Supermarket driver nearly two hours early

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

I had a Sainsbury’s delivery booked for 10 - 11 tonight. I wasn’t particularly fussed about having a late slot, but it was the only one with no delivery charge, so I booked it. I wasn’t planning to go anywhere.

Earlier today, a friend invited me for a drink. I said I’d have to leave at 9.30 to be back, which she said was fine, so I went. At 8.20 I got a call - it’s my delivery driver wanting to know why I’m not answering the door. I explain my slot isn’t until 10, but he tells me I’m the last delivery of the day, so he’s there now and can I answer the door. He doesn’t speak great English, so it takes several attempts to explain that I’m not at home.

Eventually he gets that I won’t be there before 10. After a big sigh, he eventually says again, ‘I’m here now - you’re my last delivery’ - but then says he’ll wait for me. As I was arriving home at 9.45 he was on the phone again, wanting to know where I was.

This has happened to me before with Sainsbury’s, and from the missed calls on my phone, I can see it’s the same driver. I’m torn, as it’s massively frustrating when you’re trying to plan your day to get irate phone calls asking why you’re not in 90 minutes - two hours before your booked slot. I absolutely wouldn’t have minded an early delivery if I had been in, but I can do without being treated like an inconvenience. Because it’s happened before, part of me wants to complain. On the other hand, I wouldn’t want the driver to get the sack over it either.

Should I say something or not? Obviously it’s not a big thing, but shouldn’t I be able to plan around a slot rather than two hours either side ?

@BeansBehindMyKnees

Can you give the source please? Were you not surprised/ questioning when you read it?

It wouldn't surprise me. It would seem obvious that they would make less profit on groceries if they have to pick, pack and deliver them - than if you did it.

e.g. If you pent £100 in a supermarket they might make £30 profit. But if you spend £100 in online deliveries, they might only make £23 profit.

^^This. They don't lose on the groceries but do on delivery. You can't possibly provide delivery, pay drivers, run vans etc for what they charge.

Some people get free delivery or only pay a pound or two and it definitely costs more than that to provide the service. That's why they have minimum order charges.

You can't possibly think paying little or nothing for someone to pick and pack your groceries and bring them to your door covers the cost of this service?

They do it because it widens their customer pool of larger more profitable orders and stops you shopping at a rival.

[quote Howlooseisyourgoose]@LanaDelBoy it’s the same strategy, though accept that loss leaders are more commonly used for products. I don’t work in the industry.[/quote]
No it isn't.
Loss leaders make a slightly reduced profit for the store overall (assuming that the customer would still shop there without the loss leader tempting them in, which is arguable and kind of the point of them).

Online deliveries, you say, supposedly make a loss - the store is paying to do them. They lose money from each one. Not sure how Ocado fits into this.

Making a loss is not the same as making slightly less of a profit.

Seemed easy to find a source... www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-3828648/Deliveries-hit-Big-Four-supermarkets-500m-lose-5-7-online-order.html

None of which means the OP should just put up and shut up.

barbara but that's not what she claimed. I asked for clarification for that exact reason.
That poster says she read that they make a net loss.
This has implications for my workplace, so I'd love to verify it.

Thanks beans that's great!

This happened to my mum. I’d booked a slot to arrive for when I was getting there to stay with her and they arrived early because we were the last delivery of the day, and I wasn’t there to help her. On the plus side she got a load of bonus stuff that seemed to be left over in his van!

@LanaDelBoy

barbara but that's not what she claimed. I asked for clarification for that exact reason. That poster says she read that they make a net loss. This has implications for my workplace, so I'd love to verify it.

She? I do have a name? What did I claim?

I did say that I don’t work in the industry, if you want to argue on the semantics knock yourself out.

I agree that the risk of a late delivery is it being delayed, even so delayed it doesn't turn up at all, which I've experienced.

I'm really shocked at all these tales of drivers dumping shopping on people's front steps when they're not at home. I'd be apoplectic!

