Supermarkets and Covid-19

[Andy Pacer]

Just a thought, is there any requirement bring a car to click and collect? Could you turn up on a bicycle?

Or walk?(!)

 

[birchesgreen]

Why is it unnecessary? Especially if there is a queue when that extra unnecessary person is leaving someone else outside in the cold.
Its much easier to distance around single people rather than couples round a trolley, who frankly tend to be selfish, unaware, space-hoggers at the best of times.

But you arn't one to judge of course.

 

[bramling]

Why is it unnecessary? Especially if there is a queue when that extra unnecessary person is leaving someone else outside in the cold.
Its much easier to distance around single people rather than couples round a trolley, who frankly tend to be selfish, unaware, space-hoggers at the best of times.

If we go for a full shop then we confer around what is needed and what isn’t. We’re completely capable of doing this without being obstructive, and in any case we tend to go at quiet times (in other words the evening). Does prohibiting this practice *really* contribute to “beating“ Covid?

As someone else posted, I can see the point about whole families being in the store, I’ve never really understood why people do this, however of course no chain wants to come out and say “no families” as it would be reputational suicide, so here we are.

Some while ago we got told “one per household” in Waitrose. I must admit to making a bit of a scene, and we ended up being allowed in but being made to take a trolley each. Complete lunacy. Fortunately we don’t use Waitrose except on a very occasional basis, and I’ve made sure we haven’t done at all since.

For a parent company who are one of the businesses reckoned to be in trouble, Waitrose could perhaps do without turning off potential customers, especially as during economic downtown people might be expected to avoid a supermarket which essentially does most of the same stuff as elsewhere but more expensively.

 

[greyman42]

Its much easier to distance around single people rather than couples round a trolley, who frankly tend to be selfish, unaware, space-hoggers at the best of times.

People stopped distancing when masks were mandated.

 

[route101]

The Morrison’s in Partick was had an insanely long queue when I visited it on Monday. I was going to go and get a lunch meal deal inside, but I could see the queue lasted about 15-20 minutes and stretched half the perimeter of the building. Completely purposeless, frustrating for the customer, and a pointless piece of “Covid-theatre”

Was in that branch today, big queue for trolleys.

 

[Hadders]

Just a thought, is there any requirement bring a car to click and collect? Could you turn up on a bicycle?

Absolutely no requirement to have a car, or any sort of transport. You just need to be able to carry your stuff away.

 

[trainophile]

One thing that this supermarket situation has led to is a lot of members of staff whose main job seems to be standing around. Sometimes telling us to use the hand sanitisers, sometimes just apparently observing. Some blocking off aisles for anyone who has the temerity to try to get to the checkouts other than by the prescribed route. I have seen employees using a clicker to keep count of how many people enter and leave the shop. Very arduous.

Off topic but the same tends to apply at some stations now. At Birmingham New Street on Monday there was a group of four uniformed staff by the ticket office/ticket machine area, and while I collected my several sets of tickets which took a few minutes they didn't appear to have anything to do other than stand there talking among themselves. They weren't rail staff, just "officials".

 

[DelayRepay]

One thing that this supermarket situation has led to is a lot of members of staff whose main job seems to be standing around. Sometimes telling us to use the hand sanitisers, sometimes just apparently observing. Some blocking off aisles for anyone who has the temerity to try to get to the checkouts other than by the prescribed route. I have seen employees using a clicker to keep count of how many people enter and leave the shop. Very arduous.

Always look for the positives - this is a great job creation scheme in these difficult times! Especially for the type of person whose life long ambition has been to wear a florescent tabard and boss people about.

 

[david1212]

If I was working in a supermarket I'd just stack the shelves and definitely NOT question people about what they are wearing. ...

With the possibility of be made redundant or at least be laid off given furlough is about to end with the demand for deliveries and click-and-collect as well as the ' C ' word approaching one thought would be investigating temporary opportunities at local supermarkets.

