Tesco bare....why aren't the shelves being restocked ?

[poolpoolt]

I was in my local Tesco at 9am
There was no meat (no chickens or bacon)
The toilet rolls gone,no pasta (basically the obvious things )
At 9am you would think there would be some available.
Is this the same in your area?

It shows the folly of the "just in time" stock delivery system. There was a time when shops (inc supermarkets) had their own large stock rooms which would see them with enough stocks for a few weeks (obviously except for very short dated perishables).

My father was a manager of a Redmans store in the 70s. I used to go in the school holidays. It was a 3 story building plus a cellar. The shop itself on the ground floor, then 2 floors above full of stocks of dried goods, packets, tins, etc., and the basement contained a few walk in fridges and freezers. I vividly remember it being full to capacity most of the time. Now shops have little more than a loading bay.

I've been to my local asda 3 times in last 2 weeks at just after 9am and no loo roll,pasta,soap,tins of beans or bacon etc.mentironed it to cashier on 3rd visit and she said it's not that they haven't got it,it's that the government has put limits on what they can put out.
So people who get there earlier are obviously clearing shelves,there should be a limit on what people can have not what stores put out.There's plenty of rice left in asda,did I go nuts and panic buy,no I got one packet!!

I have newborn twins and couldn't get hold of nappies on Saturday. Sunday morning, I was at the shops for opening, just for nappies. A man got there before me and grabbed every single size 2 off the shelf. He argued with me when I asked for a pack myself. Despite having both babies with me, he tried to argue his need was greater.

He gave up a pack in the end.

I'm picking up a shop for my terminally ill 93 year old grandad this week as he has no food, can't get out, and no delivery slots. I will have to be there at opening. I'm sure I won't get much of the basics.

I had my usual Tesco delivery this morning
I was speaking to the delivery driver and he said our store is still open 24 hours but they were going to stop 24 hrs , because as soon as new stock comes in late evening , all sought after items are being grabbed , before the staff can pick/ pack for online deliveries

I was in Sainsburys this afternoon, half the shelves were bare. I asked if they had any hand gel and the assistant explained they stocked up at 11am this morning, but within minutes it was all gone. I think you need luck with timing to arrive when the shelves have just been replenished.

Normally I wouldn't worry about hand gel, it's not something I usually use very often, but I'm aware that it's another line of defence so I will try to get some. MIL (85) asked me to get soup and tea bags. No tinned stuff but I was lucky there were a few boxes of tea bags left. I'll pop in again and hope for better luck next time.

I'm just back from my local Sainsburys.

Hardly any fresh veg left. No potatoes or anything vaguely green. Only fresh fruit left was a few apples.

No meat left apart from a few Turkey Rashers. No bread at all.

Still no flour, no eggs, no porridge oats, no sugar, no tinned foods.

Hardly any fresh ready meals although a full display of freshly made pizza.

As you'd expect, no toilet rolls, cleaning products, paracetamol, handwash etc.

Never seen it this bad ever. I came away worried that I will starve if this continues. (I live in a tiny flat with no storage space - I can just about fit in enough food for 1 week).

Tomorrow I'm going to try M&S. I'll walk there (6 mile round trip) so I avoid public transport but it still means non-essential social contact.

I was shocked at how many people were out in London today. I get the impression it's lots of people working from home and deciding to go for a walk/jog in the park. The park was VERY busy.

Presumably at some point people will stop buying and start using up their pasta and loo roll mountain.

Mind you, I thought that last week and the shelves in our local massive tesco were bare of the usual suspects again today (2pm).

I was at a Sainsbury’s superstore this morning. Only three checkouts were manned and the queues were hellish. But apart from one shouting woman everyone was civil. The checkout ladies were amazingly calm. Shelves were stripped bare - no meat, no pasta, no toilet roll, barely any eggs, no flour, no Uht milk, barely any coffee etc. This was in London.

Sleepyhead - that’s what I have been thinking - surely the panic buying has to stop when the cupboards are full😊.

I have been popping a couple of extra tins of soup into the trolley for about a month now. Don’t have a huge stockpile, but think I have enough to live on for about two weeks. Surely that is enough?

In went to my local Tesco yesterday and they had a member of staff down each aisle keeping track of the stock levels. A woman had asked for nappies and the staff said she had no chance unfortunately, they'd had a delivery that morning and within a couple of hours everything had gone. I presume they just can't keep up with demand. They had no fresh veg or fruit, nappies, formula, baby food, shower gel, cleaning products, loo roll, bread, rice or pasta.

