I worked in a supermarket & yellow sticker shoppers are a nightmare – they threw raw fish at me & snatched from my hands
IN a bid to save money during the on-going cost-of-living crisis, yellow sticker shopping has soared in popularity.
But one former supermarket worker has revealed how certain shoppers are giving the practice a bad rep.
Courtney Palmer-Jones, 22, from West Sussex, told Fabulous she’s ‘seen it all’ in her time spent working as a yellow sticker lady in Sainsbury’s.
She even once had a raw fish thrown at her by a disgruntled shopper – after she refused to discount the item any further.
In an exclusive chat, Courtney says: “I once had a lady approach me with a bunch of discounted items in her basket, and she ordered me to reduce them further.
“I politely told her that it doesn’t work like that, but she didn’t believe me and so she took up a piece of packaged haddock from her basket, and threw it at me.
“I was so annoyed that I had to walk off to take five minutes to myself.
“The fish stunk, and as someone who doesn’t eat meat or fish, it added to my fury.”
The Sainsbury’s temp just wished customers knew the rules so that staff didn’t have to face so much abuse from hard pressed customers.
“We don’t get to determine the price on yellow stickers,” she explained.
“Prices are automated with a handheld scanner. I scan the item, and then it automatically applies a discount given by Sainsbury’s.”
Towards the end of the day, staff are allowed to reduce the items again, but only at allocated times in the day.
“Yellow sticker shopping is great, but some people really take it to the extreme and get really aggressive,” said Courtney, who admits she sometimes takes advantage of the bargains herself.
People’s dependence on them comes as no surprise, since food banks in the Trussell Trust network have seen the highest levels of need – even superseding the peak reached during the pandemic – with a 16% increase in food parcel distribution across the country.
According to Barclays, almost 40% of people are buying ‘yellow sticker’ discounted products, which are nearing their expiration dates, to help save money on groceries.
Courtney admits that her days working during the pandemic, and Christmas, were the most demanding, however she says her workload is still high.
Savvy yellow sticker shoppers have cottoned on to the times of day food is reduced.
WAYS TO SPEND LESS AT THE SUPERMARKET
Grocery inflation means we're all feeling the pinch but shopping with these points in mind could save you hundreds of pounds a year:
- Avoid shopping at convenience stores – they charge more
- Ask in-store at what times in the day are fresh food items reduced
- Freeze yellow sticker items where you can
- Plan meals ahead
- Try own-label of budget brand alternatives
- Use unit pricings to find the best deals
Visit Which? to find out more.
At the shop Courtney worked in, stock nearing its sell by date is reduced for a second time at 4pm.
The food is then placed in what the supermarket staff refer to as the ‘well’ – which is essentially the bottom of a fridge in most supermarkets.
“People figured out when the well gets filled up with discounted food,” she said.
“We would get hoards of people, a good 10-15 all at once some days, standing around waiting for these reductions.”
People would rifle through it all to find what they want, and this is usually where the fights begin.
“The minute you walked anywhere near the customers, they would literally try to rip the food out of your hand,” she exclaimed.
“It was really intimidating to suddenly have all these people lunging at you.
Some items were more desirable than others, and I literally saw people fighting over food, like a game of tug a war.
Courtney Palmer-Jones
“It got so bad that we had to warden the aisle off and say to customers you’re not allowed in this area until the reductions have been applied.
“But it didn’t work, customers would incessantly continue to come over and haggle me for yellow stickers.”
Courtney was one of many supermarket workers who responded to TikToker Freeloading_Chaz‘s call to share the ‘most horrendous things’ about their jobs.
Another commenter said: “My first Christmas at M&S, I was reducing yellow stickers on Christmas Eve and I got pushed into a shelf over a joint of beef.
“Bad experience but I still love the job.”
Other shoppers saw similar measures to those taken in Courtney’s store.
One said: “I remember in my local, they put the barriers up when the yellow sticker ladies came out because people tried to rush them.”
