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? )

That’s just standard. In fact, Ocado is allowing (some) people to book 3+ slots ahead - one in every 7 day period. It’s how online food shopping works! I’ve always filled my Christmas delivery slot with the meat for Christmas dinner, chocolates and vodka and left it like that for weeks, adding more closer to the time.

So other people are unreasonable because they are more organised than you?

@LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood They do - the only reason I accidentally discovered this was two different people posting on FB in the last week that they'd done exactly that, and received delivery of a single bottle of expensive booze.

I do this, and have been since I started shielding.

I did forget to take my place making champagne out last week, but got all my normal shop too. I’m just chalking it up to very advanced Christmas prep

[quote turquoise50]@DameXanaduBramble I’m not outraged. I was just very surprised! I guess the joke's on me for never having thought of it. It just literally never occurred to me that anyone would do this. My method is:

1. Look in fridge, notice that a few items are running down.
2. Roughly estimate how long I can last before I absolutely need to stock up.
3. Book (or try to) a slot on the following weekend.
4. Order enough stuff for two weeks. Yes to rolling edits, but that's usually because I realise I left things off the original order, which is generally compiled from 'Favourites' and the list I keep on my phone.
5. Once delivery has come, forget about it until the next time! Never in a million years would it have crossed my mind to reserve the slot for next time, and I’m a pretty organised person otherwise. [/quote]

And if you realise it's Tuesday and you'll run out of cheese Friday but can't get a slot until the following Saturday you now have to go out and buy cheese. Plus fresh stuff doesn't last that long

I can’t be bothered to think of everything to go in my basket when I book it 2 or 3 weeks in advance, I normally add everything a couple of days out or I wouldn’t know what we need. I’m actually a new convert to online shopping it’s saved a fortune doing it once a week or fortnight.

I’ve always done this. Before Covid I paid a years subscription for Tesco deliveries and used to reserve 2 slots a week, one weekend and one midweek. I’d do this up to four weeks ahead by putting in 2 bottles of champagne. Then I’d either update my basket, postpone the delivery or sometimes cancel a slot a couple days before it was due. I never forgot and inadvertently received a delivery containing just the champagne but I wouldn’t have minded it it had happened!

The first 3 weeks of lockdown most of my prebooked slots were cancelled with 2/3 hours notice and after that I couldn’t get any slots at all. After about 10 weeks I managed to get a Waitrose slot and since then I’ve managed to get a Waitrose slot every week. I’ve given up on Tesco.
I still book as far ahead as I can. I don’t see it as cheating or unfair, IMO I’m just planning ahead. However I only have one delivery a week now because it seems greedy to have 2 at the moment.

like champagne!

I didn’t realise you could do this, so you pay for the £40 worth of stuff and then go back and add more? (I use Sainsbury’s) going to investigate as I’m rubbish at booking a slot (only just started though - don’t seem to be any problems with getting slots around here at the moment)

[quote turquoise50]@LadyMacbethWasMisunderstood They do - the only reason I accidentally discovered this was two different people posting on FB in the last week that they'd done exactly that, and received delivery of a single bottle of expensive booze. [/quote]
Oh God I wonder if we're friends 😳😳😳

OP I usually use your method and used to only hold a basket at Christmas but I've been doing it more regularly since lockdown. My nearest supermarket is 10 miles away and I'm not dragging 3 kids round a shop if I can avoid it.

Get more organised and join us with the slot holding.

For some reason I'm picturing the OP as somebody who drives to the beach on a sunny day at noon and is appalled to find that the car park is full up, because people have been SO SELFISH by driving there in the morning and parking their cars...

Why do you need to pay for £40? I just have a delivery order open and check out and amend up to the night before.

I have a core list of to things I almost always buy so use that when I'm booking my slots. I then amend it the night before for the specific things we need or meals we're having that are unusual.

I have the next two weds booked, and on weds this week I will log in again and get the first weds in August. This is what I always did. Fwiw there are plenty of slots available but you have to book in advance. When I log on in the morning there are at least 20 different slots over a 3 day window I could book.

Eh?! Your post is the stupidest thing I ever heard. I've done grocery shopping online for years and years, well before Covid. So now I just have to be a bit more organised and book 4 weeks in advance. What difference does it make to you how I do that? Everyone just puts random stuff in their basket to make up the minimum until they know exactly what they need. You're being ridiculous.

@Sunshine1235

I didn’t realise you could do this, so you pay for the £40 worth of stuff and then go back and add more? (I use Sainsbury’s) going to investigate as I’m rubbish at booking a slot (only just started though - don’t seem to be any problems with getting slots around here at the moment)

With Tesco you can just stick a carrot in your basket - worst case scenario is a very expensive delivery charge if you forget to add more (£4.50 standard delivery plus £4 for orders under £40. Plus the cost of a carrot). I think Sainsbury's have a minimum £40 spend, so yes you'd have to have a £40 basket to change in the first place.

Eh?! Your post is the stupidest thing I ever heard. I've done grocery shopping online for years and years, well before Covid. So now I just have to be a bit more organised and book 4 weeks in advance. What difference does it make to you how I do that? Everyone just puts random stuff in their basket to make up the minimum until they know exactly what they need. You're being ridiculous.

Eh?! Your post is the stupidest thing I ever heard. I've done grocery shopping online for years and years, well before Covid. So now I just have to be a bit more organised and book 4 weeks in advance. What difference does it make to you how I do that? Everyone just puts random stuff in their basket to make up the minimum until they know exactly what they need. You're being ridiculous.

Always done this a week ahead. Sainsbury's only let you book a week ahead at the moment anyway.

Also Sainsbury's text you the day before so you don't forget.

Another one who does that here. I once got 3 packets of dishwasher tablets when I forgot to amend my order..

We've been doing this for my DPs since just before lockdown.
We had to do the 'book 3 weeks in advance' thing to start with as slots were scarce, and we've just continued.
My parents would be too stressed if we said 'oh there's bound to be slots, we'll just book a few days ahead'.
Given I haven't seen them since Feb we want their life to be as easy as possible.

yanbu! its a bit sad-sack to be so organised surely! ive loved my werid lockdown no-slots-available meals, capers and croutons anyone??

I always did it before COVID (not booze but necessities that wouldn't have been a disaster if I'd forgotten and not edited, but I never did). Haven't used online grocery shopping since it became reserved for vulnerable people and didn't know it had changed.

Never really understood why you couldn't just reserve a slot - with a deposit if necessary.

@Mydogisthebestest

Why do you need to pay for £40? I just have a delivery order open and check out and amend up to the night before.

Because sometimes you only have an hour to check out to reserve your slot, and you need to put a minimum amount in to do that.

@Sunshine1235

You don’t pay in advance for the shopping. You fill your online basket and reserve your slot. The contents of the basket can be changed as often as you want until the day before the delivery. Putting an item in your basket doesn’t reserve it or guarantee that the supermarket will have it in stock so you aren’t charged until your delivery has been picked and is ready for delivery.