Why is my Ocado delivery free - no Smart Pass

[Bjorkdidit]

I shop very occasionally at Ocado, like once or twice a year where I usually buy a few things they sell that I can't find elsewhere (I have a 'nice things' list where I save ideas, usually that I've read about on here).

When I do order, I've never paid for delivery even if it doesn't meet the minimum for free delivery (at the bottom it says if you spend under £75 the minimum delivery charge is £2.99 but I can see lots of free delivery slots and last time I spent £41 but delivery was still free).

A relative shops there semi regularly, eg a couple of times a month because she can get M&S food delivered instead of having to carry it home on the bus and she was saying how she had to think what else she could buy to bump the order up over £75 so she didn't have to pay for delivery and this got me wondering.

I don't have a Smart Pass but if I ordered something now, I can see that there's plenty of free delivery slots over the next few days.

Its a tactic when they don't have as many orders as usual. Realistically your order is going to cost more than a couple of pounds to pick/pack/deliver, however the company normally absorbs the extra - in this case, they're covering the whole cost (and gaining profit on the products you buy!)

I do an Ocado order every 2 weeks, sometimes more regularly but I’ve never once paid for delivery either! It seems to be free from £40 for me.
Adverts for the deliver pass have always really thrown me too! So it’s not free for everyone else?

I didn't realise it was free anyway over £75, I got offered a free 6 months pass and took it, they also gave me lots of money off coupons for over £60 spends and free box of Hotel chocolates, the ones that are about £17 so worth taking if offered. When my pass runs out in February I will just do less frequent orders of £75+ and maybe hope for some free ones with less spend.

Thank you- have just loaded up an Ocado shop with M&S biscuits to be delivered this week for free as your post prompted me to look at slots, and now I have saved myself a trip to town!