Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

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mickthemaverick
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Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Due to my extraordinary diet I buy a lot, and I mean a LOT, of double gloucester cheese from Tesco. Up until last week it was supplied in 460g chunks in a plastic resealable bag which was perfect for my use. When SWMBO returned with the shopping this week I was horrified to discover the cheese packaging has been changed to one time only and non resealable. They have also reduced the large block size to 400g cut in a more or less square cross section about 50mm square and150-200mm long making it impossible to cut a chunk suitable for eating direct.

I was enraged so I wrote to Dave Lewis the CEO of Tesco and received a response from a lacky in customer service. I will say no more other than to copy the correspondance here, as doing so will aid the promise I made in the second email!!:

Original email


Hi Dave,

Firstly thankyou for publishing your email address enabling me to contact you directly about, what I believe to be, a policy issue.

If you look at our purchase history on clubcard number 634004074016282222 you will see that over the last few years we have purchased an extraordinary amount of three products, Double Gloucester Cheese, Cadbury’s Drinking Chocolate and Cravendale milk. This is because three years ago I had a severe gastric infection which laid me up for 5 weeks and following recovery I was advised to stick to a high protein dairy based diet avoiding any foodstuff which may contain Chlorophyll. After some experiment we found that Double Gloucester cheese with cold chocolate milk drinks was both acceptable and beneficial to me. As a result we buy all three ingredients in large quantities from your stores.

Now the reason for this letter is to ask why you have changed the packaging of the larger blocks of DGC from the perfect resealable bags to the non resealable packaging? This is doubly difficult for me, firstly as the new shape does not lend itself to cutting the six columns from each block which serve me as 2 days diet by cutting a column and resealing each time, secondly the shape of the new block means it is not easy to cut into eatable blocks at all!!

As a high consumer of the product I expect I am better placed than most to ask these questions so I would appreciate you giving this issue your serious attention and advising me of your future intentions.

Best regards

Mick Bean BA

Reply:

From: ceo.customerservice@tesco.com <ceo.customerservice@tesco.com>
Sent: 02 October 2020 12:45
To: mick3006@hotmail.co.uk <mick3006@hotmail.co.uk>
Subject: << Ref:10922367 >> Re: double gloucester cheese packaging

Hello Mick,

Thank you for your email.

I am sorry to learn about your frustration with our new packaging and can understand.

Our large blocks of cheese have reduced from 460g to 400g to bring us in line with the rest of the market but they’re still the same £ price p/kg.

We’ve also reduced the packaging by moving to a flow wrap packaging format. A smaller surface area also means we use less packaging.

We’ve removed the zip as it added more plastic and packaging to the products. This is in line with our commitment to reduce our packaging.

To keep your cheese fresh, we recommend that you cover it once opened, for example by using an air tight container.

Kind regards,

John Bradley

Customer Service Specialist
On behalf of the Chief Executive’s Office

My response today:

Hello John,
Thanks for your response to my email.

I am not particularly surprised at the answer you have given me but I do believe your design and policy people have got it wrong:
Yes, Tesco is using less plastic to wrap the cheese for the shelf period of its existence, good for the planet and well done Tesco!!! BUT if you think it through, as a result of this change, the consumer now has to provide their own storage container to keep the product in. I will now have to get a pack of resealable zip bags to put the cheese in once I break the Tesco wrapping thereby ending up using twice as much wrapping for the cheese as it used to require for the old wrapping method. A net gain in the plastic used which is BAD for the planet - but I guess as long as Tesco can falsely claim "We're doing our bit to save plastic" it's alright with The Board.

Well it is not alright and I will be looking elsewhere for my supplies in future. I will also be doing my best to raise the public profile of large companies paying lip service to the world's problems and not thinking it through!!!

Good day
Mick Bean BA
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by Hell Razor5543 »

Next time I am in Asda I will see what they have that can help you. I KNOW for a fact they do sell the Cravendale milk (as I buy it myself, blue top, 1 litre, but they do sell the larger bottles).

Asda have been sold to a pair of UK based billionaires, bringing it back under UK control after twenty years of foreign ownership.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/money/breaking ... t-22780540
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by myglaren »

Twenty years James? I hadn't realised that it was so long.
My son works for them. I wonder what his future holds? It usually goes downhill for the staff.

