To think Tesco are being ridiculous with a prove you are over 18 for a food delivery

[Qantaqa]

Tesco delivery booked yesterday. Phone call to say van broken down. Do I want a slightly later delivery or cancel / rebook. I say later delivery is fine and think no more of it.

At the point the delivery arrives I am out. DS1(18) is in waiting for the delivery. DS phones to say driver cannot leave delivery as they have a think 25 policy and he doesn't have ID (he's awaiting arrival of his driving licence ). They wouldn't accept DS2 licence as he is only 17. Luckily mum turned up as DS1 was trying to find his Citizencard ID thing and obviously saved todays Sunday dinner the day.

I have looked and the Tesco website says:

All goods must be signed for on delivery by an adult aged 18 years or over.

Tesco follows a "Think 25" policy when delivering age-restricted items, so if the person receiving the goods looks under 25, proof of age will be requested. If proof is not available and there is no-one of that age at the address when delivery is being made, the goods will be retained by the driver.

1. Since Covid no-one signs for deliveries anymore, and
2. There were no age restricted items in the delivery - it was just a normal food shop.

I suspect someone will come along and say there is some reason that they need an over 18 to accept the delivery but if they have no-one signing anymore how can they prove (other than through tracking data on the van) that they have delivered and if that is the proof they are using then when does it matter if the person who takes the food is 18 or 16 or even younger?

Obviously if there was alcohol or a knife or a DVD of some sort that's different but it was literally fruit, veg, meat and bread and too much chocolate

I'll obviously make sure I am there in future until DSs ID comes through, but AIBU to think Tesco is BU?

Is it not just a contract law thing?

No

Under 18s are allowed to shop online.

It is purely a discriminatory supermarket policy no more or less.

Tesco is nuts with their age policies anyway IMO. I tend to use the self checkout and I've had to wait for authorisation due to age restriction on Christmas crackers before but paracetamol was no issue.

Why is that nuts?

Presumably the staff member was busy when you were buying crackers, hence having to wait, but they were less busy for the paracetamol, so they authorised that remotely while you were still scanning your items.

And yes, there is a legal minimum age for buying Christmas crackers. It's 12 years of age.

Not complaining about waiting, just about not needing approval for drugs when you do for crackers! Although I guess maybe they were watching and approved before it even came up or something but if so it really wasn't obvious.

You do need approval for paracetamol. You just didn't notice that they did it. I've had several people comment to me that they thought they would need approval for things - they did, I had done it - they just hadn't noticed.

Ok then yeah that makes more sense

My husband got sent alcohol in the post/other delivery services recently for his birthday. My 6’5 21 year old didn’t get asked his aged when he accepted a delivery. Middle aged me did! Go figure.

What supermarket do you go to? I should have worked there. We were timed. Over 200 items an hour. No we didn't have time to check and it wasn't part of our job.
Don't forget you will have up to 3 different pickers getting your shopping (along with 7 other people's shopping) and yet you really think they can remember and check everyone's shopping

You are complaining about a company that is safeguarding minors and their staff - let that sink in.

The driver does get notified if there are any age restricted products in your shop, it shows up an alert on their PDA, hence why they will prompt you for ID for restricted items.
But even without the restricted items, it is a measure of safeguarding for both the employee and the resident taking in the delivery, pure and simple.

This strikes me as a really obvious candidate for technology though - presumably all the picking and assembling of orders is managed by computer program and a hand held device for the picker - items with age restrictions therefore don't have to be marked by the picker - they could be centrally administered and then flagged for ID checking on any order that has them. It's really not rocket science.

This would mean care leavers who are 17 could not order shopping. It is crazy. Orders should be marked if they contain alcohol or not. Only deliveries containing alcohol should be signed for.

That is exactly how Ocado do it - the technology exists.

It's just a matter of which companies choose to use it

Nope. I'm complaining that a company wouldn't allow my DS to have items delivered when they would have allowed him to purchase the exact identical items in store.

I very rarely get asked to sign for my Tesco deliveries. When I do it seems to be because the driver is new to the job and possibly under closer supervision whilst on probation.

Regarding "think 25" - if they do they probably think "Yes - customer is at least twice that"🙁

You're comparing a busy store with CCTV, and lots of people around, to an empty house, a private enclosed location with a minor in it. Then along comes a sole delivery driver - who in some instances may enter the property (even if only partially into a porch or hallway) to drop the shopping off as part of their job.
It's safeguarding 101, protecting both the driver and the customer.

"who in some instances may enter the property (even if only partially into a porch or hallway) to drop the shopping off as part of their job"

Key word being "may"

They may also decline to enter, and leave deliveries on the doorstep (as for covid) not entering the property at all.

I don't see how an interaction on the doorstep only is more likely to lead to a malicious complaint when the shopping is left there, rather than when it isn't. Surely it would be the same? And the core of the job is to leave the damned shopping!

So why is this needed for grocery deliveries but not if I order anything else online? They will either leave them on the doorstep or ask whoever is in the house to sign for them, regardless of age (within reason).

It has nothing to do with safeguarding kids. Not sure why a driver needs to be safeguarded from leaving a few bags of groceries with a 17 year old, either.

How? Can you do it "remotely"?

Anywhere I've bought anything age-restricted they have to come over to the till I am on. They can't do it from across the way.

During COVID, my store (and I'm sure others) introduced the ability to authorise age restricted items from a screen in one corner of the self scan area. It lists all the tills, and we can click on any specific till to say that the customer is clearly over 25. We don't do this all the time - sometimes we are closer to the till, so we go to it, sometimes they don't look clearly over 25 from a distance, so we go to the till for a closer look and to ask for ID if required.

There is no difference, restricted items or not. We cannot leave any shopping with someone under 18. Don't know why. Also not possible leave any shopping at concierge or at door. This is what drivers have to follow. Anyway, I never make any problems to leave shopping when customer looks very young, of course if is nothing restricted. If someone looks under 25 and there is anything restricted I ask for id. All depend on drivers. Some of them don't care. Also sometimes happens kids 5-7 years old try to get shopping, but at this case I ask for adults. Anyway, Tesco only looks how to make drivers jobs more difficult. Even for customers tesco getting worse. At least store where I work.
Also keep in mind, any painkillers are 18+, lottery as well (it was from 16y I think last year).
Another story, there is lots of chocolates and sweets what do not looks like, but are age restricted.
Finally, drivers don't know what is in trays, but every order with 18+ items is marked on papers and in device. Even while use device, before doing anything, big popup appear about think25. Think25 - person collect shopping must looks 25 or over. If do not looks 25, I'd must be checked.
Customer must sign delivery, from about 2 -3 months now, but many drivers don't ask for. Easier for driver, as can finish early, then sit in coffee shop and sign left deliveries.

Interesting range of experience. It does seem a bit potlock on the drivers. It is awkward, though fair to drivers following policy - it's not worth their jobs to go against it.

I had an Iceland delivery driver once hand everything to my kids except a bag of energy drinks, which he kindly waited until I'd limped my way to the door. He was very apologetic about not being able to hand energy drinks to the kids, but that was policy and I was apologetic about being slow (and of course, at the opposite side of the house when the doorbell went off with teens and tween eager for the food). They regularly hand things to my kids or put heavy bags on the ottoman bench in my porch so I can handle them one at a time.