Please do not take supermarket delivery slots unless NEEDED

[Chester1980]

This is a plea to anyone who is not vulnerable - please do not take delivery slots from supermarkets. My elderly father lives hundreds of miles away and I cannot get him a slot because they’re all unavailable. This is despite him having an NHS shielding letter. We can’t even get through to any customer services for help.

If you can get to a supermarket and you’re not vulnerable, please think of others who cannot get out and release your delivery slot.

No way would I book a slot at the moment.

My parents are possibly not considered vulnerable due to age but I suspect my DF especially is. Actually contact has been made from local services due to his condition.

I live away but lucky to have a sibling who is keeping them fed.

I really don't know what I would do if he wasn't local.

It's difficult for them to get to the shops at the best of times and I would be pretty worried if they couldn't get a slot.

@Chester1980 call this number for Sainsburys 0800 052 5500. I've had no luck with any other supermarkets despite being on the shielding list due to chemo

One call to Sainsburys on the above number and I was on their list within a couple of hours! The first slot I could get was a week away but I'm just glad to have something!

I cannot tell you how much joy it has brought me, being able to get a weeks shop for me and my young kids, in one go, without feeling like I'm taking the piss out of kind friends and neighbours or looking like a greedy alcoholic

I wish those who can shop in store would. I understand no one wants to catch the virus but the fact is, in the shielding group, we have no other option then to shop from home and it's been made near impossible by the slots being taken by others. Of course everyone has a right to shop from home, it would just be considerate and generous if people would consider changing their habits for a while.

It sometimes feels like February's "Be Kind" message was short lived.

I should add, Sainsburys will check the details with the government and NHS list before giving you a slot. Thankfully that will weed out anyone trying to be underhand

I wish I hadn't read some of the replies to this

The selfishness of some of the posters is unbelievable.

You will continue to hog online slots because you "might die and leave your kids without a mum" despite not being on the list of extremely high risk. Well I WILL die if I catch this as my bloods have dropped low from my chemo and my consultant is advising me to stop the rest of my treatment as the risks are too great. So there is a far higher chance of me dying then you, there is a far higher chance of me leaving my young kids without a mum then you.

To quote a previous poster, what makes YOUR family so special?

I wonder if these are the same people on the door step clapping for the NHS, who then go out multiple times per week to the shops or for walks believing they're the exception to the rule.

I wouldn't book a delivery but I have had a click and collect. I have been able to see one for a couple of weeks away at midnight each night - in fact I have seen two for tomorrow when I opened the app earlier (i didn't book either of them, but obviously someone could). I would imagine the people with priority have already had the chance to book before the others are released, is that not how it works?

It’s not ‘young and healthy’ people taking all the slots. There are 1.5 million people in the extremely high risk shielding group. Over 8 million people over 70. And many many millions in the high risk category as defined by the government - 4 million diabetics alone. Everyone with asthma and COPD. There are millions and millions of people in these categories and that’s who the vast majority of online shoppers will be.

Fair play to anyone who is vulnerable- be it in the very high risk, shielded group or others over 70 or with a health condition eg high blood pressure etc. etc.. I just can't see how anyone not in those groups (so the young AND healthy to be clear) can in all clear conscience take one of these slots.

I'm incredibly grateful that a shit ton of doctors, nurses, police officers & teachers, delivery drivers, supermarket cashiers haven't got the attitude of some on this thread.

This is from a recent Tesco email. It suggests that they can't offer the slots to everybody on the list because they've only been given 110k names out of the 1.5 million. Presumably 75k are getting priority slots atm

Despite increasing the slots available, it sounds like the supermarkets can't deliver to everybody on the government list never mind other groups like the over 70s. (I don't know the number for Iceland, ASDA, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Morrison's but I believe Tesco is the most commonly used company )

There are people not on the list but getting deliveries for multiple households and people who aren't able to get to a supermarket but not on the list too eg the mentally ill. Just because they appear healthy, it doesn't mean that they are.

We have been trying to get a delivery slot for weeks now. Dh is in a higher risk group but not the extremely high risk group. We don’t drive and I we are a family of 8.
I have been going out with my wheely trolley and filling up, coming home emptying and going back for more.

I have had people criticising because I have been out multiple times a week to the shop but it’s really the only way to get enough Food in!

I'm assuming that the people complaining about the selfish people taking delivery slots are a different group from the ones complaining about the selfish people making multiple trips to the shops each week or shopping in whole household groups. Because if you don't have a car, you pretty much have to do one or the other.

