Delivery charges

Boots are delivering medication free also to those shielding.

There will always be those who see an opportunity to make money. The supermarkets cannot keep up with the demand for deliveries so a lot of but not all of the smaller companies are cashing in. I had one delivery from Sainsbury's when the first lot of vulnerable custoners were identified after that it's been impossible to find a slot. I paid £3.50. Past weeks I've secured click and collect at Asda. Minimum order is £25 for no charge but they do charge 40p for bags.

At the moment the supermarkets are releasing most delivery to the particularly vulnerable (those shielding). I am able to go out but don't like being in the supermarket so I'm doing click & collect from Asda. At my local store it means you bypass queues, go to a collection point where there is a specific place to wait where you are distanced from others. You only have contact with the person who brings you your shopping. This service is free.

My husband now delivers veg boxes for the company he worked for who deliver fruit and veg to the pubs and schools and they do a lovely box for £20 free delivery there just glad of the business and trying to keep afloat.

I dont drive so always rely on home deliveries unless going into town and get a taxi back. I'm in an at risk group but not shielded and my nearest supermarket/ shop is a 15minute walk away. I always have a stock of basic items anyway as theres no just popping in car not possible for me. By mid February I had a strong feeling things were going to get tricky. I made sure I had at least 2 months of basics,cat food and litter,pulses,frozen/ tinned fruit and veg. Nothing excessive, I also felt if needed any extras could use supermarket delivery. I'm lucky,have a network of people who have offered help and support. I do however feel I dont want people to put selves at risk on my behalf. Supermarket deliveries are almost impossible to get. It all seems very hit and miss and do worry about those over 70 who cant access home delivery. I finally joined facebook and it can be brilliant source of info on local firms who deliver. There are some heartwarming tales of small local businesses delivering free of charge. There were some who sell more hamper type goods which expensive and more luxury items than staples! I suppose it's a balance between businesses staying afloat and community spirit. It would be nice to think people have long memories in future and remember the businesses both local and national who did their best and those who didnt. Customers who rely on home deliveries are at mercy of those delivering.

Have a midweek delivery pass from Sainsbury's, which more than pays for itself over the year, and I usually end up in credit. But at the moment will take any slot I get, and hang the cost.

I have a yearly Delivery Pass with Sainsbury’s (£60).... but that now only entitles me to a slot during this crisis if all ‘vulnerable’ people who want one ,have one, I accept this even though Ive paid upfront for the pass. My legs are good although my shoulders both have arthritis...and I don’t drive.So I need more than one shopping trip a week. I cannot carry all in one shop. My daughter is in shielded and my son still working 10 hour shifts. hasn’t a car and I will not expect him to fetch for me and walk 4 miles after working and then walk 4 mile home.we all have different stories.... and mine isn’t too rough.

I am still getting regular delivieries from companies I have used for ages - theres delivery charge as such as the goods cost a little more (eg milk from the milkman). None have gone up.

Aepgirl, like you I haven't been contacted by waitrose and I'm 75 with a waitrose card. However, I don;t' remember having to give my d.o.b. when joining, so how will they know? Similarly I have a nectar card for sainsburys and cannot get a delivery.
Having had a catastrophic incident with my freezer, meaning i had to ditch over £100 worth of food, I sat up late one night in front of the computer and actually managed to get a click and collect slot with Asda ( Not my favourite supermarket but it might be from now on!) next Monday.

SalsaQueen. Do an ASDA click and collect. I'm just doing these now as well as a local SPAR one.

ASDA click and collect dates come up within 7-10 days. Go on line at midnight. The next day comes up then. Last night, I booked one for next Friday.

I’m cross that despite paying Morrison’s for a Delivery Pass I cannot get a slot even after queuing to access the website for approx 14 minutes each attempt.
I’m vulnerable but under 60 and not shielded. However, my husband is doing all the shopping for us and his elderly DF and I would like to reduce his risk.

Including my mum's, I have now arranged a total of four supermarket deliveries since all this began, and the prices seem to vary wildly each time.

I think the cheapest was about £3.50, but on another occasion I had to pay over £6, and have seen slots that were over £7 for some early and late deliveries.

When everything takes twice as long if theyre trying to do extra distancing and hygiene, it'll cost them twice as much just to break even on delivering.

