TUESDAY 8 MAY 2007 - SAINSBURY'S HAS SOME FANS!

Some news first of all. I've decided to eat my freezers! No, this is not some kind of impressive party trick but I am fed up (not strictly true as I am shopping before lunch, but you know what I mean) with the scrunching as I vainly attempt to close the drawers which are overful with bags, the contents of which are so coated in frost and ice that they are now unidentifiable. So, I am going to eat my way through the lot over the next few weeks so when she that is away returns we can start afresh. It will also mean I can defrost them (we have two, why I don't know it just means that there is twice as much space to fill with stuff we don't eat) without having to wrap everything in newspaper and put it into cool boxes and so on. What this means is that my weekly shopping bill at Sainsbury's is going to take a bit of a dive, so sorry about that Mr King! Anyway, on to this week's experience. What first? The Top Ten Offers. I took a look at the board and noticed that Australian Cabinet Sauvignon is half price this week, reduced from £7.99 to £3.99. Now that's what I call an offer! Now, I'm never sure whether cabernet sauvignon is red or white. Between you and me I can't drink red wine as it affects my ears - after 3 bottles I can't hear! No, seriously, I used to suffer from tinnitis (ringing in the ears and red wine, gin, beer and so on made it worse) but, amazingly, I managed to rid myself of it (this is supposed to be impossible but I managed it) but I still steer clear of red wine, gin, beer etc. Is life worth living I hear you ask! Well, I'm still allowed white wine and lager so these I take in moderation. Anyway, I headed for the winery to look for a bottle but passing the fridge I spotted a white wine at half price so bought that instead. Summer has come to Sainsbury's! The store is littered with barbecue charcoal and, believe it or not, electric fans. These are all piled up in a corner waiting for nobody to buy them. I find it surprising that somebody, somewhere within Sainsbury's is charged with taking a punt on this kind of stuff on the off chance that it might sell. Personally, I can't see why Sainsbury's would want to take the risk - the chances are that most will remain unsold so why bother? Now the big question is - why won't they sell? People come to this particular store to buy groceries and to my mind an electric fan is not the kind of thing you buy on impulse when your mind is set on broccoli, Special K, pork & egg cutting pie and so on. Also, I think there is a whole thing about being able to easily carry what you have bought to your car, on the bus etc and a fan in a big bulky box just doesn't pass this portability test. So, 2 reasons why I can't see the fans selling. We will see! Moving on to ... the savings card scheme. On the way out there is a machine with a notice on it encouraging customers to start saving today, on top of which are a pile of savings cards. Needless to say I picked one up. How it works is you stick a £1 into the machine and you get a stamp which you stick on your card. How exciting is that! The card takes up to 25 stamps and you can redeem your card either wholly or partly completed at any store. It sounds like a complete waste of time, but I'm going to give it a go! I'll save up £1 for 5 weeks and then have a ceremonious cashing in - I'll let you know how it goes. On the way into the car park (jumping about a bit this week, sorry about that) I noticed that it said that the car park has 300 places. Now, I remember a few months back I parked right up the top in the last space just before you go into orbit and I have a feeling that the space was numbered although I don't think I noted the number in my diary (unusual, as this is the kind of banal fact that is meat & drink to me). When I go in next I'll don my space suit and go up there again to find out whether the car park does indeed have 300 spaces. I'll let you know! Anyway, that's about it for this week, but there's just time to tell you about the Half Price Deals leaflet. This is a glossy folded A3 sheet of paper in full colour showing all the ... half price deals. The place for these is, of course, as you come in but where did I find it? At the checkout! The local manager has this all wrong. What is the point of the Top Ten Offers board being half way round the store (next to the fish counter to be precise) and the Half Price Deals leaflet being at the checkout? These should be on prominent display near each of the doors as you come in - half way round and at the checkout is just too late as by then the average shopper has lost the will to live. This is always assuming that Sainsbury's want to sell their half price and Top Ten offers but, then again, maybe they don't ... That's it then for this week, until next time!

Items bought 18

Cost £26.37

Average cost per item £1.47

Checkout number 12

Nectar points 1579

Active Kids vouchers 61 (I can now afford to buy a pair of Stampabouts, yippee!)