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 don’t put in things I don’t want though!

It’s not selfish though is it? It’s not like they’re booking the slot just in case, they’re booking th slot because they know they’ll use it but perhaps don’t want to have to plan what they want to eat 4 weeks in advance?! They’re not reserving and then at the last minute cancelling or just using it for one or two items, they do actually need it. They just don’t need to plan that far ahead. And honestly even if I were organised enough to plan that far ahead, there’s a good chance I’d need to alter it before the delivery day anyway so what’s the difference?!

Umm tesco actually advised doing that in the height of lockdown e.g. get slot, add a few things and then edit later.

I have done that for years and it's a very common thing for xmas to shove some champagne in the basket and then forget remove it later.

You check it out. As if you are finished. Then go back in nearer the time and edit your basket.

I thought it was different as I'm not in the UK but I've checked my last email order confirmation and you're right. I've learnt something new today.

I must change my 4 x £10 packs of dishwasher tablets to something more appealing, for the time when I forget to update it!. It's going to happen one day!

There was a lot of focus on online food shopping at the start of lockdown, for obvious reasons. I was very surprised to find that online grocery shopping only made up 7% of total grocery sales in the UK in 2018. The forecast was that it would make up 10% by 2023. It’s the norm for me but it’s something a lot of people did rarely if at all before this pandemic.

www.mintel.com/press-centre/retail-press-centre/brits-spent-12-3-billion-on-online-groceries-in-2018

YABVU It’s just something you need to do to secure a slot and then closer the time you can often see what’s out of stock or what you are short of.

OP no need to feel bad. Lots of things we do might be different, but if it never comes up in conversation we don't know what others do.

Maybe we should have a thread for "things I just never knew" :)

As long as people are actually the then using the slot it doesn't matter if they reserve it a week or 2 weeks in advance (no different to you reserving the slot on the 27th but then not completing your order until a few days before?)

But if don't use it though and are reserving it "just in case" then I think that's a bit wanky and selfish.

YABU and living in cloud cuckoo land if you think otherwise. I write a list on the last day I can edit then effectively 'do my weekly shop' all in one go. Have been doing this for about 8 years. It works fine and I take up no more slots than I usually would. In fact I take less because we used to have 2 online deliveries a week before lockdown because a) freshness and b) not wanting to plan 7 days ahead.

Yabu. I've always done this. In fact I've got 10 bananas sitting in each trolley for the next 4 weeks. Just efficiency. I'm busy and would rather book weeks in advance when I've got a chance then panic suddenly I dont have a slot for this week

How can you think it's weird to reserve a slot like this, but not weird to do a rolling edit of your basket in the lead up to delivery?

I reserve a weekly slot this way, which I always use, and do my "actual" shop the night before cut-off. That way I always get the slot I want and only have to checkout once with my final shop. It also means I'm less likely to get things that I don't receive due to being out of stock by the time it comes to picking my order. Who exactly does it negatively affect, when everyone has an equal opportunity to shop this way?

FWIW I've continued to do this throughout lockdown but Click and Collect rather than delivery, to leave those slots for people who need them more than I do, however spots are definitely opening up again in my area now so I'll be going back to home delivery shortly

I’ve always done it too. I meal plan a week ahead.
Sorry I’m organised

I've done it for years. And will continue to do it.

Often I 'forget' to remove the bottle of gin that I added to reserve my slot which is very intentional careless of me.

I don’t put things in that I don’t need. I start my basket with eg bread and milk, checkout and then do the rest the night before delivery.

I reserve a slot and work on what I want over a few days. There's nothing dishonest or selfish about that ?

Op did you know that some supermarkets allow you to have more than one shop
booked? I have a delivery from Tesco for the next 4 Fridays and could get a second delivery every week too if I wanted as slots are plentiful here.

Do you stay up on the night that you book your Xmas delivery and add it all then?

Mydogisthebestest which shop allows you to keep the slot without checking out within a couple of hours? Unless I misunderstood.

I book a slot first (one a week), then fill it with my last order. The day before, I amend it, as I know by then what we need.

Given Tesco limits the number of items, I don’t see how that is any different to other people buying a bottle of rum, and then amending the day before - one big delivery a week is not selfish imo!

Iirc, one woman ordered £8,000 of food from Ocado, during the early panic buying - that is selfish!

YABU. I pay for a delivery pass and have a recurring delivery slot. Nothing nefarious about it. ASDA asked me if I wanted to make it recurring when I was booking my slot at the start of lock down and I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. I'm doing my parents shopping as well so it makes life a lot easier.

I put a couple of bottles of whiskey in too confirm the slot and edit the basket the night before it's due.

I never reserve mine with booze, I get 10 bananas every week so put them in in advance but I really dont see what the difference is

Peoples head might explode on this one. I had a delivery on Sunday but had to return some subs so I have slotted in another for tomorrow .

I still think I'd feel a bit weird about putting in something which I didn't really want, JUST to keep the slot for myself though.

I tend to reserve the slot by ordering a few standard things that I know I'm going to want every shop - bread, eggs, butter, milk, loo paper, kitchen towels etc. So I reserve the slot and keep the moral high ground .

Asda don't make you fill the basket to £40 but charge a 'small basket' fee of £4 if you're below that. So I once forgot to amend my order and got an £8 pack of blueberries. To add insult to injury, toddler DS went off them so they mostly went uneaten.

I started off doing a full order, but who knows what they want two weeks in advance? It's easier sticking something quick in.

For what it's worth, I wish that you didn't have to book slots 2 weeks in advance. Asda kept on changing the dates you could book to during lockdown just to keep me on my toes.