tesco - your local store

Written: 08/03/05

Last night I was at a parish council meeting which was attended by our local copper, PC Phil Shulver, his boss Inspector Ormerod and Brian Quinn customer services manager of Milton Tesco. The reason they had been invited was to discuss the issue of anti-social behaviour in the village principally being undertaken by one or more groups of youths most of whom come from outside the village.

It was a useful meeting and some progress does seem to be being made by the local police however this article isn't to talk about them, it's to talk about Tesco as I think the views of Tesco, as articulated by Brian Quinn, deserve wider circulation in the village.

The main issue we wanted to raise was that of youths hanging around outside the store, especially in the side passage, and intimidating customers and to find out what Tesco could do to mitigate this - it being their land.

Now you would have thought that this would be an issue which would concern Tesco. Several people have said to me that they no longer shop at Tesco because of it or drive from The Rowans to Tesco to avoid having to use the side passage. Personally, after my last visit to the ATM machines which had a gang hanging around near them, I wouldn't use them again until this problem is resolved.

But no. Quinn explicitly said, and I wrote this down because I was gobsmacked by his answer, that he didn't see the problem of youths hanging around in the passage as Tesco's problem. Moreover he would not send staff to move on youths who were lurking there as it would be unsafe for them to do so.

Pause to think about that for a second - it's Tesco's land, it's unsafe for their employees to go there, but they're expecting customers to use it.

We asked him if they would consider closing the side passage and replacing it with an open path straight out to The Rowans (this would potentially gain them floor area within the store too). This had been considered and rejected because of the cost.

We asked him if they would consider installing CCTV. They would not because of the cost.

He was very clear as to why Tesco wouldn't spend any money on this: shareholder value. If Tesco didn't maximise their profit by minimising their spend on the sort of things we were proposing they might not continue to make the profits they are currently making and their share price might drop.

We found this all pretty extraordinary from someone who is apparently talking on behalf of Tesco and is so explicit that they will allow this sort of thing to continue and spend no money to mitigate it as "it's not Tesco's problem".

Jane Coston, who chairs parish council, then raised the issue of Tesco's lack of engagement with the village. This is a running sore as far as the parish council is concerned. This was the first time ever, certainly in the memory of all those present, that we've actually managed to get someone from Tesco to attend parish council and trying to get them to help or sort out issues such as litter picking on their land at the front of the store, have always been fraught. It's also proved impossible to get any help with local events or activities. Contrast this with people like Cambridge Building Society, Cambridge Evening News or Eastern Electricity all of whom have helped the village both financially and in other ways.

Quinn expressed surprise when Jane raised this. "We are active in the village" he said.

As one councillors asked how.

I think at this point he thought was on a winner "well, we gave NNNN pounds to the children's hospice" (I missed the actual figure, I think it might have been £15,000).

This was not the right answer. Another bone of contention with many people in the village is that a hospice the village created has lost touch with the village. Like Tesco the hospice management have a bad reputation for not considering the hospice to be part of the village - it's just a place where the hospice happens to be. It has long since got to the point where many people who were very active supporters of it now have nothing to do with it. For example you'll notice that village events generally no longer fund raise for it.

"What else?" we asked. Well the list after that consisted of:

• allowing charity collectors to collect outside the store (I don't know about you but this has always annoyed me) some of whom were "local"
• their "Computers for Schools" scheme (a well designed marketing exercise to encourage parents to shop at Tesco in return for vouchers)
• providing local employment
• paying their rates

So that's it. That's how Tesco engages with Milton.

For me the evening left a very sour taste in the mouth and I wasn't alone. The clear message from Mr Quinn is that Tesco only really react to things which affect their profit. Nothing else really matters.

So if you aren't happy with the way Tesco are behaving the solution is simple - shop somewhere else. If you're going to have to get in your car rather than walking because of the intimidatory atmosphere outside the store shop, somewhere else. If you're concerned for your car while in the store, shop somewhere else. If you're appalled by this major local employer's apparent lack of interest in the village from which it gains a great deal of money, shop somewhere else.

Perhaps then the message might get home that making a profit requires more than just being a few pennies cheaper than your rivals.
 

This article has already provoked a lot of comment from villagers, all supportive of the above and of the parish council's efforts.

First a small correction. Another councillor reminds me that there were two reasons for not installing CCTV in the side passage, the second being that he claimed they wouldn't be much help or much of a deterrent ... so why do they have one in the store entrance?

Someone pointed me to this article in the Guardian which analyses the Computers for Schools scheme - did you know that the amount they give per voucher has dropped over time and that it's currently giving a return of 3.1p for every £10 spent?

More seriously a correspondent in The Rowans, who lives very close to Tesco, tells me that they now shop elsewhere as they are so fed up with the store and their broken promises about action on anti-social behaviour in the store car park.

All in all it's a sorry tale and doesn't sit well alongside the words on Tesco's web site about corporate responsibility. These words are from the Chief Executive's introduction:

Our approach to corporate responsibility (CR) is straightforward. We recognise our impacts on society, on the economy, and on the environment. We focus our efforts on practical activities that make a difference: maximising the benefits we bring and minimising any negative impacts. We aim to take responsibility for these impacts, to measure and tackle their effects, to work with stakeholders on issues and ensure that CR permeates all parts of the business. Corporate responsibility is not an additional burden or a distraction from serving our customers; it is an essential part of sustaining ourselves as a responsible company.

All I can say is if those words are any more than corporate flim flam they don't seem to have permiated down to Milton.
 

<- older wibblings

newer wibblings ->

what's this?

legalities:
 - disclaimer
 - copyright info
 - privacy policy

powered by
  Opus (rel 2.28)