Supermarkets and Covid-19

[Hadders]

Supermarkets come in all different shapes and sizes and a one size fits all policy won't work. For example in supermarket with narrow aisle it makes sense to operate a one way system to assist social distancing. On the other hand there are stores out there with very wide aisles so a one way system doesn't need to be in place.

As for why supermarkets prefer only one shopper per household to visit at a time:

We have a global pandemic at the moment.
Social distancing is part of the Governments guidance to mitigate this.
This means the number of people allowed to enter a supermarket at any one time needs to be limited (meaning people potentially have to queue before being allowed in)
If one adult per shop is allowed in then it means representatives from more 'households' can enter the store at the same time, reducing the queue length outside the store.

As noted upthread there are sometimes very good reasons why more than one member of a household will need to come shopping at the same time. You also need to consider supermarket staff who will appreciate fewer people being in store. It is difficult to staff to enforce this so it is generally a request but it is the right thing to do in the current climate.

 

[johnnychips]

Blimey! It is not the end of the world if you pass within 1m of someone in a supermarket aisle unless they are coughing their guts up or sneezing for England. Make sure your basket or trolley handle is cleaned before you go in - and most supermarkets I have been in do this - then try not to touch your face till you get home and wash your hands. If you really get very upset by these things, and I am not being sarcastic, order online or try quieter times of day.

 

[MCSHF007]

In my experience (I've been supermarket shopping myself for approx 40 years) couples (or to be fair two friends shopping together) are ALWAYS more inefficient than 'single' people:- "shall we have this for dinner tonight?", "Do you like this?", "What do you think of this?", "Is this better value than/at ..." etc etc (ad infinitum)

 

[AM9]

As has been explained many times, these alleged 'rules' are not in place at every supermarket. Even different branches of the same chain have different policies. I follow the actual rules pertaining at the store at which I am shopping (exactly as I did before Covid-19 was even known) not some 'rules' which random people on the interent think should apply.

I believe that Waitrose has a common policy at all stores (subject to physical differences between its stores), and as shops are private property, they can be rules as they are responsible of everybody on those premises, - especially staff. The biggest variable seems to be the person who is manning the door, - and of course the number of people who with no good reason, are ignoring requests to shop singly.

 

[AM9]

Blimey! It is not the end of the world if you pass within 1m of someone in a supermarket aisle unless they are coughing their guts up or sneezing for England. Make sure your basket or trolley handle is cleaned before you go in - and most supermarkets I have been in do this - then try not to touch your face till you get home and wash your hands. If you really get very upset by these things, and I am not being sarcastic, order online or try quieter times of day.

Clearly, you are only thinking of customers which presumably include yourself. Consider the position of staff that risk thweir health so that you can shop. They are there for eight hours or more per day. If every customer assumed that it wasn't "the end of the world if you pass within 1m of someone in a supermarket aisle unless they are coughing their guts up or sneezing for England" and used that as some self-justification to ignore all the requests to respect others safety, the members of staff would be exposed to a frequent exposure to the virus from an unknown number of carriers. As far as we know, the virus is the same from every carrier, so the accumulated dose could well place some key workers in a serious position. It seems that your post is only about you. Other people matter just as much in a caring society.

 

[nlogax]

I believe that Waitrose has a common policy at all stores (subject to physical differences between its stores), and as shops are private property, they can be rules as they are responsible of everybody on those premises, - especially staff. The biggest variable seems to be the person who is manning the door, - and of course the number of people who with no good reason, ignoring requests to shop singly.

Indeed it does.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/help-information/customer-service/coronavirus/in-store - link to Waitrose's in-store Covid-19 FAQ. Including,

What social distancing measures are you putting into your shops for your customers and Partners?

We are introducing a number of measures to help protect both our customers and our Partners.

These are:

Limiting the number of customers in our shops at any one time. In line with the Government’s guidance on social distancing, we’re asking customers to help us manage the number of people in our shops by sending only one member of the household to do their shopping if they possibly can. While this won’t be possible for everybody, we are very grateful for our customers’ support during this time of uncertainty.

Dedicated marshals per store to help manage queues, reminding customers of the two-metre social distancing rule.
Introducing floor signage in all shops to ensure customers keep two metres apart when queuing at checkouts and at welcome desks
Screens have been placed at the checkouts to protect customers and Partners
We will have fewer checkouts open to maintain social distancing for our Partners.
Partners will have the option to wear a protective visor, if they wish.
We are asking that only one customer or family occupy a lift at any one time.
We will encourage our customers to shop in a cashless and contactless way to prevent unnecessary contact.

