Supermarkets and Covid-19

[Bletchleyite]

A lot of elderly people are better equipped for normal British winter weather than younger people who rarely go out on foot.

Very true. A lot of people (mainly younger) need to just stop whining and put on their big coat.

 

[Bantamzen]

Very true. A lot of people (mainly younger) need to just stop whining and put on their big coat.

I love the suggestion that people queuing for half and hour or more in the rain / wind / snow just need to put on their big coat & stop moaning.

"So in order to protect your health, we need you to stand outside in weather no good for your health". Genius. Only on RUK....

 

[bramling]

Seems unlikely to be a thing of the past by then if we are going to be under social distancing laws for the rest of the year.

However with more people being hopefully back to work by then, it's likely we won't be seeing quite so many people deciding to go to the supermarket because they've nothing else to do - at certain times at least. I'm not sure if it's also possible we might see the normal opening hours restored, which would also help.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I love the suggestion that people queuing for half and hour or more in the rain / wind / snow just need to put on their big coat & stop moaning.

"So in order to protect your health, we need you to stand outside in weather no good for your health". Genius. Only on RUK....

If you are healthy and wearing the appropriate clothes you can stand in the rain/wind/snow for half an hour without it being anything more than unpleasant.

If you are in poor health, it's easier to make special arrangements for that smaller amount of people than for everyone.

Seriously, stop whining. It's a non-problem. As someone from Yorkshire, what's happened to your big coat?

 

[Bantamzen]

If you are healthy and wearing the appropriate clothes you can stand in the rain/wind/snow for half an hour without it being anything more than unpleasant.

If you are in poor health, it's easier to make special arrangements for that smaller amount of people than for everyone.

Seriously, stop whining. It's a non-problem. As someone from Yorkshire, what's happened to your big coat?

You really think it's advisable to have people standing around in poor weather? Really? You can put on the biggest coat going, but stand around in freezing temperatures or in heavy rain for any length of time and you start to feel it. But I know you know this. I also know that you realise that people simply won't put up with it.

Like I said, only on RUK...

 

[6862]

A lot of elderly people are better equipped for normal British winter weather than younger people who rarely go out on foot.

But surely it can't be a good idea for large numbers of old people to stand still in a queue for an hour in potentially sub zero conditions?

 

[6862]

Very true. A lot of people (mainly younger) need to just stop whining and put on their big coat.

I personally am quite happy to dress up warm and stand outside if necessary (it's not necessarily very pleasant but it won't harm a young fit person), but I think it does need addressing for the elderly!

 

[Hadders]

My observations suggest that supermarket opening hours are starting to return to normal.

As for old people queuing in the rain I haven't seen many old people queuing to get in when I go shopping. It's working age people that I see.

 

[bramling]

You really think it's advisable to have people standing around in poor weather? Really? You can put on the biggest coat going, but stand around in freezing temperatures or in heavy rain for any length of time and you start to feel it. But I know you know this. I also know that you realise that people simply won't put up with it.

Like I said, only on RUK...

I tend to agree people just won't do it. The notion that people now are philosophically standing patiently in line is also a bit of a misnomer, in my area at least. In practice I've seen squabbles and tut-tuting (*), and some people trying every passive-aggressive trick in the book to avoid the queue, and the like.

(* the main causes of this, in my experience, have been either when someone's made a genuine mistake in not realizing where a queue starts - evidently a hanging offence - or where there's multiple queues for different things and someone has correctly gone to the right queue for where they need to go, gone straight in, and someone else has got the arse because they were waiting in the wrong place and hadn't read the signs).

 

[Bantamzen]

I personally am quite happy to dress up warm and stand outside if necessary (it's not necessarily very pleasant but it won't harm a young fit person), but I think it does need addressing for the elderly!

It doesn't matter whether or not individuals would be happy to do it (and that's easy to say sitting at home on an internet forum), but a supermarket with people freezing cold & wet wandering around isn't exactly conducive for promoting people's health.