The firms that havent upped their delivery charges have not been doing so well at keeping their staff safe at the mo (RM, Amazon, BooHoo etc)

I have started to get a fruit and veg box delivered, they charge £20 a box, delivery included.

I am just grateful to retain supermarket deliveries, I don’t care what they charge. I am lucky that a lady from a local church are helping me with food, toiletries etc between supermarket deliveries. I pay them via BACS to avoid using cash.

However, I was going to get dairy deliveries from a local milkman, he nearly doubled his prices, so I won’t be starting deliveries with him.

Hazbeen
My recent Iceland delivery, some what larger than usual, was to my surprise in bags. I was not charged for this neither had I asked for bags.

I think the worst charge I have seen (and didn't pay) was for an order that I wanted to place for such items as panty liners, hand wash and also antibac hand gel.
Got through to the paying for the order bit to find that Savers (a subsidiary of Superdrug) were going to charge £7.95 for click and collect and £10 for home delivery - that would take 15 - 20 days ! Cancelled the order and have just ordered the same items for the same price through Superdrug for a delivery charge of £3!

My mum does Sainsburys £25 for six months and has a delivery every other week. I see Sainsburys are doing something called Chop Chop £4.99 a delivery but only 20 items. Worth it not to risk airborne Covid I would have thought. I wouldn’t go into shops right now if you paid me.

rowyn
Re not remembering giving d.o.b to Waitrose ?
Nothing these days is sacred.There is not much we need to get out of our arm chair for when it comes to shopping and no doubt at some stage you may have been asked for your d.o.b when making an online purchase.
Not difficult for WR to have obtained this if they had some sort of connection with one of your purchases.

Local Greengrocer: Free
Milkman: Free

I normally pay £6.99 a month for an anytime delivery with Tesco. They have stopped taking the monthly fee and refunded half of last months. I can still use the delivery service for free but haven’t bothered as I’ve been combining my walk with shopping at the local Sainsburys

Although both OH and myself have underlying medical conditions we are able to do our own shopping, just once a week and observing all the distancing and hygiene advice. I flatly refuse to order food online although I have "experimented" and tried many times, unsuccessfull, to book "slots" with the intention of ordering for family.

Walking round our local supermarket, it's easy to see prices gradually creeping up, why??? Every week there's a few pence on everything and it's all the basics, we don't need the luxuries just now!

Applying a delivery charge is exploitation and disgustingly underhand!

What does annoy me too is those "needy " individuals with the "poor me" attitude who ride on everyone else's goodwill, receive the free food parcels locally donated, scrounge from the neighbours and offer no payment and complain when they see someone else have two Tesco deliveries within 8 days! Disgraceful!

I have been shopping for years with Tesco's paying for their delivery service. Can't get a slot for love nor money now and my subscription is going to run out in May with no means of renewing it. My student son also had a subscription for 6 months and he has been refunded his subscription and been told that he will not have to pay again until slots are more readily available. I feel very let down that I have not been treated the same as a long standing customer.
As a family, when somebody gets a slot anywhere, we give everyone a heads up and allow them to add to the order. That way the person with the order distributes and it saves everybody else having to go the shops. However, even with us all searching for slots, it is getting harder.

I suppose I'm lucky that I got a Tesco delivery slot, although three weeks from order. Delivery charge is £3.50 - OK. I live alone, and the minimum order value is £40.00 which is difficult to reach without ordering more than I need, but I managed to get there with extras on tinned supplies and household products. Then I needed to add jar of spice to the order, and when I called the order up on the website, Tesco had deleted several items that had gone out of stock since ordering. If the have sold out in the meantime, nothing I can complain about, BUT what I am really furious about is that they have added a £4.00 charge as my order is now less than £40.00 because of things THEY have deleted!
I suppose I've now got to try and find some other items to add to the order to take it over the £40.00 again, and hope they don't delete them before my delivery.

There will always be those who see an opportunity to make money

Thats not a bad thing necessarily.
The places that cover expenses enough to run a profit and look after their staff are the ones that can sustain their service without sacrificing employer ethics.

A few local places that initially started doing free deliveries have now totally shut.

Not everyone should be running a charity now. We need businesses that can adapt and stay viable. And that means not running at a loss.