Outside lockdown, I don't understand the gratitude for any delivery at all and the sense that the customer must roll over to accommodate the delivery service, expressed by a few on this thread. You're paying for a service (or taking a free slot because it makes business sense to the supermarket to offer one). If you don't get the contracted service, it's reasonable and expected that you'd complain. How can the business uphold its own standards if it doesn't know they are not being met?

I don't understand If you have ever been pleased with an early delivery then you really can't complain about a early delivery. either. If I'm here and it's convenient then I'm pleased, or indifferent. If I'm not or it isn't, I'll decline the offer and would displeased to have it forced upon me. Deliveries are booked to fit around my life. My life is not arranged to fit around the contingencies of delivery drivers.

FWIW I've always found that Asda are very reliable most of the time but when it goes wrong it goes very wrong, you get no shopping and have to re-book. Ocado are reliable, always call to ask if they can come early and accept a no politely. They sell a high quality customer service, at a price, and frequently send 'how was your delivery experience' emails.

Of course complain. The whole point of the delivery slot is to ensure people are home and it's convenient.

Ikea delivers between 7am and 7pm. It's hugely inconvenient but it's made clear when you book.

I like drivers who contact you and ask if they can come earlier, sometimes it's helpful, but moaning because it's too late? You happened to be meeting friends, you could be working a shift yourself.

Omg I would complain straight away when it happened before!
He is getting paid for that time and only wants to finish early!
What a cheek!
I would have him wait until 10pm.
I would not rush home. It’s his job he gets paid for!
Extremely unprofessional.
I had this happened with Ocado but it was in the morning like my slot is 9.30 -10.30 and he came at 9am which is ok, I did not suspect that he wants to clock off early, he told me he is the area and would be passing our house anyway so he tried if it’s ok with me otherwise he will come as per slot.
But yours?
Shocking!

It's annoying.

However , could you have been home before 10 or were you too far away? I think I would have just gone home on this occasion . All a bit petty.

Yep, had this with Waitrose and Tesco. Waitrose was over an hour early - I was in my pyjamas I did speak to customer service, they said the driver should have called to check - fine. Next time, another driver, called twice from withheld number, which I didn’t see any way so didn’t reply but he still came, brought all the food to the door and said that he rang. But I didn’t pick the phone up to confirm I was at home?!

Tesco came 15 to 9 when I was on school run - at least he called but again I didn’t hear it, found him waiting at the door. He said „oh I thought you were doing to school run”.

Asda are only allowed to deliver 15 mins early. My source is I use to work for them

A close family member is a Sainsbury's driver. He regularly calls up people asking to deliver early, because where we're based it could save him a 70 mile round trip if he's already in your area. It's an extremely difficult job (I don't know many people who could do it) and one that's been made twice as hard by the pandemic. The drivers are NOT being paid for all the extra work they've been doing since March.

However, if you're not in and/or can't accept the delivery early for any reason you absolutely are not obligated to. The driver does have to either wait or come back at the appropriate time, and be polite and accepting about it. Waiting doesn't mean sitting in a warm van because they're not allowed to run the engine while waiting (all this is monitored from the store). Wait time is part of the job though, especially when they're running early.

If you report him he will face a disciplinary because Sainsbury's take that very seriously, and if he's already on a warning could lose his job. There's also a kind of customer service scoring system with head office for each store, so a complaint against an employee goes down as a mark against the store. If it were me I'd be pissed off too, but it is VERY hard out there driving in the dark up until 11pm so I personally wouldn't report him just yet (although you're certainly well within your rights to do so). If he's a regular delivery guy though I'd definitely warn him myself that I'm not above reporting back to the store if he gives me any more hassle about my chosen time slot. And if it continued after that...well you gave him a chance and he didn't do his job. Customer service is one of their top priorities and he didn't provide you with a good experience.

