Sainsbury's and Tesco have joined the bookseller, Waterstones, which has said customers should wear masks to protect staff and other shoppers.

[UndercoverToad]

Good.

Good for them

'should'.....or what, they will refuse service if not wearing them?

"Should" being the key word.

It isn't the law anymore. You will have to get over that i'm afraid.

is there a link?

Dh won't wear one
I will probably but if I forget it I won't bother trogging back to the car and having to queue again.

would love to see waterstones,tesco and sainsbury's attempt a disciplinary with staff who won't wear a mask

same with customers, would love to see how they handle non mask wearers....

@gardeninggirl68

'should'.....or what, they will refuse service if not wearing them?

No. Sainsbury’s and Waterstones have said they’ll have signs up encouraging masks. But Waterstones have definitely said they won’t be enforcing.

This is a PR exercise. Unlike the airlines, who immediately said masks would remain compulsory on their flights because ‘safety is our top priority’, retailers have waited until they could see which way the wind was blowing then went with the majority view. They won’t try to enforce masks, but they made no attempt to do so during lockdown, so no change there.

They have never enforced them anyway so can’t see them starting now.

so its a non story then?

@GirlAloud

This is a PR exercise. Unlike the airlines, who immediately said masks would remain compulsory on their flights because ‘safety is our top priority’, retailers have waited until they could see which way the wind was blowing then went with the majority view. They won’t try to enforce masks, but they made no attempt to do so during lockdown, so no change there.

I agree. What they’ve said is essentially just the government guidelines. Plus Sainsbury’s have confirmed they’ll be removing some other covid measures such as screens between self-checkout tills, and between customer queues (screens between cashier and customer will remain though).

It's only fair to the poor staff.
I don't mind the staff not wearing them but us shopper's really should think about the cashiers etc.

I've said this elsewhere but if certain establishments (restaurants, nightclubs and the like) can enforce a dress code, I don't see why people can't be turned away for it wearing a mask (exemptions aside) if a company insists on it.

Good, even if they can’t/won’t enforce it I think it’s important that more places are staying their position and if they’re doing that because it’s what customers want I find that really encouraging.

They haven't been enforcing it anyway

Sorry, for NOT wearing a mask, that should say.

The message is that you ‘should’ wear a mask to protect others.

If you choose not to - and are not exempt - you have no one but yourselves to blame if infections spiral out of control and we are faced with restrictions again. You will be directly contributing to the suffering of others.

33000 children are suffering with long Covid and that figure is rising.

10 to 20% of those who get Covid - even mildly - suffer long Covid.

Good news.

Curious to see now which way Waitrose breaks.

That's funny cos I was talking with Tesco customer services about... oh... 2 minutes ago. They've not confirmed ANY policy yet.

@CoffeeWithCheese - perhaps they are not up to date with BBC news. Google it.

Good for them.
People who can wear them but won't with 42K cases yesterday are being petulant children. They really aren't that bad

*If you choose not to - and are not exempt - you have no one but yourselves to blame if infections spiral out of control and we are faced with restrictions again. You will be directly contributing to the suffering of others8

what rot

I've had the vaccine, that's my bit done and dusted.

@RustyFig

I've said this elsewhere but if certain establishments (restaurants, nightclubs and the like) can enforce a dress code, I don't see why people can't be turned away for it wearing a mask (exemptions aside) if a company insists on it.

nobody will be turned away for not wearing a mask.....nobody

it just won't happen in retail

I work in both stores, you need to continue to wear a mask, thankfully, us store workers are sick of you putting us at risk, just to visit a supermarket.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/15/tesco-john-lewis-ask-customers-staff-face-masks-england