As the UK’s cost-of-living crisis worsens, Tesco employees are utilizing security barricades to defend themselves from shoppers waiting to take discounted yellow sticker items from their hands before they hit the shelves.
Photos depict employees trapped behind yellow barriers with “do not enter” warnings while affixing reduced price tags to merchandise.
The Sun reports that employees at one location in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex, warned management that they did not feel safe.
Some Morrison’s stores have used the same strategy. Tesco is not the only supermarket erecting barriers to safeguard employees.
A representative for Morrison’s told Mail Online, “The barriers were employed during Covid to safeguard the health of our employees, and some stores have continued to use them since then.”
The barriers in Tesco are optional and are utilized at a store’s discretion to ensure that employees have sufficient area to apply discounts.
Similar obstacles have been deployed in the supermarket on multiple occasions over the past few years, but most recently during one of the biggest cost of living crises in decades, characterized by increasing food, gasoline, energy bills, rent, and mortgages prices.
Helen Dickinson of the British Retail Consortium stated, “We saw an increase in aggression and abuse against retail workers during the epidemic, but since then it has only gotten worse.”
Tesco raised the price of its meal package from £3.50 to £3.90 last week, marking the first price hike for Clubcard members in a decade as the economic crisis intensifies.
The midday combo of entrée, beverage, and snack has increased from £3 to £3.40 for Clubcard holders and from £3.50 to £3.90 for those without a Clubcard. The modification became effective in stores on Monday, October 24.
And the remarkable spike in the cost of living in Britain was revealed last month by inflation estimates revealing that the price of commodities such as milk, butter, cheese, meat, and bread rose by up to 42% in the preceding month – the highest rates since 1980.
A year ago, millions of people paid 20p more for two pints of milk, 30p more for a package of pasta, 30p more for six free-range eggs, and 40p more for a block of aged cheese.
The official inflation numbers from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reveal that the cost of every category of food and drink increased in September, as did the cost of electricity.
The experts predict that by the end of 2022, the average family will have spent £4,960 in supermarkets, an increase of £380 from 2021.
The categories with the greatest price increases were dairy goods, fats, and oils. Skimmed and semi-skimmed milk increased by 42.1% in September, while whole milk increased by 30.2%.
Margarine increased by 30.5%, butter by 28%, sunflower oil by 28%, and olive oil by 27.5%. The price of eggs has grown by 22% while the price of ready-made meals has increased by 19%.
Cereals and flour have increased by 29.6%, pasta by 22.7%, and a loaf of bread by 14.6%. The sales of frozen vegetables have increased by 20%, sauces and condiments by 22.1%, and jams, honey, and marmalades by 28%.
In a glimmer of good news, however, chocolate, wine, and beer have experienced moderate price rises of between 2% and 5%. Nevertheless, mineral water is up 21% while coffee and tea are up between 12 and 13%.
A report reveals that as a result of the cost of living crisis, three in five Britons are now struggling to pay their bills.
Sixty percent of UK adults, or about 32 million, claim that the growing cost of food, electricity, fuel, mortgages, rent, and other costs is pushing them to the brink.
This is a significant rise of 6 million since a similar study conducted in 2020.
According to a poll by the Financial Conduct Authority, nearly 8 million consumers find it difficult to pay their bills on time.
This is a 2.5 million increase since 2020, when 5.3 million stated that maintaining payments was detrimental to their financial and emotional health.
* Have you ever had reduced items stolen from you at the grocery store? Email danya.bazaraa@mailonline.co.uk