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’ve just secured 15th August with a pack of yogurts

I don’t want to physically go to Tesco!
I’ve always done this. I pay for the delivery saver thing and utilise it!

I don't think you can be "reactive" and want a delivery slot on a whim.
I don't think people who reserve a slot are being selfish, just organised.
I don't do this mainly because I don't do proper on line grown up grocery shopping but I admire those who do

@Graphista I do all of this. It's just that it never occurred to me to pre-book a slot until I was ready to shop, at least not more than 2-3 days ahead, and that's only because I know you can't order for the same or next day. I agree with PP that it's illogical!!

I can't really explain why holding the slot with something you don't intend to buy feels dishonest to me. It's not that I think I’m going to get 'told off' or judged. Just something to do with the way I was brought up I guess. I’m struggling to come up with a comparison which would make sense to people. It's just something I personally would feel uncomfortable doing. Like... repeatedly renewing the same library book for months, even if nobody else had requested it?? That's the closest I can get and even that's not the same. Idk. Sorry if I seemed judgemental, I guess it's not important.

How it it different from booking a repeating slot?

Yes, everyone does this. I always have (though with COVID, I can't book multiple slots, just one at a time).

We live 20-30 minutes from the nearest major supermarket. So it's easily a 2 hour roundtrip for shopping. I also travel for work about 18 hours a week (normally, not now). So I literally leave at 6am and not home until 8pm many weekdays.

If I didn't meal plan and book slots well in advance, we'd have no food in the house. There's just no random popping out to the shops possible. So it's always taken a lot of planning to make sure we have all the things we need. Normally, I book two deliveries a week (one for a weekend and one for midweek), sometimes on the weekend we physically go to the shop if we don't have to work. Now at the moment, it's usually only once every 2 weeks, and I get some fresh things other ways in between.

I always finalise my order the night before it's delivered, otherwise then things are unavailable and I can't opt for something different. Mostly it's also because I just don't have time.

During lockdown there weren’t any slots. They honoured the ones I’d booked in advance but the calendar shrank (usually I can see up to about four weeks ahead. It went to one week or even the next few days for some shops) and they would all be taken as soon as they got released. I’d wait in a queue for a slot and they’d all be taken when I got onto the site. Eventually - after about six weeks - I got to a point where by checking first thing in the morning as far ahead on the calendar I could, there’d be slots available and since then it’s loosened up until now it’s back to “normal” - well, normal for advance bookers! I don’t think there’s anything available in under a week though.

It's really irratating when people do this. There is not a, single delivery or click and collect for 3 weeks at the local supermarket.
My husband can go shopping but as we have a very young premature baby and a child with asthma (my husband is also asthmatic) it would be much better if he didn't have to do this.
I want to move to these places that have loads of delivery spaces as everyone I have spoken to, and I have family all over the UK, says they are still like gold dust.

1. Did you all do this from the start? When shopping first went online? Or was it a case of, a few people started doing it and so then everyone had to or else there'd be no slots?

No, but I first started shopping online around 18 years ago when it all started. I was living in the arse end of nowhere and a single mum and it was cheaper to get it delivered than get a taxi home from supermarket. At that time slots weren’t available as far in advance and so I was in the habit of ordering no more than 6 days in advance. Gradually as the websites and facilities improved I changed my habits

2. When everyone was saying 'Aargh there aren't any slots' during lockdown, did you mean there weren't ANY slots (which was what I meant) or did you mean 'I can't book my usual slot 3-4 weeks in advance like normal'?

In my case I couldn’t book ANYTHING with my usual supermarket - Sainsburys, they were atrocious! They weren’t even answering their phones! I’d left ASDA and Tesco years before due to crappy subs and other issues and reluctantly returned to using them out of desperation and also tried Morrisons. I wasn’t impressed with Morrisons and so didn’t order again from them, ASDA and Tesco are much better than I remembered.

I was having to book slots on days I didn’t really like getting deliveries and at times that were awkward for me it was a complete pain!

None of the supermarkets acted quickly enough in my opinion in prioritising slots or products (panic buying) for vulnerable customers! But then the shite leadership from govt means that is hardly surprising

3. What happens when you've got a slot booked weeks in advance but then something comes up? Do you cancel/reschedule? Or do you religiously schedule around the supermarket delivery?

In my case I’m housebound so I ain’t going anywhere! So I guess I’m more the latter - schedule around delivery but I mostly arrange the delivery slot to suit me.

Why don't they, when you sign up, get you to choose a regular delivery schedule, say every other Monday or whatever, and then email two days beforehand to say 'Your delivery is in two days because people’s lives don’t work like that!

It may for someone like me who doesn’t really HAVE a life but how the hell would that work for shift workers? For carers with varying demands on their time?

1. Did you all do this from the start? When shopping first went online? yes

2. When everyone was saying 'Aargh there aren't any slots' during lockdown, did you mean there weren't ANY slots (which was what I meant) or did you mean 'I can't book my usual slot 3-4 weeks in advance like normal'? during lockdown I couldn't book in advance as easily. I had to do the staying up until 2am to get my usual weekly slot. Also tescos limited it to one delivery per week which they have now removed.

3. What happens when you've got a slot booked weeks in advance but then something comes up? Do you cancel/reschedule? Or do you religiously schedule around the supermarket delivery? I change the date or time. Very occasionally I have cancelled but that doesn't happen often.

