Topic: Logistics gone crazy?

[cleo]

I have just got back from ordering my compost and sundries for the new season,the supplier is on the same complex as a major fruit and veg distribution complex.

Now, also on this complex is a well known supermarket-I got to thinking how much produce was delivered to the site only to be picked up and delivered somewhere else before being returned to the said supermarket ???

Stephan.

[allotment_chick]

Hi Stephan
Very environmentally friendly, I agree!

It puts me in mind of how many times you actually handle the shopping when you go to a supermarket:
-take the goods off the shelf and put them in the basket
-take them out the basket and put them on the conveyor
-take them off the conveyor and put them in the bag
-Bring them home
- Take them out of the bag
- put them in the cupboard/fridge/freezer/wherever
- take them out of storage to use them
-go to the supermarket to replace them, and start all over again!

This is convenience?   ;)
AC

[tim]

- and dispose of all the bags and wine carriers? = Tim

[allotment_chick]

Ah...the bags!  Our Tesco has a carrier bag recycling bin (which is always overflowing) ...I have absolutely no idea what they recycle them into!  More carrier bags do you suppose?

AC

[aquilegia]

Oooh - I shall have to look out for the carrier bag recycler. I'm a little bit obsessive about my hatred of carrier bags (well the waste of throwing them away anyway!) In most shops I refuse them (I have a small rucksack instead of a handbag and have plenty of room in there) but most shop assistants look at me as if I've just grown horns and started speaking in Morse code!

[allotment_chick]

I always try and get cardboard boxes, cos they can either go in the compost bin or the recycling but whilst Sainsaburys nearly always have a good supply, Tesco make very few available to customers!  ???

[cleo]

Our local insane berries does at least give you back 1p for each bag of your own you use.

[legless]

you're gonna love this.

you know dirty new potatoes in supermarkets? the soil gets put on the clean potatoes in a factory (that was a great summer job  :D )

and jersey royals, the potato packers fly any excess soil or unusable potatoes back to jersey cos they are so expensive they will only pay for what they can use.....

[mysticmog]

That's madness legless!  

RE carrier bags -

Take them with you when you go shopping instead of using new ones..

Use them as bin liners...

Complain at the supermarket until they give you a paper one...

Pretend you collect them...

;D

[teresa]

You know the supermarkets sell the plastic bags for 1.00
and say if you tear it you will get another free. Well took mine back to Tesco and got another free. I have no shame.
In Germany years ago you use to be able to buy a cotten bag from the stores which you could wash and they come up like new pity they dont do that here.

Some chaps down lottie stick plastic bags on canes to keep birds away. why not sew them all together and cover lottie keep down weeds hee hee

[Doris_Pinks]

You can shop online, that way you only order and unload! (mind you , you often end up with stuff you thought was only 2 pints size, only to find it double that!!) Also some of the supermarkets, well one of the posh ones actually that starts with a W and ends with an se! Gives you some sporty green bags to do your shopping with when you self scan!!  Our other store Safeways also recycles bags, and we have a bench outside the posh shop made from recycled bags :-) DP

[Muddy_Boots]

Going back to the original thread, if you will all forgive me, I come from Kent which is a huge fruit growing area where most of the local farmers supply Tesco's, M&S, Safeway, etc.  In lean times, having picked for such farmers, the standard of treatment of the fruit on the farm is very high!  Minimum bruising, careful size control, etc.  Put into store and very carefully controlled at precise temperatures and conditions.  Fruit then goes to local packers.  Again, very careful monitoring and a local Farm Advisory Service (where I also worked for a while) keeps very careful watch!  Then the packers sell said fruit to supermarkets at extremely competitive price.  Supermarket sells very expensively, having paid the farmer next to nothing but having specified extremely stringent growing, spraying and other conditions!

Imagine my disgust, going into local Tesco and seeing shelf stackers THROWING stored apples into display, therefore bruising and thus selling us damaged fruit!  Give me the local farm stalls anyday, at least you know how the fruit and veg have been treated and that they care about what they are selling!  After all, would you stand out in all weathers just to make a living?

Oh dear, really do seem to be on my soap box tonight!  Sorry folks, just something dear to my heart! :-[

Kate

[aquilegia]

Take them with you when you go shopping instead of using new ones..