@sheff1 - these are Waitrose's rules. You are correct in saying that not every store enforces them but in both of their stores I've personally used since lockdown they have been firmly enforced.

 

[jkkne]

They aren't rules. They are suggestions. Read the language of it, it's easy to see why Customers just don't follow them.

'We're asking' - Not telling.
'We'll encourage' - Not telling.
'possibly can' - If you don't mind old chap.

In the race to be PR friendly, the seriousness of the message is lost and that's not just Waitrose, it's everywhere.

 

[AM9]

Indeed it does.

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/help-information/customer-service/coronavirus/in-store - link to Waitrose's in-store Covid-19 FAQ. Including,



@sheff1 - these are Waitrose's rules. You are correct in saying that not every store enforces them but in both of their stores I've personally used since lockdown they have been firmly enforced.

And as I said in the original post about this event, "These couples wouldn't have got in together had the normal security person, or one of the loaned JL staff been on the door." In other words, it was exceptional as the person manning the door didn't seem to be enforcing the rule. I've seen others politely persuaded* not to do it so there isn't a problem, - other than the persistent shoppers who think that they are special.
*Waitrose has a non-confrontation policy for partners (staff), and it usually works. For the few rogue shoppers, the police have been called.

 

[AM9]

They aren't rules. They are suggestions. Read the language of it, it's easy to see why Customers just don't follow them.

'We're asking' - Not telling.
'We'll encourage' - Not telling.
'possibly can' - If you don't mind old chap.

In the race to be PR friendly, the seriousness of the message is lost and that's not just Waitrose, it's everywhere.

It is any shop's right to enforce those type of rules if they wish. However PR friendly Waitrose want to be, they value their regular customers, (in normal times I visit that store between 3 and 5 times per week), and the service is one of the things that regular customers expect. I was not the only regular raising the point about the 'no more than one shopper per household unless there was a good reason' policy.

 

[_toommm_]

It is any shop's right to enforce those type of rules if they wish. However PR friendly Waitrose want to be, they value their regular customers, (in normal times I visit that store between 3 and 5 times per week), and the service is one of the things that regular customers expect. I was not the only regular raising the point about the 'no more than one shopper per household unless there was a good reason' policy.

It does make it incredibly difficult in the smaller stores to work and to stay safe if couples are let consistently in. I’m one of the Partners from JL that now works in Waitrose temporarily, and I certainly feel a lot more uneasy in my job if everyone came in as a couple and took up twice as much space in our already small aisles.

 

[Karl]

Supermarket car parks. I wish people would quit disposing of their PPE gloves out of their car windows!! Disgusting

 

[Tom B]

And I noticed lots of used masks lying around on the streets over the past few weeks. Wander whos thrown them there - disgusting and dirty.

Usually, it'll be the types who have been on an essential trip to the supermarket to buy a jaccuzi, who think that there should be a "FULL LOCKDOWN NOW!!!", would probably be mildly aroused if they saw the army enforcing the law, although it doesn't apply to them when they have their family round for a bbq.

 

[trebor79]

Having read the recent comments I looked at pricing. A couple of items were lower as Aldi price match but others had increased if not this week recently. I haven't noticed any smaller packs but generally shrinkflation still goes on, I can't recall what now but this year something I buy occasionally was less quantity than the previous purchase.

Tesco pricing is all over the place. I use the the scan as you shop and noticed several items this week that were way more expensive than the shelf ticket said. Prunes £3 instead of £2, some biscuits and some other stuff I can't remember.
Wouldn't mind, but I got bawled at from the other end of the shop for taking 3 steps backwards. If only they put as much effort into making sure the prices were correct.

 

[david1212]

Tesco pricing is all over the place. I use the the scan as you shop and noticed several items this week that were way more expensive than the shelf ticket said. Prunes £3 instead of £2, some biscuits and some other stuff I can't remember.

I've just looked at last weeks receipt and all is correct but I must watch the price actually charged more carefully then.