My dad lives in the town next door to mine and he'd gone to Sainsbury's today to find absolutely nothing in it. A member of staff said that they're closing the deli and cafe and they won't be back open until the virus is over.

I live in a village,we have a Coop ,pharmacy and butcher.Also have a Post Office with little shop attached,nothing is out of stock.Nobody has been panic buying here,but the local town Tesco is bare of stock.

Our butcher said today he had someone in wanting 12 trays of chicken legs today! He sold him 2.

Morrisons seem to be handling this the best.
I was there just after 8 this morning, fully stocked apart from hand gel and painkillers, bizzarely no andrex loo roll but lots of own brand.
Plenty of nappies/wipes and baby milk thankfully.
Store was busier than normal at that time but everyone was being sensible.

There are 2 large Morrisons here within a mile though, which probably helps.

If the shelves were restocked at 7am then the common things like pasta and toilet roll could be gone within an hour (or less) at the moment
15 minutes in our local Sainsbury’s according to the checkout lady at 7.30am this morning. And that’s with restrictions on the amount people can buy.

@poolpoolt
DS works in a distribution warehouse for one of the biggest supermarkets. The warehouse is huge - size of several football pitches. At the weekend over 50% of the racks were empty. Many of their suppliers cannot keep up with demand - a lot of them already run 24/7 production lines so cannot increase production. And many are having difficulty in obtaining things like packaging materials as a lot of that cones from abroad , China for example. If the suppliers can't supply the warehouses, the warehouses can't supply the stores.

It's the panic buying that frightens me too, and I have a good stock of food & toiletries! I just worry that when I do run out I wont be able to replace it. I have tesco delivery slots booked but I wont hold out any hope.

It's been a couple of weeks now, HOW are people even still needing to panic buy, surely that have bought it all now.

Morrisons was hopeless near me, I left and went to Sainsburys.

It calms down slightly then gets set off again. The weekend would have been people working in the week. They when it is announced about self-isolating for 12 weeks everyone suddenly thinks ‘help that is a long time!’

My DD18 was lucky to get the last pack of sanitary towels in her local supermarket. A man took them out of her basket.

She chased after him and took them back. He was at least smart enough not to argue with her.

I felt sorry for the poor girl trying to re-stock the hand sanitiser in Home Bargains on Saturday. People were snatching it out of her hand before she'd manage to put it on the shelf.

B&Q had loads of toilet roll at the weekend for those struggling to find some.

Because all the magic wands exploded at once.
Ffs!
The supermarkets have been packed from opening to closing for over a week.
We ran out of bags twice so people were stealing the baskets!! Then people were complaining that there wasn't enough trolleys or baskets. No shit Sherlock have you seen the people in here?
I left work tonight half empty from one end to the other. Deliveries and staff cannot compete with the amounts people are buyjng. They are like locusts!

And it only takes one, usually innocent, person to put, say, four packets of dried soup into their basket. Someone sees it, thinks ' that person has inside information that we are going to run out of dried soup' and then they buy half a dozen packets and tell their friends that there's a rumour that stocks are low of dried soup. THEY all come in and buy a dozen packets each and... there you go. Supermarket is sold out of dried soup before they know it. And then the shelf is empty, so following shoppers think 'aha! Dried soup!' and as soon as the shelf is restocked they buy it all up.

Self perpetuating madness.

my asda shop came today with only 4 subs and they were all fine. when i did this shop i booked one for next week, and it seems i was lucky as my friend whose son has now come down with the virus says asda are only booking 3 weeks from now.

the delivery driver did say the store was like a war zone, however.

i’m in the vulnerable group that needs to stay home for 12 weeks. i’m ok, i can push through this early stage i hope. i might go mad from isolation, but for now have rice and loo roll. amazon have a lot of things you wouldn’t expect them to sell, and do Amazon Pantry so it’s worth trying them.

i’m also very lucky to have good neighbours, so we can all help each other out. i’m going to struggle when it comes to getting my medication once a fortnight, and keeping the leccy topped up. hopefully i can ask for help from people who are willing to do this for me.

Our local big Tesco is shutting at 10 from now on to give them a chance to refill the shelves

Apparently they're restocking our local Tescos overnight, so best dibs on what's going, you need to be in the queue well before opening at 6am.

Because they can't keep up! People are like plagues of locusts, they swoop as soon as new stock is put out. The question should be 'why are stupid selfish people stripping the shelves bare?'.

The 24 hour Tesco beside me is closing from 10pm tonight to restock.