New Tesco HouseWaltham Cross, Hertfordshire, EN8 9SL England+44-03456719464 † FTSE 100 (June 30, 2016) #403 in FT Global 500 (June 2015) TESCO PLC Company Profile Tesco is the #1 retailer in the UK and one of the top retailers in the world by annual sales behind Wal-Mart and Carrefour. Tesco and its subsidiaries have more than 7,800 stores in 14 countries in Europe, Asia, and North America, with about half located in the UK. Although built on the "pile it high, sell it cheap" creed of founder Sir Jack Cohen, Tesco abandoned its discount format to become a multi-format retailer in stores and online. Among its banners are Tesco Extra superstores; Tesco Express, Tesco Metro, and One Stop convenience stores; and Homeplus hypermarket, small express, and virtual stores in South Korea.It's easy to feel like we're all just cogs in some corporation's cash printing machine. Even when they offer us a deal, we assume that at some level, they're still making out like bandits.

Yet sometimes companies screw up so badly that you wonder if they, like us, are just making it all up as they go along. How else do you explain ... 5McDonald's and the Olympics Remember that Simpsons episode where Krusty Burger ran a huge promotion for the 1984 Olympics promising they'd give away burgers for every medal the Americans won? Krusty got steadily more enraged as the U.S. won event after event ("I will personally spit in every 50th burger!"). Well, that totally happened.This time, real life did it. In 1984, the Olympics came back to the United States, and McDonald's went all-in with their sponsorship of the games. To show their confidence in the U.S. Olympic team, Mickey-D's came up with the "If the U.S. wins, you win!" promotion. Customers got scratch pieces with an Olympic event printed on them. If the Americans won a gold, silver or bronze medal in that event, the customer would get a free Big Mac, fries or Coke, depending on the medal. Now, no business goes into a "win a free ___" promotion without having a fairly specific idea of how much free merchandise is going to go out the door.

McDonald's probably looked at the U.S. medal count from the last games we had participated in, in 1976. vacuum cleaners dyson animalIn that year, the U.S. won 94 medals, 34 of them gold. miele vacuum cleaners changing filtersAfter all, it was the Soviets and their allies who dominated the games every time (in 1976, Russia won 125 medals, and East Germany won 90, with 40 gold medals).cheap vacuum cleaner in dubai But the U.S. arguably had the best celebratory dances. We have to go back to 1976 because the U.S. didn't participate in 1980, since the Olympics were held in Moscow and the U.S. boycotted the games because they hated the Russians. But that should have been a cue for McDonald's -- since the 1984 games were being held in the U.S., the U.S.S.R. and friends returned the favor and boycotted.

Remember how we said Russians and East Germans finished ahead of the U.S. in 1976? Both of them would be sitting out the 1984 games altogether. "We don't need you, we have a wall to play up against." With the Eastern Bloc competition out of the way, the U.S. wound up winning significantly more medals as the last time around -- a mind-boggling 174 medals total. Instead of the 34 golds the U.S. won in 1976, the 1984 games saw the Americans bring home 83. "I'm doing this for my country, for my family and for a truck-full of burger." Which meant McDonald's had to give away much more food than they expected, including more than twice as many valuable Big Macs. There were rumors that locations were running out of Big Macs... that the customers didn't pay a dime for. Did the CEO spit in every 50th burger? The answer is yes. O.K., so the McDonald's Olympics giveaway might looks silly now, but maybe at the time they thought some other country was going to step up their medal count.

It's an understandable mistake. But then you have the Walkers Potato Chips weather prediction contest. Also available: the wet-paint-watching contest and the staring into space extravaganza. In theory, they'd be rewarding customers for predicting something far more unpredictable. If the customer bought a bag of chips for 40 pence (about 65 cents), they could go onto the website and try to predict when and where it would rain. If the customer could accurately predict the time and place, they'd win 10 pounds (about $16). The secret to winning is checking the weather report. Some of you have already spotted the problem by the fact that we're converting the dollar amounts from British pounds. Yes, this contest was held in England. A time and place where the weather comes in two flavors: torrential downpour and "Oh, is it raining? I couldn't hear over the sound of slicing my wrists." Statistically, you have a better than 1 in 3 chance of it raining on any particular day.

Also, Walkers gave out two entries per bag, doubling each participant's chances. the mound of sound Somebody did the math and figured out that statistically, for every three pounds' worth of chips Walkers sold, they were paying out 10 pounds in prize money. Finally, during an extremely rainy week when they were set to lose over 1 million pounds, the site "mysteriously" went down ... "Oh, would you look at that? Better get those razors back out, guys!" ... with the promotion ending soon afterward.Analysis finds Aldi really is better for your pocket than the rest for your grocery needs. The Grocer magazine research found baskets of staples goods including bread, teabags, eggs, apples, pasta, grapes and cornflakes were £10.68 (27%) cheaper than the 'big four' supermarkets and Waitrose. Lidl wasn’t included in the survey, but prices are around the same as Aldi. [Related story: Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks launch new online banking tool 'B']

Aldi sold 31 of 33 items on the list at their cheapest price, 27 of which were exclusively cheaper than any of its rivals. Top marks for quality Aldi scored well on food quality, winning 19 out of 68 gold medals in The Grocer Own Label Awards, more than any other supermarket. It also bagged 21 silver medals. The chain's Specially Selected range was a particularly big winner. We swept up at The Grocer #OwnLabelAwards yesterday! — Aldi Stores UK (@AldiUK) May 15, 2016 [Related story: The best money-saving vouchers, deals and cashback offers] How to cut costs on your next shop If you want to save cash on your groceries, remember to make the most of coupons and loyalty points. If possible do your shopping towards the end of the day, when you’re more likely to spot heavily reduced items. If you prefer to do your shopping online you can cut your costs by choosing a quieter delivery slot. Compare all gas and electricity companies and see if you could save