First
Base have never followed the most common food bank model. Most of our
fellow travellors do their thing something like this. They gather in
all of their food donations from the public and then they divvy them up as best
as they can. This tends to get done before the doors are opened. At
the same time, a queue slowly forms at the door. If the doors are due
to be opened up at ten o'clock, people might start arriving before
nine.
First
come, first served, right? And if you happen to be at the end of the
queue, there is every chance you will go away empty handed. A cup of
tea and genuine, heart felt apologies from a volunteer who wishes
things were different.
Of
course the media love this model. Why wouldn't they? It means they
can dispatch a grave faced reporter to film a line of shivering human
misery on a sub zero February morning.
Hushed,
shocked voice.....
"
...... this is what Austerity really looks like....... I'm going to
have a word with Gerry here..... Gerry, how do you feel about having
to queue for two hours to get something to eat......."
Gerry
tosses his roll up to the floor. Gerry rolls words around his brain.
Gerry wonders how to say it without recourse to about five 'fuckings'
per sentence. Gerry would love to use both barrels but knows he
can't.
So
Gerry just acts beaten
Like
I said. What's not to like? Lines of cold looking people waiting on
their tins of beans.
This
isn't a model we have ever fancied signing up to. The idea of making
our clients queue up on Buccleuch St is too rich for our blood. Never
going to happen.
So
we do things differently. We have a set list of items for each of the
food parcels we issue. The items are designed to be enough for three
meals a day for half a week. Fair enough, it's not gourmet. And fair
enough, it would probably give an HNS nutritionist a duck fit. But we
try to make sure there is enough. Our greatest goal is never turn
anyone away. As in never. We have never turned anyone away in fifteen
years and we don't plan to start anytime soon.
So
how do we run our railroad? Well it is hardly complicated. As well as
touting for food donations we also tout for cash donations. We fill
in loads of application forms and we seek the support of the
community. One way or another, we have always managed to come up with
the cash we need to buy in the extra food we need.
This
time last year we were spending £1000 a month on bought in food.
This year it is £2000 a month. It stings a bit, but we're getting
by. Back in the day, the process of buying in was something of a
mission. It meant a trip to Lidl and the use of three trolleys. You
can maybe imagine the comments we would get from the poor buggers
behind us in the queue as we checked out north of 500 tins and
packets. Oh yeah. Lots of dark muttering.
And
then a whole new world emerged. Tesco deliveries. And what a brave
new world it is. I can now log onto our account and order up 500 tins
and packets in less than five minutes. The service is actually truly
remarkable. We can set our clocks by the lads on the vans. They are
never late and they always go the extra mile when it comes to giving
a lift. It has to be said, Tesco's HR department are bloody brilliant
at recruiting top lads to drive their vans.
We
have a 'delivery saver' pass which means we pay about 50p per delivery
which quite frankly is ridiculous. I guess their system never really
considered a customer who would be ordering ten deliveries per month.
Ah well. Such is life!
So
all is rosy in the garden, right? If only!
When
I run through the process of placing an online delivery, the half way
point is the 'Substitutions' section. Here is what they say
SUSTITUTIONS
If
an item is unavailable on the day of your delivery, our pickers can
select a comparable alternative for you.
If
you don't want to keep the item we have chosen, simply hand it back
to the driver for a full refund.
NO
EXTRA COST
Even
if we offer a more expensive alternative, you will not pay more than
the price of the original item.
Pretty
good, right? Britain's biggest grocer is determined to see its
customers right, even if it hits them in their rather large pockets.
That's what you call proper service.
There
is a key sentence which comes next. This one.
ALLOW
SUBSTITUTES FOR UNAVAILABLE PRODUCTS ON THIS ORDER.
And
then comes the dreaded box which needs to be ticked before a customer
gets the chance to bask in the glow of Tesco generosity. If you don't
tick the box, then tough. Read the small print sucker! This sentence
isn't exactly written in big, bold letters. You need to be a small
print savvy punter to notice the rather unimposing box which needs a
tick. Am I being a little cynical here? Am I wrong in wondering if
Tesco actually would rather its treasured customers glided along
without noticing the all important 'substitutes' box? Maybe.
Probably. I usually am.
Anyway
there are no flies to be found on First Base. It didn't take us long
to spot the small print and tick the box. We ticked every box we
could find. Substitutions? Bring 'em on boys.
