To not give up my delivery slots..

[Shootingstar2918]

Hi all, background... I am not vulnerable and I am fit and healthy and able to go shopping but it’s extremely difficult. I have two children with autism and my partner has to work. I live 12 miles away from the nearest large supermarket. The village shop doesn’t sell much.

I get my shopping delivered every week without fail at the same time every week. I always book slots in advance particularly at usual peak times - Christmas, Easter, summer holidays.

My partner still has to work long hours so not as easy as one of us getting to the shop. By the time he finishes this week the shops are shut. They don’t open late here.

I have two shops booked. One for next week and another for the week after.

Been told I’m selfish for not leaving them for the vulnerable?

I booked these 2 weeks ago! When Tesco released easter bank holiday priority slots for delivery savers!

Surely I should keep my slots and not be made to feel guilty?

I know I’ll probably have to shop in store after these 2 slots!

I don’t know why you don't order for a fortnight and top up locally?

Not everyone has room to store that much food. Not much cupboard space, freezers etc.

This is where the advice to keep slots for vulnerable people only don’t work, there are plenty of people like the OP who may not be vulnerable themselves but other circumstances make it difficult to go to the supermarket. Keep your slot OP, I don’t think anyone should begrudge you it, if they do maybe they should walk a mile in your shoes before they judge.

And I get for a lot of people that online deliveries are convenient. It is convenient for you OP that your DP does not have to go to the supermarket and do a shop for you. It is convenient for others that they don't have to take a child with them. But this is not just about what makes your life easier, it is about what saves lives.

Keep the slots and don’t tell anyone!!
I managed to get a slot for this Sunday, by some absolute miracle, I’ve kept it to myself! Apart from my friend who lives down the road, we are both in isolation, and she’s out her shopping on! Other than that it’s top secret!

So he works 7 days a week from 6am to 10pm?

How do you know the opening hours of OP's local shop? Lots of rural shops have limited opening hours, even more so at the moment. Ours is opening 2-3 hours later than normal and shutting two hours earlier so staff have the time to stock shelves.

Does you do work 7 days a week?
And I am sorry but even if he does, why csht here pick up a click and collect order on the way home?
I did 10 hrs of front line work today and then stopped at supermarket on way home.
Yes I am knackered, yes I'd really prefer shopping delivered, but I can do it.
I have sympathy about prospect of two autistic children and a trip to supermarket but I find it hard to believe your dp cannot go at some point in the week

Keep your slots! You don’t know what will happen to them if you cancel

I"m one of the few who have been lucky with Ocado. I've got deliveries coming tomorrow and next week

I'm using these slots to add an extra loaf, milk, cheese and eggs for elderly relatives who can’t go out. I’m not giving this up for, what could be, no reason

@adaline OP has said local shop does not have stock she wants. She makes it clear that it is a proper supermarket.

Also, children with ASD (numerous as they may be) are in the vulnerable category.
No ASD does not make you very vulnerable medically to this virus.

I suspect the real issue is that OPs DP either does not want to, or refuses to go to the supermarket to shop.

Meh, everyone in my household gets the flu jab, we have no family locally and I've had previous pneumonia.

I'm not giving up slots & nor do my family members in the vulnerable group think I should. No guarantee they'll go to someone more 'deserving' to be brutally honest.

What I have done is stocked up on shelf stable stuff (weeks ago at a wholesaler when I saw what was coming, not panic buying in the local Asda) and meal planned meticulously to avoid unnecessary shops and (hopefully) provide some mitigation against any weird and wonderful substitutions.

To me the far bigger problem is the people panic buying leading to e.g. this week's shop turning up with no protein sources whatsoever (thus necessitating an extra shop or delivery and increasing risk).

OP has said local shop does not have stock she wants. She makes it clear that it is a proper supermarket.

Our local "proper supermarket" has massively restricted it's opening hours. Three days a week it now doesn't open until 10am as opposed to 7am.. It closes at 8pm instead of 10pm. So you're massively restricted as to when you can go.

