Panic buying

[boxbrownie]

58 minutes ago, Bulleidboy100 said:

Sorry, not trying to rub it in, but Ocado released slots at 6pm last night. I went  online at that time and got my delivery at 2pm today - with no substituted items.  I don't know what their country coverage is, and appreciate some have difficulty shopping. From what I've read on this forum, it appeared that "shopping" was getting a little easier?

We will be getting our first ASDA order tomorrow.....it’s like Christmas is coming 

 

We put the order in 5 weeks ago, this was the soonest slot back then!

[Paul.Uni]

DIY store update.

 

It is extremely busy with click & collects. When I left today they were still picking orders from Monday. Every available member of staff is doing pickings.

 

The website now says wait for the ready for collection email before going to store.

[rockershovel]

1 hour ago, melmerby said:

That's not what you said which was this:

"Screwfix website provided no useful information about availability"

Which is rubbish as the site quite clearly tells you the stock in each branch.

Currently only those with a crystal ball could probably predict accurately when new stock arrives anywhere.

 

"I really have better things to do, than traipse around multiple branches for a list of items."

As the stock at each branch is shown that is a silly remark -It's just being petulant.

 

 

See my earlier comments about the changing business model. Screwfix’ whole brand is based upon prompt service, to customers for whom time is money. 

 

I wanted some common engineering sundries. My employer doesn’t pay me to visit multiple branches to pick up small items. 

 

It’s clear from the various posts above, and other sources, that some businesses, some retailers are coping better than others. So here; Screwfix’ staff reacted with discourtesy and a complete lack of service, so I found a better organised retailer who responded that they could have the whole order by Saturday. That’s time enough, so I ordered from them. It’s clear that some suppliers have a better grasp of their supply chains and stock, than others. 

 

See comments above, about “having all staff on picking orders”. The Screwfix I visited had no less than five staff, doing nothing, which speaks for itself...

 

I shan’t be returning to Screwfix, and from various comments on site, I’m not alone in that. 

Edited April 8, 2020 by rockershovel

[Ian Hargrave]

Please don’t get cross with each other.This is the time for tolerance and compassion. Not bickering over trivial matters.

FWIW ,I have found that evening supermarket visits are a better option.Add to that,try to source alternative providers for fresh produce.We use local farm shops that offer remote collection for orders placed online.It works for us ( aged 78 and 80 respectively)   

 

[midlands]

1 hour ago, boxbrownie said:

We will be getting our first ASDA order tomorrow.....it’s like Christmas is coming 

 

We put the order in 5 weeks ago, this was the soonest slot back then!

 bit like the releafe of mafecon. or however it was spelled! congrats young man, did you manage to enable repeats on that slot?

[rockershovel]

4 minutes ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Please don’t get cross with each other.This is the time for tolerance and compassion. Not bickering over trivial matters.

FWIW ,I have found that evening supermarket visits are a better option.Add to that,try to source alternative providers for fresh produce.We use local farm shops that offer remote collection for orders placed online.It works for us ( aged 78 and 80 respectively)   

 

 

The point I was trying to convey, is that the concept of “just-in-time” retail is being given a stress test. Screwfix, to stay with my example, are well known for having a model based on very low stock levels, backed by rapid distribution from central holding points. The tv adverts emphasise their central selling point, of ordering online and distributing it in the time it takes to drive to the branch. 

 

This clearly isn’t working for them, in the present conditions. Since they aren’t the only supplier offering a comparable service, it remains to be seen whether it will affect them long-term. 

 

Food retailers are in a similar position. Tesco appear to have done relatively well, and seem to have the clearest strategy for the coming period. Ocado seem to have rallied after a very weak start. Asda appear to be trying to “do things on the cheap”. 

[Joseph_Pestell]

4 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

 

 

This clearly isn’t working for them, in the present conditions.

 

 

It was not working before.

[midlands]

10 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

. Asda appear to be trying to “do things on the cheap”. 

As it happens, Asda is the only supermarket in my area who has managed to keep things together. Also, Asda was the only supermarket who reacted in my favour when the super vunerables list went up on gov.uk/

 

So if thats them being cheap, keep on Asda, yay.