So.
All's good, right? Well not quite. It seems Tesco feel no need to
honour their promise of 'a more expensive alternative' in our case. In
fact they never seem to want to offer any alternative at all. So if
we place an order for 99 packets of instant mashed potato we count
ourselves lucky if 30 packets actually turn up.
Have
we questioned this? You bet we have. I've lost count of how many
hours of my life have been spent being bounced around all corners of
the Tesco empire. And everyone I talk to agrees we really should be
receiving substitutions, regardless of cost. And everyone I talk to
promises the issue will be looked into and investigated and examimed.
And everyone I talk to promises they are genuinely sorry I'm less
than happy with my customer experience. They are all very, very
nice. And every time I put the phone down I am suckered into thinking
maybe this time......
And
nothing ever happens. Ever. Our deliveries just get lighter and
lighter. We order £200 worth of stuff and less than £50 worth of
stuff actually turns up. Oh it turns up on time. And the drivers are
always emabarrassed about the thin pickings they are bringing.
And
there are never any substitutions.
Well,
yesteray the excelled themselves. Yesterday they added insult to
injury.
This
is the week when things have taken off for us. It happens every year.
A cold snap arrives and the moment of truth arrives for people who
have had their heating switched of since the arrival of spring. It is
the moment they realise daily standing charges have put their gas
meters into serious arrears. So when they stump up for a tenner's
worth of gas, they only actually get 50p worth of heat on the meter.
Which
means their tight budget is completely screwed. Which means it is
time to ask themselves the dreaded 'heating or eating' quastion. And
the weather man says it will be minus three over night.
Many
people tick the 'heating' box and make their way to us for some food
to tide them over until they can clear the arrears and set a new
budget.
It
means I have 100 food parcels to deliver today.
But
First Base are old hands at this game. We watched the weather
forecast and duly noted the promise of two nights when the
temperature in Dumfries and Galloway was predicted to bottom out at
minus three. We knew exactly what was coming next.
Showtime.
Time
to do the Boy Scout thing and be prepared. Time to log on to
Tesco.com and slap in a big, fat order. We maxed out on several
items. 'Maxed out' means no more than 99 of any item.
One
such item was 99 tins of 'value' spaghetti hoops at 21p per tin.
I
paid up and cracked on. The order was for 11 am yesterday and the van
turned up exactly on time. Just like always. Like I said, the service
is second to none.
At
11.05 am I received a text from Iain. Could I head for Lidl and strip
their shelves of tinned spaghetti. Tesco had fallen short. He needed
a whole bunch of tins to make up the 100 parcels I will be delivering
today.
So
it was Lidl for me and a whole trolley of spaghetti hoops. Just like
the old days.
When
I arrived at First Base, Iain's face was wearing a made in Kilmarnock
cynical grin as he handed me the Tesco invoice.
I
duly read through looking for the cause of his expression.
It
wasn't hard to find.
Value
spaghetti hoops. Ordered – 99. Delivered – 0.
Substitutions..................
Holy
bloody Christ!!! A substitution!!! After all the years. After all
the phone calls. After all the minutes and hours of canned music and
soothing, assuring voices.....
The
day had finally come. The big moment. Our big moment. A breakthrough.
Finally......
Substitutions
.......
One
half can of Heinz spaghetti hoops.
99
cans ordered. One half can delivered.
One
half can.
I
know you Tesco guys say every little helps, but half a bloody can......
A
couple of hours later I popped into the store to check out the
spaghetti stocks on the shelves.
Let's
just say there was no kind of shortage. Yeah. Let's just say that.
It
rather seems we were on the wrong end of a token gesture.
Does
every little actually help? When there are 100 food parcels to make
up? Not really guys. I actually wonder what on earth went through the
head of whoever made the call to send us half a can in lieu of an
order for 99 cans.
I
have tried to think it through from all angles and I still don't have
any kind of a clue. Maybe it is simply and effort to stick to the
very letter of the 'every little helps' mantra.
Maybe.
If you want to give First Base a helping hand in meeting the demands of the coming winter, you can find our JustGiving page by following the link below.
I am really, really hoping someone high up at Tesco reads this and does something. Clearly you are being cheated. Until this is resolved Tesco are getting no money from me.
