My distaste for Sainsbury’s stems from just over a year working there from 2011 to 2012. The culture of bullying and intimidation that lay beneath the patina of faux camaraderie, the fake sharing, caring employer that used the euphemism “colleagues” to try and convince the staff that they were more than just drones being used to meet targets. Indeed, so utterly dreadful was my experience, that just walking through the door and getting a whiff of the supermarket odour makes me physically sick – so I avoid it as much as I can. Justin King always struck me as a patronising arsehole. Clearly, the arsehole bit was spot on.
This is a fairly brazen piece of special pleading here. Justin King, the chief at Sainsbury’s, the British supermarket chain, is trying to use the example of America’s Marketplace Fairness Act (MFA) as an argument for changing the system of property taxation in the UK.
This egregious US legislation places a tax on online retailers in order to prop up failing retailers who cannot compete – or are unwilling to change their strategies to compete, because people cannot be relied upon to pay their purchase taxes. Whodathunkit? Of course, not having the taxes at all would simplify matters greatly.
Much like those who tried to destroy the cotton jenny at the beginning of the industrial revolution. King would like to bring this nasty idea to this side of the pond.
What this tells us is twofold. On the one hand as soon as someone starts wittering on about fairness, you can be sure that they are about to propose something that is deeply unfair. And secondly, like the government, big business is not your friend as, like the former, they will use any dirty trick to get into your wallet – by force if necessary.
In the case of Sainsbury’s, this is all a bit strange. Sure, they have to suffer business rates and all (and I have no time for any property based taxes – at all), but online retail – of which they are a part – is not going to cause them grief any time soon, as grocery shopping is still predominately carried out in person. Something to do with being able to look at the produce oneself, I suppose. So King’s business has a foot in both camps and can benefit from both. Still, I guess from his point of view, it does no harm to harm the competition more than they already have.
Yet he needs to learn the lesson so painfully learned by those small traders facing competition from the big supermarkets – adapt or die. I for one, have no wish to pay a tax to prop up a business that I have decided not to patronise.
Of course, as Tim points out in his piece, Justin King is comparing apples with oranges, which is a bit odd for a food retailer… Ahem…
I can only agree. Sainsbury’s have given smaller retailers a tough time for decades and now they come up against a different form of competition they want to change the rules.
Fairness appears to be one sided in Justin King;s world.
Dear Longrider
Like you, I did a stretch at Sainsbury’s. Like you, I had done better paid and more prestigious work but circumstances left me happy to have the job, short term at least.
I didn’t have any of the problems you had, I was working in outer London over twelve years ago, first, then got another part time job when I thought I needed to.
I didn’t feel like you did. I felt pretty valued as an employee, colleague, whatever and felt the shift leaders and duty managers were ok.
I appreciate my experience there, which ended seven years ago was better than yours
but suspect there it’s more in the differences with the managers than the company. When elder son ready to get pt job, he did a stint and Sainsbury not the worst, by far. He tried other jobs later, but we both understand there’s only so much to expect from shelf stacking job, even if you get some experience when you get told to ‘jump on the till’
You and I both got on to better work from the foundation we got there. I never wanted more. My son realised , just asI hoped, that you don’t want to end up doing nothing but unskilled retail. It served to refocus on getting on.
Yes local management was the primary problem. However this was exacerbated by their impossible and obsessive target culture.
I agree with your analogy though. Different forms of retail distribution don’t need governmental favours for one over the other.
I thought that the US regulation was because of the way their sales tax works? It’s different in different states so residents in a higher taxed state can buy mail order from a low tax state whereas their local shops have to charge the higher local rate, so there is a direct disadvantage to local retailers. Our VAT is the same regardless so the argument doesn’t apply.
Hence my apples and oranges comment. Of course the US tax is still wrong. If people are going out of state to avoid high taxes the answer is to reduce them not have the federal state impose even more.
So if I want a gardener, and the one who likes to drive a Jag charges more than the one who drives a Kia, the lower charger should have to charge a levy which goes to the Jag driver to compensate him for losing business to one who charges less ‘cos he’s happy with a Kia.
I’m only surprised that an idea of such stunning fiscal illiteracy hasn’t (yet) emanated from Osborne, Balls or HM Treasury.
Although they’re all sneaky enough to use King as a stalking horse/toe-in-the-water…
Shhhh! Don’t give them ideas!
“On the one hand as soon as someone starts wittering on about fairness, you can be sure that they are about to propose something that is deeply unfair. “
Something I learned while reading the ‘Guardian’… 😉
“Justin King always struck me as a patronising arsehole”
I wrote to him last year, after many fruitless attempts to get something done about the state of the car park, and various other issues at my nearby store. I got a reply (from an underling) assuring me that, although he was “out of the office”, he read all such communications personally. Do I believe that? Do I f… All that happened was they suggested I contact the store manager, which is a complete waste of time as he appears powerless to do anything!
Is it too much to ask that “Customer Service” actually means what it says, and the poor bastards sitting in soulless call centres are able to deal with issues flagged up, and not just keep the bloody wheel spinning?
If it wasn’t for the fact that my local Sainsbury’s is only 500 yards away, I would never darken the company’s door again… Aldi may be rather “cheap and cheerful”, but many of their products knock spots off the big 4, and there’s no faffing about when it’s time to pay for your purchases!
I do quite a bit of shopping in both Lidl and Aldi. They may not have such a large range and some branded products may not be available but they are very good value for money and good quality.