Use them as bin liners...

Complain at the supermarket until they give you a paper one...

Pretend you collect them...

yep I do all of that, but still have a huge collection of bags. I reckon they must breed in my cupboard!

And the mud on potatoes thing is just ridiculous!  :o

[minerva]

I re-use my bags in many ways;  
-down the lotty for scaring birds
-big supply in shed for bringing veg back from lotty,
-picking up my dogs poo - nice job!
-re-use in my own shop (customers donn't seem to mind)
-lining boot of car so dog doesn't trash it
-put inside of wellies down lotty to keep feet dry
-use instead of bin bags
-have used for filling big holes in wall before plastering (scrunch them up) but probably shouldn't recomend that (works though)!

actually, when i go to waitrose, with my backpack they not only think your insane, but they get really impaitent when you pack it,as it the half a minute longer it takes seems to annoy them?
oh yeah there is a organic shop in bath that doesnt give out bags, it has a box at the front of the shop full of old used bags that people drop off, that works well.
in Denmark they donnt give out bags at all in supermarkets you either pay (quite alot) or take your own bag (which everyone does) and in consequence there are not loose plastic bags flying around the roadside.
i will now stop ranting - sorry
sam
xx

[Mrs Ava]

I had heard that story about the mud on the spuds.  Now I chuckle when I see peeps picking out their jersey royals covered in fine mud.

Carrier bags, I keep them and reuse all the time.  I try to take some to the supermarket with me to reuse that way and we use them as bin bags.  

I now buy my fruit and veg from a wee stall, and the quality is fab!  I was amazed, and such good value.  I bought a bag of apples from Sainsbury's - so not cheap - and 3 out of the 6 were bruised, 1 quite badly so, bought a bag from my little chap, and all perfect, not all perfect orbs, but tasty and sweet!  

;D

[Garden Manager]

I have a thing about carrier bags too.  Hate wasting resources in any event.

Often try to manage without a bag if its just one or two items from a shop, but often dont get a choice the item just gets stuck in a bag whether you want one or not.

If i do have a bag, I rarely throw it away untill i have reused it, usualy for rubbish (most make good liners for small indoor bins - particularly the supermarket ones). trouble is I usualy have more than i need for this purpose, so entd up with a pile in a cupboard, waiting to be used 'for something'.

Another problem we have is with the grocery shopping. When we go to Tescos to get it we reuse exiting bags, but recently (for convenience sake) we have started using the internet delivery service. The people who pack these deliveries dont care how many bags they use, and often underfill them. so we end up with far more than we can reuse, and regrettably most end up in the bin.

You might be able to tell i have a prpblem with waste!! ;)

[allotment_chick]

Top Tip using the carrier bags at the lottie to scare the birds, although I find you do have to replace them occassionally as they start to shred.....had NO problems with my mange tout this year - I had them ALL until the thrips moved in - they didn't seem to mind the carrier bags!

I do reuse mine but not at a rate fast enough to get to the bottom of the mountain - must try harder to remember to take a bag with me!

Gotta agree with you Muddy Boots about the total lack of respect for produce!  I can often be found at my local supermarket lifting off the top boxes so that I can get to the luscious fruit still nestling in their trays - do I care if the assistants huff?   I do not!!   :D

[Tenuse]

We've got two big plastic boxes from Sainsbury's, we rarely use plastic bags any more.

As well as getting 2p per box back on our shopping (when the checkout person remembers!), they are very useful for:

- making sure your pre-cooked Xmas Dinner doesn't shift about too much on a 150 mile drive.
- filling full of fish tank water during fish tank emergencies.
- putting really muddy boots in from the allotment, so not to dirty the car.
- mixing concrete in.
- putting the recyling in before taking it to the recycling point.
- turning upside down and sitting on.

And if anybody likes a bit of irony, I have it from a "reliable source" that the glass bottles we recycle DON'T go to be turned into other glass bottles. No, they get crushed up and used as some kind of rubble thing under new tarmac laid on motorways. So by being environmentally friendly we are helping with the spread of the road networks!!!! ARGH!!!!!!!!  >:(

Ten x