and that's one major reason why high streets are failing. People buy the products, if they didn't then the supermarkets would fail.

If you don't like what a company does, vote with your wallet. If out of the 50,000+ items that supermarkets stock, the chicken is a deal breaker, then perhaps buy it from Billings or elsewhere.