Tesco grocery deliveries - the picker notes

Some people may have understood the reference in my previous post.

Here is a movie clip of to what I was referring.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVGcbaoRtqk

I wonder whether the Ocado robots say "good morning" to each other when getting the grocery!

> I don’t think anyone is suggesting a note for each item.

Ah! It can get close to that at times.

Perhaps I need to rethink about that.

This might work in a local store which has click and collect and a real human does the picking and packing from the shelves in the store. But if everyone started to put individual preferences regarding for example, the colour of a food storage box, it certainly could amount to the job being made more onerous for the picker.
However as we have confirmed ocado picking is completed by robots in a giant warehouse. Substitutions are computer generated and an email is sent on the day of delivery. At this point these can be accepted or declined. As far as I am aware there is not the ability to make individual notes about specific items.
Should I wish to obtain a particular item in a specific colour then I would go to a real shop and buy it or look on a website where I could specify exactly what I wanted. Why make ghe job harder for the pickers?

I don’t think anyone is suggesting a note for each item. The system is useful and I can’t see the problem with making a note against one or two items, as I often do. Describing this as ‘reams’ is ridiculous.

ElderlyPerson

Ah, 'reams', a word that I had not seen for a long time.

As I remember it, a ream is 500 sheets, or sometimes 480 sheets, and just how many notes each no more than 55 characters long could be printed upon reams of paper (note the plural!) is left as an exercise for the reader, as the saying goes!

What is the point of noting the plural of “ream” ?
I think the point about copious notes - whether 55 characters or fewer - long is clear enough. Imagine a “note” for each item- ye gods!
Who’d want to be a Tesco picker - I imagine they have to operate within a fairly restricted time scale, so coping with the grocery version of “War and Peace” must be the last straw.

One of our Tesco delivery drivers used to be very high up in the company.
One day he decided he'd had enough of all the corporate responsibility and wanted to downsize his workload.
He became a driver and loves meeting and chatting with a wide variety of customers ?

My GD does this while at uni. The picker doesn't choose the substitute. Think it's computer generated.

ElderlyPerson

Ah, 'reams', a word that I had not seen for a long time.

As I remember it, a ream is 500 sheets, or sometimes 480 sheets, and just how many notes each no more than 55 characters long could be printed upon reams of paper (note the plural!) is left as an exercise for the reader, as the saying goes!

Though I suppose with hundreds of customers, the reading time for a particular picker does add up to quite a large total.

MissChateline

No idea whether this link works,

www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/19/ocado-shares-cancels-orders-robot-fire-cancellations?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Yes it does work. Thank you for posting the link.

Ah, 'reams', a word that I had not seen for a long time.

As I remember it, a ream is 500 sheets, or sometimes 480 sheets, and just how many notes each no more than 55 characters long could be printed upon reams of paper (note the plural!) is left as an exercise for the reader, as the saying goes!

I still think that in the great scheme of life having the wrong coloured food storage box must come incredibly low down my list of priorities.
I suppose it depends whether they are intended to be used to differentiate the contents?

Just because you don't prioritise this doesn't mean that it shouldn't be possible for customers to opt for what they want. It's a bit like saying that it's not important whether you get peas or beans. Maybe not, in the great scheme of life, but a lot depends on preference, surely?

No idea whether this link works,

www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/19/ocado-shares-cancels-orders-robot-fire-cancellations?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Germanshepherdsmum

The notes system is very useful, especially for substitutions. Yes MissChatelaine you might well want different coloured storage boxes for different things and not everyone is able to go to the supermarket. Why do you think Ocado pickers are robots? They’re most likely people doing the only job they can at a very low wage and deserve some respect.

There was an article in the guardian only a couple of days ago regarding a fire at an Ocado picking warehouse when 3 robots collided. The share price for the company fell dramatically. Ocado is a leading innovator in robot picking technology and as far as I’m aware almost all of their picking is done this way.
In no way was this disrespectful of low paid human pickers and packers. If this was the case then I think that reams of requirement notes for individual items is more disrespectful as it complicates an already tedious job.
I still think that in the great scheme of life having the wrong coloured food storage box must come incredibly low down my list of priorities.

MissChateline

I’ve never noticed this but I think that most if not all of Ocado pickers are robots so I doubt that anything I added would make the slightest bit of difference.
Surely if you are so fussy about the colour of a particular item you would be best off going to a shop and choosing it yourself. In the grand scheme of things does it really matter whether your storage boxes are green or blue ?

I looked at Ocado when Tesco announced that tray liners were being discontinued, as the circulated email from Tesco head office seemed to be that a customer would either (if elderly or disabled and also not having COVID-19) have shopping brought inside, or would be required to go to the door, open it and unload grocery from trays while the delivery driver stood two metres away and waited for unloading to be completed.

I decided that no way was I going to open the door and do that, in any case it usually takes me about twenty minutes to unload at a steady pace, which is fine for me as I am retired and taking that time inconveniences nobody, yet if a delivery driver with many customers on his or her round had to stand and wait for twenty minutes that would be very inconvenient, both to the driver and also to me as I would feel morally obliged to unload faster and then that pressure might reduce my efficiency and it end up taking even longer.

