Marks and Spencer is known for its high-quality food, but it can also be a pricey place to shop
Summer has well and truly arrived in the UK, and the glorious sunshine is the ideal excuse to grab your picnic blanket and pop to the supermarket to stock up on all your favourite treats. Marks and Spencer has long held its crown as the go-to destination for goodies and “picky bits”, yet it’s equally well known for being rather pricey.
Nobody wants to wince at their receipt after a food shop, so I’ve worked out a savvy trick to save money at M&S simply by timing your visit right. Having worked at the M&S bakery during my university days, I discovered that staff tend to stick to a particular schedule when it comes to slapping on those all-important yellow sticker discounts.
For the uninitiated, many stores attach yellow stickers to items nearing their expiry date, selling them at a hefty reduction to shift stock.
I now make a point of only heading to my local M&S at certain times of day to bag a load of yellow sticker bargains, meaning I can pick up my favourite food without fretting over the cost.
What is the best time to visit M&S for yellow sticker discounts?
Many shoppers might presume the ideal time to hunt for discounts is right at the end of the day just before closing, but in my experience, this is actually the worst time to go bargain hunting.
Staff on the closing shift typically have a mountain of tasks to get through before the next trading day, and during my time at M&S, yellow stickers were only applied during the quieter spells on the shop floor. Instead, the yellow stickers were typically applied by overnight shift workers after the store had shut.
This means the absolute prime time to snap up yellow-sticker deals is first thing in the morning, and visiting M&S as soon as it opens at around 9am is the best way to bag as many bargains as possible.
Another ideal time to pop into M&S is during the late afternoon, between 3pm and 5pm, as this is frequently when shifts change and incoming staff begin slapping on the yellow-sticker reductions.
Whenever visiting M&S, aiming to arrive at around 4pm is a solid strategy, as this is often when many lunch items get marked down. In most cases, it’s one of the finest opportunities to pick up sandwiches and salads at a knocked-down price.
However, it’s worth noting that managers would always instruct staff to stop applying yellow stickers if customers began congregating nearby waiting for them.
Large crowds can obstruct aisles, but more crucially, yellow-sticker reductions can occasionally prompt shoppers to snatch items straight from staff members’ hands or behave in other disrespectful ways.
Hassling a retail worker over a discounted sausage roll simply isn’t on, so if you spot a member of staff applying yellow stickers, give them plenty of room and be courteous so they can get the job done without being disturbed.
It’s also worth bearing in mind that every M&S store runs slightly differently, so markdown times can differ from branch to branch.
If you pop in during a quieter spell and politely ask a member of staff, they may well be happy to let you know when yellow-sticker deals typically hit the shelves.
A bit of politeness can go a long way — not only does it make things easier for retail workers, but it could also help you snap up a bargain next time you’re on the hunt for discounted goodies.