 

Roger

[Butler Henderson]

With regard to DIY stores Toolstation are offering free delivery - I needed a new table vice, ordered Thursday afternoon, arrived Monday morning although the website did suggest it would be next day,

Edited April 8, 2020 by Butler Henderson

[rockershovel]

My experience of Screwfix is that they do best as a trade distributor, delivering housebuilding consumables from regional depots on lead times of 2-3 days. I’ve never been much impressed with their branch service. It’s a difficult trade to serve, with a large market of small customers wanting a wide range of products at short notice. The ubiquity of Internet-enabled phones has exacerbated the short-term thinking and lack of detailed planning which have always been a weakness in the sector. 

 

However there seems to be a balance point between stock and stock turnover. B&Q seem to have it about right, being mostly focussed on small builders and DIY and operating from large depots which handle a useful proportion of high-value items (bathrooms, for instance). Screwfix don’t, and I rather suspect this is because their branches are too small to carry effective stock and their average unit of sale is too low. 

 

I’m not impressed with reports of Asda’s “Uber-style” distribution efforts. This doesn’t seem an appropriate method of distributing foodstuffs. Tesco seem to have a better idea, of reorganising around maximising use of their existing fleet. 

 

 

Edited April 8, 2020 by rockershovel

[LBRJ]

I always thought that Screwfix used the nearest (often very close by)  B &Q  store as their warehouse  

[cctransuk]

3 minutes ago, LBRJ said:

I always thought that Screwfix used the nearest (often very close by)  B &Q  store as their warehouse  

 

I can only refer to my own experience of my own local (5 minutes away) Screwfix - as a DIYer.

 

I go online, search the product and choose, check availability at the branch - which is invariably either immediately or tomorrow.

 

I collect, immediately or tomorrow as appropriate, and am always served with efficiency and politeness.

 

Screwfix is my go-to source for anything that they sell - a far cry from the alternative; Homebase!

 

I speaks as I finds!

 

John Isherwood.

[LBRJ]

I too am a great fan of Screwfix*, but I prefer generally to shop with em online not at branch, as they do keep rather minimalist stock levels; hence the tongue in cheek comment that they use sister company B&Q as their warehouse....

 

*the amount I seem to spend there suggests they should be great fans of me also

[zarniwhoop]

7 hours ago, Ian Hargrave said:

Please don’t get cross with each other.This is the time for tolerance and compassion. Not bickering over trivial matters.

FWIW ,I have found that evening supermarket visits are a better option.Add to that,try to source alternative providers for fresh produce.We use local farm shops that offer remote collection for orders placed online.It works for us ( aged 78 and 80 respectively)   

 

For tolerance and compassion - yes, very much : as the signs outside M&S said "be kind".

 

For evenings: yes, mostly, but not always. I normally keep late hours (why else would I be reading this after 4am?) and the move to earlier closing a few weeks ago was an aggravation to me, but one I can accept and anyway most things were already out of stock everywhere).

 

Last Tuesday late afternoon/evening many things were available.  But yesterday (Wednesday) the additions seemed to be matched by an equal number of new "not available" items (e.g. in Sainsburys no greens at all, and no tinned beans except baked beans - tell a lie, there were a few cartons of butter beans).

 

So, we are getting back towards normal, but still some way to go - better than it was, but still hit and miss.

 

Fortunately, supplies of alcohol seem to mostly be holding up

 

ĸen

[rockershovel]

7 hours ago, LBRJ said:

I too am a great fan of Screwfix*, but I prefer generally to shop with em online not at branch, as they do keep rather minimalist stock levels; hence the tongue in cheek comment that they use sister company B&Q as their warehouse....

 

*the amount I seem to spend there suggests they should be great fans of me also

 

I hadn’t realised Screwfix and B&Q were owned by the same holding company. It would make complete sense that both were supplied from a common point, since most of their range is the same. That would mean that Screwfix were a brand dealing with trade customers, competing with the Travis & Perkins / Wicks market, and B&Q were the DIY brand, supplying the walk-in, cash and card trade.  

 

That would mean that if B&Q were disrupted by stock flow distortions, the knock-on effect in Screwfix would be immediate. Screwfix’ multiple branches serve their brand of “ring up or book on-Line, go and fetch it” which is entirely dependent on continuous, rapid stock transport. 

 

You learn something every day, on this forum. 

 

 

Edited April 9, 2020 by rockershovel

[spikey]

1 hour ago, rockershovel said:

I hadn’t realised Screwfix and B&Q were owned by the same holding company. It would make complete sense that both were supplied from a common point, since most of their range is the same. That would mean that Screwfix were a brand dealing with trade customers, competing with the Travis & Perkins / Wicks market, and B&Q were the DIY brand, supplying the walk-in, cash and card trade.