What I have noticed is the wrong item adjacent to the shelf price label. Back before stores were controlling the numbers of customers and there was panic buying much could have been the customers but now maybe newly recruited staff. This one was maybe 3 weeks ago. Tesco oranges are £1.50 for a bag of 5 (were £1.25 not long ago .. ), Jaffa are rather more but were above the £1.50 label. I noticed but some would not.

Inside my local store I've not seen any intervention from staff but keeping 2m from them can be harder than the customers particularly if they walk down an aisle against the direction markings and in the middle not to one side.

 

[GusB]

Tesco pricing is all over the place. I use the the scan as you shop and noticed several items this week that were way more expensive than the shelf ticket said. Prunes £3 instead of £2, some biscuits and some other stuff I can't remember.
Wouldn't mind, but I got bawled at from the other end of the shop for taking 3 steps backwards. If only they put as much effort into making sure the prices were correct.

I would contact them about this and mention "trading standards" when you do. There are hefty fines to be had if prices at the till don't match that which is displayed on the shelf. My local convenience store often has mismatches and missing shelf-edge tickets - you only find out the price at the till, and they don't give out itemised till receipts either. I had an embarrassing moment a few weeks ago when I didn't have enough money to cover the stuff in my basket when I'd carefully added everything up as I went along.

I'm a bit miffed with Asda at the moment. I finally managed to get a slot a couple of weeks ago for delivery on Thursday, and since then they've withdrawn many of the offers that they had when I placed the order. I only discovered this when I went online to add a few items and was advised that the multibuy deals no longer applied. I know that they attach "right to withdraw" conditions to offers, and I was notified as I put the amended order through, but it did mean that I had to go back and amend the order a second time to remove those items!

 

[westv]

And I noticed lots of used masks lying around on the streets over the past few weeks. Wander whos thrown them there - disgusting and dirty.

Maybe the same people that just randomly dump plastic bags filled with dog poo.

 

[Bantamzen]

And I noticed lots of used masks lying around on the streets over the past few weeks. Wander whos thrown them there - disgusting and dirty.

Its not just those, I've noticed a growing number of discarded disposable gloves around the place.

 

[_toommm_]

Tesco pricing is all over the place. I use the the scan as you shop and noticed several items this week that were way more expensive than the shelf ticket said. Prunes £3 instead of £2, some biscuits and some other stuff I can't remember.
Wouldn't mind, but I got bawled at from the other end of the shop for taking 3 steps backwards. If only they put as much effort into making sure the prices were correct.

Definitely contact the store initially, and if it continues, go to Trading Standards.
I’m not sure what the training is like inTesco, but I’ve recently transferred from John Lewis to Waitrose temporarily, and we were told categorically to make sure the price is right, and it gave an example of someone in the past who complained to TS about us having a price disparity.

 

[Hadders]

All stores have processes to deal with pricing discrepancies . Large multiple retailers will have agreed these with their Trading Standards ‘Home’ Authority (usually the Trading Standards for the area where the Head Office is located and who take a lead nationally on trading standards issues for that retailer to ensure consistency across the country).

Should this not yield appropriate results then complain to your local Trading Standards.

 

[Strat-tastic]

I always check Tesco receipts before leaving as I occasionally do find discrepancies. Less so these days but always beware with them.
They have (or at least used to) a policy of refunding twice the difference, which they keep quiet about for some reason... Last time I claimed it it was still in place.

 

[Trackman]

I've been talking to friend of mine who has been doing the shopping for his 94 year old Grandmother since the lockdown.
She is partial to some cake M&S sell in a box so he bought some last week (even at 94 she went shopping before Covid-19).
Anyway, when he dropped them off at her place he discovered the 'Best Before End' date was the day before.
He run them up and actually spoke to the manager in charge of that section in the store, they said the BBE date doesn't expire until 3pm the day after.
I was asked for my opinion but I don't have a clue, 'Sell by' might be something completely different as you could get food poisoning.

Any retail experts on here know about BBE dates?

 

[scotrail158713]

Any retail experts on here know about BBE dates?

I’m definitely not an expert on this so don’t know about any legalities. However I reckon something past its BBE date is unlikely to do any harm if eaten within a few days. It’s a best before date - something like a cake/bread may be a bit dry but it’ll do very little, if any, harm.

