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>> No. 11534 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 8:05 am
11534 What is the deal with meal deals?
Meal deals seem to have sprung up everywhere but I'm having trouble getting my head around the logic of it all. If I pop into the shop to buy some lunch then of course I'm going to get a drink - I mean fuck, I usually end up buying crisps AND chocolate because even kids get that at lunchtime.

So what is all this about then? Is it some attempt to control us with corporate sanctioned meals that mean the death of real choice?! Are they actually not very good value at all?
Expand all images.
>> No. 11535 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 8:20 am
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That all looks so unhealthy, so much sugar in one single meal.

Anyway, meal deals are overpriced. I can make my own sandwiches way cheaper, even with the discount, and ever since I found you can buy 2 litres of sparkling water for 17p it's basically all I drink. And only a fat shit would need crisps and chocolate every lunchtime. Stop sitting on my NHS fatty, I need it for my brain problems.
>> No. 11537 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:42 am
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>>11534
The point is to make money.

>>11535
Can you do everything else a supermarket does? It's a bit idiotic to suggest that when shopping you're only paying for raw materials.
>> No. 11538 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:50 am
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>>11537

No, I understand that. However, I don't think the massive price hike really delivers enough for me to indulge it. I know that I can't always make myself a sandwich whenever I want one, but if I can plan ahead to lunch that day I'm better off making my own.
>> No. 11539 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 10:11 am
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>>11538
Which means you value convenience less than the target market does. It doesn't make them overpriced. If that were true I'd invite you to set up shop and beat them at their own game.
>> No. 11540 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 10:22 am
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>>11539

£3 for a day for lunch is actually quite a lot of cash, especially when you consider I could make myself an entire packed lunch for much less than that. I don't really give a toss about their "target audience". If that audience thinks they need a Mars and a Coke for lunch then that's their problem.

And I'm not sure why I have to set up my own sandwich shop to prove that's the case, I just said you don't really need other people to make your lunch for you.
>> No. 11542 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 10:43 am
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>>11540
I'm not asking you to buy the £3 sandwiches. I'm asking you to employ language that demonstrates you have an understanding of what you're talking about. Making your own sandwiches is a comparable outcome when it comes to solving your subsistence needs, but definitely not when it comes to talking about appropriate pricing.

Are you poor, mate? Or just tight? Because it's more economical for me to work while my sandwich is made and delivered to me than it is to do the busywork of sourcing the ingredients and putting them together myself. We used to have wives that would naturally assume this responsibility, but times change, generally for the better I'd say.
>> No. 11543 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 10:44 am
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To understand the principle, let's look at the ur-meal-deal, the McDonalds Value Meal. My local McDonalds charges £2.69 for a Big Mac, or £4.29 for a value meal. That does indeed look like good value - you get a drink and fries for £1.60, which is much less than they would cost separately. If you want either a drink or fries, then it seems like a bit of a no-brainer to go for the meal. It's tempting even if you only wanted a burger.

The genius of the McDonalds value meal is that the fries and drink are incredibly cheap for them to produce - a reasonable estimate would be less than 30p. The raw materials are extremely cheap and they are quick and simple to prepare, so even with a discount they offer a considerable profit margin. Burgers are much more elaborate to prepare and include many expensive ingredients, so are relatively much less profitable.

Meal deals in convenience stores operate on a similar basis. They bundle two high-margin items (the drink and crisps) with the low-margin item that you came in to buy (the sandwich). Even if they offer a substantial discount, they're still up on the deal.

