Panic buying

[cctransuk]

34 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

.... in store (Waitrose mainly) and before the shut down the online shopping was almost faultless, but since the shut down we have only been able to get one delivery (and that was booked before the shutdown as a normal shop, but still could only book 5 weeks in advance, which was ridiculous) since then we've not been able to get one booking despite having all the required reasons, letter etc etc....

 

It may go against the grain if you normally patronise Waitrose but - try Tesco.

 

My wife has priority for slots at Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco but, last weekend, the only supermarket that could offer a priority slot around a week ahead was Tesco. Asda had nothing for a fortnight, and Sainsburys wouldn't let us book more than a week ahead - and all slots were taken.

 

We have now registered for a priority, recurring weekly slot at Asda.

 

Priority is great - if they'll let you book!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

[spikey]

On 28/04/2020 at 09:54, ejstubbs said:

... It's also somewhat annoying that the above factors combine to mean that we are now having to eat pappy supermarket bread ...

 

But alas that seems to be what The Great British Public wants.  Why on Earth anyone would eat Chorleywood bread by choice is beyond me, but as long as it's white, sliced and cheap and/or has words like "traditional" or "Hovis" on it, lots of people seem to be content to eat the stuff.

[boxbrownie]

25 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

It may go against the grain if you normally patronise Waitrose but - try Tesco.

 

My wife has priority for slots at Asda, Sainsbury's and Tesco but, last weekend, the only supermarket that could offer a priority slot around a week ahead was Tesco. Asda had nothing for a fortnight, and Sainsburys wouldn't let us book more than a week ahead - and all slots were taken.

 

We have now registered for a priority, recurring weekly slot at Asda.

 

Priority is great - if they'll let you book!

 

Regards,

John Isherwood.

Unfortunately we appear to have fallen through the cracks regarding priority, with one vulnerable and two very vulnerable adults in the house we filled the necessary online GOV form, got TWO letters about priority and heard nothing since. If it weren’t for the local quayside shop that starting delivering due to the shutdown we’d be really in the  poop.

We go online to ASDA, Tesco and the Waitrose sites almost every day but for four weeks have never found a slot available, ironically our DiL who is staying with us with our Grandchidren for the duration (their Dad’s a Doctor) has an account with Ocado and she is easily able to order from them, unfortunately they do not deliver to this area so she is restricted to ordering groceries for our Son back in Worcester........well at least he gets the decent whisky! 

[Hobby]

58 minutes ago, melmerby said:

The Sainsbury's nearest to me has two entrances, one of which is right next to the Argos area, so if they wanted they could separate the two operations temporarily.

 

Ours is the opposite, it's at the back of the store, you have to walk all the way through to get to it!

[melmerby]

The problem I am finding is that a lot of the same items go OOS between ordering and picking which suggests that something is not being kept up to date

I am vegetarian and am finding it particularly stressing that it is veggie stuff that is disappearing most from my order

I have several veggie meals that I have ordered taken off three deliveries in succession, so there is a common pattern there, that really needs addressing.

When stuff is OOS alternatives are listed and I asume these are what you would get if they are substituting.

I do not consider a meat based product to be a satisfactory alternative to a veggie item and there doesn't seem to be a way of showing this so I have to put do not substitute and then end up with nothing.

[big jim]

2 minutes ago, melmerby said:

 

I am vegetarian and am finding it particularly stressing that it is veggie stuff that is disappearing most from my order

Vegetarian, ooooooh, Could you have some wafer thin ham?

 

 

 

 

(whenever I hear someone say they are a vegetarian, that’s the first thing that comes to my mind) 

[Reorte]

54 minutes ago, melmerby said:

I do not consider a meat based product to be a satisfactory alternative to a veggie item and there doesn't seem to be a way of showing this so I have to put do not substitute and then end up with nothing.

 

That seems a particularly odd one for them to do, thought they'd have a bit more common sense than that! Is there not even an option? I've never ordered online but I thought you'd have to be able to put some more detail in than just "do not substitute", both for reasons of choice and for allergies.

[cctransuk]

20 minutes ago, Reorte said:

 

... I thought you'd have to be able to put some more detail in than just "do not substitute", both for reasons of choice and for allergies.

 

Not as far as my experience has shown - Substitute or Don't Substitute - that's it.

 

John Isherwood.

[lapford34102]

No Sardines at all in Sainsbury's today!

 

The Apocalypse has finally happened.

 

Stu

[Hroth]

1 minute ago, lapford34102 said:

No Sardines at all in Sainsbury's today!

 

Hurrah!