 

[AM9]

I've been talking to friend of mine who has been doing the shopping for his 94 year old Grandmother since the lockdown.
She is partial to some cake M&S sell in a box so he bought some last week (even at 94 she went shopping before Covid-19).
Anyway, when he dropped them off at her place he discovered the 'Best Before End' date was the day before.
He run them up and actually spoke to the manager in charge of that section in the store, they said the BBE date doesn't expire until 3pm the day after.
I was asked for my opinion but I don't have a clue, 'Sell by' might be something completely different as you could get food poisoning.

Any retail experts on here know about BBE dates?

Isn't 'Use By' the key one. That implies that the product shouldn't be used after that date, nostly applied to meat and fish.

 

[FQTV]

One thing that I’ve noticed in both our nearest Tesco Metro and Sainsbury’s Local is that neither are adhering to the usual protocol for yellow label markdowns.

They are both stickering the front of the packets with the lowered price and a barcode, but not also overstickering the normal barcode, as they should.

It’s arguably less of an issue at the Sainsbury’s which doesn’t have self service tills, but the Tesco does and it pays to both pay attention and then perform a slight contortion when using them to obscure the normal barcode with a digit or two, to ensure that only the oversticker is zapped.

 

[GusB]

It has been ten years or so since I worked in food retail, so my knowledge may be a bit rusty. Here's the relevant section on gov.uk

Food labelling: giving food information to consumers

Find out the information you must give to customers on food products and how to give it.

www.gov.uk

Show the ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ date
You must usually show either a ‘best before’ or a ‘use by’ date on the packaging or label of pre-packed food products.

Only show a ‘use by’ date where there is a safety issue with eating the food after this date. It’s a criminal offence to sell food that’s past its ‘use by’ date.

Read Waste and Resources Action Programme (WRAP) guidance on date marking

You don’t need to show a ‘best before’ or ‘use by’ date, but you must include a lot number on:

• fresh fruit and vegetables which haven’t been peeled, cut or similarly treated (except for sprouting seeds and similar products, like legume sprouts)
• wines, liqueur wines, sparkling wines, aromatised wines and similar products made from fruit other than grapes
• drinks made from fermented grapes or grape musts
• drinks containing 10% or more alcohol by volume
• baked or pastry goods which are normally consumed within 24 hours of being made
• vinegar
• cooking salt
• solid sugar
• confectionery made almost solely of flavoured or coloured sugars
• chewing gums and similar chewing products

As mentioned above it's an offence to sell anything past the use-by date. Products marked with best before can be sold after the date on the packaging, but most supermarkets will take these off general sale and mark them down to clear them out of the store well before the date.

There's also a Best Before (2) which you will commonly find on baked goods like bread and cakes. We would reduce those to clear two days before the date displayed, as it's reasonable to expect them to be consumed within that time.

There's also Display Until, which is normally combined with a Use-by. This is really just an instruction to store staff to reduce these items early enough so that they can be sold with the minimal amount of price reduction, and while it was our policy not to sell anything after the display until date, the key one is the Use by.

Freshness control was a key role of mine when I worked in the stock management team in Safeway many moons ago. We had different levels (FC1-4) of "freshness", with FC1 being items with the shortest dates, eg fresh meat. FC2, iirc was stuff like dairy products and FC4 was ambient goods. It was actually the in-store cleaning team that checked these dates and then passed the items they'd removed from the shelves onto us for price reductions. I can't for the life of me remember what FC3 was, but this is going back over 20 years.

One thing that I’ve noticed in both our nearest Tesco Metro and Sainsbury’s Local is that neither are adhering to the usual protocol for yellow label markdowns.

They are both stickering the front of the packets with the lowered price and a barcode, but not also overstickering the normal barcode, as they should.

It’s arguably less of an issue at the Sainsbury’s which doesn’t have self service tills, but the Tesco does and it pays to both pay attention and then perform a slight contortion when using them to obscure the normal barcode with a digit or two, to ensure that only the oversticker is zapped.

We had a system whereby a red label was placed over the main barcode, and the reduced price was hand-written on a sticker. The red barcode essentially told the till that the item was reduced, it then asked for the reduced price and then the red barcode would be peeled off and then main barcode scanned to tell the till what it was that was being sold. They were a nightmare for checkout operators, and a nightmare for me having to carry around so many different rolls of stickers. I fondly remember the day they introduced the machines that dispensed the yellow labels and did it all in one go.

