Sir, - I have another crow to pluck with Tesco's besides that of overcharging. It is the selection of goods on offer. Shortly after Tesco took over my local supermarket I went to buy a product that I used to buy occasionally. It wasn't there. At first I was told that it couldn't be got, which I thought rather strange. But one day I was told: "The computer would not order it for Killarney."
Think of what that really means. Forget being a valued customer, forget loyalty points. We are not valued customers, we are shoppers being used to return maximum profits to owners and shareholders and we are allowed, courtesy of a computer, to buy what it will allow us to buy and that's it! If we want something that's not on the computer list, forget it. Stocking it might make a dent in the profits. We must conform with the computer. Shave off another few slow sellers each year and where will we be? I am not the only one who has had the experience.
If, as a customer, you have been used to buying something that is no longer on the shelves I suggest that you fuss about it right to the top and if you get nowhere then vote with your feet. Being told by a computer what we may or may not get is just one tiny facet of the slippery slope of becoming a computer-dictated society where we must conform in all sorts of matters - sometimes, as in this case, without even realising it. - Yours, etc.,
Canon Brian Lougheed, Ballycasheen, Killarney, Co Kerry.