So Simon has informed me that Tesco is no longer going to do buy one get one free (BOGO) offers in order to reduce food waste. Instead they will give you a voucher that you have to bring back after the BOGO is over in order to get your free item. This, apparently, is to reduce food waste.
Oh bullshit. What it will do is save Tesco money because people will forget their vouchers until they expire. Or, do what I do, and forget to give them to the cashier once they are at the checkout.
When the hell is the government (and I truly believe this is a government inspired thing and would bet other stores will soon follow suit) going to get the hell out of my life?
Now, I am not a Republican. Or a Democrat, for that matter. I am registered Independent. And I am only registered as that because I have to be registered as something. Sometimes I like what the Dems have to say, sometimes I like what the Republicans have to say. But most of the time I think they are all a bunch of morons who should stop worrying about getting elected and worry about how to best run their country. (NB: I am sure I would say the same thing about my adopted country’s politicians and politics if I at all understood them. Which I do not.)
So why does the government get to dictate that I can’t have two of something, even if I am going to wind up throwing one away? And why is Tesco agreeing to this, even though this is the same store where I can’t buy less than a kilo of new potatoes at a time. Do you have any idea how long it takes two people to eat a kilo of new potatoes? Much longer than it takes them to go bad half the time.
The real issue with food waste isn’t BOGO. Its the 1000000000 types of brown bread on the shelf that are essentially exactly the same. Its the 100000 types of cereal. Its the 1000000 types of yogurt. But you know what? In a free market system that’s what you get. But I would bet Tesco throws away a lot more than I do, since they can’t sell things past their use by date. Use by dates, BTW, are a rant for another day.
And so you get food waste.
But you know what else? We need to stop trying to save the damn planet. The planet was here long before we appeared and will still be here long after we’ve killed ourselves off in a planet wide nuclear holocaust. Or, as I prefer to hope, long after we’ve left it to colonize new ones.
And, hey, what about the paper that the vouchers will need to be printed on? Will they be printed on recycled paper? I would bet not, as it would cost Tesco even more money.
And so once again the Nanny State rears its ugly head without thinking through the ramifications of their actions.