ReplyDeleteThey're taking the piss.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, a substitution killed a family's much-loved cat. They ordered a packet of Frontline for cats, a flea treatment often used prophylactically. Tesco sent a packet of Frontline for dogs. The owner didn't realise there was a huge difference in the formulation and used it. The cat died.
I hate Tesco.
That's not on Mark, at all. Having not shopped at Tesco for years and never ordered online from them I wonder if this is common?
ReplyDeleteCan a group of folk all order smaller amounts and have it delivered to your door, local to you of course! Just thinking of alternate ways here!!
Our local paper have taken up the story and it might well make its way up the chain to the Record. If this does indeed happen something tells me we might suddenly benefit from substitutions!
ReplyDeleteGenuine question: why don't you buy wholesale? I suspect there's a perfectly good reason, probably because methods of supply and transportation are different in rural Dumfries compared to suburban Stuttgart, I'm just curious.
ReplyDeleteHi Andy. It's crazy, but the prices for the stuff we buy in are about 30% dearer in the wholesalers than they are in the Supermarkets. No wonder corner shops can't compete. Our wholesaler is Bookers. Guess who owns them? Tesco!
ReplyDeleteOkay, that's downright weird. over here there seems to be a different model in operation, where the local supermarkets donate food thy can't sell and more. There are the 'queue up for a parcel' places but when we needed to go to a food bank we found it was basically a cheap supermarket with out of date but still eatable food. For those places you can keep shopping there are long as you are on income support.
DeleteStrangely enough I never "allow substitutes" but tonight my Everyday Value instant mash was replaced with Tesco's own brand.
ReplyDeleteWe buy a big shop monthly, for years it's been Tesco, we tried Asda but they would run out of things too often and we'd get weird substitutions making it a chore. Anyway got our latest last weekend, instead of the Pork Loin Roast I'd ordered it gave us 6 loin chops, I remarked to the delivery wifey how could any picker think that was a relevant substitution to be informed that actually it's not chosen by a human but by a computer, it knows if the items gone out of stock and suggests a relevant substitution to the human picker, yes they can deviate but I guess that depends on the person and their mood. I found that enlightening and hope it helps you in your quest.
ReplyDeleteHello everyone , this is the most wonderful thing i have ever experienced and i need to share this great testimony... I just want to say thanks to Dr OSOFO for taking time to help me cast the spell that brings back my ex lover who suddenly lost interest in me after six month of engagement but today we are married and more happier than never before. I was truly flabbergasted and shocked when Kris started begging for forgiveness and for me to accept him back.. I am really short of words and i don't know how much to convey my appreciation to you Dr OSOFO you are a God sent to restore broken relationship. He deeply enjoy helping people achieve their desires, find true love, getting their ex lovers back, stop abusive relationships, find success, attract happiness, find soul mates and more. Contact him today, and let him show you the wonders and amazement of his Love Spell System. He deliver results at his best in real spell casting. Send an email {osofo.48hoursolutioncenter@gmail.com } WhatsApp him on: +2349065749952
ReplyDeleteFive weeks ago my boyfriend broke up with me. It all started when i went to summer camp i was trying to contact him but it was not going through. So when I came back from camp I saw him with a young lady kissing in his bed room, I was frustrated and it gave me a sleepless night. I thought he will come back to apologies but he didn't come for almost three week i was really hurt but i thank Dr.Azuka for all he did i met Dr.Azuka during my search at the internet i decided to contact him on his email dr.azukasolutionhome@gmail.com he brought my boyfriend back to me just within 48 hours i am really happy. What’s app contact : +44 7520 636249
ReplyDeleteIt is a very hard situation when playing the lottery and never won, or keep winning low fund not up to 100 bucks, i have been a victim of such a tough life, the biggest fund i have ever won was 100 bucks, and i have been playing lottery for almost 12 years now, things suddenly change the moment i came across a secret online, a testimony of a spell caster called DR EMU, who help people in any type of lottery numbers, i was not easily convinced, but i decided to give try, now i am a proud lottery winner with the help of DR EMU, i won $1,000.0000.00 and i am making this known to every one out there who have been trying all day to win the lottery, believe me this is the only way to win the lottery.
ReplyDeleteContact him via email: Emutemple@gmail.com
Call or what's app +2347012841542
Website: https://emutemple.wordpress.com/