To be irritated by ‘pickers’ in Tesco

[Pottedpalm]

I don’t often shop in Tesco as I have other large supermarkets closer to home. However on Saturday morning I called in for a few items needed fir a dish to take to a party. Plan was to shop speedily with a basket for cheese, cream, herbs, pastry, bread…
My progress was hampered at every turn by pickers trying to manoeuvre their large ’trolleys’. In the cheese aisle two were parked blocking the section I needed to browse, with a third one opposite, and they took ages to find what they wanted. Same in other areas, although the refrigerated areas were worst.
AIBU to think Tesco should address this issue, particularly at bust times like Saturday mornings?

*busy 😄

So how do people get their deliveries? The bloody fairies?

I feel your pain. I have this problem in my local ASDA.

Address it how? The pickers already start work in the early hours, and they won't stop picking just because the store happens to get busy.

An emergency on your part does not constitute an issue on theirs.

Plan your time better.

I'm right with you! They do my head in. I don't need to hear how drunk they were last night at so and so's party, I just want to get my shopping! Stop gossiping and blocking the whole aisle 😠They give me the rage. I now send dh to get the shopping most of the time 😉

I don't think they should stop the pickers using the store, because so much of their business is now online. Online orders also tend to be high value, so they are right to look after these customers. However, they should ensure that multiple pickers don't block the stock for instore shoppers, so no double trolleys as you describe.

The pickers are still taking up less space than the customers they're picking for would have done if they'd opted to do their own shopping instead of having it delivered.

If the pickers weren't there getting people's shopping - then those people would be there themselves. It would be even more busy as pickers pick for several customers at a time.
My local big Tesco doesn't do picking in store as far as I can tell. On a Saturday morning the customer queues spiral around the store.
My local big Sainsbury's does have pickers but it means the customer queues are tiny and you barely have to queue.
I know which I prefer.

Wow people missing the point here just to get a snarky dig in... ahhh mumsnet

You are quite right OP it's bloody annoying. Supermarkets need to find a way to facilitate deliveries without making the stores unusable for in-store shoppers.

I have always thought that having staff putting stuff out on shelves just so other staff can take stuff off those same shelves for deliveries is a cackhanded way to run a business tbh

I used to be a picker in Sainsburys we always aimed to finish by 9am for this reason- I don’t believe Tesco have pickers working this earlier which is why there is issues. To be fair I’d probably stayed in the job if it was reasonable hours so I assume this is why you have pickers in tescos now because nobody wants to start at 3am….

I get annoyed when I'm expected to jump.out of the way as they charge around.
No. I will not.
Apart from that the only thing that pisses me off is when they reach in front of you. Back off!!

Supermarkets are no longer practical for shopping for my clients (care) due to these puckers who often can't control.unweildy trolleys and block access to items, even block aisles. They've moved to smaller local shops like co-ops. But I guess the supermarkets font care now, the online orders are a huge part of their income. Maybe it won't be long before it's not worth having real customers and they'll all be warehouse pickers.

Eh? No emergency. My time was well planned, in the heat I needed to buy fresh items.. at 10:30 on a Saturday morning

Oviously not every picker is te ame I find an excuse me could you move a little to the side please always works if I can't get what I want. Would they not let you through?

How are they?

YANBU. We've switched from a local big Tesco to Sainsbury's for weekend top up shops for exactly this reason. Tesco is impossible. It's their choice how they organise themselves, my choice where I spend my money.

We had a second store open recently near to me, it was initially meant to be for only online shopping to prevent this exact issue. The council refused the application and insisted that it open for customers. The shop is too small for both customers and pickers. It's basically a nightmare to shop there.

Because they're picking for multiple clients. Four people and four trolleys take up a hell of a lot more space than one picker and a large trolley.

Because they are picking 3/4 orders at a time. So one picker trolley is replacing multiple trolleys.

It is a pain, but the orders need picked so what else are they supposed to do?

They start at 6am and aim to finish by midday. They can't start any earlier because the deliveries aren't there before.

Each picker is probably doing 10-12 people's shopping. Taking up a lot less space than 10-12 people (and their families which is who are usually clogging up the aisles on a Saturday)

You wanted to shop “speedily”, therefore you were on a time limit and in a rush to make this pastry for the party.

Shops are open from at least 7am. You could have gone well before 10.30am if you were on a time limit.

My DS worked as a picker for Tesco for a while. It’s an awful job - huge time pressure to pick quickly and treated like a robot by management. He said he’d never do it again and would rather work in another previous role doing dangerous and unpleasant manual labour than pick again, I’m more understanding of the shit substitutions I’m sent these days!

Off point a bit there! Anyway, DS certainly never had time to stand around gossiping !

What do you propose then, the pickers pick individual items from the warehouse?

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