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?

OP in your shoes I would use the 80 limit for all the heavy stuff and then buy the top up shops in the week, not sure if you have to drive, in which case I guess it doesn't matter that much whether stuff is heavy. In my case I have three supermarkets within easy walking distance so if I were using a delivery it would make sense to get heavy stuff. As it is, DH goes once a week for heavy stuff by car and I go in twice a week on foot for top-ups or things he couldn't get.

I have been managing to get a Tesco slot most weeks. It has been a bit of a struggle with the four of us but I am glad for delivery service at all.

They were half an hour early today so must not be as busy here.

I'm just about managing to get a tesco slot most weeks so most of my items are taken up by my parents shopping. Then I still have to go out and get my own. If the upped it then I could order once every 3/4 weeks and nip in weekly to get fresh. As it is I'm taking up more slots doing it this way.

Sainsbury's is not only delivering to vulnerables. We have managed to get delivery slots several times. They sent an email that all the vulnerables have taken their slots and rest is free to others. They did kick me out for one week and we took click&collect but now we can again book delivery slots. We have used Sainsbury's for many years.

I have seen a couple of comments that slots are not just for the vulnerable, however, Tesco have asked that if you are able to go to the shops then you should so that the slots are available for the vulnerable. They ask this on their website and its been mentioned in the weekly update emails Tesco send out to registered users.

I hadn't realised the 80 item limit was still on, if it is how did that child last week order 990 pepperamis and make it into all the 'news' papers?

The problem is that there’s lots of reasons why people can’t get to the shops even though they might not be on any official vulnerable list

Not least those who can’t drive - they either can’t get to the shops at all or can only buy what they can carry home

Then there’s high risk category people who need to limit the time they’re out as much as possible

Clearly many disagree with me and maybe Tescos have got this right but it’s never the less frustrating when all I’m doing is trying to limit number of times we need to visit shops.

With a higher limit or a cap by value not unit, 3 households would not be visiting the shops at all, for 1 online delivery slot

The same applies to larger households who simply cannot buy enough food in one order therefore either need to order from or go to other shops.

I work in tesco and the reason for the cap is so the pickers can keep up with the thousands of extra delivery slots. It takes time to pick and pack shopping and the time limits are different too. We need home shopping trolleys off the shop floor for the store opening to have a chance at social distancing for customers coming in. Our home shoppers are starting at 2am right now.to keep up with demand and there are several off self isolating at all times

Tonz I see there’s a certain logic but if people can’t buy enough they have to visit the stores as well so it’s self defeating

It's a hard one I know. The problem as well is there is a limit to the amount of people in the store at any one time so dot com pickers are in working alongside our night team so it's not as if an extra 50 pickers can be employed as it puts the staff at much higher risk. Pickers don't normally have to work around cages and pallets on the shop floor they have to look for stock that hasn't been filled yet when normally nights are finishing when dot com start so for safety reasons also the quicker the pick the more chance they have of completing the extra orders. It's not great but it's the only way we have of getting out what we can to the people who need it

@Nevynimportant and @Tonz
You have both absolutely hit the nail on the head!

I understand its frustrating but we are doing our best in a strange environment and we have to reach as many people as we can. Luckily most people understand when changes are explained. Others however have been terrible the abuse and threats directed at shop staff is horrendous. We are all in the same boat. We will get through it

Agree it's about freeing up capacity. Disclaimer I work for Tesco but not in store and don't have any influence anywhere . We got a company wide email saying they've closed overnight to focus work on picking and they've recruited something like 4000 new drivers and a load of store staff. They've basically doubled the number of delivery slots in 2 weeks. Totally get it's difficult though given people are buying shops for vulnerable people too. I imagine they've had to set some kind of limit to make sure they can get x number of deliveries out in a certain period.

It does seem that Tesco is the supermarket everyone is talking about.
Are people turning to them more than others?

I agree, we have three adults and two children here. Special dietary needs and cook everything from basic ingredients so this a higher number count than just adding a jar of sauce etc. We can’t use the food delivery boxes as they don’t cater to allergies so rely on food delivery to be able to shield.

Not easy I max the limit every week just buying food for us all.

ThursdayLastWeek I think they are talking about Tesco more as thanks to putting in this limit they are delivering to more households than any other supermarket.

The multipacks of tins stopped (well) before lockdown to reduce plastic - instead you could buy 4 for the price of the multipack - now a lot of products have a 3 item limit but I have noticed that some products still have a ‘buy 3 for £x’ offer on.

And Boris did ask us to shop online during one of his speeches, I remember thinking ‘has he actually tried this?’

It sounds like Tesco are shit. Can you get a Morrisons delivery? They put limits on the number of specific items, so 3 of each but no limit on amount of shopping.
Also, depending on where you live, it might be an idea to get meat delivered by a local butcher (or order over the phone and just collect) which would free up space in your online shop. My local corner shop also delivers and I do a phone order and collect bulky stuff from the local wholesalers. If you haven't already, it's worth looking at whether you can do any of that.