None Watering Policy Of High Street Shops

On the face of it's great to see so many high street shops stocking plants, many at bargain prices, but why oh why do they insist on a none watering policy, what's the point!!!

Last year I praised our local Wilkos store on several occasions for daily watering of their plants, they even had very professional looking watering equipment, something like a wheelie bin with a hand pump and hose pipe/watering attachment. This year I haven't seen them water anything and the plants are wilting far quicker than they can sell them.

Home Bargains have some great plants in at great prices but are kept inside so not watered, Family Bargains and B&M keep them outside but still not watered.

Aldi is by far the worst, they even look like they come in dry, are not watered and within a few days of new stock coming in it looks like its fit for nothing more the compost heap, yet it stays sat there at full asking price!!!

Sorry for the rant but its a crying shame to see many plants wasted when a little watering at the beginning of each day is all thats needed

 

I had no idea that it was actually policy not to water - daft.

 

I think it's the same with every store aldi, B&M, home bargains makes your blood boil
If you can't be bothered to water them let me take them home and care for them properly For free or a knocked down price

 

I agree. What upsets me the most about it is that somebody, somewhere, will have carefully nurtured that plant from seed/cutting until its strong enough to leave the 'intensive care' of the nursery and go out into the big bad world, only for someone to let it die before it even reaches someone's garden.

 

I wonder if these discount stores are not really watering them on money saving grounds and are using the health and safety as an excuse really.

 

Why don't they just sell them at the discounted price when they arrive at the store, and not order as much, at my local Morrisons they use capillary matting.
The staff must arrive before the store opens why dont they water the plants then and just before the store closes, are is that to simple.

 

Its all about marketing. In particular the psychological manipulation of the customers before they even walk through the door, or if that's not practical, then as soon as possible after they're walked through the door.

It was figured out a long time ago that people spend more when they feel good, and it was also figured a long time ago that natural stuff makes people feel good. This is why your journey through the supermarket usually starts off the same regardless of the shop. The very first thing you'll see, depending on the time of year, is all the lovely plants. Ooh luck, spring must be here. Its the end of the grey days. That's good. Then lo, there be all the fresh fruit and veg looking delicious and healthy in all the bright colours. By the time you're past all that, you're well and truly in a buying mood.

I'm pretty sure that the plants are often loss leaders. Some of them are sold so cheap that its hard to see how they can directly contribute to the shop's profits. Even if they somehow find enough margin to put a few pence on, by the time you factor in storage and handling, they can't be profitable. Yet there they are, making customers feel like they've just walked into a shop that is fresh and full of the joys of spring and the perfect place to buy your box of frozen roadkill nuggets and beans from.

 

This morning at B&M I saw the remnants of what were really great plants a while ago, wilting and dying. QD Stores are another culprit.

Yes, Morrisons plants always seem OK (+ have some good deals), perhaps as they sell buckets of flowers they're not afraid of handling water?

 

I have found that Morrisons always water their stock, the staff even seem to have a bit of knowledge regarding what they sell, have over heard correct advice many times. Well done to them!

 

Fair point. I've had a few cheap trees out of our Morrisons and they all lived.

 

They never water plants in the Morrisons I use, cant comment on other places as I dont use them.
If I want to buy plants, in general, I go to a place that sells plants as a living.

So if I should buy the odd plant in Morrisons its usually been delivered on the day before, after that it's passed its sell by date, which is how these places operate, if its not sold in two days it gets binned.
They apply the same thinking to plants as they do to a meat pie.

 

QD is my favourite store for getting knocked down dying plants. A couple of years back I got a fennel and common thyme plant for 10p. Just needed a bit of watering and a bit of TLC and they are still going strong in the garden 2 years later.

Something which hasn't been mentioned in this thread yet is that I've seen plants also be the victim of overwatering too, mostly in DIY stores like homebase. Plants like lavenders, alpines like thrifts and herbs like thyme all suffer because they haven't been given ideal conditions, usually shade and lots of water. I think staff should be educated to prevent loses of plants like this. But again I get cheap plants to rear back to help.

 

I've seen the watering of the outside plants at BQ - they have an automatic sprinkler system that drenches the entire yard (closed to public during watering), but the plants on lower shelves still gets missed and the plants reduced. I've only seen it happening once so suspect it's normally on an automatic timer set to out of opening hours.