Retailers of other goods do exactly the same thing; The marketing principle falls under the broad category of upselling. Selling you extra stuff that you didn't plan on buying is a win, and if that stuff is really high-margin then it's a double win. If you buy a new TV, the shop makes more money on an HDMI cable and a stand than on the TV itself. A generic HDMI cable costs less than £1 wholesale, but high-street shops get away with charging upwards of £15. The same goes for phones and cases, dishwashers and extended warranties, cars and underbody sealing or premium alloy wheels. People are very conscious of the price of the main item, but don't give much scrutiny to the cost of the accessories. A £15 cable seems like a trivial purchase compared to a £400 TV, disguising the fact that the retailer makes a profit of 1400% on the former but 4% on the latter.
>> No. 11544 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 11:03 am
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>>11542

Well now you're talking about a completely different service. OP was talking about, as far as I'm concerned, overpriced "meal deals" you see in super markets and I think sometimes Greggs. As far as I'm aware Tesco don't deliver to your workplace, and making your own sandwiches is not a symptom of economic destitution. Also I'm not a tubbo who needs a "snack" every lunchtime.

And just how long do you think it takes to make a sandwich? Or to spend an extra 5 minutes a week buying something to put on them? Spoiler: It takes about 5 minutes to do the second one.
>> No. 11545 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 11:26 am
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>>11540
>especially when you consider I could make myself an entire packed lunch for much less than that.
Only if you're a poor minimum wage. Even if the materials were free, £3 is less than 10-15 minutes for someone on average earnings, and of course the materials aren't free.
>> No. 11546 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 11:30 am
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>>11543
Top tip for HDMI cables: buy a handful of them from a pound shop. Even if one fails it's still cheaper than whatever shit electrical retailers are pulling.
>> No. 11547 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 12:10 pm
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>>11545

Yeah, but unless you're a slave you're not at work 24 hours a day. You make the sandwich beforehand and I'm not telling you to go shopping around for bloody Brie during your lunch break.

To be honest, you seem like a bit of a dippy sod, so perhaps it is for the best if you keep away from chopping implements/bits of soft cheese. We don't want you hurting yourself.
>> No. 11548 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 12:16 pm
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>>11547
>Yeah, but unless you're a slave you're not at work 24 hours a day.
What's that got to do with anything? Just because you're not at work doesn't mean your time has no value. In fact, why are you even buying meat? Why don't you just raise and slaughter the animal yourself in the house you erected brick by brick with your own hands? Surely handing money over to property developers is the ultimate waste when you could just use all that time you're not paid for to build something nice.
>> No. 11549 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 12:40 pm
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> Are you poor, mate? Or just tight? Because it's more economical for me to work while my sandwich is made and delivered to me than it is to do the busywork of sourcing the ingredients and putting them together myself.

> Only if you're a poor minimum wage. Even if the materials were free, £3 is less than 10-15 minutes for someone on average earnings, and of course the materials aren't free.

If you don't get a paid lunchbreak I wouldn't sound so smug lad.

Regardless, I often used to nip around the corner to Sainsbury's every few days and stock the office fridge with bread and sandwich fillers (ham, cheese, spreads, all sorts) and could easily make a weeks worth of sandwiches for cost of a a day or two of the same meal deals I walked past on the way to bakery and cold meat aisles.

PS >>11543 hit the nail right on the head about why everyone's doing meal and deals and everyone's ignored him which makes me quite frustrated about the lot of you.
>> No. 11550 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 12:56 pm
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A continental friend of mine told me that a sandwich with crisps for lunch is a very British thing. Is this true?
>> No. 11551 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 1:00 pm
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Boots is the best. I just had a meal deal of a Wensleydale and Beetroot wrap, veg sushi and a Green Machine smoothie. It's +5!
>> No. 11552 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 1:18 pm
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>>11549
It doesn't matter whether or not you get paid for your lunch. You still aren't accounting for your time. Your lunch costs you whatever you've paid for your bread, meat and cheese, plus however long it took you to go buy it and then make the things. Of course, the time comes for free if you don't value it, but if you didn't value it you wouldn't pay anyone else for anything, ever, because it would always be cheaper to do it yourself.
>> No. 11553 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 2:00 pm
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>>11548

Why are you taking my perfectly reasonable position of making my own lunch to an illogical extreme? If making a sandwich is such a massive effort for you, that's you and your carer's problem. However, myself and basically everyone else, whether they purchase meal deals or otherwise, does not find a moment in the kitchen listening to the radio and slicing some cold meats a stress or a time sink.