I would not expect the job description to explicitly include something like ' management of customers ' or ' ensuring all customers are complying with regulations '. ' A duty to monitor suspicious behaviour and report to security ' i.e. shoplifting or confrontation between customers would be reasonable likewise ' responsibility for the safety of customers and employees ' i.e. reporting spills and not creating obstructions.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

Always look for the positives - this is a great job creation scheme in these difficult times! Especially for the type of person whose life long ambition has been to wear a florescent tabard and boss people about.

Which makes me wonder... if Boris is proved right*, and measures such as social distancing in particular are dropped, surely we will see another surge in unemployment as all these folks in hi-viz in supermarkets, railway stations, shopping malls etc instantly have no jobs?

*stop laughing at the back

 

[island]

Possibly, but it seems equally possible at least that shops will cut back opening hours so as to allow shelves to be properly restocked overnight.

 

[birchesgreen]

One thing that this supermarket situation has led to is a lot of members of staff whose main job seems to be standing around. Sometimes telling us to use the hand sanitisers, sometimes just apparently observing. Some blocking off aisles for anyone who has the temerity to try to get to the checkouts other than by the prescribed route. I have seen employees using a clicker to keep count of how many people enter and leave the shop. Very arduous.

In the case of Waitrose these extra staff who didn't seem to do a lot were John Lewis employees who were transferred to help out while JL was closed.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Re toilet roll - availability will depend on who the manufacturer is. There are five main ones in the UK and two of them have much more serious issues than the others.

 

[yorksrob]

Re toilet roll - availability will depend on who the manufacturer is. There are five main ones in the UK and two of them have much more serious issues than the others.

Out of interest, what issues can they have ? There is a guaranteed demand and supply doesn't depend on any rare high cost ingredients.

 

[adc82140]

My mother has reported back that the bog roll shelves in her Waitrose are empty, except for the budget range which has plentiful supply. Hmm.

Perhaps the punishment for panic buying should be a compulsion to use only Izal Medicated for a month.

 

[SuspectUsual]

Out of interest, what issues can they have ? There is a guaranteed demand and supply doesn't depend on any rare high cost ingredients.

One is that to maximise output the manufacturers are looking to reduce the breadth of the range they supply, and minimise the number of batch changeovers they have to do. This is likely to impact retailer own brand lines most.

One of the biggest manufacturers is rationing volume to its customers. This week we’ve been able to order 30% of what our systems decided we needed.

Three of our suppliers are quoting “logistics issues” which I find a little surprising to say the least, as there’s nothing complicated in shifting bog roll apart from having a supercube trailer (nearly all paper goods are ordered in multiples of two full pallets that are double stacked and wrapped as one)

 

[yorksrob]

Ah cheers,

so none are in trouble as such - they're just having difficulty meeting demand.

 

[david1212]

...
Perhaps the punishment for panic buying should be a compulsion to use only Izal Medicated for a month.

Is Izal Medicated aka John Wayne still produced ? I've not seen any for years either in shops or public facilities.
My grandmother had it, as a child having a No2 there was avoided.
Once the boxes were the standard in public facilities - and train too ? My childhood thinking was that this was a way of saying that you should go at home not here.

Back on topic no queuing last night for Aldi or the adjacent B&M and Iceland. Plenty of loo roll in Aldi and much more pasta. No obvious shortages of anything in Aldi or Iceland.

 

[DelayRepay]

Three of our suppliers are quoting “logistics issues” which I find a little surprising to say the least, as there’s nothing complicated in shifting bog roll apart from having a supercube trailer (nearly all paper goods are ordered in multiples of two full pallets that are double stacked and wrapped as one)

Workers having to isolate, maybe?

 

[Busaholic]

Out of interest, what issues can they have ? There is a guaranteed demand and supply doesn't depend on any rare high cost ingredients.

Tissue issues?

 

[yorksrob]

Tissue issues?

Hubble bubble toilet trouble !

 

[DelW]

My fairly large local Sainsbury's today, no queue to get in or for checkouts, which was good. But they seem to have shuffled the layout of a lot of the aisles around, and split some categories (e.g. breakfast cereals) between two aisles instead of all in the same one. So now if you can't find something, it's not clear if it's sold out, or just been moved somewhere else.

