Unidentified item in the bagging area

I was listening to Radio 4 this morning, as I do, being a devotee of R4's output, and there was an item on Woman's Hour about shopping. More to the point about the rise and fall of the privately owned department store and how the nearest we get nowadays to a personal shopping experience is that blasted computerised voice on those ghastly self-service checkouts (and why isn't it cheaper if we are doing all the work ourselves huh?) telling us off for having an unidentified item in the bagging area. Aaargh!! All of which got me thinking about how cross I'm becoming with Tesco these days and how impotent it makes me feel becuase I don't actually have anywhere else much to go. Well apart from Asda and that's just another conglomeration - just an American one instead of a British one.

There is a Tesco Express at my nearest 'village' centre about ten minutes walk from my home. . Being a non-driver and living alone this has been very handy for me. I pootle off with my bright pink floral shopping trolley to get my bits and pieces. But over recent weeks and months I've noticed that they are slowly removing all their own brand products (the ones I always bought) and replacing them with premium brands. So no more Tesco olives - only Crespo ones. Now I love Crespo olives but being as how I get through an olive grove a week, own brand olives it had to be.

The same has now happened with breakfast cereals; no longer is there a Tesco own-line cereal to be seen. And so it goes on.

This is obviously a deliberate policy by Tesco and it's deplorable! I'm furious about it but what can I do? I could write to Tesco yes, but that will have what effect exactly? As I said, without a car it's not so easy to go anywhere else except to another conglom.

Even the medium sized Sainsbury's in the town centre is getting in on the act. Since the Tesco Metro stopped stocking chilli flavoured olive oil (to which I'm addicted) I've been happily buying a Sainsbury's own brand one from their store in the town centre for many months now.  Off I trot there last week to replensish stocks and what do I find? Do I find the Sainsbury's own brand at £1.99? NO I DO NOT! I find a premium brand in its place at twice the price. I have to buy this because there is nowhere else to go!!

You are all making billions. It's hard enough for the rest of us. Please pack it in!
Or there will be something unidentified in the baggage area and it won't be a customer's own shopping bag. It'll  be an irate me having finally lost the plot!

As an aside, I can't help thinking that 'Unidentified item in the bagging area' would be a great title for a story or a short play. It only needs a plot to go with it!

I seem to be developing a knack for coming with titles/bare bones of stories but with bugger all else to go with them. Not so much a mojo as a mo perhaps? :-(