When are Tescos going to stop this bloody stupid 80 item limit?

[Bearbehind]

As delivery slots are like gold dust and there’s currently 3 households here who are trying to share a delivery for various reasons

80 items is simply not enough between us - especially as multipacks are often not available so you have to buy 1 tin of beans at a time for example, and means someone has to go out and do top up shops in between

Why are they doing this and when will it stop?

The offers have all been taken off, too! It's costing me over £20 more per week because I have to get 2x 6 pack eggs. 4x tins beans because they don't have many multipacks either. Absolutely no offers on children's snacks like babybels or mini soreen or anything. So sneaky.

It’s online only, not in store.

It can be done we're shielding so dependent on a slot had to go two weeks between deliveries for a family of 4 (one GF) and I managed. I bought bigger pack sizes (so large chicken did two meals, large mince did 3 meals bulked out) and meal planned. It makes shopping a little more difficult however worh it if they can provide more slots.

I think it's reasonable if it means they can do more deliveries.

Ii think its fair at the moment. By limiting it its maximising the number of deliveries they can make. I'm shopping for my Mum as well as myself just now & so far have been very very lucky & never had a problem getting a slot I expect that would change if the limit was lifted.

I think it's aimed to stop hoard shopping
Until I became shielded I'd never shopped with Tesco I was still quite weary after the horsemeat scandal. I used Ocado regularly
But since shielding the only supermarket to offer me a slot and I've tried them all is Tesco.
Whatever they are doing for distribution is working for me. I'm using Amazon to get certain ite.s to reduce my supermarket load but Tesco have worked for me

It's reasonable in principle but a bunch of bananas should be one item not five or six. I had to buy bananas in a prepacked bag for it to count as 1 item.

I don't have a problem with the limit personally.
One bit of advice I would give is when ordering loose fruit and veg order by weight and not items then it only counts as one item

It won't stop while over 70s and shielding people who could previously shop in person require online delivery. The delivery waiting area is now packed on 3 sides with order trays whereas before it was only 1 side apart from Christmas. Capacity has been massively increased with extra pickers, drivers and vans. Yet still many customers manage to use a good part of their 80 items limit for alcohol and crisps

@ACertainSupermarket why shouldn't people order alcohol and crisps? It's miserable being stuck in lockdown. If I get a Tesco slot you can be sure I'll fill it and it'll have a good amount of chocolate, crisps and snacks. I've got nothing else to do so I might as well enjoy food

Crisps are an essential surely.

Top tip about buying loose items by weight not quantity! I’ll try that!

The biggest problem is the lack of multipacks / larger sized products generally which means you have to use up your allowance of 80 on multiple single items or go without

A reserve list would also be good as I agree, the most infuriating thing is when you don’t even get all 80 items due to stuff being out of stock

and means someone has to go out and do top up shops in between

If someone is able to go the the shops, then you should not be using a home delivery service. They should be for those who are unable to go to the shops.

@trotesio actually the advice is to use food deliveries where you can. The people who need priority slots will get them, the rest are available to everyone

Tesco have increased their slot capacity by more than any other supermarket so it obviously is helping them reach more people.

I don't know why they don't have four packs of beans anymore
They got rid of plastic packaging for multipacks. Multipacks that are packaged in cardboard are still available, but those that were packaged in plastic are now single items only.

The offers have all been taken off, too! It's costing me over £20 more per week
Yes me too. Multiple small packets of meat, rice, etc instead of one big packet. 2x six packs of eggs because there are no 12 packs (why? if they can make 6 packs then surely they can make 12 packs!)

the most infuriating thing is when you don’t even get all 80 items
I’ve been finding that only food and toiletry items get delivered. Anything else I order doesn’t turn up. Grass seed, plant food, bbq charcoal, batteries, magazines, an artificial plant for my mum’s birthday - all in stock before the delivery, still in stock afterwards, but not delivered. I can only assume that the pickers can’t be arsed to go to another section and fetch non- food items, or maybe they just don’t bother because they’re non-essential. Fine but then take them off sale so I’m not wasting my slots on stuff that they have no intention of sending!