 

Perhaps they are adhering to Social Distancing and so can't be tinned?

 

[teaky]

2 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

That seems a particularly odd one for them to do, thought they'd have a bit more common sense than that! Is there not even an option? I've never ordered online but I thought you'd have to be able to put some more detail in than just "do not substitute", both for reasons of choice and for allergies.

 

1 hour ago, cctransuk said:

 

Not as far as my experience has shown - Substitute or Don't Substitute - that's it.

 

John Isherwood.

If you order from Waitrose you can add a comment against any of the items.  I don't think other supermarkets do that though as I've ordered from most of them at some point and had to accept either no substitutions or risk rejecting things on delivery.  We get most of our shopping from Waitrose and I use the comment for things like avoiding 'lite' substitutions for dairy items or specifying that there is no need to put bananas into a plastic bag!  It is a handy feature but I can imagine how it would slow things down if over used.

[teaky]

16 minutes ago, Hroth said:

 

Hurrah!

 

Perhaps they are adhering to Social Distancing and so can't be tinned?

 

I bought some canned ones only yesterday from Waitrose but they went by the good old English name of pilchards.

[Rivercider]

2 hours ago, cctransuk said:

 

Not as far as my experience has shown - Substitute or Don't Substitute - that's it.

 

John Isherwood.

When we used the the home shopping service at Tesco there was the 'do not substitute' option, and there was an option to comment, (eg - do not sub with own brand). It worked for us, but since I have been working there I do my own shopping so we have not used it for a few years.

 

cheers

[Rivercider]

6 hours ago, melmerby said:

There has been plenty of forecasts about what the "family shop" will be like after the rush to home delivery, suggesting less personal visits to food shop infuture.

Well from my perspective, as soon as it is safe to go back to visiting the shops, I will.

My experience of online grocery shopping after three deliveries, is that it is totally dysfunctional, the chance of getting anything like the total of items you order is extremely thin.

 

I waited until 30mins before the 10pm cut-off time yesterday before finalising my order, which was picked early this morning.

I ordered 3 different flavour yoghurts, one came back showing out of stock after I submitted the order last night so got removed, this morning the other two flavours have been substituted by the very flavour that was out of stock last night!

A couple of not particularly good subsitutes on other items and 6 items are now OOS this morning that were confirmed last night.

It really is pathetic.

 

 

 

I don't work on the home shopping team, nor have I ever worked on the stock control team.

I can say that at our store there are fresh deliveries at 17.00 and about 02.00 daily. The night team replenish the shelves. The home shopping team start their pick at 04.00 by which time the night team have not yet finished replenishment, but they have to start earlier as pick totals have more or less doubled since this began. They also need to try to be clear of the shop floor by 08.00 when the store opens, in addition about half of our team were new recruits last month.

Thus I can see how an item is 'in stock' when the order is made, but out of stock when picking is done - or vice versa.

 

Its not perfect I agree.

 

cheers

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

5 hours ago, kevinlms said:

...I do agree with you, that personal shopping is always better than online, where YOU make the choice where substitutes are acceptable or unnecessary duplications, or wait to next time you shop...

For so long as I can walk in and do this, that will be my preference. I reckon there were three items I found that a picker for a delivery service probably wouldn't have found, through not having the time to survey the entire rack for misplaced items. (That's also why I currently wear rubber gloves, as you just don't know who has handled what you are now slinging in the trolley, and there's then a major washing operation on arriving back at home.)

[melmerby]

3 hours ago, Reorte said:

 

That seems a particularly odd one for them to do, thought they'd have a bit more common sense than that! Is there not even an option? I've never ordered online but I thought you'd have to be able to put some more detail in than just "do not substitute", both for reasons of choice and for allergies.

Unfortunately no choice of substitutes, it's all very basic.

quiche are quiche, apples are apples etc. you will get what they have.

SWMBO wanted 3 x 6pk of Braeburn apples, all they could supply is 2 x 4pk of Cripps Pink, so less than half the quantity of a different apple.

 

[spamcan61]

1 hour ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

For so long as I can walk in and do this, that will be my preference. I reckon there were three items I found that a picker for a delivery service probably wouldn't have found, through not having the time to survey the entire rack for misplaced items. (That's also why I currently wear rubber gloves, as you just don't know who has handled what you are now slinging in the trolley, and there's then a major washing operation on arriving back at home.)

I wouldn't think any of the supermarkets are overly keen on internet shopping; after all it increases their costs and probably decreases turnover as well, folks aren't wandering round the store dropping those impluse buy high margin products in their trolleys. Plus they still have the overheads of having to run big physical stores.

