As the Christmas spending season moves into full swing, there are a large group of people who won't be paying the same prices as the rest of us. They are the small army of shop workers, often getting little more than the minimum wage but at least enjoying discounts when they go shopping themselves.
But these discounts vary considerably - and probably give a strong indicator as to the level of "mark-up" on goods at individual stores. Research by Jobs & Money has found that staff discounts vary from as little as 10% to as much as 60% or more, with the top-end fashion houses offering staff the most significant reductions.
There's one group that don't simply enjoy a discount with one store - they are offered discounts almost everywhere. They are the select band of fashion writers, stylists and industry figures who are sent discount cards - usually just before Christmas.
Surprisingly, Britain's best-known fashionistas, Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine, stars of BBC2's What Not to Wear, say they are not overwhelmed with freebies.
"We would love to get loads of freebies, but we don't! Probably because we seem to slag off loads of designers," says Susannah. Nor are they members of the exclusive "discount cards" club and Susannah insists she wouldn't want one.
But down on the shopfloor, poorly-paid junior assistants see their discount card as a useful perk of the job. The retail industry employs 11% of the entire British working population, but more than half earn less than £6 a hour.
The average wages for shop assistants range between £4.60 and £5.50 an hour. Staff aged between 18 to 21 are only guaranteed the minimum wage of £3.80.
Yet retail is also the largest employer of young people with 29%, or more than 860,000, of the workforce falling into the 16-24 age bracket, says Peter McLaren-Kennedy from Skillsmart.
Staff at M&S are offered a flat-rate discount of 20% off all clothes and food. Uniquely, in our survey staff at M&S also enjoy the same discount off prices in the sales.
Debenhams told us staff enjoy an average discount of 25%, although senior staff are offered more. The figures were similar for the Arcadia group, which includes BHS.
At the John Lewis Partnership, including Waitrose supermarkets, new entrants for the first three years qualify for 12% off products. This increases to 25% after three years, but the 12% discount remains on food and television and audio equipment.
The upscale department stores are a little more generous. Staff at Selfridges and Harvey Nichols tend to enjoy discounts of around 30% off own-brand products, but this falls to the 10% level when it comes to in-store concession ranges.
At Harrods senior managers are entitled to 30% off all products, including food. More junior staff are offered between 10% to 30%. And certain items, such as televisions and audio equipment are restricted to 10% discounts.
The really big staff discounts are offered at the luxury end of the market, presumably indicating the scale of mark-up. For example, it is understood that staff at Gucci and Paul Smith enjoy discounts of 50% or more.
But the shops were strangely coy about confirming the figures. A spokesman at Paul Smith says: "Each person has an individual agreement when signing their contract. It depends on how many days a person works a week and how long they have worked at the company. The longer you've been here the more you get."
Asked if a 60% discount was possible, he said: "If people have been here long enough it is possible. We get a code which goes straight into the till - no one knows what each other's discount is."
Down the road at Louis Vuitton, the spokeswomen was even more cagey: "It's not our policy to give out that information. We don't communicate the discounts we give to people including our staff and VIPs." Gucci refused to comment.
What the staff can hope for
These are what staff working for the following retailers get in the way of perks:
Arcadia Group (includes Selfridges and TopShop): All staff get 25% off own-branded products. Concessions offer up to 10%: for example, Calvin Klein at TopShop.
Debenhams: Staff get an average discount of 25% - senior execs get more.
Gucci: Believed to be around 50% but Gucci won't comment.
Harrods: It ranges from 10% to 30% - depends on the product group (TV & audio on the lower level) and where you are in the pecking order. For example, senior managers at the upper end of the scale receive 30%.
Harvey Nichols: All staff receive 30% off Harvey Nichol's own brands/stock. Concessions within the store mostly offer 10% - some won't give it at all, others give more.
House of Fraser: Discounts start at 20% for all staff. It will go up the more senior you are in the company.
John Lewis: All staff receive 12% for the first three years on everything (including the supermarket Waitrose). After three years it goes up to 25% on most items - except TV & audio and Waitrose.
Louis Vuitton: A spokesperson said: "We don't give dis counts to VIPs. And we don't communicate the discounts we give to people including our staff."
Marks & Spencer: All staff receive a flat rate of 20% on all products including food and sale prices.
Paul Smith: Believed to be around 60%. But staff were reluctant to put a figure on it. It depends on the department, the individual and on how many days a person works a week and how long they have worked at the company. The longer you've been there the more you get. Each person has an individual agreement.
After the press card - a store card
Discount store cards aren't just a perk for shop workers; the Louis Vuitton purses and Prada bags of fashion writers, stylists and industry PRs usually contain a clutch of cards giving them access to cut-price designer clothes.
Jess Cartner-Morley, the Guardian's fashion editor, says it's one of the perks of her job."But it's not quite as lavish as people think," she says.
Clothes samples used in shoots and sent into the office, whether you'd want to keep them or not, are always returned.
"Even the tights have to go back. Press offices only have one sample of each garment so they are in high demand. We send them back as soon as they are photographed. If we lose anything we get charged for it," she says. "But beauty companies don't ask for samples back. So we do get shampoos and make-up."
Discount cards are sent to senior journalists across the fashion press, often in the run up to Christmas, for use at both designer shops and high street stores.
Jess says she's been sent discount cards from Gucci to Topshop. She adds: "Most high street and designer fashion stores give 20% to 30% off. But generally the cheaper the store, the more you get off."
The retailers allow the discount card holders to use the cards as frequently as they like, even to buy presents for friends and family.
At the end of every season most designers hold sample sales. Some are open to the public (John Smedley, Ghost) and some are invite only (Prada, Chanel) and discounts can be huge, some with up to 80% off.
"I got a Chanel coat recently for £180 which is £1,000 in the shops. This cardigan I am wearing (cream cashmere) was £40 down from £400."
When lucky Cat was let into a bag
A hugely expensive pair of knee-high Chanel boots and a beautiful, designer Coach bag are among the best freebies ever received by Cat Callender, fashion features editor of Elle magazine.
"You may not get a great salary working on a glossy (magazine), but you do get some nice perks, though times are a bit lean right now,"she says.
The more senior you are on a glossy, the greater the number of freebies you get, so editors can do well.
On the fashion desk, stylists, who call in the clothes, put them on the models and come up with the concept for a fashion shoot, tend to be more revered by the industry than fashion writers and therefore get more freebies, says Ms Callender.
One thing that helps to compensate for relatively lousy salaries are the discount cards sent out by retailers and designers around Christmas time.
"A lot of high street retailers like TopShop and Jigsaw send you cards giving typically between 25% and 30% off goods when you shop in their stores," she says. "Luxury labels such as YSL do the same, but you'd still have to save up as garments are still prohibitively expensive."
Ms Callender says one way of getting designer items at a huge discount is to be invited to place a "personal order".
"If you've seen something lovely on the runway at a show and you have a good relationship with the designer or their publicity agent, you may get invited to view the collection just when the orders finish coming in from the retail buyers," she says. "Then you can place a personal order and get the item at wholesale price, which gives you a huge discount on the retail price."
Another great perk of the job is the opportunity to go to designer sample sales where items previously used for photos or on the runway at fashion shows are sold off for a fraction of their retail price.
"At sample sales, you get great designer clothes at high street prices. I bought a pair of Manolo Blaniks recently for £70 instead of £350-plus, for example," says Ms Callender.