>>11550

Are crisps that popular at all outside the UK? I know that sounds odd, but I didn't eat any for a very long time, and when I had some recently I didn't really enjoy them.

It's a crispiracy
>> No. 11554 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 2:05 pm
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>>11553
My friend and I once raced to a van in Geneva because it said "CHIPS" on the side and we were jonesing for some chips, only to find packets upon packets of Walkers.
>> No. 11555 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 2:27 pm
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>>11553
>Why are you taking my perfectly reasonable position of making my own lunch to an illogical extreme?
Mate, you're the one who suggested that time out of work has no value.
>> No. 11556 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 3:13 pm
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>>11543
The difference is that in McDonald's you still pay more for the meal deal vs the burger alone. In Sainsbury's I've seen many sandwiches included in the meal deal that are more than £3 individually, so you save money by taking crisps and a drink. Similar for subway, many >£5 subs can be bought with a drink for £5.

I guess that they're still making a large enough profit margin for it to be negligible. Making the customer think they've cheated the system and got a bargain when they haven't is quite ingenious actually.
>> No. 11557 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 3:32 pm
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>>11534
On a side point to this, wtf are the coop bread deals about. 1 tiger bap that will only last 1 day costs 49p , i can happily consume 2 in a day, however, they are on offer at 4 for £1, only 2p more than the individual sale price. So logically I should by 4 but I will 99% of the time throw the other 2 away the next day, but buying 2 just feels like I am ripping myself off! Also when they were 45p each I once bought 2 and the cashier pretty much insisted I should get 2 more for just 10p. Now the difference is just 2p I imagine I will be thrown out of society for having the nerve to only buy what I need!
>> No. 11558 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 3:36 pm
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>>11556
In McDonald's the drink is more or less free. Even with the cost of the postmix machine, the marginal cost of each cup is negligible. The drink is very high-margin (almost 99%), and effectively it's this which subsidies the deal. Bottled product not so much - the wholesale price is almost certainly higher, though distributors have other levers here. Your local corner shop probably had the fridge provided at no cost to them. Subway got Coke to pay for their toasting ovens in return for exclusivity. Either way, they're almost certainly not paying as little as 10-20p a bottle. There's also a fair markup on the sandwiches in the supermarkets - it's been said here before that with the limited outsourcing options, the only difference between Sainsbury and M&S packaged sandwiches was the packaging (and about 50p in retail).
>> No. 11559 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 3:42 pm
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>>11557
Maybe so they don't have so much stock left at the end of the day that people will nick or give them bad press for chucking out. It shifts the responsibility onto the consumer.
>> No. 11560 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 3:56 pm
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>>11546
Trouble is, those poundland HDMI cables are only 0.6m long. You can get bundles of multiple longer ones for cheaper on ebay, and they tend to be of better quality (I can attest to this anecdotally, at least - yesterday I threw away a poundshop HDMI cable as it was causing sparkles on my screen)
>> No. 11561 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 4:14 pm
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>>11560
I bagged a six-footer from a 99p store in Liverpool last year and it's working nicely. As one of the experts pointed out here before, there's not much that can go wrong with them - they either work or they don't. It's effectively carrying data rather than an actual AV signal.
>> No. 11562 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 5:13 pm
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>>11561
>As one of the experts pointed out here before, there's not much that can go wrong with them
That was probably me (we've had the conversation a few times over the years).

>they either work or they don't.
That's not exactly true. Dodgy HDMI cables can still result in the display producing an image, albeit with visible degradation, and that same cable may still work perfectly if it's outputting e.g. 720p rather than 1080p.

