Tesco staff and customers prep protest as retailer ‘ploughs ahead with more automation than ever before’
On Friday, 16th June, a demonstration is set to take place outside Welwyn Garden City railway station as Tesco staff and customers vent spleen about the automation of the grocery giant’s stores.
Said station has been chosen as it is where shuttle buses will be taking shareholders to Tesco’s annual general meeting.
The latter announced last year that, due to a lack of customer demand, it was to remove a number of traditional checkouts from many of its larger stores to include more self-service tills.
The new additions would be three times longer than standard sizes, allowing up to six bags to be packed at once, it claimed.
The aforementioned demonstration is part of a petition that was launched last year and has over 240,000 signatures opposing the shift to automation.
An organiser of the protest said: "Tesco is ploughing ahead with more automation than ever before.”
“Sadly, other supermarkets have joined them as we move towards a cashless society and automated check-outs. This new way of shopping is destroying jobs, disenfranchising many and making our shopping trips self-service card only.”
Tesco did not respond to our request for comment.
Whoosh
In March, Tesco reported that its rapid delivery service, Whoosh, was now available from 1,000 Express stores across the UK.
This first launched in May 2021 and is now available from half of the estate of Express convenience stores across the UK, serving 55% of UK households.
The Hammersmith Olympia Express in London became the 1,000th location to offer rapid grocery delivery to the door when it launched recently.
Whoosh offers customers the chance to order food or snacks from a curated list of 2,500 to 4,500 essential products in as little as 30 minutes, with delivery set at £2.99 for orders that cost £15 or more.
Tesco claims that the immediacy of the service and convenience of home delivery is popular with customers looking for things like a quick and easy meal deal or last minute purchases.
It has been looking at ways to improve the customer experience, with new features on the app such as 15 minute delivery window estimates and live tracking of the rider on a map.
Greg Bertrand, Head of Whoosh, said: “Our Whoosh service is rolling out at a rapid pace, opening in two Express stores a day on average this year. We’ve beaten our own target and we are seeing growing evidence that customers love the quality, speed and convenience of the service.”
“We are getting faster, and our availability is at a consistently high level. Whether it is a missing ingredient as you start to prepare a meal or ordering a Finest meal deal to eat that night, Whoosh can quickly come to the rescue.”
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