People 'reserving' delivery slots

[turquoise50]

I've recently discovered that apparently lots of people are 'reserving' supermarket delivery slots by just putting a bottle or two of booze which they don't really want into their trolley to take it over £40, and leaving it there for weeks! Then when they're ready to order their actual shopping they edit it and take it out.

Thus just strikes me as dishonest and really very selfish when everyone knows that delivery slots are still in very high demand. I tried to book on Saturday and the earliest slot I could get was Monday 27th. Last week there was a two-week wait and I had to order from my second-choice supermarket instead, where the wait was only a week.

I presume people are doing it the minute their order is delivered, to hold their regular spot for next time. Whereas I tend to be more reactive in my shopping habits, besides keeping a rolling list in my notes.

I feel a bit shocked, but at the same time realise that if I (pre-lockdown) would, say, order on a Thursday for delivery on a Sunday, because that happens to be my preferred day, it's effectively the same thing. But there wasn't a shortage of slots then, going to the shops was no big deal, and I was ordering stuff I actually wanted.

YANBU - it's selfish and sneaky and people shouldn't hog slots; in fact the shops should crack down on it by making it so that slots can only be held for up to a week, and/or make the trolley limit a minimum number of items, not a minimum amount of money. (I know some shops did this for a while but not sure if still continuing.)

YABU - it's really no different from ordering your full shop a few days in advance and editing it several times before delivery as you run out of different things.

(As a side question - when these people forget to update their order and 'accidentally' get a delivery of nothing but a £40 bottle of whisky that they don't even like, should I feel a certain amount of schadenfreude, or be even more annoyed by the totally wasted delivery slot? Or a bit of both? )

I always do this. It’s only backfired on me once, I had 3 bottles of vodka delivered and nothing else. Was a bit of a pain. I couldn’t even drink it as I had no mixers!
I found it really frustrating during lockdown when I couldn’t get shopping delivered. I have been a delivery saver customer for years, since they came out and have been having online deliveries since we first got married and I had to do my shopping (so 16 years), so if I want to reserve slots with Tesco, I can’t see any reason for me not too.

MIL and SIL have always been really critical And rude of my delivery slots, apparently there is no reason for me not to go to the supermarket and absolutely no reason for me to need shopping twice a week.

Until lockdown. When they have both become big fans of having deliveries. If Tesco see my custom as worth giving me a perk of however many deliveries I want for £6 a month (or whatever it is I pay for delivery saver) I will take full advantage of that. And if that means reserving Slots in advance with a couple of bottles of spirits, then that is what I will have to do.

I have no idea how many slots you can have reserved, but during lock down I had one a week for the next 4 weeks, reserving them as soon as they became available and then when I was able to book 2 a week, started doing that too. It seems to have calmed down a bit now and I’ve only got the next 4 slots booked for over the next 2 weeks.

I don’t get why you think it’s so dishonest OP. What difference does it make to you?

I’ve got a delivery every Friday until 8th August. I’m not hobbling around the supermarket if it’s absolutely avoidable ! And yep sure a bottle of wine is languishing in each basket 😂

Thus just strikes me as dishonest and really very selfish when everyone knows that delivery slots are still in very high demand.

Ocado have been sending emails encouraging booking up in advance, with reminders that we can always edit later if we need to, and saying we can book a delivery every two days, if we want. I can only presume that they no longer feel delivery slots ARE in demand and really don't mind the 'use booze to reserve' method. Besides, we use bags of soap nuts as our virtual placeholders

I’ve always booked my slots in advance and added a few bits we order each week and add to it as I go along, rather than order in one go.

@Maryann1975 Sorry but that made me laugh, I live in fear of the day that the delivery person appears on my doorstep brandishing the four bottles of £10 wine that I always drop in to reserve my slot at the £40 threshold

OP - I usually fill my trolley with all sorts when I book a slot but since it's often several weeks in advance with a shop in the middle I then end up with all sorts of stuff I then didn't want. I still wanted the slot, and still used it - much easier to order what you want if the placeholder is bloody obvious.

I have no problem I order for every fortnight (Three weeks in advance) and have shopped like that for years, I don’t feel selfish as I’m registered blind and now cropped with arthritis, we shop with Morrison’s.

Ocado keep begging me to reserve more slots, so no shortage here.
I always reserve the next slot when I do the final edit of current order, so i know how much food I'll need.

Agree with PPs that I don’t see any issue with reserving a slot and finalising it later. It doesn’t make the slot any more or less gone, compared to the person having done a detailed and final shop at the point of booking their slot.