Anyway, I've not seen £1 for a 2m cable in a poundland yet but that's a fine price, assuming it works.
>> No. 11563 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 5:16 pm
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>>11562
Shit. Sorry /nom/.
>> No. 11564 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 5:32 pm
11564 spacer
Yeah the saving with HDMI cables is to just buy normal (not poundland cheap) ones rather than buying "gold plated, air lined" etc shit for £50.
>> No. 11565 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 5:34 pm
11565 spacer
Just sneak into a college and pinch some £1,000+ cables, god.
>> No. 11566 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 5:56 pm
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>>11565

I don't know what's worse, that you just encouraged stealing from an educational institution, or what you forgot to capitalise "God".
>> No. 11567 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 6:13 pm
11567 spacer
£60 on meal deals per month sounds silly. I doubt a millionaire would do it if he could.
>> No. 11568 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 6:19 pm
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I get a salad bar from Sainsburys, maybe about twice in three weeks, for a treat. If that's busy and swarming with pensioners I'll go to Boots and get an all day breakfast sandwich (with orange bread from being soaked in bean juice), crisps (Monster Munch, Doritos, SnackaJacks or Sunbites) and then a bottle of blueberry smoothie to drink.

Doing my own packing up/bringing in leftovers to microwave gets a bit monotonous and this breaks it up a bit.
>> No. 11569 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:07 pm
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>>11568
My experience with those is that there's no actual salad available, just pasta, potatoes and croutons. Then again, I've only ever used a Sainsbury's salad bar in Scotland, not a land famed for its healthy choices.
>> No. 11570 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:23 pm
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>>11569
I usually fill one half with pasta and the other with as much feta cheese as I can feasibly swipe cous cous, salad leaves, peas, edamame beans, sweet potato and chickpeas.
>> No. 11571 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:34 pm
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>>11566
Not him, but I don't capitalise it either. Why would I give proper noun status to a deity I don't believe exists?
>> No. 11572 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:38 pm
11572 spacer
>>11571
How edgy. Tell me more atheistlad. Push more of your shite down my throat, please. I beg you.
>> No. 11573 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:46 pm
11573 spacer
>>11565
>>11566
>>11571
Capitalise the word god when it is used as a proper name as the name of the god of a monotheistic religion, such as the god of Christianity or Judaism, and not capitalise it when it is used as a common noun.
>> No. 11574 Anonymous
16th June 2015
Tuesday 9:49 pm
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>>11572

Ooh how edgy, accusing someone of being edgy. You like edges so much, go swallow a bag of razor blades.
>> No. 11576 Anonymous
17th June 2015
Wednesday 2:12 am
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>>11571

Because it specifies which deity in particular that you don't believe in.
>> No. 11577 Anonymous
17th June 2015
Wednesday 2:40 am
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I really dislike it when some cunt puts a sandwich not on the meal deal on the meal deal shelf.

also wraps on the meal deal shelf. That's like the Russian fucking roulette of meal deals. Is it £3 or is it £4.89? Who knows
>> No. 11579 Anonymous
17th June 2015
Wednesday 11:50 am
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>>11571

I don't believe in Santa Claus, but I'm not going to pretend that it justifies my having horrid grammar.
>> No. 11580 Anonymous
17th June 2015
Wednesday 12:20 pm
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>>11579
You horrible person. I hope you like coal.
>> No. 11590 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 12:29 am
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There is no mystery to meal deals - the more volume of something a shop sells, the cheaper it generally is for them to buy. Additionally people are stupid and will often by other things at the same time as buying a "deal".
>> No. 11591 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 12:36 am
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>>11579

Relax, I'm on your side of this. I think it should be capitalised in all circumstances where it shouldn't.
>> No. 11601 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 12:40 pm
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>>11577
Co-op staff do more or less this with their wraps. I pointed out it was deceptive and the nice bloke on the tills agreed. I should have written to corporate to complain and also to get some goodwill vouchers, but shamefully I couldn't be bothered.
>> No. 11602 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 1:14 pm
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>>11601
I need to write a letter to complain to the Co-Op as well, thanks for reminding me.
>> No. 11603 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 1:30 pm
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>>11601
That's likely more to do with where the available fridge space is in a store, and putting similar items next to each other. It makes no sense to put wraps and sandwiches in different aisles does it?
>> No. 11604 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 1:32 pm
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>>11601
I've seen Tesco do this with the drinks. All of them are in the meal deal. Some of them are also in a multibuy deal. They're not segregated, and the shelf is tagged with a large label for the multibuy. To figure out which are in and which are out, you have to check the tickets for each individual product to see if they show the multibuy or the meal deal. If they show the meal deal, then the multibuy is not valid. If they show the multibuy,then both deals are valid. However, I had to extract this particular algorithm from a staff member. I'm sure this must amount to an unfair practice by way of misleading omission.
>> No. 11605 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 1:35 pm
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>>11603
If only the fridges came with multiple shelves or some other way of segregating product.

