Should supermarkets be banned from selling plants

Has anyone else noticed that typically, the first thing you encounter when you enter a supermarket is the fresh fruit and veg section, or in more recent years, plants?

That's no coincidence. Huge studies and analyses go into planning the layout to extract the most money possible from customers. They're businesses after all.

They figured out years ago that if customers 'feel good' they spend more, and putting the fresh fruit and veg at the front evokes a feel good factor at the primal level, probably genetically programmed into us from our hunter gatherer ancestors.

I'm going to hazard a guess that the purpose of the addition of live plants is not to increase profit by selling plants, but I suspect it ties into the many studies that have shown time and time ago that the sight of foliage lifts moods, again, making the customers more happy to spend.

 

However, the sight of dying foliage tends not to lift the mood...

 

To add to the conversation, interestingly Morrisons is probably the only supermarket to actually own a growing facility (since 2020), part of their investment in vertical integration that presumably will eventually be taken apart by the new owners because of the massive debt they're financing. I suppose driven as well by the red tape of Brexit.

I really don't understand how they have failed over the years to capitalise on promoting their manufacturing capability, as they can keep a more tight control on standards and cost...it really helped them not sell horse instead of beef a few years ago...unlike Tesco and ASDA.

Supermarket is buying Lansen’s

 

First things first.
This is a gardening forum, it shouldn't be used as a platform to air views, rightly or wrongly, on whether shops should sell plants because they die. That to me is a first world problem. the subject of sustainability of natural resources and what happens to our discarded waste is not. But, it's a very emotive subject which starts getting into political views...which do not have a place here.
There are plenty of other forums to discuss these matters if you're interested in them.
I suggest this thread be locked as they never end in anything other than a bun fight

 

Oh come on....the selling of plants is most definitely a subject relevant to a gardening forum! May I (very respectfully) suggest that you don't read it if it upsets you?

 

And yet so much we do call gardening is political as it interfaces with the wider world, be it habitat conservation, racism or climate change. Don't see why it should disqualify it as a subject as long as it doesn't turn into a mud slinging match.

 

One more comment from me regarding supermarkets selling plants. Nurseries and garden centres have a wider range of plants and look after them better, but a lot of them just aren't accessible to people who don't drive/have a car and can't get someone else to take them or fetch stuff for them (or don't like to ask). Just recently I've noticed a lot of elderly people around here coming out of Morrisons or Aldi or B&M, the three "big" shops in our village, with one or two packs of bedding plants in the basket of their mobility scooters. Supermarket plants give a reasonably big proportion of the population around here a lot of pleasure buying and planting a few tubs etc that they couldn't otherwise manage.

 

I agree @JennyJB a very important point. And frankly a good reason for them to try to look after them a bit so more people can buy them.

 

I don’t think supermarkets should be banned from selling plants as others have said they are a resource for non drivers etc. I just don’t see how they can make a profit from not looking after them and then having to massively reduce the price but I suppose that’s up to them. It’s a pity there isn’t a duty to care for plants properly, inspectors to enforce the duty and punishments but I imagine that would not work. I will continue to rescue what I can and enjoy getting a bargain or two

 

There would have been no dying foliage in the 3D renderings when someone was designing the layout on their computer.

 

The horticulture and agriculture sector are more political than ever before. Growers based in England are being pushed down the peat free route, one of the issues with the peat free and peat reduced growing media that growers have concerns with, water retention. Plants will be more prone to stress now, growers are having to learn to adapt, but I doubt supermarkets, discounts stores and even garden centres will be.

Due to lockdown, there was a boom in sales right across the whole horticultural sector, but the boom is over. The issue is, these stores are still placing large orders, which is contributing to the waste as the sector has normalised.

These stores have come under a lot of criticism online and on social platforms, but the response from the staff clearly shows where the problem lies, I have copied and pasted what they were saying.

One supermarket worker argued: “I don’t think people realise how hard it is to look after potted plants in a store. We have a very strict process to follow but even our best efforts aren’t often enough.”

Several other shop staff members chimed in to agree. “Some stores have such volumes of stock sent in with so few staff to oversee their upkeep that sometimes this happens. It’s as frustrating for us as it is for the customer to see such waste,” another worker added.

I have already said on this forum that my business was contracted to supply Woolworths in Cumbria and West Lancashire with bedding plants. We were not on a sale or return contract and literally no plants went to waste in the years we supplied them. It all ended with the new area manager, he told us they were adopting a no watering policy and wanted to double up on each store on a sale or return policy. When we said we would want more as there was no evidence in the previous 5 years that the stores would sell this increase in plants, he replied the price was already agreed, take it or leave it. This guy had zero knowledge about plants, so we walked away. The price had been agreed but he was changing the terms. Some of these area managers are only interested in volume sales, so they get their bonuses.

I am observant when I look at these plants, the price is of no concern to me but I do pick up on the lack of watering/care and plant passports. When they are imported there will be no sale or return policy, so they will just end up going to be recycled and if they are over ordering, that multiplies.

 

pests are the real issue, it would suddenly become very expensive for them to do things without pesticides.

i am infavour of indirect banning, not by actually stopping anyone from doing things directly (you cant sell plants) but making it as difficult as it should be when done properly (no insecticides, etc), but even that has its downsides. supermarkets selling planties isnt an issue even if 2/3rds of them die, who cares, rather disposable plastic, necessary pesticides (on their scale and staffing) and so on are. pots arent even close to the biggest in a supermarket which is just... general packaging.

WHY ARE YOUR BANANAS SOLD IN PLASTIC BAGS? THEY EVOLVED THEIR OWN PROTECTION! LIMES DONT EVEN BRUISE EASILY! this is slowly changing, toilet paper is often in paper now and so on.
well wet stuff and so on... thats a bit more difficult. but hey we did it in the past. though... even cans and so on are all plastic coated now, probably for our better health. what did they do before, just get tin poisoning? use glass i guess.

i know the soviets (stay with me) had this system where packaging containers were completely standardised and only the wrapping was customizable, the idea being with 3 types of bottle, 3 types of identical jar, etc. you could just wash them out and directly reuse them. as it is people have gotten used to "goes in the bin to be smelted". ha! that landfill exists at all is... !!!!

as it is, the only things really worth recycling are metal, clear glass and tarmac. even paper is unprofitable. plastic will never be worth recycling as oil (despite what doomsayers said for years) is so ludicrously plentiful the price is near nothing.

 

also most garden centers get their plants the same places the supermarkets do. if supermarket wants to waste money so be it.