I’ve felt a bit guilty at times for shopping online during the pandemic. We’re not vulnerable and are capable of shopping in person, which we did for the first couple of months then I realised that slots were fairly easily available in our area so can’t have been in too high demand, plus we’re juggling two jobs and two toddlers at home so I decided we’re in more need than some people of a bit of help and it’s probably ok. If it became very hard to get a slot I would stop trying because that would also mean they’re also hard to come by for those who are shielding etc. but for now I’ve made my peace with it.

There nothing dishonest about it??

A couple of years ago we did accidentally forget to take out an expensive whiskey, although luckily it was unavailable on the day so got a refund

Yabu. I've shopped with Tesco for 12 years online . Always got a slot on a sunday for the following day. I've spent most Monday's since March having to stay up til Midnight to get a slot for weeks away. If I get a slot I chuck in a bottle of champagne , check out and go to bed. I'm not staying up even longer to do my normal shop.

YABU. I can’t even see what your objection is. To be honest I usually add £40 of stuff we get regularly in case I forget to amend it but I’ll also done it with booze. Sainsbury’s give you until 11pm night before delivery to amend so not a massive problem for them. I do also booze I do like just in case I forget...

I am genuinely confused by this. You always have to reserve a slot, why is it dishonest not to do all your shopping in one go when it allows you to add and amend? I have just booked my delivery for August 8th, as that is when I will need Tesco shopping. (I generally operate on a monthly supermarket shop, fortnightly veg box delivery and subscriptions for loo roll, kitchen towel and cleaning products.)

I have put the things I will need in and checked out, but I will definitely amend it and I will need to ask DP for the drinks order (that's his remit!) If I had put the drinks in first (as I sometimes do when DP tells me we are getting low), checked out, and come back to do the food later, would that be different?

I would never put something I don't want in my basket to get the amount up (too worried I would forget to remove it!) but I have occasionally checked out with less than the minimum amount - they say you will pay a fee, but if you go back in and amend you don't - is this dishonest?

I have done this with basics for years, due to the minimum spend. I used to use the Ocado reserved but that's still on hold at present.
I reserve my Chris at slot with two bottles of fizz which I then amend near the time too.

Not everywhere is short in delivery slots now either. I can often get a delivery slot within a couple of days or so at the moment - with Ocado.

I put Jack Daniels in so if I forget to update I'm still happy

I do the same, 2 bottles of Jack Daniels. I’ve always got slots booked for weeks ahead. There’s lots of slots available here for next weekend onwards.

You need to be more organised OP instead of moaning about others.

Don’t be daft. Supermarkets aren’t nationalised industries and it’s up to them how they sort their stocking issues.

The slot will be filled by the person “holding it” just not necessarily with only a single bottle of champagne.

I say this as an Ocado customer with 3 slots booked ahead with proper shops in them, but only as I meal plan/freezer rotate sufficiently in advance that I can do that and appreciate not everyone has the time or flex to do the same.

I’ve always done this. I use ‘shop from previous order’ function to add an entire order from a few weeks ago and then check out. I book Sunday slots as far in advance as possible then a few days before delivery when in meal planning for the week ahead I edit it with the thugs I need.

I did forget to edit once but because it was a previous weeks order it had most of the stuff we need. I can’t elder how this is selfish in anyway. I just like it at a certain time every week.

I have a tesco delivery saver so can book my slots 4 weeks in advance. We have our shopping delivered every Saturday between 10-11 because that suits us.
I book the slot 4 weeks ahead, then the day before delivery, I do my meal plan for the following week & check my list that I have going on my phone which I use to not down things we've ran out of that week and then amend the shop.
I did used to just have a bottle of champagne but then I was worried in case I forgot to change it, so now I just do a general shop of the stuff we use on a weekly basis (baby formula, milk, bread, veg, fruit & drinks) so if I forgot to amend it, at least we'd have some food turning up!

I've only forgotten once - for a slot between Christmas and new year. I had the worlds most e pensive takeaway - it so it felt. Two bottles of champagne, some pizzas we'd added via the app as knew we needed them and some ice cream for same reason.

Still it was a nice 'take away' that evening!

I’ve always done it, ASDA has had free slots now for several weeks.

I’ve always done this. I don’t see the problem-you can do it too if you want a slot.

I've done it for 20 years, you're easily shocked OP

The only problem would be if people are doing this and then just cancelling the order, rather than editing it to what they actually want. If they book several and then cancel the ones they don't need, then it's out of order. But just booking a few in advance and keeping them isn't a problem - it's not unfair because anyone can do that.

I've been doing this for years! I stick a bottle of £40 champagne in the basket then go back and amend!

I've done this for years. Two bottles of Grey Goose to hold the spot. If i had to put the shopping list in at that time I would. I'm always going to edit my shop before delivery so it's irrelevant what is in my 'basket at the time I book it. You can do the same. I'm in the shielding group so would get a slot anyway. What has it even got to do with you?