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 have a weekly priority slot booked with Asda and do this. Not so much with whiskey but with stuff we would use if I forgot to change it. The reason for this is because for Sunday delivery I have to check out by a certain time on Friday and if I don't I lose the slot. So I put in a few essentials that will keep me going that reserve the slot until I have a chance to check what I actually need. I have an issue with memory so sometimes don't realise my slot is going to expire and lose it when I did need shopping. But can't just do a shop like that because I get brain fog and can't concentrate at right time. I tend to update the basket on Saturday if I can for something we need. Buy I don't put pointless stuff in I always puts few of my favourites in and basics like milk n bread. Then later check thru to see if I need to add anything

@MadameMeursault

My mum is 84 and has none of the conditions on the shielding list, despite having many other health problems. I don’t live near her and she has no-one to shop for her. I managed to get her delivery slots in the first 3 weeks of lockdown but after that nothing. Everything booked up due to utterly selfish cunts booking slots because they were regulars even though they could easily have gone to the shops. So my poor elderly unhealthy mum had to drag herself off the shops every week endangering herself. Thanks so much, you bunch of entitled twats.

Perhaps if you had read the thread ...

You think the whole country should stop ordering so that there are slots free every day in case that's the day you can be arsed to click a link?

How many supermarkets have you tried? Have you signed up your mum with each as vulnerable? (you don't always have to be on the list) and did you look into paying for priority delivery? May be too late with many, but it's worth looking.

Other people did.

Have you worked out when each one shows new days so that you can get in quick?

Other people did

Did you look at the boxes some do?

Other people did.

Personally I'd starve without deliveries so I made sure from day 1 that I was ready.

And what about those people who are still working full time from home, along with children? Should we have to spend hours dragging ourselves out to queue in the evenings when we've had delivery slots paid for for the last 13 years?l and risk not being able to get what we need for a family.

@LastTrainEast

I tried every single day at midnight which is when they release the slots. I didn’t just try when I “could be arsed”.

Did you not read my post properly? I couldn’t register her as vulnerable because she didn’t have any of the conditions for shielding, and that was the only way you could register people.

At the time there was an appeal to people to only use their regular delivery slots if you really needed them because slots generally were in short supply. People didn’t heed this, because they’re selfish and still wanted their deliveries.

Your post is really unnecessarily nasty.

@LastTrainEast

I’ve just reread your post and it’s really upset me. You are coming across as suggesting I wasn’t looking after my mum properly. You are a vile vile person and I hope you’re ashamed of yourself.

[quote MadameMeursault]@LastTrainEast

I tried every single day at midnight which is when they release the slots. I didn’t just try when I “could be arsed”.

Did you not read my post properly? I couldn’t register her as vulnerable because she didn’t have any of the conditions for shielding, and that was the only way you could register people.

At the time there was an appeal to people to only use their regular delivery slots if you really needed them because slots generally were in short supply. People didn’t heed this, because they’re selfish and still wanted their deliveries.

Your post is really unnecessarily nasty.[/quote]
You don't have to be on the shielding list to registered at the supermarket as vulnerable. They also give priority places to people who are vulnerable, but not shielded.

Of course you have to reserve a slot if you want a food delivery or click and collect, that's how it works

Yes, a few days ahead, not a few weeks! And not during a pandemic, when the demand for slots by vulnerable people is high. I said earlier in the thread that other than Christmas, I never had to book ahead when using Sainsburys online shopping, I'd do it a day or two days before I wanted it delivered and would be able to get a slot. Sometimes I'd do my shopping Friday morning for delivery Saturday morning. That is very different to nabbing a slot for three week's time, when you don't need it.

Although the last time I looked I could have got a slot easily for the next few days (for the first time since lockdown), there was nothing available in weeks 2 and 3 so clearly Sainsburys are only letting certain customers book that far ahead anyway.

Should we have to spend hours dragging ourselves out to queue in the evenings when we've had delivery slots paid for for the last 13 years?l and risk not being able to get what we need for a family

Click and collect?

And the supermarkets aren't busy in the evenings, that's when I go, precisely because I don't have to queue.

@MadameMeursault
You've got a cheek calling @LastTrainEast 'really unnecessarily nasty'!
You yourself used the charming terms 'utterly selfish cunts' and 'bunch of entitled twats'

[quote ElizabethMainwaring]@MadameMeursault
You've got a cheek calling @LastTrainEast 'really unnecessarily nasty'!
You yourself used the charming terms 'utterly selfish cunts' and 'bunch of entitled twats'
[/quote]
The irony of that didn’t escape me either .
@MadameMeursault if you’re going to call people selfish cunts and entitled twats, surely you expect a bit of come back?