 

[kristiang85]

My fairly large local Sainsbury's today, no queue to get in or for checkouts, which was good. But they seem to have shuffled the layout of a lot of the aisles around, and split some categories (e.g. breakfast cereals) between two aisles instead of all in the same one. So now if you can't find something, it's not clear if it's sold out, or just been moved somewhere else.

Supermarkets rearranging aisles annoys me at the best of times (they do a regular rotation of stock placement to make people walk around more, stay in longer, and maybe see other items they didn't realise they would want).

Doing it now is pretty irresponsible as it just means more confused people milling around in different directions and for longer, if we are to believe from the mask regulations that walking through the supermarket is so dangerous.

 

[DelW]

Supermarkets rearranging aisles annoys me at the best of times (they do a regular rotation of stock placement to make people walk around more, stay in longer, and maybe see other items they didn't realise they would want).

Doing it now is pretty irresponsible as it just means more confused people milling around in different directions and for longer, if we are to believe from the mask regulations that walking through the supermarket is so dangerous.

Yes, I wasn't best pleased, as it increased my shopping time somewhat. Fortunately I'd managed to pick a fairly quiet period, so it didn't increase any risk significantly.

They seemed to be clearing some sections completely, so it may be getting ready for stocks for Halloween or even (grimaces) Christmas already .

 

[Mcr Warrior]

They seemed to be clearing some sections completely, so it may be getting ready for stocks for Halloween or even (grimaces) Christmas already.

Yep, the "seasonal" aisles of the shops at my local town centre now full of Halloween and Christmas tat, in the place of more regular lines. Can't be long now before all the Easter stock that didn't get sold earlier in the year (at the start of lockdown) is back out on display again!

 

[Darandio]

They seemed to be clearing some sections completely, so it may be getting ready for stocks for Halloween or even (grimaces) Christmas already .

I reckon if that's what they are doing then they are a bit late, even for Christmas. Christmas aisles in the two supermarkets I frequent have been present for 3-4 weeks now.

 

[takno]

Yep, the "seasonal" aisles of the shops at my local town centre now full of Halloween and Christmas tat, in the place of more regular lines. Can't be long now before all the Easter stock that didn't get sold earlier in the year (at the start of lockdown) is back out on display again!

The heroic number of discount eggs I ate at Easter probably caused me to gain half a stone. The consequences of me having to eat all the leftovers from a slow Christmas come January don't even bear thinking about....

 

[adc82140]

The heroic number of discount eggs I ate at Easter probably caused me to gain half a stone. The consequences of me having to eat all the leftovers from a slow Christmas come January don't even bear thinking about....

I still have a box of 6 Easter eggs in the garage. They are hovering around their best before date but still taste absolutely fine. We have an "approaching or just past best before" discount warehouse near here. I use it a lot, it was noticeable how many items that would normally be sold in pubs were available, like crisps and nuts etc, as well as non alcoholic mixers.

 

[kristiang85]

I still have a box of 6 Easter eggs in the garage. They are hovering around their best before date but still taste absolutely fine. We have an "approaching or just past best before" discount warehouse near here. I use it a lot, it was noticeable how many items that would normally be sold in pubs were available, like crisps and nuts etc, as well as non alcoholic mixers.

I did a chocolate factory tour, and we were told that Easter Eggs are generally re-stocked for at least three years worth of Easters if they aren't sold, and dates are changed accordingly if need be. So I wouldn't worry too much about the sell by dates.

Anyway, this is probably wildly off topic!

 

[Busaholic]

Supermarkets rearranging aisles annoys me at the best of times (they do a regular rotation of stock placement to make people walk around more, stay in longer, and maybe see other items they didn't realise they would want).

Doing it now is pretty irresponsible as it just means more confused people milling around in different directions and for longer, if we are to believe from the mask regulations that walking through the supermarket is so dangerous.

And, in the case of my Sainsburys, a supposedly flagship store, without amending the signage above the aisles, so 'soup' for instance, supposedly with pasta in one of two adjoining aisles, had actually been moved to the bottom shelves of an aisle further along, while sausages are now strung out ( ) between two aisles about half a mile apart, which means customers leave their previous sausage selection on the shelves where the 'extra' ones are: most unprofessional.