 

I can't see them giving any more flexibility in terms of substitutes as that would increase picking time hence costs.

[boxbrownie]

54 minutes ago, melmerby said:

Unfortunately no choice of substitutes, it's all very basic.

quiche are quiche, apples are apples etc. you will get what they have.

SWMBO wanted 3 x 6pk of Braeburn apples, all they could supply is 2 x 4pk of Cripps Pink, so less than half the quantity of a different apple.

 

Stop moaning, at least your getting something online 

 

[melmerby]

37 minutes ago, boxbrownie said:

Stop moaning, at least your getting something online 

 

 

We do have a delivery pass, which guarantees a regular slot, currently we have it set to every two weeks

Actually in the end we got a lot more than two weeks ago so some meal times will have some choice of what to have.

This time we also even managed to get toilet rolls, which have been OOS for sometime.

The guy who delivered the shopping said it looks like you ordered more than you were expecting when we ran out of crates for him to unload to.

I explained we had managed to get a lot of stuff that wasn't in stock for the two previous shops and it has mounted up.

Pity I haven't been able to get any dried pasta, we are now on the back of the cupboard (ancient) stock and have just two meals worth left.

We do now have plenty of pasta sauce though.

Edited April 29, 2020 by melmerby

[tomparryharry]

If you're out & about, try Aldi. I bought a couple of packets 'on spec' a few weeks before it all kicked off. Mrs Smith wasn't too fussed, after all, she's a 'minor' consumer of pasta, but I can eat it in wholesale quantities. Strange to say, she's come around to eating it, much to my disappointment.

 

Plenty of pasta sauce here as well.

[andytrains]

23 minutes ago, melmerby said:

We do have a delivery pass, which guarantees a regular slot, currently we have it set to every two weeks

Actually in the end we got a lot more than two weeks ago so some meal times will have some choice of what to have.

This time we also even managed to get toilet rolls, which have been OOS for sometime.

The guy who delivered the shopping said it looks like you ordered more than you were expecting when we ran out of crates for him to unload to.

I explained we had managed to get a lot of stuff that wasn't in stock for the two previous shops and it has mounted up.

Pity I haven't been able to get any dried pasta, we are now on the back of the cupboard (ancient) stock and have just two meals worth left.

We do now have plenty of pasta sauce though.  

Up front payments for delivery slots do not guarantee a delivery.

I have had one with Morrisons for ages and since this crap they state that they do not deliver to where I am. They are happy to take the £8 per month to cover the delivery cost, but suddenly they cannot deliver. I have of course cancelled the £8. Sent several sh!tty emails asking for a refund for the March payment I have made and of course, no answer.

 

[andytrains]

33 minutes ago, melmerby said:

We do have a delivery pass, which guarantees a regular slot, currently we have it set to every two weeks

Actually in the end we got a lot more than two weeks ago so some meal times will have some choice of what to have.

This time we also even managed to get toilet rolls, which have been OOS for sometime.

The guy who delivered the shopping said it looks like you ordered more than you were expecting when we ran out of crates for him to unload to.

I explained we had managed to get a lot of stuff that wasn't in stock for the two previous shops and it has mounted up.

Pity I haven't been able to get any dried pasta, we are now on the back of the cupboard (ancient) stock and have just two meals worth left.

We do now have plenty of pasta sauce though.

Potatoes!

[andytrains]

Funniest one, now thinking back, although not at the time, for our friend.

A friend of ours had done her on-line order for Christmas eve for all the normal Christmas fare and food.

Driver turned up with a Medium sized Chicken in place of a 15lb Turkey!.

She told the poor old delivery driver to F-KK off and get her a Turkey.

He was back within the hour with a complimentary 20lbs Turkey.

 

Edited April 29, 2020 by andytrains

[teaky]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

We do have a delivery pass, which guarantees a regular slot, currently we have it set to every two weeks

Actually in the end we got a lot more than two weeks ago so some meal times will have some choice of what to have.

This time we also even managed to get toilet rolls, which have been OOS for sometime.

The guy who delivered the shopping said it looks like you ordered more than you were expecting when we ran out of crates for him to unload to.

I explained we had managed to get a lot of stuff that wasn't in stock for the two previous shops and it has mounted up.

Pity I haven't been able to get any dried pasta, we are now on the back of the cupboard (ancient) stock and have just two meals worth left.

We do now have plenty of pasta sauce though.

Make your own.  Just take some flour ... oh, hang on.

[teaky]

41 minutes ago, andytrains said:

Potatoes!

Gnocchi !

 

Oh no, you'll need some flour for that too.  Only a bit though.