 

[Busaholic]

I've been talking to friend of mine who has been doing the shopping for his 94 year old Grandmother since the lockdown.
She is partial to some cake M&S sell in a box so he bought some last week (even at 94 she went shopping before Covid-19).
Anyway, when he dropped them off at her place he discovered the 'Best Before End' date was the day before.
He run them up and actually spoke to the manager in charge of that section in the store, they said the BBE date doesn't expire until 3pm the day after.
I was asked for my opinion but I don't have a clue, 'Sell by' might be something completely different as you could get food poisoning.

Any retail experts on here know about BBE dates?

As I ran a bookshop I was only concerned about them, so didn't have to worry about 'best before' dates! Mind you, I knew the ins and outs of the Sale of Goods Act 1894 etc On one occasion, though, I was in the local Co-Op and picked up a packet of part-baked croissants, then noticed it was a month past its sell-by date. As it happened, an Environmental Health Officer, who seemed to be on first name terms with the manager, was nearby and I mentioned it to her: not only was she unfazed, she told me it was quite permissible and not an offence! Needless to say, I abandoned the item. Caveat emptor, indeed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Isn't 'Use By' the key one. That implies that the product shouldn't be used after that date, nostly applied to meat and fish.

Agreed. Best before means just that, it's best before that date. Shops shouldn't really be selling stuff at full price past that date, but realistically there's nothing unsafe about it the day after.

Sell by is again a bit more guidance, it's clearly going to keep for a period of time after sale.

Use by - as far as shops go it should go in the bin once passed as it may not be safe. I doubt any of this appears in the bargain bins.

 

[AM9]

Agreed. Best before means just that, it's best before that date. Shops shouldn't really be selling stuff at full price past that date, but realistically there's nothing unsafe about it the day after.

Sell by is again a bit more guidance, it's clearly going to keep for a period of time after sale.

Use by - as far as shops go it should go in the bin once passed as it may not be safe. I doubt any of this appears in the bargain bins.

Responsible retailers generally remove close dated 'use by' items with price reductions before the deadline. On a very few occasions I've told staff at my local Waitrose that there's the odd item past its date, and they always remove it immediately.
Personally I view the absolute date in context with its shelf life, e.g. something like seafood might have only 3 or 4 days from when it arrives at the store to the use by date. So an extra day would be the absolute limited to actually consume it, assuming that it had been kept in cool conditions without a break. Other items like sealed packs of cold cooked or cured meats can have up to a month on it when it appears on the shelves, - in those circumstances, 3 or 4 days extra would not be too much of an overrun, (once again assuming that it had been stored properly.

 

[Hadders]

Use By is used on highly perishable foods, mainly chilled e.g. sandwiches, cooked meats etc. As others have said it is illegal to offer for sale an item passed its use by date. Shops will normally reduce the price of items nearing their use by date.

Best Before is used on longer life products. Shops must sell food that is of reasonable quality and selling food before the Best Before date expires would be a reasonable defence to any charge of selling unfit food if laboratory analysis found it to be unsatisfactory. Again, shops will often reduce the price of items nearing their best before date.

Display Until has no legal standing, it is simply an indication to retail staff of when items should be removed from sale. Sometimes an items will have display until and use by dates.

 

[AM9]

Use By is used on highly perishable foods, mainly chilled e.g. sandwiches, cooked meats etc. As others have said it is illegal to offer for sale an item passed its use by date. Shops will normally reduce the price of items nearing their use by date.

Best Before is used on longer life products. Shops must sell food that is of reasonable quality and selling food before the Best Before date expires would be a reasonable defence to any charge of selling unfit food if laboratory analysis found it to be unsatisfactory. Again, shops will often reduce the price of items nearing their best before date.

Display Until has no legal standing, it is simply an indication to retail staff of when items should be removed from sale. Sometimes an items will have display until and use by dates.

Probably of the worst trends in recent times has been the selling of products (mainly salad items) in a 'modified atmoshpere', - which is often a euphamism inert gases such as carbon dioxide or nitrogen. The theory is that reducing or removing oxygen slows down the deterioration of organic material within the bags. There are concerns that extending the (sales) life of some foods by this method can actually increase the risk of pathogenic organisms forming. Given that the retailer's real intent is to manipulate the customer's natural methods of judging the quality of food by its appearance, this can create serious problems of food contamination. Normally, organic producers shun the use of such marketing practices so in many instances, those products are much safer, but of course for many, (and not just those who cannot afford to do otherwise), price is everything!