Why do Sainsbury’s have a ‘think 25’ for all deliveries?

[sainsburystwat]

Bought a perfectly normal order from Sainsbury’s - groceries, shampoo, shower gel .

No alcohol or anything even close to alcohol (ie alcohol flavoured) . No medication . No substances . No knives .

Sainsbury’s delivery driver took one look at me and said, nope, you’re too young to take the delivery .

I’m 30 . I rent, I work, I’ve lived away from my parents for twelve years! I’m on the autistic spectrum and find supermarkets very difficult so prefer home deliveries for convenience .

Driver said I look much closer to 16-18, and I’m therefore not allowed the delivery, they can only deliver to adults aged over 25 and that in future I will be asked for a driving licence or passport - they aren’t allowed to accept any other ID .

For various reasons - money - I can’t afford a passport and I’m medically unfit to drive . Did offer him my birth certificate and student ID but said legally only allowed a passport or driving licence .

Why do they need ID for groceries? For what possible reason - what am I going to do with a sandwich and a cheesecake that could possibly be dangerous or illegal ?! Makes zero sense at all . Apparently it’s been company policy for years but I’ve been getting regular deliveries since I was 18 with zero issues !!

Customer services answer was that all supermarkets have the exact same policy that they won’t deliver to minors under 25 without passport/driving licence …. aaaargh.

I wouldn’t mind but they said I’m not even allowed to pick the food up from store; as customer services said I’d still be refused it without passport/licence .

So bloody frustrated !

@StealthPolarBear

But in what way can a driver be 'done' for releaaing shopping to an under 18?

I suppose it depends upon your definition of done but if it’s a company policy, they can be fired. If there are products that have a legal age restriction, then they can be fined and given a criminal record.

It’s annoying they want to ID you, OP, but there will be lots of other occasions in life that you will need appropriate ID.

Dd has taken in the Ocado order multiple times. She’s 16 and looks about 12, poor girl 🤣 Ds has taken it in before as well, but he is 14 and looks 25! Never any problems and I wouldn’t have expected there to be. Very odd behaviour from Sainsburys. Why would you not deliver the same groceries to someone that could go and buy the same groceries from a supermarket?

There are fines and prosecution for the individual if they don’t check and are caught out. Loads of test purchases happen so you can understand why they won’t turn a blind eye.

@RadioSixMusicLover

There are fines and prosecution for the individual if they don’t check and are caught out. Loads of test purchases happen so you can understand why they won’t turn a blind eye.

But what exactly would they be prosecuted for here? The well-known crime of selling vegetables to under 25s? It’s nonsensical to apply this policy to all orders including those with no restricted products.

I had this when I went to collect my click and collect order this week. I didn’t have any booze, medicine or anything that required an age to buy but was still asked if I was 25 or over. The assistant who brought my delivery to the car couldn’t work out why they had to ask for proof when all I bought was fruit, veg and nappies

@TuftyMarmoset It’s just company policy I guess. Lots of supermarkets won’t deliver to under 18s. Some will, as seen here. It’s their right to have any policy they want. In this instance they would probably have a disciplinary for not following policy.

Ridiculous! Our Sainsburys store went through a bad spell of over policing alcohol sales. I had over £80 of groceries and had a bottle of wine confiscated because I didn’t have ID. I’m over 40!! Was also behind a man in the queue on day who had a huge shop (in both quantity and value - lots of organic meat) and she wouldn’t sell him 4 bottles on beer. He must have 50 at least! Seems it had happened to him before too and asked to see the manager but they said they had to stand by their check out staff and if they thought he might be under 25 they couldn’t sell without ID.

Pssst, pssst, ‘want some carrots? 😂😂😂

This has happened to me too, only ever with Sainsbury’s. I assume they must be really, really hard on their staff, because I’ve never had the problem with deliveries from any other supermarket.

How very strange. Ocado have always left groceries with my teen kids unless included alcohol. In fact they will also just leave on the doorstep if I ask them too! At the very least they should accept your birth certificate!!! I would complain about that.

That is ridiculous
Surely you would have ordered online using your bank account
Can you get a provisional driving license ?

As a regular customer, I would complain

Change supermarket

Use Ocado. They confirmed that they were happy to deliver to anyone of any age so long as there were no age restricted products. My son has been taking in my Ocado deliveries since he was 16 with no issues.

Point out to them that it is disability discrimination as your disability means you can not drive etc.

My Sainsburys is 18. I have a 20 year old and he has taken in the delivery for two years now.

Sainsbury's is particularly ridiculous.

One december, i popped out to grab some Christmas crackers from Sainsbury's, for a Christmas punch i was doing that afternoon. They refused to seek them to me because they contain explosives. I was nearly 30.

I had this the other week… I’m 31. Apparently the driver couldn’t believe it. It made my week but now I’m wondering whether he was just being polite…

I hope it was a one-off, will definitely swap to Ocado if it’s a regular occurrence. Ridiculous.

Sounds ridiculous.

Just shows that Sainsbury's systems are shit. They must have been grateful for the genuine supply chain problems recently as they are always running out of stuff in normal times. Now they can blame that instead of their own rubbish stock control.

Every other shop is capable of flagging when an order contains items which require ID.

Madness, why is it 25? Do people under 25 not need groceries? I left home years ago when I was 20, I haven't used Sainsbury's but never had an issue with Tesco or Asda. Surely they should only be asking for ID if you are purchasing alcohol?

@RadioSixMusicLover

There are fines and prosecution for the individual if they don’t check and are caught out. Loads of test purchases happen so you can understand why they won’t turn a blind eye.

I wonder if there has ever been a prosecution of a driver for not checking ID. Clearly not, because other supermarkets don't - and groceries are not age restricted anyway.

But I was thinking about this again this morning and having been a lawyer myself, there is a blame culture around law and legal advice and if you get anything wrong as a lawyer it comes back to bite you. On the one hand you get hammered for being too risk averse, but on the other hand, if a driver were to be prosecuted (or more likely, Sainsburys itself), everyone would turn on the lawyer and say it was their fault. So they give ridiculous advice.

We need to get rid of the blame culture if we are going to get rid of ludicrous rules.

You can also point a finger at HSBC, which accepts a driving licence as ID to open an account with them, but not a provisional unless you are 17....anyone from the HSBC regulatory team on here who can explain that one?

I never knew this, I’ve only ordered from them a couple of times and both times were Ok so I obviously don’t look young enough 😂 however if I was asked I don’t have a driving license and my passport expired ages ago and I had no plans to go away anytime soon so haven’t renewed it so I would be stuck as well! Going to stick with Tesco’s from now on now that I know Sainsbury’s policy.

You're not the only one to have had this - totally ridiculous - problem.

It suggests at the bottom that Tesco haven't caused problems.

www.theguardian.com/money/2020/dec/01/sainsburys-wont-deliver-the-basic-food-i-ordered-for-my-student-son

We order from a couple of wine companies and they will happily leave it outside the door, or they have a bit you can fill in when ordering from them which asks for delivery instructions which means you can ask it to be left behind the back gate or in the shed, and you don't even have to be in when they deliver.

@berlinbabylon Of course SOME groceries are age restricted. Surely you must know this?!