I’ve let myself slip into the mire of Supermarket Britain

Upon perusing my bank statement this morning, I discovered an alarming and,  frankly, quite frightening thing.  My account details hadn’t been stolen.  My card hadn’t been copied and used to purchase 7000 copies of Grizzly Guys magazine or purchase me that Thai Bride I’ve always dreamed of. The problem was this…

My last 12 transactions over a 12 day period read:

Morrison, ASDA, Morrison, Morrison, Morrison, Sainsbury, Tesco, Sainsbury, Morrison, Sainsbury, Morrison, Morrison.

Now if you didn’t count that one of these transactions was for petrol after I’d been to the supermarket, the mathematically astute of you would already know that it pretty much means I go to the supermarket EVERY DAY!

This is a sorry state of affairs for two reasons; 1. Because my life seems to involve nothing else but visiting the scourge of local business (I really need to start treating myself a little), and 2. I’ve allowed myself to slip into this mire.

I think the biggest problem I have with this situation is that I’ve let myself slide into a comfort zone, letting the ‘big four’ provide for me, with no real regard for local businesses or the people who run them.  Worse than this is that I’m sure I’m not the only one.  I can imagine that this has happened to thousands of people in a time where local businesses need us more than ever.

It’s not too much effort for me to drive to Bath Road to go to the butcher, or to visit my local farm shop (where I’ve actually found that a lot of things are cheaper) to make a few odd purchases.  Hell, I might even find that I get to know the proprietor rather than just see a bunch of nametags whose only care is their next pay cheque.

It’s not new year but consider this my resolution; To go out of my way, out of my comfort zone, to make sure that local #glosbiz get some of my custom, and I hope you try to do the same.

P.S. Ignore the Google Ad that will no doubt appear below linking to Ocado or something. It’s against message!