This was reported in www.foodanddrinkeurope.com – interesting in view of attention that BOGOFs as a contributor to the problem of food waste – now it‘s being argued that they also exacerbate empty running.
Transport giant Eddie Stobart has warned that the supermarket demand for two-for-one offers is placing a strain on logistics firms, and increasing the number of miles the company‘s fleet runs empty.
This was reported in www.foodanddrinkeurope.com – interesting in view of attention that BOGOFs as a contributor to the problem of food waste – now it‘s being argued that they also exacerbate empty running.
Transport giant Eddie Stobart has warned that the supermarket demand for two-for-one offers is placing a strain on logistics firms, and increasing the number of miles the company‘s fleet runs empty.
A Stobart Group spokesman told FoodManufacture.co.uk that the comments, initially made back in May when CEO Andrew Tinkler gave a lengthy interview to a journalist – were "not meant to cause a storm" and were mentioned alongside other pressures. "But it is one of the challenges facing us, it‘s true," he said, adding that short notice from supermarkets about BOGOF offers was the real problem, where it stopped the haulier from arranging other pick-ups after the delivery of food. "You might be told on Monday that that on Tuesday you will need to put several more trailers onto a job – say delivering Corn Flakes to Tesco. You might have six extra drops into Tesco, but then you have six extra trailers that are not filled on the way home."
Tinkler said in May that BOGOF demand was reducing advances made by Stobart in cutting the number of miles its fleet runs with empty trailers. He asked retailers to appreciate the volatile effects that bulk buying had on suppliers, given the former‘s prioritisation of the supply of products on two-for-one offers.
BOGOF‘s have increasingly come under attack from other quarters in recent years, most notably after the the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) published the report Food Matters: One Year On in mid 2009. This suggested replacing two-for-one deals on short-life, perishable food items with half-prices offers to cut UK consumer food waste, which the Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP), which partners food businesses to cut waste, estimated at around 8.3m tonnes per year in November 2009. However, DEFRA denied subsequent media reports that it was considering legislating on the issue, and in 2009 the European Court of Justice ruled that Member States do not have the power to ban such promotions, which are outlawed under the relevant directive.
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