If Old and Vulnerable are prioritised...

[NotVulnerableStillHungry]

...what the fuck is everyone else supposed to do?

Ocado - prioritising elderly and vulnerable
Waitrose - prioritising elderly and vulnerable
Sainsburys - prioritising elderly and vulnerable
Iceland - prioritising elderly and vulnerable
Morrisons - can't tell as 19014 in the queue trying to get in.

Prioritising the elderly and vulnerable is great, obviously, but it doesn't actually work if you don't have capacity to serve anyone else. Because then it's not prioritising! It's saying "We will not serve you if you are not elderly or vulnerable".

And surprise, surprise, people who aren't vulnerable still need to eat.

So I cannot get anything from any supermarket either delivered or to collect (and I've expanded my search area to 8 miles from my house, nothing). And my local co-op is stripped bare of literally everything except milk, chocolate biscuits and aunt Bessie's frozen yorkshire puds. What good is that, to anyone?

IDK, OP. I'm lucky, I live in a city, work across the road from a huge supermarket, there are two of us- even if one supermarket is bare we can get more or less what we need between us. No one in my house has yet had symptoms that mean we have to isolate. I'm trying to think how the feck I would manage if I was on my own, or living somewhere like I used to live with one supermarket and few options, or if we had to isolate and there was no one who would shop for us. I can't come up with an easy answer.

Bidfood are supposed to be opening up to non business if that's any good to you?

As far as I can tell it's old or shielded but not the vulnerable that are being given help

So be glad you are not in the vulnerable group that is getting no support at all except by the kindness of employers and friends

There is a huge number of people with heart conditions, weight problems, diabetes and asthma who are not being shielded but are at much higher risk. In the early days we were told we needed to take extra care because of this and now we are none existent

We're in the "extremely vulnerable" category and can't get an online delivery. We live rurally. We're not allowed out at all for 12 weeks. It would be nice to be prioritised...I've not seen any evidence of that happening yet. DH emailed the CEO of a major supermarket and just got a generic "sorry, we might get a few more slots soon" reply.

If you can go out, if you are allowed out, please please go to the supermarket and leave the online slots for those of us who really can't.

Which area of zone 2 are you? Maybe someone on here could help. Do you not have any friends or family whatsoever that could help you out? I am slightly doubtful that there aren't any shops within walking distance of you though. They may only be corner shops that don't stock your usual brand, but I can't believe you couldn't get enough to keep you going for a few weeks.

Waitrose yesterday, 5.30pm. No queue to get in, plenty of tomatoes, eggs pasta and toilet roll. I was so surprised I did a full reckie and really could not find anything out of stock. Similar in Morrisons last Tuesday - though a few items missing. Local reports are that Tesco is very quiet in the evenings too. Lots of pubs are offering grocery and veg boxes for delivery round here as well as hot meals. get on your local Facebook page - plenty of help available.

@BraveLittleDragon theres a fagility score updated on the 24th March ready for Coronavirus. If you have pre-existing conditions "under control" you're a 3, running a marathon doesn't matter.

There's a reason we're "shielding" the old and the vulnerable

Well where I live we must be lucky, as we have managed to get pretty much everything we need .The large superstore a few miles away even had anti bac soap (honestly felt like cheering)! Loo rolls, some pasta and so on .The local Co Op to us is never really well stocked though at the best of times!Are local taxi firms/Uber running ,I have gone down to one shop a week for 5 of us ,by clearing the freezer and freezing extra milk .bread and veg .If you could try and see if you could go once a fortnight? Would pay for the taxis and if only 3 of you may be able to do this .We are in difficult times right now, and relying solely on deliveries is no longer possible ATM .

@37RunningAwaywiththeCircus

That seems to be the case with Waitrose at the moment, yes. But other supermarkets are still offering slots to non-vulnerable people.

I’m a key worker and by the time I finish work the shelves are usually stripped empty of the everyday things we need. A click and collect system, even if the number of items were restricted and a few days in advance would be helpful. Overall I think the supermarkets have behaved pretty badly. I can’t see any reason why they allowed all these people buying up whole boxes of pasta, toilet rolls etc... although most now have restrictions in place it’s just too little too late in my opinion. One thing that seems to spread faster than the virus is greed.

My husband went to a small Sainsburys this morning at 8am, straight after the NHS-only slot. He managed a full weekly shop including pasta and rice. They had toilet rolls, kitchen roll and paper hankies but we didn't need those this time.

@PeterPanGoesWrong

If your husband is on the shielded list he really shouldn't be going into the shops. Is there a number to call on your letter for further advice?

Try local farmers shop or organic food shop. Lots of cafes are now trying to make a living that way.

I agree. Not allowed to stockpile. Should be limiting your visits to supermarkets. Can't get online.

I'm meant to be shielding, but as I live in Wales , I can't register on Gov.co. as it's only for those living in England...therefore when I try to book online shopping with waitrose I can't as I'm not registered
...have emailed/ tweeted Waitrose and got a 'sorry there's nothing we can do at the moment' ...but we are open at 8am for vulnerable group ...ffs I'm not even meant to leave my house for next 12 weeks
I've also contacted my AM to see if Welsh Assembly can offer any suggestions ...she did suggest my local councillor would be in touch

FuzzyPuffling try contacting your local parish council or church, they will probably ( hopefully) be able to help you.

Some of the supermarket bosses are now suggesting that the non elderly and non vulnerable should be the ones who shop in store and not shop online

One of the grey areas is those of us who are deemed vulnerable but who aren't in the shielding group. So high risk, but thankfully not extremely high risk. We can't get any slots at all and have to choose between asking friends to risk their own health and go shopping for us, when items are being rationed, or to put our own health at great risk.

the bigger problem is the disabled people that the government hasn't put on the vulnerable list because they aren't at more risk of complications

You can register with the supermarkets as vulnerable, it doesn’t rely on whether or not you are at more risk from CV but whether you need additional help. Plenty of people I know who are disabled, or have children with disabilities have been identified as vulnerable and eligible for priority as well as help from their local authorities.

@NoMorePoliticsPlease yet they continue to take peoples £9.99 every month .

Exactly badkitten

Get on a bus. They are empty.

You are complaining that you aren’t prioritised. You have children, which is a choice not forced on you.

Those who are vulnerable have illnesses, not a choice.

Having a child does not make you more special than anyone else, it is your own self chosen responsibility,

I live in central London and the shops have plenty of stock near me. Also, the corner stores are absolutely stuffed staples too - rice, pasta, eggs. I wouldn't dream of getting a delivery when there are plenty of elderly Londoners who need one much more than me.

I know, I wish they would be honest and say, we will only deliver to the elderly and the vulnerable, which I actually think is what they really mean but dont want to say.
Ive been checking for online slots every day for about a week and had no luck. Don't know if living rurally has reduced my chances of getting a slot and wonder if they are prioritising towns as they would be able to fit in more deliveries.
I currently have symptoms which a GP says is probably a virus, but couldn't say what type of virus it is but I need to self isolate and tbh I don't feel well enough to go to the shops ,DH was also feeling ill but is better now but not sure if he should still be in isolation? ln any case as we are a family of 6 he will need to go soon if we want to eat! Ive shopped online for groceries for 20 years and think ( before I came down with virus ) I spent more time supermarkets in the previous two weeks than I usually do in an entire year.

I'm a key worker but work office hours (along the lines of support worker). I'm not going to take advantage of the key worker hours as I can pretty much go anytime. Leave it to the people who need it. Ffs, are people this grabby, even now??