Dean Mayhew thought he had secured the ultimate loyalty hack when he permanently inked his Tesco Clubcard barcode onto his wrist. Years later, the 34-year-old scaffolder from Bideford, Devon, no longer buys his family’s large grocery hauls at the supermarket, pointing to soaring household expenses driven by inflation, broader economic pressures, and the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
Mayhew originally got the QR code tattooed on July 16, 2022, by artist Dan Rossetter at A Star Tattoo in Chessington, Surrey. Despite his shift in shopping habits, Mayhew said the ink still functions perfectly at the checkout, though cashiers are frequently surprised. “Sometimes when I go in there, the cashier doesn’t believe it’s real — I have to tell them ‘just scan it please!’ and they’re shocked,” he said.
While the barcode remains scannable for occasional purchases, Mayhew’s large grocery bills have moved elsewhere. He estimated that a basic midweek shop for a few days of food at the supermarket was reaching around £200, prompting him to abandon weekly trips there for more than a year. “I don’t even shop at Tesco anymore, they’re a rip off,” he said. He now restricts his visits to occasional lunch meal deals, noting that the £3.50 price for a sandwich, crisps, and a drink remains a reliable bargain.
Recent market research from consumer group Which? sheds light on shifting supermarket pricing structures across the UK. In an analysis of 93 popular branded and own-brand grocery items—including essentials like milk, cheese, and Hovis sliced bread—Asda emerged cheaper for a standard weekly shop at £186.71, compared to £193.45 at Tesco without a loyalty card. Applying Tesco’s loyalty card pricing brought their basket total down to £187.71.
Despite abandoning his former supermarket of choice and facing broader economic pressures, Mayhew maintains that he harbours no ill feelings toward his permanent body modification. “It’s in the past, you know. And it’s a conversation starter. It’s just a laugh isn’t it,” he said.
Meanwhile, retail security analysts continue to monitor wider vulnerabilities across the grocery sector. British cyber chiefs remain on alert following incidents in several European countries where hackers remotely targeted supermarket refrigeration systems, cranking in-store chiller temperatures as high as 55 degrees Celsius and spoiling millions of euros worth of food in successive weeks.
