Supermarket shopping with a pushchair

[AylesburyMum]

I was told yesterday by Sainsbury's head office that their policy is that you must use a shopping basket or trolley when shopping in their stores, even if you are pushing a double pushchair with 2 children in it and therefore can't hold a bulky, rigid shopping basket full of groceries comfortably.

I did consider the possibility of transferring the children into a shopping trolley so that I could go in to get my groceries but there is no secure storage provided for pushchairs.

Could Mumsnet help to organise a campaign for either secure pushchair storage at supermarkets or shopping baskets which can comfortably be dangled from a wrist when pushing a pushchair (i.e. fabric handles)?

[belgo]

I have always used a pushchair in Sainsbury's and have never had a problem.

[ButterpieBride]

I agree. I always worry i will get accused of shoplifting when I have my shopping balanced on the pram, but what else are you meant to do?

[tethersend]

They should have string bags to hang off the pushchair handles.

[mousymouse]

they are a bit unreasonable.
I always put my shopping into my shopping bag and then unpack it at the till. had my arguments with security but since they never had a good suggestion they let me get on this way.

[Rockbird]

I have recently taken to using one of their bags for life if I have to use the pushchair. I'm extremely obvious about it so hopefully no one thinks I'm shoplifting but if I'm challenged I'm happy to loudly tell them why I'm doing it. Baskets are satan's work anyway.

[belgo]

You can only get accused of shoplifting if you leave the store without paying for the goods.

[countrybump]

Waitrose has a great system of self checking your shopping, which means that I can hang my usual shopping bag on my pushchair, check items as I go round, and out them straight into the bag or under the pushchair. Go to the customer service till at the end and pay. Very occasionally they re-scan your items, but if they do they unpack and repack all your shopping for you anyway.

I'd love to see this scheme in every supermarket, it makes grocery shopping much easier, especially when you have children with you.

[mummytime]

At my local Sainsbury's the worst that would happen is being followed by the security guard. If you start loading up with wine/beer etc. they might take action, but otherwise only would once you tried to leave with the items.

I did use to balance a basket on the hood of the buggy.

[IMoveTheStars]

I've never come across this before, and have used a buggy in supermarkets hundreds of times. Why did you call head office, have you had a problem?

[mousymouse]

rockbird, I have one of these parent and child bags
the baskets are always very filthy and I dont like them even if I dont have the pushchair with me. (same for the trolleys actually).

[ragged]

This could backfire -- if Sainsb. is pushed they may really implement this policy everywhere rather than haphazardly as now.

[mousymouse]

if they do implement it everywhere, I am sure not to shop there anymore. or in any place where they don*t want my custom.

[MrsBadger]

put children in trolley
lock pushchair to bike rack

our tesco has just started Waitrose-style scan&shop, tis fab

[bigcar]

some of the stores have those lockers you can put a trolley in while you use their cafe, can't see why they couldn't be used for buggies, maybe they should have them whether they have a cafe or not.

[S445]

I used to balance the basket on the top of the buggy, or hang it on the handles (maclaren) which is just possible but then of course you need to bribe your child to stay put, or the whole thing goes flying over backwards.

basically if you want a big lot of stuff, you can't get it under a buggy anyway so using a bag on the handles would be the best option probably. If they will agree to this.

[Meglet]

I have pushed my pushchair round all our local supermarkets for the past 3 years, they've never told me off .

I'm not unloading the pushchair and transferring it to a trolley!

[AylesburyMum]

I also always put my shopping into my shopping bag and then unpack it at the till mousymouse and Rockbird. I've been doing this since my daughter was born 8 months ago and we moved from a McLaren stroller to a Phil & Teds Dash. I used to be able to hang a supermarket basket on the McLaren handles but unfortunately can't do this with the Dash.

Unfortunately I did have a problem JarethTheGoblinKing. I was queuing to pay for my groceries when I was approached by a member of staff who chose to tell me that I had been followed around the store by "concerned customers" because they thought I was shoplifting. She told me I was not allowed to use my reusable bag in future and that I had to find a way of using a Sainsburys basket. I was so offended that I unloaded my potential purchases at the till and went to Morrisons (where I've been shopping like this without problems for 8 months - though I'm still not comfortable with the suspicious stares I get from other customers!)

