to turn supermarket delivery away when they ring on my door bell two hours early?

DH worked as a Sainsburys online grocery driver last year. He says it's perfectly within your rights to say no to an earlier slot, and you shouldn't feel bad if it's not convenient, but most people are perfectly happy with it if they are home anyway. It's certainly not cause to complain to the store (unless they've been rude or inconsiderate).

Sometimes the delivery route the drivers are given is a bit irrational, and drivers will always try to complete it more efficiently, especially if they know the local area.

And yes, sometimes the alternative is they have to wait. DH had one round where there was a huge gap between the last two delivery slots. He called the last person, but she was away from home, so he spent 90 minutes just sitting in his van before he could deliver the last order and finish his shift. True, he got paid for his time, but it was a bit of a pain.

Those ewes must have looked a picture in wellies and bathrobes.

Change your day

I wouldn't want any fridge stuff that I wasn't using within a day sitting at 20 degrees for 2 hours.

Don't be a dick, the op has already stated she has a chronic illness and was struggling with her mobility and breathing. It wasn't just because she was in her dressing gown with wet hair 🙄

The good thing about Tesco deliveries is that you can add a note online to state your preferences as regards delivery - for instance mine states that, owing to a back injury, I cannot lift the boxes so need someone to bring them to kitchen work counter for me. You could make it clear that deliveries before 11 am are not acceptable.

I have sainsburys and sometimes the drivers call to check if he can come earlier. I WFH anyway and it would rarely be an issue. He said that his route included 2 doors up from me, a house a 30min round trip to get to, then back to my house!

Due to the fact that my disability makes me more prone to infections like covid
Apologies OP, but how does the driver arriving too early make you MORE prone to infections? Surely you still wear an FFP3 mask if you are so vulnerable- regardless of the time of day?

I agree they should have called/texted to check it was ok to arrive earlier, but equally, no obligation on YOU to answer the door in a dressing gown and towel drip-drying and bleary from the bath! When the driver packed your bags for you, didn't you move the ones that stopped the door closing, then dealt with them in your own time?

Why bother having the facility for customers to select a convenient slot, then turn up during a different one? Maybe if he had phoned ahead, but to just turn up is not on. And for those criticising the OP for being uncomfortable answering the door in her dressing gown, there was a bit more to it than that if you take the time to read her posts. But still, that's not even the point.

OP you can ask customer services to put a delivery note on the system not to deliver early.

We had an issue where our order was turning up 30 minutes early consistently and blocking our cleaners from leaving (I think a neighbour had an earlier delivery).

it’s not happened since the note (although they’ve been late twice) and the last time so late that they had to wait for me to get back - but I pay extra for a delivery that suits me.

Anyway none of that matters. The point is that if you book a specific time they should bring the food at that time - if they want to bring it early by all means call and see if it’s ok, but if the phone isn’t answered that counts as a no!

it makes perfect sense to ask when he’s across the rd
I think the fact he knows he put it in bags and it just sits there and you unpack it in your own time granted you would have to sort freezer stuff so it would come across as though your just been awkward

delivery drivers can have a nightmare with traffic and keeping to schedules this would help him massively

come the day when he’s run out of time do your delivery do think he’ll work on so you get your shopping or just take it back to the store
and this does happen

This would make me very cross. What if I was having a much looked forward to (and rare) lie in? If this was the case and I’d ordered at 11 so that I could get up at 10/ 10.30 for the shop, I’d be
fuming if I’d been woken at 9. My bedroom is on the second floor and I often sleep with earplugs in, but if it had been one of those who bangs the door down it would make me very angry.

Oh FFS you’re in a dressing gown with wet hair, is it really such a deliberation? The guy is delivering next door, of course it’s sensible to just accept it whilst you’re in the house, albeit in a dressing gown.

I went and caught up 20 escaped ewes in wellies and a bathrobe this morning and it wasn’t really on my pre7am itinerary.

it really is a pandemic that we cannot be in any way inconvenienced by other people.

As you're in and you want/need the food, I think it's silly to turn him away personally. It sounds like he was being quite helpful so I think you're overthinking this.

Given that you know why you are getting early deliveries sometimes, would it be worth you speaking to the care home so you can co-ordinate your delivery times to a slot that suits you both?

I can see why the driver wants to offload in close proximity if he is there and knows he has another delivery in the same-ish place on the same round, saves time/petrol/might get off work earlier etc.

I would be interested to hear from someone who does the deliveries how it all works, ie do you get a van full to deliver throughout your working day or do you get a few shops, then come back for more?

You felt co-erced because he offered to put your shopping into your bags whilst you got dressed? JFC. Are you really this bored? He was trying to save time, the environment and help you out at the same time.
This is unbelievable

I can't see how you were inconvenienced by the circumstances you describe, the driver offered to help with your bags. Just put a note on your order saying no early deliveries. You could have been out in any case.

Just tell Sainsbury’s to put a note on your account

I use Ocado and most of the time, they ring first if going to be very early , maybe not if only a few minutes. The one time they were an hour early, they didn’t ring and that driver was rude.(Generally speaking, the drivers are lovely).

I hate this, I get my orders on my day off with the kids and get a slot during naptime.
Then I get a voicemail that the driver is on the way an hour early and have to pack my order with a crying baby and an overexcited toddler running into my legs!

I will take some of the advice here and get them to pack it into bags and drop it inside themselves next time.

Fishwife that I am, I would have yelled after him at that point!

I wouldn't answer the door.

My deliveries often come early but the driver always phones to see if I'm available & it suits me. There's only been once I couldn't accommodate & the driver was fine about it. Said he'd just wait til I came home.