Tesco's so called generosity

[MartinA]

Has anyone else noticed how Tesco claims that it donates to Diabetes UK every time someone uses their cash dispenser!

Well, the small print says they donate 0.00125 p for every usage.

So that would take 1000 uses to generate a donation of 1.25p. WOw, what generosity, or should we call it cynicism?

Even if i misread the figure, (it was very small print on the screen and a sunny day) lets say it was 0.025, still 1000 uses would generate a massive 25p.

More reasons for me to boycott Tesco!

 

[Northerner]

It's not a lot, but I suppose if you have millions of transactions then it adds up to something worthwhile. To be fair to them, that's not all they are doing to support Diabetes UK this year, and hoping to raise around ?10m 🙂

I'm a Co-op man myself, but my niece works at Tesco 🙂

 

[Tina63]

In our local Tesco Express, they do have Diabetes UK collection pots or whatever you call them, for customers to put their unwanted change in and they certainly get well used, so there is a bit more going in.

I know what you mean about the seemingly small donation, but the cash machines do seem well used. Someone else said on another thread a few weeks ago, they make that donation even if you only check your balance, so if you do that once or twice a day it will help rack up the numbers. As they say.....Every Little Helps! (haha!)

 

[Caroline]

they are paying lip service to charity. It does in a limited way raise awareness, not that everyone will take notice.

bit like bonus points and club card points in store, you have to spend a lot in the first place to get enough to make it worthwhile using them. I only keep my Boots card because I am often asked to pop in for others and get stuff so it builds my points for cheap lunches and stuff.

 

[Copepod]

Another vote for the "don't knock it, it's better than nothing" point of view:

While it's not exactly generous by Tesco, particularly when you consider their huge profits, the way to look at it is if people choose to use a Tesco cash dispenser instead of anyone else's cash dispenser, then Diabetes UK benefits, at no cost to consumer.

In a similar way, by buying Co-Op products and services, the customer gets dividend on their card twice a year, and community in general benefits from grants from Co-Op trusts.

 

[JoeFreeman]

As Tina63 says, "every little helps", and in this instance, that's quite true.

The cash point donations should add up to over ?75,000 over the course of the partnership...

The staff at Tesco are extremely committed to fundraising and many of them have been contacting us to let us know what they're doing. I'm obviously coming at this with some bias (!) but having seen their actions so far, to say they're paying lip service couldn't be further from the truth. Plus, the partnership isn't even two months old yet. There'll be plenty more to come 🙂

 

[DeusXM]

To be fair, Tesco are a private company. Their job isn't to prop up charities, this is just CSR on their part.

To put things in perspective too. There are around 2,000,000 Tesco stores in Britain. If we assume all of these have cashpoints and each of these cashpoints is used 1,000 times a day on average, that means every day, Tesco cashpoints raise ?2,500, or in a year, just over ?900k.

I'd be far more concerned about how Diabetes UK has been willingly co-opted by Tesco. I saw a tweet from D-UK about some sort of 'fruit challenge' in conjunction with Tesco. I don't know the full details but on the face of it, it looks like it's encouraging people with diabetes to eat lots more fruit. I've asked the question "Isn't it a bit irresponsible for a diabetes charity to promote eating high-sugar foods as always healthy?" to which I got the suitably bland "fruit can be part of a balanced diet and portion control is important"

In other words, Tesco want to sell more fruit and Diabetes UK have been happy to help them do it even though there's a strong correlation between fructose consumption (ie. fruit) and diabetes - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090325091811.htm

 

[Copepod]

Consuming fruit can be part of a balanced healthy diet - not all types of fruit have the same sugar contents. Berries, for example, can be very low in sugar, while grapes and some tropical fruits have much higher levels. It really is about choosing the right fruit at the right time. Whole fruits are lower GI than fruit juices. Anyway, in some cases, eg treating hypoglycaemia, fruit juice is ideal.

 

[JoeFreeman]

... to which I got the suitably bland "fruit can be part of a balanced diet and portion control is important"

That was me. The fruit challenge wasn't aimed at people with diabetes, per se. It was aimed at the general Tesco customer, encouraging healthy eating, of which fruit can be a big part. Healthy eating, as I'm sure we all know, can help reduce the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes which is something that we as an organisation aim to do. Education and awareness of the condition as a whole is important and the majority of customers, remember, won't have diabetes - or any real knowledge about the condition.

That article is interesting, and I've seen similar before. I'd note the line towards the end:

"There is a large literature now that correlates, but does not prove that a culprit in the rise of teenage obesity may be fructose."