Hi we are not in vulnerable list but we would like to get delivery slot if we can. I just started being recovered slowly from severe symptoms. It was the worst day in my life and I thought I was dying because I had serious breathlessness. I am still in mid 30s and very healthy.

Now I cannot go shopping because I still have symptoms but even after I get fully recovered, I still want delivery slot if it's possible because I don't want to risk my family's lives.

This virus is harmful to everyone.

I just can't see how anyone not in those groups (so the young AND healthy to be clear) can in all clear conscience take one of these slots.

If you live rurally, can't drive and are a single mother to 4 kids who you don't want to starve - that's how.

~1.5million considered extremely vulnerable
~Many, many millions vulnerable with conditions such as asthma, hypertension, diabeties
~How ever many over 70
~Pregnant women

Then factor in:
~Blind, disabled, dementia or any other physical or mental health problems
~People without cars living far from supermarkets
~Single parents
~And probably countless other circumstances

There simply aren't enough slots. I haven't tried to take a slot. I'm pregnant but have considered that there are people more vulnerable than me.

However, I've changed my opinion on healthy people taking slots over the last 10 days or so. Turns out deaths of young healthy people isn't as rare as anybody hoped. That it's more likely to happen to someone on a shielding list is no comfort to families. Nobody knows how the virus will affect them and you can't blame people for putting their loved ones first in life/death situations.

Fortunately, there are plenty of volunteers for people like your father. Hope you find one.

The amount of non essentials people are ordering is frustrating, things like oven gloves, Easter eggs, padded envelopes etc.

It's not up to randoms online to decide what other people think is important for their needs. There is no prescribed list of essential items. It's simply your opinion. Take it up with supermarket bosses if you don't like it. Give them some friendly suggestions. It has nothing to do with you.

If you’re an Ocado customer keep trying. I suddenly got access to the website this evening and there was a slot available for Wednesday night. I didn’t take it precisely because of the reasons you’ve made this post. I am not desperate for shopping yet. I hope that vulnerable people took the available deliveries but we have no way of ensuring that.

How do people not know about the alternatives to the big supermarkets? In the time spent posting here, ringing customer services, trying online surely a quick Google about volunteers etc would have brought something more helpful up?! 🤷🏼‍♀️

I have wondered if stories in the news will start appearing in a couple of weeks about vulnerable people, maybe living alone and who are in the shielding group, becoming ill (or worse) through malnutrition.

I have managed to get a Morrison’s box for my mum. She had been struggling to get things and we even considered posting a parcel of food from here, 5000 miles away! I decided to try the Morrison’s boxes and so far I’m impressed. They even accepted my American credit card and phone number.

Hi

The point I made a few pages ago hasn't been answered. I am fit, healthy, young and should be going to the supermarket myself. I am using home delivery because I have cough. I don't think my cough is CV because I have no other symptoms and feel fine, but the rules say I must not leave the house. Nobody else lives here, my own relatives are over 100 miles away, and I didn't create a shuge stockpile because we were asked not to. My 'stock' has mostly been used up.

I still have about a week before I will receive any food supplies, and am currently eating 'random' meals from odd tins and freezer items. Fortunately the milkman is still able to come. Last night's dinner was some chicken nuggets and alphabet shaped chips - left over from when my toddler nephew came to stay! Today's breakfast is a bowl of coco-pops, again left over from my nephew.

I do sympathise with anyone who cannot get a slot, and if I had another option I would use it.

If anyone thinks I should cancel the slot, I will, if you tell me how I should obtain supplies of food?

Here's another dilemma: Do I order a huge stockpile (fill the freezer) so I don't need another slot, or will this be seen as excessive ordering and cause more problems?

Where has the OP gone?
I hope your father is ok OP.
If he is and you are just over whelmed with all the answers, basically you can’t leave it to him you have to keep trying lots of different sites and ways of getting him food. It takes time but I’m sure you’ll get him sorted.

@duchenneparent there was elderly man in the paper who was living off pizza as that was the only delivery he knew off (skim read the article). Neighbours are now aware & shopping for him.

@JustVisiting9 do you envisage having the cough for months?

@Barryisland I really wish I could. I have a toddler and a vulnerable husband also. I don’t have access to a car. If I could do that, I would in a heartbeat. And I have been doing what I can to get stuff for him - for example, I’ve been able to get bits and bobs on amazon - v expensive, but it’s keeping him going.

@Marnie76 thank you. I’ve just come back online and can’t believe the number of answers. It’s rather overwhelming. Going to try and read through them all this morning once I’ve finished work.