Should we allow separate transactions from the same family?

[UserXRay29]

So I work in a small supermarket and we're limiting essential items to two per customer. But daily, we're getting excuses and justifications why that's not enough for people.

Some people are shopping for large families, others are shopping for neighbours - and it really causes problems for staff because we don't know whether we should be letting people rejoin the queue to do a second shop. Where do you draw the line and how do people prove they're shopping for neighbours? As far as I know, they can't, and we'll just get more abuse for asking for proof anyway.

On the CV board, people are advocating DPs paying separately so they can get twice the amount whilst a post on AIBU is threatening to report a worker for flouting the restrictions and putting things through as separate transactions.

I'm usually easygoing - I don't ID people for booze or scratchcards when they're with their children. But this isn't really about loopholes, it's about making sure there's something for everyone.

So, back to my topic question, are we unreasonable NOT to allow this?

@AlternativePerspective I agree 1 active slot. By the way I don't know what they have done, but after looking for slots every day and not getting any I saw slots available in 2 supermarkets just for tomorrow. I have booked one. None further in advance. So maybe they are stopping booking way ahead?

I think the point that most people are missing is that everyone is being expected to change the habits of a lifetime overnight. Of course people want their usual pizza, or 5 jacket potatoes etc. It's natural, it's what we've all been used to all of our lives. We need to change our mindset, but that will take time too. The panic really stepped up, what, two weeks ago? Give people a chance.

See we are socially distancing as a family but needed some meat for the freezer so went to a small local butchers/spa shop and as we had the kids in the car I popped in first and got some bits but they only have the wire hand baskets and i couldn't carry the heavy things like beer/juice ect so as i put the shopping in the boot DH popped back in for the other more bulky/heavy stuff. We didn't buy duplicate items but it struck me as I got in the car that we must have looked like CF!

*Four baking potatoes are no good to us, we need five.

Need... What we need is for people to start thinking more flexibly for the time being.

Four of you have a baked potato, the other has a tin of soup.

Or you divide the four potatoes so that everyone has an equal amount and and serve with whatever you were going to have with it.*

Which is absolutely fine, and obviously what I'm going to have to do, but it fundamentally doesn't reduce the amount of food I'm going to have to buy to feed my family. I still need to buy five meals, not four. And how is it fair to allow a single person to buy four when they only need one but I can only buy 4 fifths of what I need to feed my family? Proper rationing is the only way this can fairly be sorted, with allowances for each person in a family, rather each shopper, who might be buying just for themselves or might be buying for their family of six plus a couple of self isolating families.

*Four baking potatoes are no good to us, we need five. If this goes on we'll have to introduce proper rationing.

Maybe missing the point here, but did you say that your youngest are 3 and 5? Do they really eat a whole massive baked potato each, the same as the adults?*

They do actually, they're incredibly active with huge appetites (though all three are as skinny as rakes). Plus these are only smallish baking potatoes so DH and I generally end up having a bit of toast once they're in bed to fill up.

@ wutheringtights
Perhaps some posters would prefer that you picked your least favourite child to have as a roast on Sunday!
Joke before someone goes off on one!

We also rarely snack between meals, except for fruit, which probably explains the appetites at dinner!

@ wutheringtights
Perhaps some posters would prefer that you picked your least favourite child to have as a roast on Sunday!
Joke before someone goes off on one!

Any one of them would be delish!

God can you imagine mumsnet if they brought in rationing?

Between the sneers of the packed lunch police declaring that it was crap not real food, and the howls of the parents of strapping teens (always 6ft rugby players) protesting that the ration wouldn't last them 5.minutes, this place would combust.

The supermarkets are saying that there are no problems with the supply chain, it’s just that they can’t get stock on the shelves quickly enough.
No shoppers are admitting that they’re buying more than usual, they’re saying they can’t get what they’d usually buy in one shop.
Both of these can’t be true. Either there are supply chain issues, or people are panic buying, or a bit of both.

The shelves are definitely empty though. I went to Waitrose this afternoon and the entire fresh vegetables section was practically empty. No tomatoes, peppers, beans, anything like that, just a few brassicas. Hardly any potatoes. Almost no bread, maybe half a dozen fresh loaves left. Most other sections at least half empty. The only areas that looked to be fully stocked were the fresh counters and the booze. And I didn’t see anyone attempting to bulk buy. Most had only a basket or a small trolley and were just wandering about trying to piece meals together. I think either there are supply chain issues or the stores are wildly miscalculating what to stock.

And I cannot imagine how it would be even vaguely possible to implement rationing at short notice. To put together a database that worked across all stores- which it would have to, or people would just cheat by signing up with each chain separately- would be an absolutely huge IT project. As big as the ones for NHS databases that have taken years and cost millions and had significant problems. Even a non-technical solution (like issuing physical ration books like the ones in WW2) would require loads of planning to get them produced, printed, distributed. And would probably not be workable anyway, as any paper document with no database behind it would be incredibly vulnerable to not-very-sophisticated fraud.

