Supermarket safety - get what you pay for?

[Pumpertrumper]

Just wondering if it’s my city is unique.

I’ve visited a few supermarkets over the course of covid, for one reason or another. There is a huge link between how ‘up market’ the supermarket is and how well organised/safe it was.

I very rarely shopped Waitrose pre covid but they are ace! Several staff on the door, all trolleys being wiped down religiously. Giant tenting and organised queuing system outside. Kept pretty quiet inside and everyone very careful.
M&S similar - little bit busier though.
Sainsbury’s- ok, good queuing system but bit too busy in some aisles. Good precautions at the tills.

Asda/Morrison’s - Total chaos! Asda doesn’t even have a queuing system and Morrison’s is obviously just for show. Both totally rammed, staff not caring. Shoppers elbow knocking distance of each other. No caution!

I can’t comment on Aldi/Lidl as haven’t been since covid (they are further away).

I know it makes sense an element of ‘you get what you pay for’ but I can’t help thinking it’s a bit crap that those who can afford to do their weekly shop at Waitrose get to be safer. I find myself going there more and accepting the extra £20-30 on our weekly shop as paying to feel safe.

Hoping it’s just my local city and not nationwide.

M&S shocking in my area too - overcrowded and no one-way system, not even giving it lip service.

Our Asda is fine, not hugely different from normal but honestly never felt unsafe and we go 4-5 times a week as our fridge has been broken almost all year so we cant buy a weeks worth in one go.

Tesco has a one in one out policy and strict 2 meter spaced one way system.

The only one that has made me uneasy was M&S. It wasn't their fault, they were controlling numbers and running a well spaced queue, but it is a small store and once people got inside...they were all over the place. Everyone wandering around like slow headless chickens, bumping into each other without even noticing... I was glad to get out. This wasn't close to Christmas either.

I have noticed the same with level of safety precautions but I don't find Waitrose particularly expensive - tend to buy most stuff from the essentials range.

Bloody hell are people seriously this bored I wouldn't say I notice or care tbh

Just different from store to store. Tescos in one area very different to Tescos in another area.

Location seems to make a difference here. Our small high street and more rural supermarkets fantastic safety measures.

If I go to one of the supermarkets near the north circular 406 (London Edmonton area) it is terrible.

Bloody hell are people seriously this bored confused I wouldn't say I notice or care tbh

Care enough to come on a thread and complain though 😄

Yes you posh Waitrose lot are so much better at the virus than us yobbos shopping in poor shops

Did you see poxy Harrods when their sale started?

We usually use Aldi or Lidl. Both have been great at limiting numbers and in the main most people have been sticking to the social distancing measures.

We did happen to go to the local M&S food hall in a town a few miles away, where there’s all the big supermarkets, and fuck me it was like a cattle market. People wearing masks with their noses hanging out, too many in there, leaning across me to reach their bananas. It was a complete piss take.

@Palavah

This week I've been to Lidl, Sainsburys, Tesco Express and little Waitrose.

At each someone was at the door regulating numbers. Queuing at lidl and tesco. All had spray and blue roll to clean your basket/trolley. All had screens at the till.

Four shops in one week? Do you not make lists of what you need.?

Waitrose near Finchley Road was horrific a couple of weeks ago. Hardly anyone wearing masks, people leaning over you to get things, no social distancing.

Thankfully I only needed water to take medicine so I was in and out quickly, but it would not be a place I would like to shop.

I am finding the smaller independents the best - the fines for them would make a huge dent in their profits so they are doing things well in my experience.

Four shops in one week? Do you not make lists of what you need

This maybe a revelation to you, but not all shops sell all items. And those that do, sometimes run out so you have to go somewhere else.

Oh I know, it's covid and we're should be joining in the national sacrifice and doing without crunchy nut cornflakes and making do with the plain ones or whatever.

This week I've been to Lidl, Sainsburys, Tesco Express and little Waitrose.

Genuinely curious, why did you need to go to four?