[quote MadameMeursault]@LastTrainEast

I’ve just reread your post and it’s really upset me. You are coming across as suggesting I wasn’t looking after my mum properly. You are a vile vile person and I hope you’re ashamed of yourself.[/quote]
Well perhaps you shouldn't have been vile yourself.

@MadameMeursault so you post a really nasty post and get upset when someone replies to it pointing out that the people you're being horrible about managed to do it. Astounding.

[quote MadameMeursault]@LastTrainEast

I’ve just reread your post and it’s really upset me. You are coming across as suggesting I wasn’t looking after my mum properly. You are a vile vile person and I hope you’re ashamed of yourself.[/quote]
MadameMeursault Maybe you shouldn't have started slinging names like 'entitled twats' about so freely.

Most of us were also shopping for vulnerable relatives as well. It wasn't just you doing that and yes it was hard to get a slot but we managed and never once slung insults about.

Fairly normal - I don’t know anyone who doesn’t do this. We actually also buy the booze by the way - no removing that from the basket here :-)

YABU

No shortage of slots in my area at all. I could log on to Tesco, Iceland, Sainsburys and get a slot for tomorrow easily if needed. Even so, the practice of booking slots ahead is really common for those of us who've been online grocery shopping for a while - pre-covid.

I tend to book 4 weeks in advance - pop most my regular stuff in my basket and checkout, and then 2 days before its due to arrive we add the rest of the bits we need for meals that week. It's very easy and means my shopping comes the same day each week so we're not likely to run out before it comes. Anyone I know that relies on online grocery shopping has always done it this way too?

I sorted C&C slots for my parents from a 170 mile distance when delivery slots were an utter nightmare to come by. They have friends who could collect for them, thankfully.

My cousin also got a few bits from Asda and dropped them round to them. She also recommended a place doing veg boxes locally which I sent to my mum if she needed it.

Mum managed to get herself on Waitrose's vulnerable list eventually as well.

Unless people are very rural where there is obviously less choice / availability at the best of times, I'm bemused by people saying that they still have absolutely no option to get any food deliveries at all in any shape or size when there are loads of options available. Plus anecdotal evidence that most areas appear to be much, much easier to get deliveries for now (I booked a delivery for Wednesday this morning with Sainsbury's. I had a fair amount of choice for tomorrow too, if I'd wanted. It was impossible to get a Sainsbury's slot at all for about 2.5 months).

OK, I just checked online and found this:

Tesco: Thursday availability;
Asda: Weds;
Morrison's: tomorrow;
Ocado: tomorrow;
Waitrose: tomorrow; and
Iceland: tomorrow.

Bearing in mind how impossible it was to get slots at the start of lockdown, this is a massive improvement. Anecdotally, Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado wouldn't even let me look at slots during the worst period.

@MadameMeursault if you can't take it, don't dish it out! You're the vile one here, calling people cunts and twats!

What do you expect people to do, call you hun and have sympathy.

You sound utterly awful!

If they use the slot and do order groceries and genuine essentials (wine is not essential), fine. If they don't, then not.

If they use the slot and do order groceries and genuine essentials (wine is not essential), fine. If they don't, then not.

Good job the food police are here, how funny that you think that anyone will take a single iota if notice that you don't think and is essential! @Afternoon11



wine is not essential

Speak for yourself

@Afternoon11am fairly certain the rules are if the shops sell it you can buy it....

@Afternoon11

If they use the slot and do order groceries and genuine essentials (wine is not essential), fine. If they don't, then not.

What the fuck kind of logic is that?!

@Afternoon11

If they use the slot and do order groceries and genuine essentials (wine is not essential), fine. If they don't, then not.

Where do people get these extra rules from .

Nowhere and at no time has it ever been that you could only buy essential items.

@MadameMeursault

My mum is 84 and has none of the conditions on the shielding list, despite having many other health problems. I don’t live near her and she has no-one to shop for her. I managed to get her delivery slots in the first 3 weeks of lockdown but after that nothing. Everything booked up due to utterly selfish cunts booking slots because they were regulars even though they could easily have gone to the shops. So my poor elderly unhealthy mum had to drag herself off the shops every week endangering herself. Thanks so much, you bunch of entitled twats.

you called everyone who books slots "utterly selfish cunts" and you think I'm being nasty?