I tend to agree people just won't do it. The notion that people now are philosophically standing patiently in line is also a bit of a misnomer, in my area at least. In practice I've seen squabbles and tut-tuting (*), and some people trying every passive-aggressive trick in the book to avoid the queue, and the like.

(* the main causes of this, in my experience, have been either when someone's made a genuine mistake in not realizing where a queue starts - evidently a hanging offence - or where there's multiple queues for different things and someone has correctly gone to the right queue for where they need to go, gone straight in, and someone else has got the arse because they were waiting in the wrong place and hadn't read the signs).

An example would be at my local Asda. The queues outside currently queue around under some awnings, but then loops around the car park rather quickly (it only takes about 30-40 people in the queue for this to happen). So if the rain was tipping down sideways with the wind blowing off the moors people would quickly start to shuffle up under the awnings, which would then likely have people scuttling into the supermarket itself. One or security guards aren't going to stop a determined, cold & wet group. Unfortunately on these forums people sometimes forget that we are, well human. Nobody likes being stuck outside in inclement weather for any amount of time, and certainly not to do a shop.

In a lot of ways the government have had it rather easy, the weather has generally been nice and people haven't been too bothered by the queues save the usual tutting when it seems not to be moving much. But a change of weather will quickly erode that goodwill, and so 2m social distancing queuing will have to be a thing of the past when the weather does turn, because put simply it won't be observed.

 

[bramling]

It doesn't matter whether or not individuals would be happy to do it (and that's easy to say sitting at home on an internet forum), but a supermarket with people freezing cold & wet wandering around isn't exactly conducive for promoting people's health.



An example would be at my local Asda. The queues outside currently queue around under some awnings, but then loops around the car park rather quickly (it only takes about 30-40 people in the queue for this to happen). So if the rain was tipping down sideways with the wind blowing off the moors people would quickly start to shuffle up under the awnings, which would then likely have people scuttling into the supermarket itself. One or security guards aren't going to stop a determined, cold & wet group. Unfortunately on these forums people sometimes forget that we are, well human. Nobody likes being stuck outside in inclement weather for any amount of time, and certainly not to do a shop.

In a lot of ways the government have had it rather easy, the weather has generally been nice and people haven't been too bothered by the queues save the usual tutting when it seems not to be moving much. But a change of weather will quickly erode that goodwill, and so 2m social distancing queuing will have to be a thing of the past when the weather does turn, because put simply it won't be observed.

Agree with all of that.

Another problem will be that currently many people have extra time on their hands - people can't really complain about queueing when the weather is fine and they're being paid by the government to do it. People aren't going to be so receptive if they've just completed a day's work and find they've got to queue for an hour - the situation key workers are finding themselves in at the moment. Some people just don't have the patience either, a friend of mine has ADHD and will start getting seriously irritable after standing in a queue for just a few minutes.

 

[AM9]

My observations suggest that supermarket opening hours are starting to return to normal.

As for old people queuing in the rain I haven't seen many old people queuing to get in when I go shopping. It's working age people that I see.

That's because many supermarkets have a 'wrinkly hour', usually the first hour of business, when only vulnerable people (or those supporting them) are 'allowed' to shop. At my local supermarket, there are occasionally some chancers trying it on, but generally people know that the security guard and store 'usher' are there to ensure the system isn't abused.

 

[scotrail158713]

'wrinkly hour'

That’s the best name I’ve seen for it yet

 

[Jamesrob637]

However with more people being hopefully back to work by then, it's likely we won't be seeing quite so many people deciding to go to the supermarket because they've nothing else to do - at certain times at least. I'm not sure if it's also possible we might see the normal opening hours restored, which would also help.

Aren't most supermarkets pretty much normal hours anyway with the exception of 24hr stores? Aldi and Lidl went back to 10pm closure recently, and many of the 24hr stores near me ceased to be open 24hrs even pre-COVID-19. I know various stores have their designated times for key workers though.