I did say to the woman in Sainsburys that I had not done anything wrong belgo (as I hadn't left the store without paying) but she insisted that I had to use a basket.

I wrote a complaint to Sainsburys and they apologised but explained that their policy was that a basket or trolley must be used.

We don't have a Waitrose in my town unfortunately countrybump but it does sound like a good scheme they have going.

I'm sorry ragged but this policy is being implemented in the only Sainsburys which is within walking distance of my house.

I don't have a bike lock MrsBadger but if I was a cyclist I'd give that a go - perhaps the supermarkets could just provide the locks?

There were trolley lockers near the cafe in at least one of my local Tesco stores until recently bigcar - but they seem to have moved (or disappeared?), our Sainsbury's doesn't have them but I'd be happy to use them if they did!

[Firawla]

if your buggy has two handles hang the basket off them, if its got one only like a p&t you only need one hand to push & one to hold basket?

[TheLifeOfRiley]

I do the same as Riven, fine as long as I'm not shopping when the supermarket is packed.

[whomovedmychocolate]

Sainsburys staff have clearly had a memo about this because I was recently told that DD could not sit in the end of the trolley (sans shoes in case you were wondering) as they did not have any double seat trolleys and I had two toddlers with me.

Apparently they are not allowed to let me in case I cause my child to fall out . I pointed out that if I chose to put my child in a precarious position and she fell there would be no legal recourse to the supermarket unless they had supplied faulty trolleys and that actually she was probably more at risk in the seat with the malfunctioning safety belt DS was using. But she went into one saying 'what sort of parent are you to risk your child in this way'

I left and went to do my shopping elsewhere.

Regarding the shoplifting. Had someone approached me before I'd left the store I would have requested them to call the police and asked to see the evidence of my wrongdoing.

It's actually harrassment to accuse someone of a crime without evidence and they cannot possibly accuse you of shoplifting until the point at which you leave the store because unless you have past the tills they cannot prove that you did not intend to pay for goods. I would have been royally angry if this ever happened to me Aylesburymum and made that very very clear to the store manager.

And they cannot force you to use a basket btw. They can ask you to leave the store of course but they cannot insist you do not carry items in your arms. In your position I would have asked them to supply an assistant to follow me round with a trolley if that was their whim.

[DramaInPyjamas]

Asda used to take my pram/pushchair and lock it in the staff room(?) for me when I needed.

[Honeydragon]

I always sling everything in the bottom of the pushchair in tescos, unload and reload. No problem.

(Although love scan and shop in waitrose it's loads easier).

I was once stopped in -ta da- Sainsbury's for doing this halfway round, so I made the rather charming young man who approached me with the basket carry my shopping for me the rest of the way round, to save me "having to go else where I am afraid".

I didn't threaten, I said I understand now you have informed me that this is your policy but if I am to finish my shop in your store I need help. By the time we got to checkout he had decided it was daft too, and that people with pushchairs etc had limited options.

It does genuinely seem to be store policy, rather than a bid to piss those of us with other encumberments like wheel chairs, crutches and prams, but does this mean you also have to use a basket if you are only going in for a pint of milk too?

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

Ridiculous of Sainsbo's or any other supermarket to deliberately make things harder for any group of customers. Particularly when there's so many other places to take your custom.

I'm assuming we're not talking weekly shops but just bobbing in for a couple of bits? Like we all have to from time to time? I think the supermarket should provide string bags that can be attached to buggies both top & bottom to stop the buggy tipping and satisfy themselves you're not shoplifting. A bit like this www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplayA_443_10751_-1__6081_10001_

And what about people with physical disabilities? Do they have to carry a basket or use a trolly ffs?!

Do the weekly shop online and boycott anyone who treats you like a criminal if you have to dive in for a couple of essentials.

[JustAnotherManicMummy]

Gah! Botched the link. Sorry.