 

I'm a huge fan of Toolstation, especially with the free delivery over £10, whereas the local Travis Perkins is an expensive club frequented by a select band of local builders and landscapers who are prepared to pay their prices.  AFAIK they, like Screwfix and B&Q, are owned by the same company.

[LBRJ]

Travis Perkins own Toolstation, and also Wickes.

TP have "proper" Trade Accounts, so if you spend a lot there regularly then the discounts can be large.

[boxbrownie]

11 hours ago, midlands said:

 bit like the releafe of mafecon. or however it was spelled! congrats young man, did you manage to enable repeats on that slot?

No, no repeats allowed.....ASDA are only allowing a booking up to seven days in advance at the moment, which is why we have not been able to book another slot since five weeks ago, they are always booked, same with Waitrose booked for two months in advance with absolutely no slots available 

Edited April 9, 2020 by boxbrownie

[rockershovel]

2 hours ago, boxbrownie said:

No, no repeats allowed.....ASDA are only allowing a booking up to seven days in advance at the moment, which is why we have not been able to book another slot since five weeks ago, they are always booked, same with Waitrose booked for two months in advance with absolutely no slots available 

 

Now we have managed to “ring the bell” with Ocado, their website allows three bookings - one a week for three weeks. We have one scheduled today, so the portal allowed another one to be booked. 

 

I’m certain that past data records are playing a significant part in the whole business, with shops favouring past customers who do, after all, pay a subscription. I can also quite see that no one wants to say that at present. 

[boxbrownie]

49 minutes ago, rockershovel said:

 

Now we have managed to “ring the bell” with Ocado, their website allows three bookings - one a week for three weeks. We have one scheduled today, so the portal allowed another one to be booked. 

 

I’m certain that past data records are playing a significant part in the whole business, with shops favouring past customers who do, after all, pay a subscription. I can also quite see that no one wants to say that at present. 

I wish you were correct, but we regularly use Waitrose here and with BIG shopping orders, never used ASDA before here (but did at our previous address over four years ago), and presently Waitrose is a dead loss and ASDA is the only one we have been able to use, Ocado don’t deliver done here, too scared of Pirates I guess.

[The Stationmaster]

23 hours ago, eastglosmog said:

Many quarries have shut for the duration.  Ones still working are supplying essential items like railway ballast, pharmaceutical supplies and road surfacing. (I think Merehead supplies railway ballast.)

Interesting if Merehead are now supplying ballast as it was a market Yeoman steered clear for years although nearby Whatley were heavily involved in producing railway ballast at one time.  Maybe NR are going for something cheaper than granite in order to save money?

[Mark Saunders]

6 minutes ago, The Stationmaster said:

Interesting if Merehead are now supplying ballast as it was a market Yeoman steered clear for years although nearby Whatley were heavily involved in producing railway ballast at one time.  Maybe NR are going for something cheaper than granite in order to save money?

 

Limestone is too soft for ballast and soon wears hence why the harder granite is preferred.

 

Currently Glensanda is supplying via coastal shipping with the  Redcar  Bulk Terminal used as one of the terminals!

 

 

[melmerby]

I've got a recurring slot at Asda starting next Wednesday, booked up 3 weeks ago (subscription paid).

There is already a basic list of items on the recurring basis and next Wednesday show the order complete and card details taken.

However currently you cannot amend the order except in the last 48 hours but I have an account message telling me I have a recurring slot that hasn't been taken up and I must do it in the next 3 days or lose it.

I have been on to a Asda customer service and the guy didn't understand what was happening..

When I said what happens if the booked slot is lost his reply was "Call us again"!

Not very assuring.

[tomparryharry]

On 08/04/2020 at 13:09, alastairq said:

 ..then sling it?? 

 

I now have a mental picture of a pizza delivery by Hermes. The driver stops 100 yards from the house, and delivers the pizza, frisbee fashion. 

 

Doesn't work for coleslaw, though......

 

Would I need a larger letterbox for the family sized purchases?

[spikey]

Can somebody help me understand something about this recurring delivery slots lark?  I have no issue whatsoever with anyone who is genuinely in need of it getting priority for home delivery, but given the current shortage of slots, why on earth would such a person need to be allocated one every week?  Is the assumption that they are not capable of ordering what they'll need for at least a fortnight?