I doubt it takes 10 minutes to pick extra number of items above 80. and it's not only number of items it's maybe a measure to ensure everyone gets stuff or maybe they are just thinking about their staff who have to put orders together in an attempt to protect said workers who are, after all, working flat out to deliver goods to unappreciative customers who have never worked in a storeroom/warehouse or loaded delivery vehicles, or delivered anything in their lives. Or given a hoot about the dangers these workers face to their own health in serving you Joe public😡

The slots are intended for people who are shielding. Most people shielding will be small households and therefore 80 items will be sufficient. The government guidelines do not require non-vulnerable members of the household to shield, so in most cases large households will have someone who isn't shielding, who can go out for the goods. I do understand that some households have decided to shield the whole household but this does go beyond the government guidelines.

If the 80 item limit wasn't there, there would be even fewer slots available. I am told by a friend who works for Tesco that before this limit was in place, some customers were ordering enough to fill an entire van!

OP - if you're not happy with Tescos then cancel your slot. I am sure there are many people who would be delighted to be able to have 80 items of food and drink delivered to their door.

Grass seed, plant food, bbq charcoal, batteries, magazines, an artificial plant for my mum’s birthday - all in stock before the delivery, still in stock afterwards, but not delivered. I can only assume that the pickers can’t be arsed to go to another section and fetch non- food items, or maybe they just don’t bother because they’re non-essential.

Yep non essential. Nope not because they can't be arsed but because they may not have them. And probably because they gave thousands of customers to get actual essential stuff to to stop them starving which imo is a priority over grass seed!

@grandmasterstitch are you vulnerable? If so maybe you should reduce your alcohol and snack intake to support your immunity??

@JustVisiting9 Tesco slots are not just for the vulnerable on the shielding list. I don't know where you heard that. There are people not on the list who need deliveries . Such as the disabled who can't get out to shops for one. Many others use the service and have used it for years due to not being able bodied to go physical shopping. Such as the blind . Maybe you are getting confused with Sainsbury's who are only delivering to vulnerable customers. Tesco give those most in need then their delivery saver customer first access to slots. Then anything left is first come first served.

OP what do you not understand. The entire point of the limit is to help cope with selfish people like you. If everyone just did massive shops just for all their mates it would not help the system function. Every extra item you buy online is extra time and demand on the delivery system. At this time delivery should only be used by the most vulnerable buying only what they need.

Nope not because they can't be arsed but because they may not have them. And probably because they gave thousands of customers to get actual essential stuff
If they don’t have them or aren’t willing to deliver them then they should show as out of stock. If they’re in stock then I’ll order them. I’m already getting a delivery of food items so I don’t think that adding a bottle of plant food is extravagant, especially when we can’t go out and the back garden is all we have. If they’re going to refuse to deliver non-essential items then the first thing they should do is stop sending out alcohol. I don’t see the difference between a bottle of gin and a bottle of plant food?

I ordered DD a craft set and got a load of notebooks etc. for homeschooling in my last delivery so not so sure about them not delivering essential stuff? Maybe its individual store policy?

re the crisps and beer comment - if really isn't appropriate for supermarket staff to pass comment on what people are buying. We haven't been told to live off of gruel and broth you know.

The slots are not just for vulnerable people, I have had one every week, just as I did before all this started and will continue to do so for as long as I can through the pandemic and beyond. I find the 80 limit fine as it is just my household I am buying for.

I think a Tesco is doing it totally right - less items so more deliveries to people. They are not designed for 2 or 3 separate households and shouldn't be. If people are complaining so much then the items like alcohol and chocolate shouldn't be prioritised - yes it's annoying as we are all bored on lockdown and like the treats - however that is what they are - treats- things you could actually do without. I don't understand why they didn't do the PP gardening bits though- however things are selling out so quickly on the gardening isle so maybe they were out of stock.

Other supermarkets don't have a limit- fine shop with them- personally I think Tesco are doing a fab job- for deliveries as well as in store! It won't be for much longer I am sure - more people seem to be shopping in store now anyway x