Spend £50, get 1p off your next shop at Sainsburys

Yesterday evening, I spent just over £50 buying groceries at Sainsburys in Lordshill, Southampton. I was therefore astounded to be handed this voucher with my receipt:

You read it right; I can use it to redeem a whole penny off my next shop there. More to the point, in this age of smart phones, Big Data and loyalty cards, why are they printing out paper vouchers? I’ve sometimes been handed as many as half a dozen:

• you’ve saved a few pence on what you’d have spent at Tesco or Asda (I rarely shop at either)
• here are 100 extra points if you buy this (I don’t think I ever do)
• here’s 200 extra points if you spend over £30 in your next shop (I’ll probably get to the till and find I’ve spent £29)

…and so on.

It’s therefore no wonder to me that my visits there have become less frequent. Aldi in Romsey stocks nearly everything my wife and I need – and charges less. Getting out of their car park is a lot easier than the horrendous junction you need to negotiate on leaving this branch of Sainsburys.

I have been a loyal customer  of Sainsburys for years and probably giving them far more data about me than they deserve or seem to use via their loyalty card. Tannoy announcements endlessly parrot their strapline live well for less during the day (it must drive their staff nuts). With regret, my current interpretation would read buy elsewhere for better value.