Though to be fair the Co-op does at least use "I'm in the meal deal" type stickers, though if no qualifying products are on display you wouldn't know to look for them.
>> No. 11608 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 2:11 pm
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>>11603
Nonsense. They placed non-meal deal items between meal deal items in the same fridge. The bloke on the tills indicated that the wraps will at some future point be included, but currently they are not.
>> No. 11613 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 2:28 pm
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>>11608
That was probably a line he was told to spin by higher-ups so as to make it look like an honest mistake and placate miffed customers.
>> No. 11614 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 2:32 pm
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>>11613
They can't reliably have enough staff manning the checkouts and you think they're orchestrating their customers with Machiavellian skill? I doubt it.
>> No. 11616 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 2:48 pm
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>>11614
There's nothing Machiavellian about lying to customers when you're doing something dodgy. It's expected behaviour.
>> No. 11617 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 3:11 pm
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>>11616
Right, but his supposed lie, if we think about it, does nothing to placate me or absolve them of my complaint. They could have arranged the items in a more coherent way. Whether in future the meal deal changes has no bearing at all on the current arrangement.
>> No. 11618 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 3:49 pm
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Any of you ever worked in a shop? The wraps just ended up there somehow, and what were they going to do about it, spend the morning traipsing around reorganising the fucking sandwhiches? Don't talk daft. At least they had a price ticket.

Your special offer bays are the only place you have to pay any real attention to merchandising. And you only give enough of a shit to do that in case your regional manager makes a surprise visit.
>> No. 11619 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 3:54 pm
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>>11617
>Right, but his supposed lie, if we think about it, does nothing to placate me or absolve them of my complaint.
That you haven't taken it any further than the bod behind the till strongly suggests otherwise. I say this as someone with not one but two cases resolved at the ASA, and a satisfied CCJ against a utility company for fucking up my payment to them.
>> No. 11620 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 3:58 pm
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>>11619
You mean you say this as a total fucking bore?
>> No. 11621 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 4:01 pm
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>>11620
By all means continue to allow business to use your arse as storage for their cocks.
>> No. 11622 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 4:13 pm
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>>11619
I've not written to Co-Op corporate for the same reason I haven't written all the Facebook and britfa.gs posts I had intended to. I'm lazy I struggle somewhat with focus and productivity and at some point you just have to let go.
>> No. 11623 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 4:17 pm
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>>11622
Or, in simple language, it didn't bother you enough. Hence whatever they told you worked in keeping you below the botheredness threshold.
>> No. 11624 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 4:25 pm
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>>11619

Calm down, SurreySuburbanCyclistlad.
>> No. 11626 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 4:43 pm
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>>11623
It didn't bother me enough, correct, but that was nothing at all to do with what the staff at the Co-op told me. If anything his agreement with what I was saying encouraged me to submit a written complaint. I can't really fathom why you're attempting to inform me about what happened to me and why you're inventing your own reasons for why it happened. Typical faggles behaviour.
>> No. 11627 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 5:08 pm
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>>11626
>If anything his agreement with what I was saying encouraged me to submit a written complaint.
But ultimately you didn't, because you still didn't care enough. Which is fine. We all have bigger things to worry about than a wrap at the Co-op. I just don't see why you're getting upset about having this reality pointed out to you.
>> No. 11629 Anonymous
18th June 2015
Thursday 6:01 pm
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>>11627
Actually I didn't go to the Co-Op. There was no wrap, no exchange at the till and no intended letter. I lied about the wrap because I wanted to fit in and have something to share with the other britfags. You must be a very intelligent person to have identified the inconsistencies in my tall tale.

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