 

[AM9]

Aren't most supermarkets pretty much normal hours anyway with the exception of 24hr stores? Aldi and Lidl went back to 10pm closure recently, and many of the 24hr stores near me ceased to be open 24hrs even pre-COVID-19. I know various stores have their designated times for key workers though.

I think that the triggers for reduced hours were:

1) staff shortages owing to a sudden need to self-isolate​

2) to allow for more time to restock shelves following daily panic stockpiling by some customers​

The staff issues have been largely resolved by massive recruiting drives, (e.g. Tesco said recently that they have recruited over 50,000 new staff) and although there are occasional ripples in demand caused by a few (sometimes malicious) reports on social media, stockpiling seems to be at levels that shops can manage good on offer.

 

[bramling]

I think that the triggers for reduced hours were:

1) staff shortages owing to a sudden need to self-isolate​

2) to allow for more time to restock shelves following daily panic stockpiling by some customers​

The staff issues have been largely resolved by massive recruiting drives, (e.g. Tesco said recently that they have recruited over 50,000 new staff) and although there are occasional ripples in demand caused by a few (sometimes malicious) reports on social media, stockpiling seems to be at levels that shops can manage good on offer.

As far as I can tell stockpiling seems to be done and dusted now, with the exception of pasta and, in a couple of places I've been, bleach. Certainly no shortage of toilet rolls now.

Hand gel is still out of stock as far as I can see, but we're getting plenty via work now.

Of course, some people would have been more judicious stockpiling their money rather than blowing it away on food they didn't need.

 

[Meerkat]

As far as I can tell stockpiling seems to be done and dusted now, with the exception of pasta and, in a couple of places I've been, bleach. Certainly no shortage of toilet rolls now.

Hand gel is still out of stock as far as I can see, but we're getting plenty via work now.

Of course, some people would have been more judicious stockpiling their money rather than blowing it away on food they didn't need.

Bar the muppets who had to throw fresh stuff away what money was “blown”?
Most of the food is still in the cupboards, providing a buffer stock we should probably already have had, or has been eaten.

 

[Meerkat]

Morrisons this morning had a lot of over 70’s wandering about.
i will be pretty annoyed if I have to make an uncomfortable near pointless gesture of wearing a mask to protect people not even bothering to make the effort themselves.
And of course some of them were acting stereotypically, which is even more annoying whilst trying to socially distance - randomly stopping in really inconvenient places for a ponder, and walking side by side very slowly along not aisle.
Speaking (well ranting...) of things that are even more annoying during distancing - people on mobile phones!! Walking very slowly, and zigzagging randomly, whilst waving their arms about.

 

[AM9]

Morrisons this morning had a lot of over 70’s wandering about.
i will be pretty annoyed if I have to make an uncomfortable near pointless gesture of wearing a mask to protect people not even bothering to make the effort themselves.
And of course some of them were acting stereotypically, which is even more annoying whilst trying to socially distance - randomly stopping in really inconvenient places for a ponder, and walking side by side very slowly along not aisle.
Speaking (well ranting...) of things that are even more annoying during distancing - people on mobile phones!! Walking very slowly, and zigzagging randomly, whilst waving their arms about.

Well that's a vote for what some supermarkets offer with their (exclusive) 'wrinkly hour'.

 

[jkkne]

You can lead a horse to water and all that jazz. I've given up being worried about other peoples' actions unless it directly encroaches on my personal space.

I'm finding the experience of supermarkets varies even from a retailers own stores. Some seem to heavily enforce the one way system and others just aren't bothered at all.

I tend to click and collect for my main shop and it's a seamless experience.

 

[JamesT]

I'm hoping the supermarkets will keep ramping up their home delivery capacity. Tesco is the only one I've managed to get any deliveries out of and that's been only 2 in however many weeks. The others all refuse as I'm not in the vulnerable category.

 

[greyman42]

My thoughts exactly - I hope they are in a position to deliver more food (in some form) to elderly people in particular by the time autumn/winter comes!

If we are in the same position, come the colder weather, just let the elderly straight in to the supermarkets. I would not have any objection.