They're also only allowing one adult in at a time. No children. No couples. The only time more than one adult is allowed is if their partner is disabled.

OP - don't give up your slots. You have a valid reason to use them so just do it. I don't know anyone IRL who would give up their home delivery to go and stand in a queue outside Tesco for hours with two autistic kids.

Thanks all. I will
Keep my slots and start shopping afterwards.

My partner is fully able to go shopping. He works 6 days a week which leaves Sunday so one of us will go shopping on sundays. I say this as he’s called into work this Sunday 😩

It’s at 20-30 minute drive to the supermarket dependent on traffic so probably 20 at the minute being quiet buy up to an hour travelling, also the queue to get into the he shop and the shop itself so not a lot of time around his unsociable shifts. There is a small convenience store near his work that shuts at 7pm he might be able to go there if he’s finished on time. He can’t buy fresh or frozen produce before work and leave it in his car.. Shops don’t open late or 24 hours here... the supermarket 12 miles from our house is 20
Miles from his work...

There isn’t supermarkets in every corner where u live 🤣

Also the supermarket quite rightly so are offering hours in the morning for the elderly and vulnerable. Not opening to the general public until 10am every day. That leaves me no time before oh starts work which cannot be helped.

There is a small village shop. Couldn’t get much there apart from basic supplies. It’s also just announced closure for cleaning for a week or
two because a member of staff has symptoms. There is a co op a few miles away but that’s shut down too. Things aren’t easy when you live in an
Area with barely any shops 🤣

Where I live *

Op what are you going to do after the slots? It’s unlikely you will get such reliable delivery slots.

One of you will have to go shopping on your DH day off.

Click and collect is fully booked too!

Some weeks he doesn’t get a full day off!

But yeah we will work around it !

Another one voting for keep them. You can’t take children into supermarkets around here. So home delivery from somewhere you know the food is your best option. Keep them!

To be honest I genuinely don’t mind going to the shops, as a fit and healthy adult. Luckily I live in a decent area of London with many different supermarkets on my doorstep - I have been able to do substantial enough food shops even with essential items sold through.

And on a basic level, it gives me something to do/an excuse to leave the house. Lockdown & being cooped up inside has been awful. I’m more than happy to leave delivery slots to those that have no alternative.

Wow. So your partner is able to shop? As a single asthmatic parent with a toddler who is trying to keep within the government restrictions, my three weeks ago booked shop got cancelled... no fucking way I'll be able to do the equivalent without at least three or four trips to the shops...

I'm bloody fuming that Ocado have cancelled my reserved slots. I've been a loyal customer for 10+ years, am T2 diabetic and don't want to spend hours slepping round a supermarket touching things that hundreds of others have. I don't do supermarket shopping for that very reason.

I’m sorry that you are put in such a position, but...

Technically we have all been loyal shoppers, in one form or another. Does that mean my loyal visits guarantees me the food that I always bought?

The demand is too high to supply.

But hopefully the system will favour those who are at risk.

I’m furious that this better planned by policy makers. It wasn’t a total surprise.

Can your partner come and do my shopping??

Keep them. There is no guarantee they will go to someone vulnerable and the supermarkets are being very vocal not to take your family shopping! I have a slot for a week that's not even on the website now. I booked it in advance and i think they've changed how far ahead they are booking now

@AlternativePerspective you can register online if the NHS haven't sent the letter. They will then check with your GP I believe, and add you to the database. You don't have to just accept if if an oversight left you off - my mum has an immune system cancer (a lymphoma) and I added her in case her letter wasn't pending.

Oh and I am not a complete waste of oxygen, I work full time as a teacher normally... my school is shut for now..: I can't get any fucking food or stuff...

This is those who are in the shielded group. And most of us can't get a delivery slot at the moment.

People falling into this extremely vulnerable group include:

Solid organ transplant recipients.

People with specific cancers:
people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy or radical radiotherapy for lung cancer
people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs
People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe COPD.

People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as SCID, homozygous sickle cell).

People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.

Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.