Tesco acknowledge their bikes are rubbish

[steveindenmark]

You would think that it would make sense for these big Supermarket chains to have a permanent position for someone whos job it is to decide where all the surplus Stock and food goes to. The amount they throw away is criminal.

 

[Globalti]

In this age of litigation you can't leave those kinds of decisions to untrained staff. There have to be simple rules - if it's not factory fresh, in which case the blame can be passed back to the manufacturer, it must be thrown away. Nobody will dare look at a bike and say: "That only needs a new saddle" or a loaf of bread and say: "Best before date is only yesterday; it's not mouldy so let's leave it on sale for the rest of the day rather than throw it away."

British society is slowly understanding that people can no longer be trusted to make decisions; there have been countless examples of people in public office making a bad decision with disastrous consequences. They were allowed to reach positions of trust because they spoke posh and had been to the right schools and colleges but now the education system no longer trains administrators and managers for the colonial or military service and few people have the breadth of experience to be able to make a decision based on the broad picture, hence everything has to go to committees and panels and decisions take months. On top of that, British administration ran on the principle that most people were honest most of the time but now this is no longer the case and sadly we see plenty of examples of our trust-based social systems or trusting older folk being naively swindled out of their money and possessions by fraudsters.

 

[Hitchington]

The article is quite funny for it's outrage. They make it sound like a crime against humanity. They are Tesco's BSOs, so they can do what they like with them, sure it would have been nice to give them to charity, but if it is like the charities around here that is usually far more hassle than it is worth, even if you are lucky enough to find one who will take them.

Not really "outage" but highlighting a general problem with mass consumerist society. But as Adrian said the throwing away of perfectly good food on a daily basis is the real scandal.

 

[Tim Hall]

I did take notice of the yellow face thing. In this instance Accy used it so he can do his usual bit of drip, drip, drip helmet promotion but by playing the whistle smily card pretend it was just a bit of a laugh. @Shaun has asked that all helmet stuff goes in the one thread. Some people don't seem to get that.

I know, why not ban the yellow face things? What could possibly go wrong?

 

[Accy cyclist]

I did take notice of the yellow face thing. In this instance Accy used it so he can do his usual bit of drip, drip, drip helmet promotion but by playing the whistle smily card pretend it was just a bit of a laugh. @Shaun has asked that all helmet stuff goes in the one thread. Some people don't seem to get that.

Well i'm going to ask Shaun if we can have a smiley with a helmet on so there!

 

[Accy cyclist]

[QUOTE 4011682, member: 259"]

[/QUOTE]

Ah the "Boche" helmet how splendid!

 

[Brandane]

[QUOTE 4011682, member: 259"]

[/QUOTE]
I think I can see a possible snag point on that one.
Ooops; nearly forgot to add this fella >>>>>

 

[Lonestar]

I've had workmates buy junk cheap bikes like this which hardly last.I think one lasted another month another workmate told me he took it back to the shop and the guy in the shop told him it's not designed to be used every day.I know peoples wheels are more expensive than these type of bikes which they can readily throw in a skip.

 

[BrumJim]

In this age of litigation you can't leave those kinds of decisions to untrained staff. There have to be simple rules - if it's not factory fresh, in which case the blame can be passed back to the manufacturer, it must be thrown away. Nobody will dare look at a bike and say: "That only needs a new saddle" or a loaf of bread and say: "Best before date is only yesterday; it's not mouldy so let's leave it on sale for the rest of the day rather than throw it away."

British society is slowly understanding that people can no longer be trusted to make decisions; there have been countless examples of people in public office making a bad decision with disastrous consequences. They were allowed to reach positions of trust because they spoke posh and had been to the right schools and colleges but now the education system no longer trains administrators and managers for the colonial or military service and few people have the breadth of experience to be able to make a decision based on the broad picture, hence everything has to go to committees and panels and decisions take months. On top of that, British administration ran on the principle that most people were honest most of the time but now this is no longer the case and sadly we see plenty of examples of our trust-based social systems or trusting older folk being naively swindled out of their money and possessions by fraudsters.

Don't agree. Our experience (company that does audits - proper people and process ones rather than just paperwork ones) is that companies that give responsibility to its employees produce far better stuff than those who push the decision-making up the tree, and leave those at the bottom implementing policies and procedures that they know are rubbish, but aren't allowed to question.

Problem is too much control, and not enough courage to get staff to think for themselves, and accept that errors will be made at the start.

 

[Smokin Joe]

Those supermarket cheapos have a life of about 75 miles before the consumables (bearings, drive train) are worn out. Probably further than most kids manage as they are only used round their estates for a year or so.

 

[glenn forger]

Decathlon used to do £90 bikes I think.

 

[midlife]

Reminded me of a Ben Elton joke about buying a KFC, just throw it down the bog to miss out the middleman.

Same idea here with the skip

Shaun

 

[Cold Snail]

I bought a few of the £65 road bikes (mostly for the Claris parts) and to be fair, if you know what you are doing assembling them and what bits to change, the bikes were decent value.

 

[MichaelW2]

Tesco are in a good position to design and sell a really nice, good value 20" shopper bike. If they ditched a folding hinge and incorporated 3 or 5 speed hub gear and dynamo lights, and put a big TESCO brand name on it, they could have a winner with students, school run, railway station and pub bike. People would even lock the up outside Sainsburys.

 

[sidevalve]

Well here's an opposite view [ about the bikes anyhow] - I've had an £80 quid MTB for a couple of years. Bounced it here and there over everything from muddy streams to bridleways to roads - sure it aint the best but when a bit breaks I can fix it with a bit off E Bay for less than a fiver. Had tons of fun on it. 'Can't get the brakes to work' - naa, did you try ? I mean really ? There really are only about four different types - a cable pulls a lever with a brake block on the end [we'll ignore hydraulics here 'cos they aint relevant] how hard can it be ?
Further most seem to use bottom end components I agree but still usually by the same makers. TBH I suspect it's a common case of 'buy it cheap - treat it rough - don't bother looking after it and then act surprised and start complaining when it breaks. Also as above 75 - 100 miles probably really IS a long way for most of these 'cheapo' bikes. Most things now are 'disposable' - sealed bearings are a good example. Remember some of the old heavy duty bikes had enclosed chains and little oil pots on the bearings - with care they would outlive you and your kids [and may even grand kids].
Are the bikes any good - can they be sold at a profit - either way it's a shame but this is a real and hard business world not some fantasy utopia..
As for the other question about supermarkets dumping food people have only themselves to blame. We live in a society where a law suit and the old 'compensation' claim has become a career choice. Sell an item one day beyond it's 'sell by' date - some wise muppet gets [or makes himself] sick and there you are - a whole load of compo claims and bad PR. Are you who complain really prepared to pay the extra on your food bills to cover all the claims that most definitely will suddenly appear ? And even if you are there are others on tighter budgets who don't have that luxury.