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AIBU?

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Original poster

Woman selling Tesco shopping slots for £30

215 replies

biglouis · 17/05/2020 01:25

www.entertainmentdaily.co.uk/lifestyle/woman-admits-selling-supermarket-home-delivery-slots-to-the-elderly-and-vulnerable-for-30-each/

Profiting from the misery of others or supplying a service to fill a gap in the market?

I think this shows entrepreneurial thinking. She saw a gap in the market and moved to fill it. Its not against the law.

Not a particularly easy way to make money. She has to stay up to bid for all those slots, arrange payment and delivery and do the shopping for all those people. Obviously it wont last as when the lockdown has ended people will go back to physical shopping and there will be plenty of slots available again.

But it shows enterprise and she could graduate to providing a "personal shopper" service with a bit more thought and organization.

OP posts:
CherryPavlova · 17/05/2020 10:20

Appalling exploitation to the point of being abusive; taking advantage of the vulnerable for personal financial gain.
If you think it’s entrepreneurial.your moral compass needs adjustment.

Candyfloss99 · 17/05/2020 10:21

Wow she and you are beyond selfish.

GabsAlot · 17/05/2020 10:23

no its profiteering in a pandemic there was no gap in the market shes taking slots and geting money for them

CanICelebrate · 17/05/2020 10:24

Pressed YANBU by accident! YABU - this is appalling

Bouldghirl · 17/05/2020 10:26

Wrong wrong wrong
There is absolutely no justification for this. Vulnerable people are desperate for these slots and she is profiteering from this. Shocking - and I hope Tesco ban her account.

Bubbletrouble43 · 17/05/2020 10:26

It's vile. And whilst some areas have plentiful slots I can vouch that getting a delivery slot in my area of Cornwall is very difficult, you're lucky to get one within 3 weeks, possibly because of the high number of elderly and shielding people. I don't know how people like her sleep at night tbh.

GabsAlot · 17/05/2020 10:29

also havent they made it illegal definitely in shops you can report them for inflated prices

DropZoneOne · 17/05/2020 10:30

I'm surprised that's even possible. I have Delivery Saver, and as soon as I select a slot, all remaining slots are greyed out, so I can only secure a slot every 3 weeks.

bananaskinsnomnom · 17/05/2020 10:30

I think it’s vile.

It’s not entrepreneurial, it’s taking something that would otherwise be available and profiting from it. A bit like a bot on the computer, something limited edition goes up for sale, or tickets for an event, and the bots get in there first when sale opens - - and then 10 minutes later it’s on eBay for 6 times the price and appears as sold out on the website.

bananaskinsnomnom · 17/05/2020 10:32

@DropZoneOne I wonder if the person has multiple accounts with different emails set up? I admit to setting up a second Ocado account once to get a “first time customer” discount (this was years ago not in pandemic)

Possibly several emails, using family addresses or a couple of family names in the same house?

NamesNamesSoManyNames · 17/05/2020 10:34

It sounds like from reading the article that she’s running errands for old people, offering a bit of companionship (she chatty) and using her time to find the slots, which she’s been asked to do by her ‘customers’ who are happy to pay her for it. It’s The Sun, so they’re gonna put their own spin on her activities.
She’s offering a service her time in exchange for money, not too dissimilar to a carer. Staying up for hours to secure a supermarket slot for £30. Probably works out at minimum wage.
It’s nice that some people can do this kind of stuff voluntarily, but presumably they haven’t just lost her jobs, or have other sources of income.
On the face of it she’s just trying to get by, whilst she’s out of work. So can’t really condemn her for that.

Bullshit. If she didn't do this, then people might be able to find their own slots. She may be an otherwise nice person, but this action is disgusting. She's also, I assume, taking advantage of living with a vulnerable person to get priority slots, which is also disgusting.

Disaster capitalism. She's contributing to the problem of no slots while also profiting from it. Appalling.

Mlou32 · 17/05/2020 10:34

It's disgusting, it really is preying on the vulnerable. Folk who can't go out rely on these slots however can't get them because this woman has hoovered them all up before they have had a chance to get to them. They then either need to pay her 30 quid to get back what they should have been able to get for a fiver or they do without a shopping delivery.

I'm not sure why the woman went public with this, I'd be ashamed of my actions if I were her.

BossAssBitch · 17/05/2020 10:35

The woman is a vile cunt

PerpendicularVincent · 17/05/2020 10:36

She's an annoying scumbag profiting from vulnerable people.

Likethebattle · 17/05/2020 10:39

I have managed to get sainsburys the last two weeks in a row but other people will abuse the system like this baking it harder for people.

Mlou32 · 17/05/2020 10:40

It is also an income that she is making so would she be liable for having to pay tax and NI off her earnings? If so, I hope she is reported to HMRC!

Muh2020 · 17/05/2020 10:41

Pretty much akin to war profiteering.

Can she not be reported to Tesco?

Or named and shamed on the Daily Fail?

EugenesAxe · 17/05/2020 10:42

I don’t if it’s because it’s harder to steal cars or burgle at the moment, but since COVID I’ve definitely seen a lot of creative scams popping up.

SinisterBumFacedCat · 17/05/2020 10:43

She is steeling slots from vulnerable people and selling them to other vulnerable people for a profit.

Reminds me of tickets touting, buying all the seats online and then selling them at exorbitant prices to fans. I couple of years ago it was rife and sometimes gigs would be half empty because fans wouldn’t able to spend £200 on £40 seats.

She’s an arsehole.

2old4thissite · 17/05/2020 10:45

I couldn't see anything in the article about running errands out of the goodness of her heart, but I did see the bit about her having enough money for a tropical holiday!! Wow.
Yes is 'being enterprising' in the same way as crooks and loan sharks are.
Charging anything is exploitative, but £30! That's a massive mark-up on anyone's shop

2old4thissite · 17/05/2020 10:49

It may be that some rich vulnerable people are happy to pay someone to do a service for them.
But these are not normal times. It's a pandemic and she is scamming the system and taking slots from other people. Some of them may have to go out now and potentially put themselves at risk in the shops thanks to her

Sweetiepye · 17/05/2020 10:54

It may not be against the law, but it is disgusting. Talk about preying on the elderly and vulnerable! Shock
My husband is in the shielded group and to keep him safe I am isolating with him. I rely on getting home delivery slots to get our groceries. We could get the free food boxes the local government supplies, but prefer to pay our own way!

2old4thissite · 17/05/2020 10:55

She seems very pleased with herself, but she's not that clever as her name and general location is in the outside world now and a ahovelful of crap will soon be coming her way.
Profiteering is illegal I think, but morally wrong though this is, I'm not sure this would hold up in court as people have chosen to pay her for a service, she is not hiding it.
Cant Tesco block her and her IP address?

PinkiOcelot · 17/05/2020 10:56

Has the OP came back? Didn’t get the responses expected?!

2old4thissite · 17/05/2020 10:58

Sweetiepye
We are in exactly the same situation as you, however we had to register for the box et al after 2 wks, cos we couldn't get any slots otherwise.
Now we can