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? )

@H007

At the moment it’s selfish. If you are not over 70 or in a vulnerable group you should be taking your bottom to the supermarket and getting your own shopping so that home delivery and click and collect is freely available to those that need it.

But there are available in lots of areas. I can see slots from tomorrow through to 17th August. Many many of them.

And if I take one of many still available slots in my area it has no impact on other areas as they will be served by a different shop with its own capacity.

I honestly think some people don't actually understand online shopping.

At the moment it’s selfish. If you are not over 70 or in a vulnerable group you should be taking your bottom to the supermarket and getting your own shopping so that home delivery and click and collect is freely available to those that need it.

It depends on the supermarket but some give priority to people in vulnerable groups so the slots that are left are available to anyone.

@HOO7 Despite many, many warnings, gentle chats and outright bollockings, my vulnerable in laws have been shopping as normal, every Saturday morning, going to the paper shop every day and to the bank and town once a week, as have many other people. I spent 12 weeks shielding my vulnerable husband and couldn't get a shopping slot. Not once did I think anyone that got a slot was selfish, merely luckier than me. Now things are easing up, I've got my slots booked for the next 2 weeks and make no apologies for it, despite my husband miraculously recovering (according to the government) and now being back at work, I'd rather not head into a supermarket with the arseholes that can't follow simple social distancing guidelines and so I pay for a delivery saver pass so I don't have to. That's not selfish, it's smarter than those of you not doing it.

@Anotherbitoflovelysquirrel I agree. I have paid for an annual delivery plan and absolutely I will use it to book weekly shopping slots. At the height of the lockdown, I struggled but managed to clock and collect slots at Sainsbury's as I had an account which I mainly at Christmas. When we go over the worst I was happy to get my usual Tesco slots back, made more happier especially as I had already paid for them !

@H007

At the moment it’s selfish. If you are not over 70 or in a vulnerable group you should be taking your bottom to the supermarket and getting your own shopping so that home delivery and click and collect is freely available to those that need it.

Ahahah that’s absolutely not the case. We shouldn’t “get our bottoms” anywhere because people are entitled to shop online for multiple reasons not just those that fit your narrow viewpoint.

I dont know what I want to eat a month in advance.

YABU.

It's sensible. You just have to be organised. It's longstanding practice with Christmas slots isn't it?

Calm down @H007 loads of slots available at my local, if the over 70s and vulnerable want to book them, they can!

If they want to wait until three days before they'll be out of luck, I don't live my life is such a disordered way so that they can! They've loads of time in their ha DS and should be organised!

If they're not, that's their issue, not mine.

*time on their hands

YABU

I know how frequent I need my shopping delivered. I personally don't just put booze in to bring the total to £40 but I do just fill it with usuals knowing I can edit it before delivery.

There is no shortage of deliveries here but you might need to plan in advance more than a few days. It sounds like you are annoyed because other people are more organised with their shopping.

What WOULD be a bit selfish would be to reserve a slot that you're not really needing, and then cancel it at the last minute.

What WOULD be a bit selfish would be to reserve a slot that you're not really needing, and then cancel it at the last minute

Someone would still be able to book it though? I use Morrison's and the latest you can cancel us two days before so I would have thought someone else could use that slot.

I didn't even know you could do that, I thought they emptied the basket after a certain time.

@Celestine70

I didn't even know you could do that, I thought they emptied the basket after a certain time.

Why would they do that?

The slot is held for two hours. Put whatever you want in your basket—even if it’s just a bag of crisps—check out and then amend as many times as you want later.

Yer, it is selfish.

@Merryweather80

This is exactly why I still can’t get a slot. I’m very rural but there’s three supermarkets that deliver here. There hasn’t been a slot for months. I’m in the shielded group with three young children. The food box is a carb fest, zero protein and for one adult. I think it’s very selfish to hog the delivery slots. I’ve had no help for food shopping etc and still haven’t been outside yet. I used to get my shopping delivered and will again one day I hope.

merryweather - you could have got a priority pass if you are in the shielding category so could of top trumped everyone for a slot if you wanted too.

