Colleague shop new question

[dfl]

If your a member of staff but on your day off can you still be disciplined for going to store at say 8:15 to pickup some bargains prior to charities coming in for it, and then doing all your other shopping right up till 9pm to get the CS stuff for free, i mean i get if your on shift you should never put stuff aside and i dont but what about in the scenario I've just mentioned ? Thanks for any opinions on this, or even quote of the actual rules

[NightAndDay]

If by picking up some bargains you mean paying for reduced items then no, you can't be disciplined, if you have been, get it in writing and appeal keeping any documentation and once the appeal overturns the disciplinary, put in a grievance against the manager.

The CS stuff is a grey area, you shouldn't get them for free, rather you would pay a nominal amount for them that it's basically free, but again, it's intended for employees on the shift, not ones coming in on their day off.

[SpaceMonkey123]

Colleague shop policy says that placing Colleague Shop products into your trolley for an excessive amount of time prior to store closure is a behaviour that is against the policy. Also the colleague Clubcard policy says that any reduced items must be paid for immediately. Read into this what you will. The policies are a bit woolly.

[lucgeo]

I think DFL is saying the RTC priced stock is put into trolley before the 9 pm cut off time, then scanning after 9pm cut off and getting as free 

Are there any written ruling or guidelines that non shift workers are not entitled to the free stock? I doubt it as they are able to buy at reduced price as a customer and get discount.

I'm thinking this is a scenario similar to staff hiding stock to get for free? If a colleague is taking a selection from the shelf and storing in their trolley whilst continuing to shop, biding the 9 pm cut off time, then it could be classed as the same.

[lucgeo]

There you go...SpaceMonkey123 had the answer posted just as I was writing 

[oldfashionedplayer]

from asking colleague help before, you can grab items on your day off, or just as general shopping, you can't however purchase them while your not on your break if your working.. so if you are working like a 4pm to midnight, you can't go and purchase them at 9pm without taking your break, You must be on your break for it otherwise your using work time.. break is considered a customer (so shouldn't be in the back area getting stock for yourself or others etc)

as for time it's always been a gray area.. you always get the response of "extended period of time" but the time has never been defined, so it can always be argued what is Extended, the main thing is that if your grabbing them with a cs at like 7:30pm and then waiting around until 9pm for it to go to CS free, then yes, that would be considered... whilst if you've got them and then done your shopping and so happen to land past 9pm then that's just taking your sweet ass time... but then if your not on shift, you should be subject to the 2 hour rule for the carparks too... so if you drive its whether a few items are worth a ticket?

all in all though, always a grey area and a case by case basis it seems for judgement on it what is excessive.. since policies of colleague clubcard and colleague shop misalign for information on what's acceptable usage for time.

[1982dave]

Well on a Sunday esp in my store it's a nightmare with cs items members of staff have been reported for there behaviour we have one lady and her son who work on diff depts finish at 2 pm they get a trolly each  we tend to get the bakery stuff reduced first  the last Sunday I was in they had a trolly filled with various items they both hung around waited for fresh items to get finished they are normally brought out about 3pm due to the amount by the time the fresh was brought out and they had there way 2 trollers of just colleague shop no normal items the shift leader on challenged the staff to the point they had a argument on shop floor as the one member of staff took offence to shift leader telling her should you be doing this and do you need all of that to the best of my knowledge they were reported and oddly I've not seen either since

[londoner83]

We had a issue too on Sundays with a colleague from another store emptying all the reduction cabinets at 2pm then wandering around to get it all free by going to the tills after 3pm claiming they were shopping (despite never picking up any full priced items)

After reviewing their actions over a few weeks we pulled them aside and said we believed what they were doing was wrong, as their actions were denying multiple other staff the chance to get the odd free item. We also questioned why they didn't do this at their own store....

Unsurprisingly we have never seen them back since.

[dfl]

My point is can disciplinary ever be levelled at an off shift colleague going into a store say 20:10 picking up loads of cs and then hitting the tills at 2100, my view is when off shift the colleague isn't liable for disciplinary as they arent working at the time, and in all fairness other non employees (olio) they can get it free at 20:30

[1982dave]

It doesn't really matter if you have clocked out or not there is a policy there the years I've worked for this company I've allways been told you get what u want and signed at till if ya having to take ya break and get it then the staff I mention in my previous comment they were reported for keeping stock near enough 2 trolley full they finished at 2 pm on Sunday and waited till 3pm  and I've not seen either in weeks .. I've also known people get fired for stashing cs reduced stuff for there selfs so to say it's a grey area is a understatement and for staff involved it hasn't ended well for them

[FarmerFred]

My point is can disciplinary ever be levelled at an off shift colleague going into a store say 20:10 picking up loads of cs and then hitting the tills at 2100, my view is when off shift the colleague isn't liable for disciplinary as they arent working at the time, and in all fairness other non employees (olio) they can get it free at 20:30

Being on or off shift is irrelevant because you are making use of and potentially abusing privileges provided as part of your employment. It's also worth remembering that things like the social media policy apply outside of working hours too.