 

[6862]

If we are in the same position, come the colder weather, just let the elderly straight in to the supermarkets. I would not have any objection.

Neither would I, but given that we have already been told that releasing us younger people while keeping the older population imprisoned in their homes would be unenforceable and ageist, I suspect there would be some resistance to such decisions at a societal level.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If we are in the same position, come the colder weather, just let the elderly straight in to the supermarkets. I would not have any objection.

Agreed. If I have to stand in the cold and rain for half an hour with the proper clothes on, it's nothing but a minor inconvenience, and as a fit, healthy (bar a bit of asthma and a couple of allergies) 40 year old it is genuinely going to do me no harm other than mild annoyance, and to be honest I think everyone in a similar position who moans heavily about it is just doing that - moaning, and being quite selfish.

Having said that, my suspicion would be that most elderly would just wait if they had to, with their "big coat" on, probably having walked or taken the bus to the supermarket anyway, whereas it would be the middle aged "gammon" in their big 4x4s who would be shouting and waving the proverbial pitchforks.

 

[Domh245]

A "big coat" doesn't do much good for your trousers when it's blowing the rain sideways, it must be said.

 

[Bletchleyite]

A "big coat" doesn't do much good for your trousers when it's blowing the rain sideways, it must be said.

A cheap pair of waterproof trousers costs about £20.

Edit: please *do not* reply to this with "but what if I can't afford that?" - there will be a tiny number of people to whom that applies, but you've got about 6-8 months to save up before it gets cold *and* rainy, so put away a couple of pounds a month, and in the meantime wear shorts and get wet legs, you won't shrink.

 

[Busaholic]

In the early days of social distancing in supermarkets I witnessed a man walking up and down the aisle just talking into his mobile phone and not looking at anything on the shelves . He didn't appear to have a basket or trolley so I assume he was with "the wife" or whoever who was elsewhere in the shop actually doing the shopping!

When I ran a bookshop I had a fellow once walk in, straight to the back of the shop, and conduct an animated mobile phone conversation for five minutes before walking out without a glance towards the open-mouthed owner standing behind the counter!

 

[3rd rail land]

For the first time in what must be several weeks I have managed to successfully book a home delivery. There were actually quite a few more slots available than I expected although nowhere near the amount that used to be available.

 

[Enthusiast]

I love the suggestion that people queuing for half and hour or more in the rain / wind / snow just need to put on their big coat & stop moaning.

"So in order to protect your health, we need you to stand outside in weather no good for your health". Genius. Only on RUK....

I also know that you realise that people simply won't put up with it.

I tend to agree people just won't do it. The notion that people now are philosophically standing patiently in line is also a bit of a misnomer, in my area at least.

But a change of weather will quickly erode that goodwill, and so 2m social distancing queuing will have to be a thing of the past when the weather does turn, because put simply it won't be observed.

Some people just don't have the patience either, a friend of mine has ADHD and will start getting seriously irritable after standing in a queue for just a few minutes.

I was beginning to think I was the only one. I keep on trying to tell you! . These current arrangements simply will not be endured and it is foolish to believe that they will. The end of May will see quite a change. And by the autumn/early winter that is being discussed you might as well forget about people queuing 2m apart in the rain for any length of time.

 

[Meerkat]

These current arrangements simply will not be endured and it is foolish to believe that they will. The end of May will see quite a change. And by the autumn/early winter that is being discussed you might as well forget about people queuing 2m apart in the rain for any length of time.

You endure them, you get home delivery, or you end up getting arrested. Simple choices.
I do wonder how busy the supermarket strategists must be!! They must have multiple planning streams going on and a lot of market research....
Have all these new online shoppers (particularly the older folk) crossed the Rubicon so they need to permanently ramp up delivery capacity, or should they keep a temporary fix as many will go back to the supermarkets eventually? Do they need to really start planning on offloading/shrinking the shop estate?
How long will distancing last and how much is permanent? Not so crucial as shopfitting is a quick business, but replacing shelves with tills is longer term....Do they need to start planning canopy work or clearing space inside for queuing in the winter??