Tescos do send a notification from the app as well as a text to remind me that the delivery is due next day and to edit it if I need more.

the slots are definitely getting harder to come by. It was ok for a while immediately after lockdown but getting worse.

Is it? Maybe it goes by area, but my area is supposedly one of the hotspots and people are just getting back to normal life here. Using the supermarket is relatively normal again aside from the screens.

I always used to save slots but got out of the habit. You just reminded me actually!

You’re thinking of it as dishonest because you see it as taking something away from other people.

But the advance bookers aren’t doing anything you couldn’t do - there’s no trickery or underhand behaviour, it’s literally just forward planning. Assuming that everyone booking online slots has internet access and literacy, they could do exactly the same thing. Supermarkets like you to do it, as it means they can plan better in terms of staffing and using the vans etc, and regular bookers keep the service going when there’s less demand. It takes me less than 5 minutes to add a new slot to my calendar and doesn’t cost anything until the day.

I guess you’re thinking about it like the ticket touts who scoop up all the tickets for concerts and don’t leave seats for normal punters. I think of it as the fans who get on the phone at 9am and away get a ticket. Anyone could do it, not everyone can be bothered l.

YABU - you can't get a delivery slot unless you do it. The earliest I have been able to book to date is 4 weeks in advance!

I’ve always done this. I have a weekly shop booked for the next four weeks and every time I have a delivery I book the another. I have always just checked out with a token and I edit through the week with what I’ve run out of. This makes much more sense to me than what you do and what difference does it make to anyone if I’ve ordered a bottle of gin or a weeks shopping.

Where I am they’ve stopped the one a week slots and I could get one for tomorrow if I needed to even though I had one on Saturday. A few weeks back that would have been impossible.

Its not that you are reserving the food. You are reserving the slot. And that will be used - just with an amended order.

YABU

Some people might call it sneaky, greedy or whatever.

We are a family of 8, I call it being organised so that in 3 weeks time I don't have to go out, on my one day off per week, to do a £260, 45-bag shopathon.

It's called thinking ahead. I book my slot for the next month and during the month build up a meal plan and do a big shop.
Every day is a school day op!

That's how it works! If you try to book a slot just a day or two before you need the delivery, then there's little chance of getting one. I can't see how else you would do it. I don't understand what you mean about putting only one item in to reserve a slot. surely it's irrelevant how many items you start out with. I, for example, reserve a slot for the following week by putting bananas in my basket and checking out. I then go back a day or so before the delivery and do the full shop.

Rosebel I don’t know your preferred choice of supermarket, but do Asda deliver in your area? I’ve found getting slots from them quite easy over the last month or so. I’ve just checked my app, there’s still some for tomorrow, Thursday & Saturday this week. Then from Sunday there’s loads of slots available for the next couple of weeks. I know we’re probably not in the same area, but it might be worth trying them if you haven’t already. Good luck!

@superram Because, in my world, I'd order 3-4 days before arriving back from holiday and would therefore know what I needed?

@BeneathTheMilkyTwilight I've already conceded that it isn't selfish if everyone is doing it. That assessment came from my belief that 90% of people did as I do, which is try to book a slot a few days ahead, but often have to compromise on getting the nearest available slot to that day/time (which recently hasn't been very near at all). Therefore I thought that a minority of people were hoarding slots in advance and making it difficult for everyone else. If, as it appears, it's the other way round, then no it's not selfish. And no I genuinely did not know that people do this!! I always shopped in person, then lived abroad, then started online shopping about six years ago. It's not a subject that ever comes up in RL conversation for me! So this thread has been a genuine revelation.

@LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood Thank you

I can't really explain why holding the slot with something you don't intend to buy feels dishonest to me.

I think you should just be able to book a slot without putting anything in your basket. They let you book a few weeks ahead, there’s no way that anyone knows what they actually want that far in advance. So whether you put in milk and bread that you’ll probably want but maybe not, or a bottle of whiskey that you definitely don’t want makes no difference. It’s impossible to know what shopping you’ll need in 3 weeks time.

I did get a surprise bottle of champagne once when I had used it to hold my slot and forgot to remove it! Wasn't so terrible really, so don't be too gleeful. There's nothing wrong with reserving slots in this way, Ocado encourage you to book them in advance and you have to have £40 of stuff in the trolley to do so.

1. Did you all do this from the start? When shopping first went online? Or was it a case of, a few people started doing it and so then everyone had to or else there'd be no slots?
Yes. I usually book my slot at midnight and I'm too knackered to do it properly then so save the slot with something random.

1. When everyone was saying 'Aargh there aren't any slots' during lockdown, did you mean there weren't ANY slots (which was what I meant) or did you mean 'I can't book my usual slot 3-4 weeks in advance like normal'?

When I logged in I'd see nothing where as pre CV I could book for tomorrow. Pre-COVID I could easily book 7 deliveries a week. It was 1 delivery a week during the height of the pandemic but it's much more normal now. There are some days unavailable but I can see 4 days this week with slots.

1. What happens when you've got a slot booked weeks in advance but then something comes up? Do you cancel/reschedule? Or do you religiously schedule around the supermarket delivery?

I'm always at home when my delivery is due and it's been the same slot or thereabouts for years. If there was an emergency I would cancel completely or rearrange.

It's just that it never occurred to me to pre-book a slot until I was ready to shop, at least not more than 2-3 days ahead, and that's only because I know you can't order for the same or next day.

You can order for the next day. I ordered one at 9pm last night for 8am this morning.