Dammit. My Friday fish and chips ritual just got more expensive.
For years, I've been planning my weekend meals around Morrisons' discount days. Fish Fridays and Steak Saturdays were practically sacred institutions for loyal More Card holders, offering that sweet 20% discount at their Market Street counters. Not anymore. The supermarket giant has quietly axed both promotions, and let me tell you - people aren't taking it well.
I first noticed something was off last weekend when the usual discount didn't apply. Thought it was just a glitch until the bloke behind the counter confirmed my worst fears. Gone. Just like that.
Why mess with a good thing?
Morrisons claims customers wanted "value all week-long" rather than specific day discounts. Really? Because the Facebook comments tell a different story. One shopper wrote: "You have finished with 20% off the fish Friday and Steak Saturday not happy." Another questioned: "Are Morrisons stopping the 20% Fish Fridays and Steak Saturdays? Manager last week told me they were stopping it, offers no longer showing on the app!"
Instead of these beloved discounts, they've added 125 fish and steak products to their three for £10 offer. Which, fine, is available everyday... but it's not teh same as getting that fresh cut from the counter, is it?
The slow death of the counter experience
This comes after Morrisons recently announced the closure of 70 fish and meat counters nationwide. I've shopped at my local Morrisons since 2017, and those counters with their "Market Street" branding were what made it different from other supermarkets.
God. Remember when supermarket shopping felt more personal?
A Morrisons spokesman insists they'll continue offering "great value" deals, like their recent discount of a third off Market Street Sirloin Steak over the last May Bank Holiday weekend. They had a third off Rump Steak last weekend (May 9-11), and a third off Silverside Joint between May 12-18.
But here's the kicker - these deals are available on the shelves, not from the meat counters where you could get exactly what you wanted, cut fresh.
The corporate speak that fools nobody
Their official statement reads: "Market street is an important part of Morrisons and we are working hard to maintain what customers really want, modernising our proposition and maintaining what is in our DNA as a company."
Translation: We're cutting costs and hoping you won't notice too much.
I spoke with my neighbor Janet (who's worked at Morrisons for 8 years) about this yesterday. Her response: "Management keeps saying it's what customers want, but we're hearing complaints every single day."
Everyone's doing it...
Morrisons isn't alone in disappointing its loyal customers. Tesco recently hiked its Finest dine-in meal deal from £12 to £15. M&S pulled the same move with its Gastropub dine-in deal last October - a 25% increase! And Tesco's Finest ready meals deal has crept up from £7.50 to £8, and now to £8.50 with a Clubcard.
It's death by a thousand cuts for our grocery budgets.
So what's left of the More Card scheme?
The loyalty scheme, which Morrisons reintroduced in 2023, still lets customers collect points on specific products (not everything, mind you). Once you've saved 5,000 points, you get a £5 Morrisons voucher for a future shop.
You can earn points like:
• 100 More Points for every five pack of doughnuts (89p)
• 500 More Points for every £5 spent at the pizza counter
• 600 More Points for every £6 spent in a Morrisons café
• 100 More Points for every British BBQ meat pack from the butcher's counter
The one positive change? Loyalty card holders can now donate their points to Marie Curie charity, with 1,000 points equaling £1.
I spent £78 at Morrisons last week adn walked away with a whopping 320 points. At this rate, I'll get my £5 voucher sometime next century.
The loyalty game elsewhere
Meanwhile, Tesco's Clubcard now lets you exchange points for money off at PizzaExpress until the end of April, with points worth double their usual value. And Sainsbury's has added new security features to its Nectar app to prevent points theft - probably the only loyalty scheme change that actually benefits customers lately.
Listen. I get that businesses need to make money. But these loyalty schemes are starting to feel less about rewarding loyalty and more about collecting our shopping data while giving less and less in return.
I'll still shop at Morrisons because it's convenient, but my weekend meal planning just got a little less special.
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A budget deficit occurs when a government's expenditures exceed its revenues over a specific period, usually a fiscal year. This can lead to increased borrowing and national debt if not addressed through spending cuts or revenue increases.
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Money is a medium of exchange that facilitates transactions for goods and services. It serves as a unit of account, a store of value, and a standard of deferred payment, allowing individuals to compare the value of diverse products and services.
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Inflation refers to the general rise in prices over time, which erodes the purchasing power of money. As inflation increases, each unit of currency buys fewer goods and services, meaning that the value of money decreases in terms of what it can purchase.
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Saving typically involves setting aside money in a secure account for short-term needs or emergencies, while investing involves using money to purchase assets like stocks or real estate with the expectation of generating a return over the long term. Investing carries higher risks but offers the potential for greater rewards.
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Statistics
- As of 2021, the average student loan debt for recent graduates was approximately $30,000, according to the Federal Reserve.
- A survey by the American Psychological Association found that 72% of Americans reported feeling stressed about money at some point in the past month.
- According to the World Bank, around 1.7 billion adults worldwide remain unbanked, lacking access to basic financial services.
- According to a survey by the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA), about 66% of Americans could not correctly answer four basic financial literacy questions.
- A report by Bankrate indicated that only 29% of Americans have a written financial plan.
- The average cost of raising a child in the U.S. is estimated to be around $233,610, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
- According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American spends about $1,500 per year on coffee.
- A study by the National Endowment for Financial Education found that 60% of Americans do not have a budget.
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