hehe ... for sure, there are far far fewer mistakes, misprices and cockups these days - the IT systems have been refined to self-audit and look for suspicious activity. Plus some of the laws have no doubt been adjusted to better reflect the online shopping experience.

And now that everyone has joined every possible loyalty scheme, giving our shopping data to the corporate overlords, then they can start to pare down the benefits on offer.

I recall Tesco had 'smart' recycling machines where you'd get points for putting in old can and plastic bottles. One couple scoured their area for discarded drink cans and bottles and collected hundreds. Then they found the machine would accept cans cut in half (as a whole can). Ended up getting enough points to pay for a foreign holiday. Their success was in the local papers, Tesco closed and removed the machines soon after.

Somebody referred to the process as 'enshitification'.

On all sorts of products credit cards, energy deals, loyalty cards, bank accounts, various benefits are offered. Over a period of time these are eroded, or removed completely.

When I first got a Tesco Clubcard, you got two points for every £ spent. Rewards were up to 4x the point value.

On top of that, I would frequently (bizarrely frequently to be honest) get vouchers at check out for £5-£10 on a £40-£70 spend.

The 2x points went, then the vouchers dried up, then the max reward ratio went from 4x to 3x, then it went down to two times.

So the spend/reward ratio is no a quarter of what it was and there are no 'cash' vouchers.

They also very quietly reduced or removed the points obtained from spending on a Tesco credit card.