I saved Argos £1.5m and all I got was a measly £10 voucher
AN Argos delivery driver has claimed he helped the company save £1.5million – only to be sent a £10 gift card as a thank you.
Mark Heslehurst, 52, came up with a range of business suggestions after Sainsbury’s took over the catalogue firm last year.
Employees had been asked to email ideas to the supermarket’s chairman Mike Coupe. So Mr Heslehurst, who earns £7.66 an hour, proposed Argos vans only filled up at Sainsbury’s petrol stations.
The part-time driver, from Middlesbrough, claims a senior manager estimated savings of £1.5million were made after the idea was taken up. Mr Heslehurst said: ‘Some ideas they liked, some they discussed and some they rebuffed, which was fair enough. One which stuck was Argos vans using only Sainsbury’s petrol stations to refuel.
‘The chairman of Argos wrote to me thanking me for my ideas. Five months later, a circular [email] was sent to all Argos workers informing them of the new policy to only fill up at Sainsbury’s petrol stations.’ A senior manager at Sainsbury’s informed him that a large number of company drivers were now doing exactly that. It is thought that money is saved on petrol because profit on sales no longer goes to other firms.
The single father, who cares for 14-year- old son Edward, said he was later called into the office and given a voucher of £10 as a token of thanks.
Mr Heslehurst, who had previously run his own business school with branches in the UK and France, said he had hoped that the suggestion would lead to a promotion.
‘While the voucher was a nice gesture, I was a bit irked by that because I’m a part time driver on minimum wage and I’m aware how much money the
‘I am a little disappointed’
idea has saved them. I was kind of hoping there would be some advancement career-wise, so I am little disappointed.
‘I really do like my job – I enjoy working there and have met some brilliant people, I just thought there was a discrepancy between £1.5million and £10.’
The £1.4billion takeover was designed to help the businesses compete with the high street and online rivals such as US giant Amazon. The buyout helped Sainsbury’s enjoy 11 per cent increase in revenues in its last financial year. An Argos spokesman thanked Mr Heslehurst but said the idea had already been thought up.
She added: ‘ We always appreciate colleague feedback. On this occasion we already had the measures which were suggested in place.’