Another vote to complain. Being early less of a problem but if you aren’t in then tough and he has to wait. The huffing and puffing / moaning is not acceptable. You paid for a service, it’s not a favour after all

Amused by the door mat attitudes on here. He wanted to get off home early, don’t we all. If l do it in my line of work it’s called fraud as lm being paid for work l didn’t do, if lm at home eating my dinner and watching TV. Cue an investigation and most likely a disciplinary

but it is VERY hard out there driving in the dark up until 11pm

Seriously? Fine it's not an office job, but it's hardly front line military or emergency services.

Doing a job that involves driving around in the evening is considered 'very hard'? I've heard it all now. It doesn't even seem that time pressured if turning up early is as common as people make out.

However , could you have been home before 10 or were you too far away? I think I would have just gone home on this occasion . All a bit petty.

How is it petty to book a delivery for after 10 and not want to go home at 8.30 because they’re already there?

[quote IloveJudgeJudy]@Svalberg That is just not True. They do get paid overtime and they should be asked if they want to go home before the end of their shift. They can say No, but then May he asked to shelf fill, clean vans, put back, etc. [/quote]
My DN doesn't get paid overtime. He gets paid extra for working on Sundays but otherwise it's a flat rate. He's contracted for 20 hours and doesn't get paid for more than the basic rate and has been doing 50 hour weeks to cover for people who keep leaving. He turns up for an 8am-6pm shift and it's changed to 9-7 when he arrives at the store and doesn't get paid for hanging about the store for that hour.

It's a job that can be on occasions hard, but people decide to take the job.

I work in a supermarket. The tradeoff for me is that I have a job that I forget about the moment I walk out the door, however when I am in work I do the job to the best of my ability - that includes being nice to customers and managing difficult ones. That's what I am paid for.

Anything that's said to me when I'm paid to represent my work is said by people to me as a rep - not me, personally and that's how I take it and vice versa. I would totally expect to be disciplined if I spoke to a customer rudely. I don't see the problem in complaining.

Life is a series of shitty and not so shitty things, sometimes jobs fall into that catagory.

ymmv

Including not delivering to customers who make a fuss about a delivery driver being early.

Ouch, that would be a very un-productive complaint!

Good job it would literally never happen then, isn’t it?

Yanbu, you could have been at work yourself, “err sorry no I can’t come and get my shopping early, I am doing emergency heart surgery”
They can’t expect you to drop everything for what’s convenient for them when you’re the one paying for the service!

so the op shouold just put up with him being nearly 2 hours early because its not that big of a deal and it was his last drop

this isnt ops problem she booked a slot and he was wayt too early not ten mins

@Realii

I have a Morrison’s driver who does this, only i book the 8-9am delivery and he’s turned up as early as 6.10am. He’s woken me up a few times and waited in a mood but the worst was when he got there at 6.10 and my phone was on silent. I woke up just after 7’and he was in a foul mood sitting outside. I’ve starting booking later to manage it.

That’s really odd. I work as a picker for Morrisons and no vans would be loaded and out that early as the orders wouldn’t be picked by then. We start work at 5am.

@StillCoughingandLaughing I have my shopping delivered from Tesco. After a couple of early deliveries I phoned up and asked that a note was put on my account that I wouldn’t accept an early delivery 🙂 only during the specified times.

But you don't have to complain about the driver to let them know you don't want deliveries outside of your specified time.

Just drop them a note to say something along the lines of I appreciate you may see 10pm as an unsocial hour but it suits me so if my driver wants to delivery early, as happened on x and x dates, I do not want that option. I could not see how to change this element of my delivery preference profile on your website but I trust this email to you will help you update my profile with this preference. Thanks

We've had them ring before to ask if someone was in to take the shopping if they came early - and have always been happy with the reply (normally its yes but once it was - if it's before 8.30 yes - but if not you'll have to wait till 9am they were happy to work around us - and made it clear they would come at the time if we said no)