@doobigeta I have seen plenty of people saying they are buying more than usual so they have enough food for 2 weeks to self isolate if need be. This was entirely predictable because most people shop at least every week. They don'y keep enough food in the house to self isolate for 2 weeks normally.

I am genuinely surprised how many people can't understand that bigger families need a system to buy more food than single people. Especially if as mentioned in the cheese and yoghurt examples it's a case of you can only have 3 of a type of food rather than 3 of each line? And people are saying families should just shop more often when for several reasons it might be more impractical shopping more often if families have more dependants, plus also more people to end up infected by having to take extra trips to the supermarket?

Having said that op you can only stick with instructions given by your store managers. it really sounds awful working in a supermarket right now if some of the stories on here are correct.

Family of 5 must share 4 potatoes for a meal.
Family of 1 can buy 4 potatoes and eat up to 4 in one day
Don't be ridiculous. Family of 1 should be limited to 1 potato so family of 5 can buy 5.
If this is going to last 6 months a family of 5 can't be restricted on food for months whilst single people can have far too much. Oh wait, that's how it usually works just it tends to be the people in developing countries that don't have enough. Maybe this crisis will teach us that we need to share out the world's wealth much more fairly in the future but judging by comments on here that large families should reduce food intake I rather doubt it.

Today I was able to get tinned tomatoes and loo roll from Lidl. They had just had a delivery. They had milk too but no bread or potatoes. Everything was limited to 2 items per person. I then went to our local market that has a market garden stall. They had loads of stuff and no customers! I bought a carrier bag of different items, including potatoes. The owner said she'd had very few sales?? Earlier this morning I bought a couple of huge onions and half a doz eggs from a little corner shop. I've found that the bigger supermarkets seem to have bugger all in this week.

I would have thought that the competition for a pack of baking potatoes is more likely to be other families rather than single people.

Time for proper ration books, one per head. The thing is that there is plenty of food and other provisions to go around. There isn't a shortage of anything, it's just that a minority of greedy bastards have been behaving like morons and taken it all for themselves.

I’ve not been stockpiling at all but due to normal behaviour (yellow sticker fiend) always have a full freezer
However I’m struggling under current rules - shopping for DM and NDN both over 80, DD is NHS essential and often goes without as irregular hours means everywhere sold out
So I buy a pack of 4 loo rolls or 4 potatoes and split between the 4 households
DM gets a loo roll and a potato as does NDN
DS and I get 1/2 a loo roll and 1/2 a potato
DD her DP and their DD get 1/3 of a loo roll and 1/3 of a potato each
Help!

Maybe get DDs DP to do some shopping?

@Weregoingonanadventure oh I know, and I wasn’t arguing with you. That was my point though that it is open to interpretation by the individual supermarkets/managers/cashiers. Your shop decided it was 3 of x group, mine decided it was 3 of x individual item. I was just trying to reassure @caz114 that not all shops were being so draconian.

@yumyumpoppycat people can understand that bigger families need more food, but as I’ve said many times, this is what people wanted. Every social media post and post on here last week was “supermarkets should limit food to prevent stockpiling”. So they did. They don’t have the algorithms at such short notice to figure out what your personal family situation is, and at this second they don’t care. They listened to what the public wanted and implemented it as quickly as they could and still it’s bloody wrong!

I’m no cheerleader for large supermarkets, but at this stage, I don’t see what else they could have done. People got what they wanted but as usual they are determined to never be satisfied. It’ll be the same if rationing does come in; the rations won’t be enough for all those strapping yet slim 6’ sons, the single people will be allowed too much, the Prosecco will be the wrong fucking brand. It’s never ending.

@JaceLancs why isn't your DDs DP doing any shopping?

The 4 potato example given is a startling example of how self absorbed and inflexible people can be. There isn't a quick answer to the issue, we called for limits and now we have them it's not right (just like there was an outcry to close schools and now it's happened everyone is either complaining or trying to find a loophole to send their kids!) there are more pressing issues that mean working out a rationing system isn't going to happen. We have to change our thinking, get a bag of regular potatoes and make something else, have a different meal entirely, accept sometimes there won't be enough of one thing for a family of 5 and someone has to have something else rather than lamenting the government and the supermarkets haven't thought about you personally.

A shop near me has limited it to 1 of each item, imagine the outrage there!

I don't disagree with the limits that are being applied to food purchases by supermarkets, and agree that all the op can do is stick with the rules put in place. it was more other posters saying the family of five should just chop up the 4 potatoes and get on with it that I found surprising. In this scenario there isn't a big bag of regular potatoes the family can buy instead and it isn't about being flexible if there is literally no other option on the shelves. Pretty much all that was on the shelves yesterday when I went to the supermarket was individual ready meals which is expensive for families to buy for every member of a large family. It is obviously something that will need figuring out if things continue like this longer term.

@Tootletum 😂😂😂 are you serious?

DD and her DP both work in front line NHS and are doing lots of extra hours