It could be that other factors are involved here - the correlation could be caused by reduction in physical activity, for example - but without reading more around it, it's difficult to comment further.

Outside of the partnership, both Tesco and Diabetes UK obviously have their own aims. What I would say is that either party's objectives would not be compromised in any way by the other group.

Ultimately, the partnership will help us raise ?10million. That's a huge amount of money, that will enable us to do more in future, whilst also raising the profile of diabetes as a serious condition, which is extremely important.

 

[Northerner]

To be fair, Tesco are a private company. Their job isn't to prop up charities, this is just CSR on their part.

To put things in perspective too. There are around 2,000,000 Tesco stores in Britain. If we assume all of these have cashpoints and each of these cashpoints is used 1,000 times a day on average, that means every day, Tesco cashpoints raise ?2,500, or in a year, just over ?900k.

Can't imagine they have 2 million stores - at a minimum 15 employees a store (unlikely!) that would employ the entire UK workforce! 😱

 

[JoeFreeman]

Can't imagine they have 2 million stores - at a minimum 15 employees a store (unlikely!) that would employ the entire UK workforce! 😱

A quick Google: 3,141 apparently. And not all of those would have cash machines, I expect!

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tesco#Stores

 

[Caroline]

as my grandmother used to say it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

There are so many charities, good causes and organisations struggling to raise money, this is at least a nod in the right direction

 

[Northerner]

I think the point about encouraging more fruit-eating is this: that if people think more about what they are eating and choose to eat healthier alternatives then they may also alter their mindset generally and choose to live healthier lifestyles in general and make better choices about other aspects of their diet. 🙂

Obviously, someone with diabetes who is receiving right support and education (another issue entirely) will be aware of what fruit they tolerate well, and in what quantities.

 

[DeusXM]

Can't imagine they have 2 million stores

Ah yes - posted the wrong number from my calculator!

I saw an estimate that Tesco had over 2,000 stores and multiplied this by 1000 per number of cashpoint users - the final ?2,500 a day figure is accurate.

It's also more convincing now that Joe's kindly posted the full number of Tesco stores - 2/3rds of Tescos having a cashpoint sounds like a very reasonable estimate.

 

[robofski]

Can't imagine they have 2 million stores - at a minimum 15 employees a store (unlikely!) that would employ the entire UK workforce! 😱

3146 stores in the UK

 

[robofski]

Their 2012 annual report says they have 3,265 ATM's

 

[ypauly]

Tesco stores from the wiki page, certainly nowhere near 2 million.


Tesco Extra

238



Tesco Superstores

481




Tesco Metro

192




Tesco Express

1,547



One Stop

639



Tesco Homeplus

12




Total

3,141


I would add that they make ?1.9 BILLION profit this year and that was considered a very bad year. They would also have to pay a security company a considerable sum to take away this money so anybodt use the cash machine or having cash back actually SAVES tesco money. I think the money they save should be donated in total not just this token sum.

 

[FM001]

as my grandmother used to say it's better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick.

There are so many charities, good causes and organisations struggling to raise money, this is at least a nod in the right direction

2 million% agree

 

[mcdonagh47]

Has anyone else noticed how Tesco claims that it donates to Diabetes UK every time someone uses their cash dispenser!

Well, the small print says they donate 0.00125 p for every usage.

So that would take 1000 uses to generate a donation of 1.25p. WOw, what generosity, or should we call it cynicism?

Even if i misread the figure, (it was very small print on the screen and a sunny day) lets say it was 0.025, still 1000 uses would generate a massive 25p.

More reasons for me to boycott Tesco!

The Diabetes UK sell out to Tesco has been discussed in detail several times - eighty years of independence, objectivity, reputation thrown away in flash on the promise of a few quid.
And the Diabetes UK website is now puffing the Tesco Diet with the word "Tesco diet" dolled out in DUK colours ...
http://www.diabetessupport.co.uk/boards/showthread.php?t=35232&highlight=tesco

a diabetes charity ( and diabetes is virtually all about food) should not have allied itself to a major food retailer. Its just a matter of principle.

 

[Andy HB]

a diabetes charity ( and diabetes is virtually all about food) should not have allied itself to a major food retailer. Its just a matter of principle.

I'd argue the opposite for exactly the same reason!

I can't think of a better reason to ally oneself with a food retailer. Get the information out to people at the point of sale. But, of course, it all depends on what the information is, I grant you.

(over to you Joe) 😉

Andy 🙂