At the moment it’s selfish. If you are not over 70 or in a vulnerable group you should be taking your bottom to the supermarket and getting your own shopping so that home delivery and click and collect is freely available to those that need it.

Lots of people who are not over 70 or shielding need Online shopping eg blind people

If people don't use the slots then the supermarkets will start making drivers redundant and cut slots. Slots are plentiful here.

Merryweather, the supermarkets give priority slots if you are shielding. We have a weekly one from Tesco.

I haven't rtft so someone's probably already said it several times but you know you can't reserve the slot indefinitely?! You book a slot for a given day/time. You can only change the slot if there happens to be another available.

@Merryweather80

This is exactly why I still can’t get a slot. I’m very rural but there’s three supermarkets that deliver here. There hasn’t been a slot for months. I’m in the shielded group with three young children. The food box is a carb fest, zero protein and for one adult. I think it’s very selfish to hog the delivery slots. I’ve had no help for food shopping etc and still haven’t been outside yet. I used to get my shopping delivered and will again one day I hope.

@Merryweather80

Contact the priority lines and get yourself on the line.

I posted the Tesco number earlier in the thread.

Merryweather - if you phone the supermarkets they will allow shielded households to see more slots than "normal" households.

‘At the moment it’s selfish. If you are not over 70 or in a vulnerable group you should be taking your bottom to the supermarket and getting your own shopping’

Bollocks. I was an early adopter of online shopping with Ocado because I don’t want to go to the supermarket. Up until Covid a few of my friends said they would never buy groceries online as they want to ‘feel their fruit and veg’ and made out I was being lazy for not wanting to spend half of Saturday morning traipsing around with a trolley.

Now a couple of those same friends imply people like me are selfish but I know it’s jealousy because they are scared to go to the supermarket and supermarkets aren’t taking on new online customers. None of these friends are vulnerable. They just didn’t trust online grocery shopping before but are desperate to sign up with anyone who’ll take their card details now.

Back to the OP, we’ve always put the min in the basket and edited it close to the date. We don’t always know exactly what we need until closer to the time. It’s an efficient way to shop.

There is no shortage of deliveries here but you might need to plan in advance more than a few days. It sounds like you are annoyed because other people are more organised with their shopping
I think you've summed it up here.

In my area it's harder to get delivery slots not impossible if you're willing to book 4-5 days ahead.

It feels like people will complain about how unfair it is if they can't have a delivery slot, whilst thinking it's ok if they got one and someone else was in their position.
It's the whole 'you aren't in traffic, you are traffic'.

*It's selfish and they are CF, I don't care what their reasoning is. Particularly during COVID when there are more vulnerable people who need those slots.

It's disgusting behaviour.*

My Ocado shop includes shopping for my elderly, shielding neighbours! Ocado around here currently has LOTS of slots available. I book my slots to fit around my work. As a key worker I’ve been at work all through lockdown but around here school workers didn’t get to use the special shopping hours and the shelves were often empty by the time I finished work. I pay £9 per month for my smart pass and I’m not depriving shielded people I am HELPING shielded people.

YABU People can't hog slots atm, not from the one I use anway as they deleted all future orders made for after their expected delivery and stopped people doing it, as far as I was aware you still couldn't do that, you could only save a shopping list ready to put in. If you mean ordering straight after receiving an order I have no problem with that, I have been doing that all through lockdown and if I hadn't we would have starved considering the first one the best I could do was a 3 week gap before I could get an order in to get food, and the other were 2 week gaps, it's only recently I been able to get 1 week delivieries and yes I did end up meal skipping regularly during this lockdown to make sure the kids had enough to eat. Can't go out and don't make me laugh about the supposed support during lockdown have had to manage without alot of my medication too and there was very little help till they finally started putting something in place beginning of last month 3 months too late and they stopped that beginning of this month even though supposed to stay shielding till end of this month. I don't put 2 bottles in though I put all my regular order in that I expect to need and then add to it before the order is due. Don't be so judgemental of people, you dont know their crcumstances as they propbably don't even want to admit it, I certainly wouldn't admit to people I know in real life about meal skipping because there's nothing they can do to help and not something I would want them to worry about.