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.

@ikeairgin Thanks for your lovely post. Makes a change from all the moaning and policing what people buy. I was pretty dubious about the supermarket worker earlier on in the thread claiming that picking items from (for example) stationery or homewares slowed down their productivity so much they weren’t able to fulfil as many orders as they’d like Surely if someone makes an order with 50 items, you have to pick 50 items and it doesn’t make a great deal of difference which area of the store they come from?

Are all those on the shield list not getting a free food box? They certainly are in Scotland.

Are all those on the shield list not getting a free food box? They certainly are in Scotland.

No, only if you say that you need help getting food.
You have to say that to trigger a delivery spot as well with some companies.

@helpfulperson don't even start me on the shield list
I am on the list as in I need to shield however no letter, no text. Registered on the GOV site when it first started. No food box. Not sure how many weeks in we are now but still no food box. Had to ring the council who sent one from the food bank
Sainsbury's took weeks but I'm registered on there as vulnerable - no slots
Ocado - can't even get on the site
Morrison's - no slots
ASDA - no slots

@helpfulperson No, even if you say you do need help getting food. It is incredibly, incredibly stressful. I had slots, then lost a slot, have not had a box, had a slot given back to me, slot has now gone again. At the moment I am struggling to get really urgent (life saving) medication as well. I honestly don't think people who are "protecting their families" who statistically will only get mild systems realise how stressful it is for someone who is on immunosuppressants and has already been on/off ventilators for the last couple of years. I haven't seen my family in nearly five weeks now (minus one non-partner, non-child member in an absolute emergency last week), and I have had to restart my twelve weeks shielding two days ago as the Government changed the regulations.

I do get that people want to do what is best for their families, however, the risk to their families is actually minimal. I have never been so disheartened with Society. From five days ago "A further 233 (7%) were aged 40-59, with 26 (1%) aged 20-39 and three (0.1%) aged 0-19" - the vast majority of these people have underlying health conditions as has been stated, or were frontline medical workers where viral load comes into play.

@ClientQueen I had a username change, but I am really sorry to read you are still struggling.

I got a slot for 3 weeks ahead -released at midnight. Not on the shielding list but live in a village and no car. Would like to give the slot up to some one more vulnerable but have managed on store cupboard and bits from friends and one greengrocer visit for the last three weeks. Need big top up of basics that I just couldn't carry on public transport.

@HonkersVonFlapperson my TV slot went out today which is great for awareness
Managed to get one with Tesco eventually so I have one for the 19th and then one for the 29th. It's manageable but costing me more as I use Morrison's normally which I find cheaper and a lot of stuff on the site isn't available. Plus I'm buying more as worrying I won't get another slot

Local wholesalers, grocers, butchers etc. Many will deliver, and take payment over the phone.

Make sure he is registered as a vulnerable person, as a lot of supermarkets check the NHS number to ensure that they should be prioritised.

Where is your father? Someone on MN may well be able to help?

@HonkersVonFlapperson have you phoned the pharmacy? Here they have been given funding by the council to be able to fulfil more deliveries for those who need it. I did wonder if they had changed anything regarding shielding, as my mum didn't get a letter originally, but she recieved one on Monday. Thankfully she had been staying in anyway, but it seemed odd.

I didn't realise it was so different up here. Once you get your letter you text a number and a box with basics appears weekly. Your prescriptions will also be delivered. Councils have dedicated phone lines to help if you have any problems- normally by matching you up with a local volunteer group.

If any of you who are healthy think you are as vulnerable than a 77yo man with stage 4 lung cancer and a permanently collapsed lung having immunotherapy, just because "everyone is vulnerable", think again. So much selfishness

@whitedaisies I know it's shameful, society is largely so selfish these days. People don't own it either, except for one poster above which is fair play, but try and justify it; just be honest and say you're selfish. My DH is deployed to help with the relief effort, I have to take DS, we went when the shop first opened and hardly saw anyone else, now back, showered, clothes changed and shopping done. They would be the first to moan if someone in their family was poorly and they were being forced to go to the shops in person.

Why is it selfish to book a home delivery if there is loads of availability where I am? I booked my slot for next week last night and this morning the whole of Tuesday and Wednesday still have available slots.

Playmisty - I found this with Ocado where we are (once the initial busy few weeks had passed) and they were texting/emailing to offer me slots. I really wish I could have directly donated a slot to someone who really needed it. (Although there are lots of genuine reasons why some people previously used delivery which haven’t gone away - bad backs, no transport etc)

As it is I’ve not used them and am enjoying a quiet evening potter around lidl once a week when dh gets home from work. It’s actually doing me good. I take sensible precautions and know that everything in life carries risk and you can’t prevent everything. Husband a key worker too.

On the other hand we have relatives shielding (transplant patients etc) and for them the risk profile is completely different and completely terrifying.

In a way I think the (necessary)methods they use to shock people into following the lockdown rules have made people almost too fearful. Lockdown is more about reducing onward transmission than preventing the generally healthy, non-key worker population from ever getting it. There was a scientist on the news computer modelling a cough in a supermarket which concluded that it was better to “avoid busy places” (hope that wasn’t his whole phD) but the fear levels induced make everyone feel that their personal risk is just too high to risk it.

It's fine saying that OP but what about the people who don't have cars? I did contemplate doing a 'click & collect' but I could no way carry more than about 1/4 of the shopping I need and it would require me to make two bus journeys (in each direction) to do so.

And noting that we have been doing online deliveries for years (at least ten!). It's not as if I've only just signed up to do them very recently.

Oh and the last online delivery I did (arrived about 10 days ago) was booked three weeks previously (so before lockdown) and I just managed to get the most recent one yesterday (it was sheer luck and that they had slots still available on a Saturday afternoon would suggest demand wasn't that high).

And if we're talking selfish what about the figures released by Tesco that indicated that it was sharp-elbowed, affluent Londoners responsible for stockpiling!