Meh!
I've been to all from Aldi/Lidl/Asda/Waitrose/Sainsbury's/Tesco's over lockdown while shopping for the foodbank.
Only difference is: Tesco's had a limit of 3 items even when buying for the food bank, which is fair enough, Waitrose charges too much to use unless you're completely stuck, but they are good at the free excess food stuff and have good donations boxes.

But I'd like to ask the question everyone else wants to:
Do Waitrose pay the best to go on SM and big them up at the expense of their competitors or did you not shop around?

I’ve noticed the same. Waitrose has wider aisles so it’s easier to socially distance as well. Tesco here is also fine as it’s a big store. I used to do all my shopping at Lidl before the pandemic but there are absolutely no safety measures in our local one at all and no one was distancing so I’ve stopped going there because I just can’t face it!

Tesco is chaotic and crowded here - Morrison’s, M&S, Waitrose all ok.

Our Aldi has just built a new queuing shelter which will be welcome on rainy days. Their traffic lights control the numbers well.
Waitrose is great as you say, but our Sainsbury’s is huge with wide aisles so never had a problem there.
Our Asda is small so I have avoided it so can’t comment.

We have a small Waitrose and at the beginning of the pandemic, their staff had no masks, wouldn’t step back to let customers through, and had no queue system. I completed an online survey about safety in that store and gradually things got better, but it was a slow process.

They are much better now, but their self-service checkouts are back to back with the tills (all arranged in one row) so although there is plexiglass between the self-service checkouts, there’s nothing between them and the tills.

It’s the nearest shop to us so I tend to go in the evening when it’s quieter.

Our enormous Tesco on the other hand has traffic lights on the entrance and exit, though inside it’s a bit of a bunfight if you go during busy times.

I haven't visited Sainsbury's or Tesco since March as have been getting Click and Collect or Home Delivery. I did venture to M&S back in August and had been quite happy with their precautions, but the last few weeks have not been good. Yes, they do monitor numbers which is good, but once inside people take no notice of the one-way system, and are bad about pushing in front of you. I have given up M&S for the foreseeable future. My favourite is Waitrose, they seem to be very strict on numbers and sanitising of trollies. The aisles are wide and I use the zapper to scan goods and put them straight into my bag so don't actually use a trolley. I think the reputation they have for being expensive is unfair - they have very good offers most of the time - particularly the 3 for £10 one. I am going to stick with them for a couple of months anyway.

Dislike Asda intensely - it always smells of fish and bleach. Lidl is awful and Aldi OK but doesn't have many of the things I like.

Of our local shops, Waitrose and M&S are the best for COVID hygiene precautions. Waitrose in particular has a security guard on the door who counts people in and out, and tells them off if they forget to use the hand gel! All the baskets get sanitised after each use too.

our m and s has been mostly great actually and waitrose has been sporadic. They did things like shove random trollies by the checkouts forcing people close together to get past then attack customers for putting one toe over their till lines. And they could do the perspex around the cashier better actually, it should be where they push the shopping down, on all of them. Have a total roofless box but higher in some places.

Yesterday in Waitrose a young lad came to serve the deli with his bare hands - and was constantly touching his flimsy paper mask!

I've not seen queues to get in at any of the supermarkets for ages. They all have the traffic lights outside, always seem to be green though, not masses of people inside. I shop at Aldi, Tesco, Asda and M&S. I go in the evening maybe the scrum happens earlier.

If you don't visit them all daily then there's a time bias in what you see. Sainsb might have started well, collapsed, then improved to be the best.

If you do visit them all daily then that's too many outings. :)

The best place in our town is the market. Neat queues, helped by the town centre team marking 2m spaces, stall holders organising the system, people just lining up in the fresh air.

Costs are about the same as Sainsbury’s. Quality is as good or better (there would be a lot of complaints if I went back to buying meat from the supermarkets now).

OP I've found myself in the same situation as you. Upmarket shops are much better organised for safety in my area. I've noticed this has been the case for months.