To blame supermarkets for empty shelves late on?

[hotcrunchybiscuit]

We've been in this situation long enough to know that some people cannot get to the store until late. Why are they still arriving at supermarkets and finding empty shelves?

We are being told it is due to panic buying so if that is the case, can they not hold back and stagger the times the food goes on the shelves instead of relying on people playing fair, which obviously isn't happening?

They already have special hours for certain people so you hold food back for this special hour, no?

There is no issue that they will be left with food not sold in this current climate is there?

Blame the supermarkets rather than the greedy hoarding fucks!

Yes, there ARE greedy fucks which is why we need another solution.

But the supermarkets DO have a level of control, don't they? They are already limiting amounts people are buying.

I agree hotcrunchy

Maybe they should do a reverse of the old/vulnerable early morning shopping hour and do a last hour for key workers

Supermarkets have no storage "in the back". Almost the entire area of the building is selling space. Yhey have to put stuff on the shelves as soon as it arrives. If it's refrigerated stuff they have 20 minutes to get it on the shelves, or they are not supposed to sell it (I'm sure in reality that's often not feasible though).

I don't believe there isn't a way this can be done. The shop near me is split into two with on close third closed off. It could be something like that.

To make clear it is closed off for refurb.

It’ll get better, they’re recruiting lots of extra shelf stickers. I can see the logic but if they’ve got no storage space, hard to keep stuff back.

If recruiting more shelf-stackers will solve the problem then the problem is NOT panic buying.

Of course the problem is panic buying otherwise why would they need thousands more shelf stackers

Are you realistically expecting that a large supermarket can do an entire restock overnight? And even if they can, it is obvious that people are going to the shop when it opens and stripping it
There are not lorries outside with more stock waiting to refill. The store would need to close, restock and reopen for this to work and would mean getting double deliveries

If people stopped being so greedy and stupid we could all just shop normally

The supermarkets should have foreseen this situation 2 weeks ago and had a plan in place. It isn't as if we hadn't seen it in China and Italy.

Yes it's the hoarders who are stockpiling but many people are just anxious and worry for themselves and elderly relatives. If they know stuff will be there the next day they'd be least likely to panic, it's a vicious circle.

If a strict 2 of one item only had been in place from the beginning of March it could have been managed. However supermarkets are just as greedy as the stockpilers. Telling people over the tannoy to 'please be sensible' is hardly effective.

Tesco are allocating time to nhs staff to get food.

Supermarkets are doing what they can. They have reduced opening hours. Creating new areas
For food. Putting restrictions on what we can buy in one go.

There’s been a lot of confusion about who can go out and who has to stay at home. Demand has suddenly tripled and their suppliers who also be facing disruptions.

It’s people to blame. Still going out and panic buying. Why? Stores are staying open.

And then staff do try and intervene and they are getting abused. There’s loads of videos around of customers abusing staff over water ffs and other stuff.

So the blame lies within your local community. Locally I’m seeing random items out of stock, which is the case for the rest of the year. Maybe here we’d been lucky enough to get in the usual monthly shop just in time 🤷‍♀️

Where do you think the supermarkets are going to keep this stock? Believe it or not a lot of supermarkets don't have a huge warehouses.

People just need to stop buying unnecessarily.

The implication is that the empty shelves equate with no food. That's why people are leaving the store late on with no food in tears.

If there IS food then, yes, more shelf-stackers is part of the answer but if there is no 'back storage' for food then all the food must be somewhere out on the shop floor.

To send people away when the shelves are empty but there IS food on the shop floor is madness.

Again if this is the case I don't believe there is not a way round it.

railing against people on Facebook etc is pretty inefficient - perhaps the person with an extra can of beans feels bad, the people with 2 trolleys of stuff, probably not.

Govt should’ve sent police down earlier to put in a presence, and took ages for the 2 and 3 qty limits to come in.

Appealing to people to be fair isn't working so the problem has to be dealt with at source.

Imagine most idiot people turning up to the supermarket and they say “sorry we’ve got the stock in the back but we are staggering you buying it.”

People are already fighting over bog roll in the aisles. What do you think the reaction will be? It would be bedlam.

Supposed civilised humans have already shown they are out for themselves and don’t care about enough going around for anyone else. They aren’t going to wait patiently for the next batch of supplies to come out.

Shelf stackers can’t keep up with the demand regardless of what’s in the back. They’ve got to have breaks and spend 90% of their time being shouted at by morons demanding to know why there isn’t any sanitiser.

People are already being told only x amount of certain items and having to comply. You don't say to customers 'no there's food but you can't have it'.

It’s something which will take time, and for panic buying selfish twats to stop being twatish. Shops do not hold storage areas anymore. Orders are placed and delivered within a 24 hour time slot. That’s ok with normal buying patterns. But when panic buying people don’t buy one or two of an item, they buy it in cash and carry quantities - so what would have been enough for 30purchases, suddenly is bought in one purchase. And others panic and so the same.
So stock arrives and is panic bought enmass.
There is only so much slack in the system. - there are 24 hours in a day and a fixed number of lorries and drivers in the system. Even with the now relaxed working hours, supermarket delivery drivers can only do 2 or 3 deliveries if they are lucky in one day. The stock need to be put on shelves etc. All takes extra people - which is why they are hiring.
Firms which make / process / pack the food also need more stock /packaging etc. Same problem different products.
Stop panic buying. Stop yelling at the very people who are working very hard to keep up with selfish twats. More staff will help, but it isn’t the sole solution only a partial one.
And no, warehouse can’t suddenly expand to magically store more food when there are more drivers, trucks and staff magically appearing either.

I am actually starting to get concerned that we DO have a shortage in the supply chain. Are things still getting through from other countries which are in lockdown, or are there issues actually getting it to us? In the U.K. we get far too much of our food from overseas, I am worried we are in for a shock.

The supply is there , people just strip shelves before it can be restocked - it’s quicker to sell than to restock. Simple analogy - quicker to pour a kettle of hot water down the sink than it is to boil the kettle for more hot water.

STOP PANIC BUYING.

If I worked in a supermarket right now, I'd want to self-isolate until next spring. It must be bad enough having to put up with idiot panic buyers, let alone getting the blame for it.

They need more shelf stackers because they are working on getting more deliveries and because they are losing staff because the might be in self isolation. You can only make as many deliveries to the stores as you have trucks and drivers to deliver them. It's a logistical nightmare. I know someone in supermarket logistics that is working 10 hour shifts non stop.

Supermarkets spent 4 months preparing for Christmas, two weeks of preparation is just not enough.

It is actually naive to think that people will not panic buy in these times.

The greater the threat perceived, the greater the stronger the drive to survive.

It comes from the primitive brain. Some people will override this with logic and a sense of fairness but some won't.

This is not a criticism in any way of the hard working people working in the supermarkets, any more than criticisms of the NHS refers to the doctors, nurses, staff etc, it's about the way the system is managed from higher up.

This is a fucking mental thread. Supermarkets should have seen this two weeks ago and put a plan in place? People shouldn’t be stockpiling crap they don’t need. Bog roll for Christ sake?!?!!
The onus isn’t on supermarkets to make you responsible people and do I blame Sainsbury’s yesterday for not having any paracetamol or neurofen. Do I fuck.
My mother works in a supermarket and they are trying their hairiest to supply the greedy bastards with as much as they need.

But hey....let’s criticise without actually knowing 😂

It’s sad that all the shops are appealing for people to be nicer to their staff!