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?

What happened to night-fill roles? I used to fill shelves when shops were closed.

The trollies are large because they are separating, scanning and packing as they pick. It is much more efficient than all of the individual customers (and their families) blocking the aisles, browsing, making the queues at the tills longer, taking their time packing, congesting the car park, etc.

I call pickers plague of locusts. What annoys me is they seem to congregate together blocking whole aisles.

On a Saturday the majority should be off the shop floor by 10:30am.

Deliveries to customers are made up until 11pm. Some stores pick for hundreds of customers a day. Being done by 10.30am just isn't possible.

😂
Nope, wrong again. Pastry
was ready made. But carry on if it is cheering up your miserable day.

Sorry, I really don’t understand your comment. Try again,

Of course we're aware. I just don't go the big Tesco which I know all the dot com deliveries are made from on a Saturday morning because that's always busy. Go to a smaller shop.

Working in a supermarket either on replenishment or picking is hard, boring work. Most of the staff wish the shop was empty of customers because customers are fucking idiots. Parking trolleys in front of the pizzas you’re trying to restock, dragging their bored kids round the supermarket, demanding you look for that one very specific item out the back. Then they drop a milk bottle and scamper off leaving you to hunt down a mop. Then you get your 15 minute break but by the time you get to the canteen break is almost over.

so yeah working in a supermarket sucks. Who cares if the staff have a chat to each other

Indeed! Part of the problem was pickers’ trolleys parked in front of whole sections of goods, one behind the other while the pickers hunted for what they wanted further up the aisle. The trolleys are much larger than even the largest customer ones.

i'm aware of how big they are, i worked in Tesco for many years, and i also shop in there at least 2 or 3 times a week.

I can't say i have ever not been able to get around them, or seen them completely block aisles in the store i use.

That depends branch by branch, certainly not around here & they're 'See you next Tuesday' to work for.

I would assume because the pickers are shopping for several customers at once.

I have absolutely NO idea how you think that relates to my comment, but I'll answer anyway. Because each crate is for one customer, they pick like items for 4 customers as it's faster than each puckers going to every department.

That's fine, that's your choice. Perhaps other supermarkets will go that way, BUT either prices will go up (to build more huge warehouses OR staff will lose jobs & you won't be able to shop 'in store' when they convert the existing store to warehouses or more likely close the store & buy a design built warehouse.

A lot if Morrisons are still pick in store & Ocado don't have any in store shopping.

Most of the staff wish the shop was empty of customers because customers are fucking idiots.

Well that perfectly highlights why customer service is SO poor in this country! I’ve felt for years that as a shopper I’m always in the way of the shop staff, constantly moving out of their way with no thank you and getting tutted at if I’m too long deciding over what cheese to buy!! Yet all I’m doing is exactly what any shopper should be doing when in a supermarket!

of course they’ll say they’re overworked, underpaid, short staffed, yet I work as an NHS nurse and I’d never treat my patients that way cos it’s not their fault!

I used to be a picker in a supermarket. And majority of the comments above explain why i left to work in a warehouse instead.

Job itself was easy, but demanding, could easy get 15k step done by 8am. Getting paid pennies to recieve abuse, constant complaints and being tutted at for taking a minute to catch up with a colleague. We were expected to pick over 200 specific items an hour, picking off wrapped pallets, hunting through warehouse freezers for turkeys at christmas, getting told we were ridiculous for not having advent calendars available on november 30th even though we got told we were ridiculous for having them in mid october. The list goes on.

Work doesnt stop because the days deliveries are done, with demand services available like express deliveries/collection, just eat and uber theres always pickers picking until 9pm when i was there.

God forbid you cant get to your cheese. Saturday morning has always been the busiest time to go into a supermarket, long before online shopping.

I get what you mean. It should be done from warehouse or outside of main shopping hours. Shops know ehen it is usually the busiest, pickerd shouldn't be there by that point. Our Asda is horrible for this.
With the demand rising they really can't contonue like this.

I used to work in the IT department (outside of the UK) and Tesco doing instore pick actually got mentioned by my boss's boss as a ridiculous model. He said that there's no way to have online shopping be profitable with this model and to not trust anyone who claims it can be.

The organisation I worked for had multiple massive warehouses dedicated to home delivery orders only, completely optimised for efficiency.

Instead Tesco are compromising the experience of their instore customer to cut a few corners that in the long-term will end up hurting them.

Also I don't understand how Tesco do stock prediction? We never had swaps because we knew exactly how much we had in stock! Only in extreme cases like massive fridge failure would items be cancelled.

Totally agree with you. They have no manners and just barge their way through the aisles.

Same. We were on a strict time limit. You get bollocked if your speed was down. But hey ho, let's all moan at the people just trying to do their jobs.

There's doing your job and being considerate of others around you. If you bump into a customer, try apologising. If a customer gives way to you in an aisle, try saying thank you. I see none of this.

All you moaners can console yourselves they’ll be automated supermarkets everywhere soon enough. In the meantime, online shopping isn’t going anywhere so it’s up to you to accept it or join in! You never know, you might even be doing that job you look down your noses at to supplement your retirement, just like plenty do now. Never say never.

Your right pickers shouldnt be there by that point but when a pick starts at 3am and theres 20,000 items to be picked and only 3 pickers, unfortunately there will still be pickers about long after the shop opens.

Unfortunately due to the very early starts (we did 1am amd 2am starts through covid) there is a very high turn over of staff and quite often staff shortages.

Perhaps the fault lies in the consumer - not the picker? I used to do picking at Tesco when I was a student and we’d be picking from 3am until midday! If you really want to avoid pickers then I suggest you go after 15:00 or go to a convenience branch if you’re not picking up a lot of food