Mick - do you have a FarmFoods near you? I buy quite a bit from them and use a lot of extra mature cheddar but not DG, but will look next time I'm in there, possibly tomorrow.

I have a similar complaint - nowhere seems to have Danish Blue cheese any more. Prefer that to blue Stilton.

Used to buy Cheddar with chives and onion, also a rarity now.
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Thanks for the idea Steve, unfortunately the nearest one is 10 miles away which would be doable for a weekly shop but I tend to buy cheese 3 times a week to avoid clogging our limited fridge and that makes it a bit too far for a quick ' pop down the road for some cheese'!! :
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by Michel »

Buy a special small “cheese fridge” much like a beer fridge...
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Nice idea Michel but our kitchen is fully fitted inclufing all appliances integral and I want the cheese in the kitchen with the other stuff for ease of prep!' we don't have space for a bread bin or a toaster so I habe no chance of getting clearance for a worktop fridge!! :o
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by NewcastleFalcon »

Would 2 packets of 220g not get you to roughly the same place Mick or has the resealable packaging been disposed of for those too?

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/p ... /300257865

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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

That is my temporary solution Neil but a) the quantity I use, it means buying 6 blocks at a time and our local invariably only has 4 on the shelf and I have to ask for more from the stockroom which is a pain although I could travel further to a bigger store, and b) i expect they will be changing all the resealable packs for the same reason. Logically it makes more sense to package smaller quantities in non resealanle as they don't have to last so long anyway! :(
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by CitroJim »

Now that's some diet Mick :D I used to love cheese and all dairy products until my body/digestive system decided in no uncertain terms it did not!

If you can tolerate that amount of dairy produce without adverse gastric reactions it's good - very high in protein and fat :D Fat is good. Sugar is the enemy...

I eat a similar sort of diet but I have to get my fat and protein from non-dairy and non-animal sources...

Why the avoidance of chlorophyll? Genuinely interested as nutrition, with an emphasis on sports nutrition, is a subject I study quite intensely as nutrition is critical to my health and athletic fitness...
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Following my illness my gut was left with an 'unspecified' condition which causes severe diarhoea when presemted woth chlorophyl. They wanted me to undergo a series of investgations to pin it down but I had had enough of the whole thing and when advised that I could lead a normal, regular life on the high dairy diet I refused further invasions and have been very happy with the diet ever since. I eat 4 or 5 meals of meat and root veg a week, and a dubious quantity of beer :oops: together with 1.2kg of cheese, 15 pints of semiskimmed milk and 45 spoons of cadbury's drinking chocolate a week. I feel fittish, in general and if I cut out the beer I actually lose around half a pound a day; with the beer my weight stays steady at around 14st 10. (which is on the heavy side but you do have to enjoy life ) It seems to suit me and I'm a believer in "if it works for you......" :-D
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by CitroJim »

Thanks Mick, most interesting :)
mickthemaverick wrote: 03 Oct 2020, 09:42 Following my illness my gut was left with an 'unspecified' condition which causes severe diarhoea
That's what even very tiny amounts of dairy do to me! We are opposites!!
mickthemaverick wrote: 03 Oct 2020, 09:42 It seems to suit me and I'm a believer in "if it works for you......" :-D
My mantra precisely :) And yes, you do have got to enjoy life ;) The most important of all and one I follow every day ;) Even when fighting a AX :lol:
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Post by Hell Razor5543 »

I was in Asda today, and they do have Double Gloucester cheese, but in 'one time' packaging. 500g for £2.50.
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Post by mickthemaverick »

Thanks for looking James, I'll bear that in mind but we don't have an ASDA in Hertford, means a drive to Hatfield or Ware, :)
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Post by myglaren »

Didn't realise you lived near Ware.
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Re: Tesco gone mad!! - or is it me?

Post by mickthemaverick »

Yes Steve, Hertford and Ware are about 3 miles apart although their outlying bits get closer together than that. Unfortunately ASDA is on the far side from us so about 6 miles away and Hatfield is about 8. Since SWMBO escaped from Australia she has insisted on doing all the grocery shopping, so I can't ask her to do a 15 mile round trip when she can do Tesco, Sainsburys or Aldi in a 2 mile trip!! :(
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