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? )

@HemulenHouse

Asking for a friend... how does this work? You pay for a couple of bottles but you can edit your shopping until the last minute, is that right? You have to go through card details right, you can’t just put stuff in the basket and leave it?

You have to put your card details in. It doesn't charge you (usually charges, then refunds 1p) until the day of delivery. You can edit your shopping until a set time the day before.

Kinda like when you put your card details in to reserve a hotel, but don't pay until check in.

I think you've misunderstood bananafish there's no faffing needed.

That's the point of the single expensive bottle (or pre-prepped / automatically generated list of favourites). One simple operation to reserve the slot (which you can perform when already logged in completing another order), then one actual 'shopping' edit.

Quite normal to do this. If you think about it - you can only get a slot for example a week ahead. So if the kids eat all the fruit the day before shopping is coming, or I suddenly remember I need specific items then I may need to add more to my shopping. I've always done this. You're not using up someone else's space because it really doesn't matter what's in your shopping basket.

sorry, but I have always done this.

I book my slots 2-3 weeks in advance to get the time I want, and then go in and put my shopping list in the night before.

During the crisis I have been shopping for 4 shielding houselholds and sometimes I sat there at midnight to get the slots as they were released, and then wnet in and did my shopping a few days later.

By the way, no problem getting slots here now.

@bananafish

I've never done this - I've never even heard of it! I'm not going to start now either. Why wouldn't you do your shop and check out?

The idea of going back and forth and faffing about with orders over the course of a week makes me itch. That's not organised at all - to me, anyway.

You can do your whole shop and check out if you want.

Or you can do your shop and add to it.

Or stick one thing in and edit it later.

The organised bit is getting the slot and checking it out so you keep it

@Peterbishopssarcasticsmile Yeah I think you might be right!

Of all the many ways in which my spell living abroad fucked me up, this wasn't on the list until now. But you live and learn!

I’m glad I've given you all a laugh. Sorry.

Doesn’t everyone do this quickly book the slot then edit it the day before? Bit of a non issue OP.

The idea of going back and forth and faffing about with orders over the course of a week makes me itch

Ah but the beauty is that I can add to it all the time when I am cooking and find an item is running low which isn't a usual weekly one. With the app it's so bloody easy to edit any order any time and I often add/remove items right up to the cut off.

@Brieminewine Everyone except me, apparently! 🤷‍♀️

Doesn't everyone do this? I have done this for years. Where I am you can only get a slot a week out and I am not ready to fully shop until the night before.

I've always done this. Surely it's normal to not quite know what you want until the day or so before a shop and you've never been able to reliably get a next day supermarket delivery.

YABU

@Cupcakegirl13

I do this too , it’s called being organised ! I’m a Tesco delivery saver plan customer and book my weekly slot four weeks in advance . I pay for this service and use it to its full Potential. Nothing sneaky or dishonest about it!!

This exact thing. I don’t chuck champagne in though - I just copy across my basket from a previous order, then edit it the day before.

What's wrong with this OP? It makes much more sense to add things to your basket closer to the time, as then (a) you know what you need and (b) you know what's in stock. If you build your basket weeks before the delivery, how do you know what to include? and probably some of it would become out of stock by the time of the delivery. So this makes perfect sense, and there is nothing wrong with it.

I COULD fill the trolley With “ordinary” food and then take things out as I add other things BUT that would then pull foods out of stock for others. Only Ocado actually reserve what you order, all the others it's just picked off the shelves on the day - hence substitutions.

I have used Tesco online delivery since it first started. Week after week.
You could never book a delivery spontaneously for the next day and I have always booked a couple ahead putting half a dozen bottles of wine in and amending it later.
I have also been shielding and in spite of having a delivery saver AND entitled to priority couldn't get Tesco slots for weeks and switched to Asda who gave me a guaranteed slot every week. In fact they do that for anyone who has a delivery saver. Sadly their substitutions have been dreadful.

I'm booked for the next 4 weeks. I'm a long term Tesco delivery saver. I pay for a service, I want to use it. I've always booked a week in advance (I'm disabled and couldn't independently do a food shop) since covid I have booked as far as possible it means I'm not worrying where my dcs next meal is coming from and I don't have to rely on the council or family to assist. I put what I think I'll need in the basket then edit the day before. To me it's not hogging the slots it's being organised and means I keep my independence.

For some reason, Sainsbury won't let me log back in to current orders at present; so instead of adding items bit by bit I have to make a list and do the entire order in one go. It's only since the pandemic started, so I don't know if it's a temporary thing.

@BiteyShark

Tesco allows you to have two slots active at a time

I have 5 slots all the way up to mid August although I do have the delivery saver.

Ohh... That's newish, just tried it and got a 3rd one booked now.

Might start getting more organised with mid week deliveries.

Yeah, it’s massively easy and no faff to add stuff I using the app. My trolley regularly goes through 10 iterations over the course of the week - you get to the day before and realise actually there’s loads of veg in the drawer, or you’ve just used up the last of the olive oil, or a DC says “we haven’t had hot dogs for ages” - boom, list changes, takes about 30 seconds. Then one last check before bed the night before and we’re all good. Even changing it so often is still a million times preferable to going to the actual shop so I’ll take it.

Ocado are positively encouraging me to book several slots in advance! As ever he else has saId I feel OP doesn’t know the rules of the game

YABU. I have to do this to hold a fortnightly slot. I'm undergoing chemo and about to have stem cell transplant and this is the only way I can get a delivery.

I've kept a bottle of champagne for when I've had my transplant and am out of hospital 🥂

I'm being nagged by Ocado to book my slots 3 weeks in advance now.

I'm not going to spend hours planning menus for weeks ahead and repeatedly going back to edit the order as other things run out.

I usually only reserve a slot at Christmas but when I get multiple emails advising me to book my weekly slot for a few weeks ahead I'm going to do just that.

I realise we've been lucky getting priority orders all the way through lockdown but I'm not looking to make my life harder so it is what it is.

I did NOT know that! I assumed that was a no-no as well.

At the height of the pandemic it was a no-no to have more than one a week but if you book a slot every week then you can ensure a steady stream of deliveries.
I think Asda allows a permanent reservation of a slot every week. I have 4 deliveries booked (1 a week) with Tesco

I wonder how many eye rolls delivery pickers/drivers have when they send out a single bottle Veuve!

I've always done this at Christmas, perfectly reasonable