[oldfashionedplayer]

if you read your terms, your still liable to follow and uphold all practices, and if you use social media then you have to be "good" on it, as if you are say racist or discriminatory, just because its your views, your still representing the company as a colleague, and "your views" are there for everyone else to see... so liking and sharing stuff on facebook can come under the social media policy if you do get noticed on it... .

so whether you are on shift, or off shift picking up Colleague Shop items, the same principles apply, don't take too much, if you pick something up at 8:10 from CS, and then deliberately hang around not doing anything but waiting then yes, that's misconduct for it, but if you have a trolley picking up items beforehand, come across it and grab a few bits, and you keep shopping adding stuff to your trolley for the next like hour and its now 9:10 when you go to checkouts, you then have some ground to stand on for not abusing it but instead just gone over the timeframe...

most stores won't be bothered as it stops them counting against their waste and stuff, but some will be more bothered if colleagues raise it or you have a  of a manager etc... but I guess if you do want to be on the safer side, grab it when you are then going to head to checkout, not first before shopping..

like i've said before, there is plenty of loopholes in the policies regarding it etc for time and how much you can take, but grabbing like 90 mins beforehadn and waiting won't do you any favours vs grabbing 30 mins and a bit of shopping will.

[lucgeo]

If these people worked in my store, they'd only do it the once...guaranteed the other colleagues would have pulled them up on it for being grabbing barstools.
They would have loudly been named and shamed!

[dfl]

Generally what i have done is as described, i have went in on my day off about 20:10 and picked up quite a lot, but also every time i do that i do go round and do my standard shop as well, generally this is what i do nearly every time just after pay day which also maximises discount on "paid for shopping", so in my case its not just free bargains i go to checkout with.

[oldfashionedplayer]

Pretty much what most of ours do and haven't been pulled up on it, it's when you are just blatantly holding it waiting is when it's more of an issue in my opinion.

[1982dave]

Been told the same there's no issue if you pay for said items straight away but if you hold onto the items then there's issues .. when the 2 staff in my store emptied what they could at 2 pm on the Sunday cs stuff and waited till 3 there was issues like I said shift leader immediately reported them to management and I've not seen either since same shift leader has warned people are being watched cba with it

[Babs]

Maybe if Tesco would actually let colleagues use this so called perk, before olio collect before 9, then staff may not feel the need to stash stock etc...
Those that need it can't get it... at the end of the day what's left isn't much good anyway!
Just let staff have it

[BigBlueCo]

You are not a colleague when not working,  you are a customer and not bound by terms and conditions

[oldfashionedplayer]

Wrong blue, just because your a customer when not working, doesn't mean you aren't bound to any Terms and conditions, if you read your contract and the like social media policies etc, they say you still represent the company  even whilst out of uniform, your actions can still lead to dismissal - if your spouting c**p on twitter and Facebook at people being abusive and it gets picked up, you give the company a bad image for having you, so. If you get noticed by media or police etc, chances are your likely to lose your job over it...

So don't think that just because you aren't at work doesn't mean you are okay, still bound to uphold "values" and follow the normal policies as though you were working, but not go into areas where a customer wouldn't be allowed etc.

So you'd still run into trouble with colleague shop and using that as an excuse of "I wasn't working I'm not bound by the terms and conditions" - they are more likely to give you a heavier punishment than a "this is the rule, don't do it again" scenario

[FarmerFred]

If you're just a customer and no longer a "colleague" when off duty then surely you wouldn't be entitled to make use of colleague privileges such as colleague shop....

[lucgeo]

You are not a colleague when not working,  you are a customer and not bound by terms and conditions

By that logic, you're not a colleague but a customer, therefore not entitled to free CS items!
Can't have it both ways 

[person7]

Yeara ago the CS stuff used to be put in a fridge only staff working could access.

The reason they changed this to shop floor is SPECIFICALLY so staff in other Tesco stores could buy even in other stores or.days they not working to reduce waste.

At least thats what my managers all said an email from.head office said

[chris9997]

You are not a colleague when not working,  you are a customer and not bound by terms and conditions

By that logic, you're not a colleague but a customer, therefore not entitled to free CS items!
Can't have it both ways 

That is rubbish thinking, in other words when you are not working you can not use your collegue card as you are a customer according to you but when you are working you can not use your collegue card either ( you are supposed to be weorking not buying)

[FarmerFred]

Yeara ago the CS stuff used to be put in a fridge only staff working could access.

The reason they changed this to shop floor is SPECIFICALLY so staff in other Tesco stores could buy even in other stores or.days they not working to reduce waste.

At least thats what my managers all said an email from.head office said

It was to allow stock the maximum opportunity to sell by remaining on shop floor rather than sitting out back. It also improved the stock accounting as the transactions are recorded through the tills rather than someone scanning it all off as CS to avoid breaching waste targets... or so the theory goes.

[flowerpower]

A couple of weeks ago member of staff from another tesco came emptied shelfs of fresh chicken at least 8 packs also beef joints pork joints etc salad cream cakes bragging they had cleared the shelfs of Cs products there was a lot that day unusual amount to be honest trolly was full they saved £180. Members of staff still working in our store didn't get a look in