It seems that Ocado will always substitute with no choice for what the substitution will be and no option to put "Don't substitute". A substitute can be refused before delivery but it seems a bit of an awkward process. The good part about Ocado is that groceries would be bagged and left on the doorsttep then the customer would be telephoned

In the event, with Tesco, I put boxes on the doorstep, added a note in the delivery information (200 characters or less) asking for the grocery to be put in the boxes - and hoped for the best, wondering if I might be told "no door opening, no delivery" on the basis of instructions from head office.

In the event, two deliveries each week since mid-April all done that way, no problems at all, delivery drivers very helpful. One told me that quite a lot of customers are doing similarly, boxes, trays, trollies on the doorstep and the door shut. So each driver is delivering in basically three different styles, depending upon the situation at each delivery address.

Yet even with the recent circulated email from head office, there is no mention of this third option for the delivery process.

I wondered how multibasket deliveries are done - I wondered if the drivers were swapping the baskets, synchronised with the customer going back in the house while that was done. Apparently not, a stack of trays on the doorstep and the driver standing back, though usually further than two metres.

To answer the question, in the grand scheme of things it really does not matter whether the storage boxes are green or blue, yet as there are three colours possibly available, and there are picker notes, and the pickers are helpful, and colour coding is often useful, then if one person fancies a mix of colours and another person fancies all of one colour, then it seems a good idea to say which choice one prefers that the picker makes.

Doodledog

Sainsbury's don't have them, or not locally to me, at least. It would be really useful if they did, as I agree that sometimes the subs are not quite right.

I learned the best way with Sainsburys is to not accept subs on lots of items. Learnt this from experience, eg no Lurpak slightly salted so they sent low fat, no good for cooking. I do accept on things I'm not too concerned about and find generally I get mostly what I've ordered. It's coming today and just 2 subs one ketchup...I'll accept, the other ordered dried mint, sending coriander...no. 2 items not available as I wouldn't accept subs but dear hubs popped off to the local shop and got them for me.

Germanshepherdsmum

The notes system is very useful, especially for substitutions. Yes MissChatelaine you might well want different coloured storage boxes for different things and not everyone is able to go to the supermarket. Why do you think Ocado pickers are robots? They’re most likely people doing the only job they can at a very low wage and deserve some respect.

Actually, I think that Ocado picking, which is at a "no customers there" warehouse is very much automated with robotic picking equipment. They would need some staff, but from what I read somewhere, the emphasis is on an advanced automated system.

The notes system is very useful, especially for substitutions. Yes MissChatelaine you might well want different coloured storage boxes for different things and not everyone is able to go to the supermarket. Why do you think Ocado pickers are robots? They’re most likely people doing the only job they can at a very low wage and deserve some respect.

I’ve never noticed this but I think that most if not all of Ocado pickers are robots so I doubt that anything I added would make the slightest bit of difference.
Surely if you are so fussy about the colour of a particular item you would be best off going to a shop and choosing it yourself. In the grand scheme of things does it really matter whether your storage boxes are green or blue ?

Must look but would taker the pickers longer. Just grateful I don't have to spend an hour in Tesco once a week. The click and collect people are great at our local store and know all their regulars by name. Very friendly. Recent issue I had was the young lads had brought the boxes outside towards the end of the hour and when DGC went to get their chocolate buttons they were a solid block of chocolate. DGS1 "Granny the buttons are a bar now - we need more!" Needless to say he did not get more. Mummy is very strict!

Infinity2

God in Heaven - I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being a supermarket picker on minimum wage being expected to potentially read a 55 letter picker note per item.
No wonder the poor buggers mess some of the orders up, and I’m surprised that anyone gets their orders on time.

It explains fully now why my sister got three crusty cobs instead of a pre roasted chicken last Christmas ?

Waitrose online site has pieker notes. I use them for a few items where I would like a specific brand if what I ordered is not available or if I have a specific dislike, eg. Please only substitute with unsalted butter.
It's very useful.

God in Heaven - I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being a supermarket picker on minimum wage being expected to potentially read a 55 letter picker note per item.
No wonder the poor buggers mess some of the orders up, and I’m surprised that anyone gets their orders on time.

It explains fully now why my sister got three crusty cobs instead of a pre roasted chicken last Christmas ?

Tizliz

The picker doesn’t choose the substitution it is computer generated. Some pickers seem to ignore the notes, think they are too busy.

I have asked for choices with some things that are assorted and have usually got my choice, of course if the choice is not available then it can't be sent.

For example, choosing a diary just described as assorted colours. I requested a light colour if possible, I received a silvery one. I later learned that they had silvery and black.

For example, there was A5 notebooks recently, assorted colours. The picture showed light purple, white and black. I requested a light purple one, and a light purple one arrived.

Some food storage boxes were described as red, green and blue, online customers will receive a random choice. I requested three different colours if possible. I got one red, two green, presumably because there were no blue ones there.

I was surprised that the website said a random choice for the food boxes, for some things it says there is an assortment, for a specific choice please mention the choice in the picker note.

I suppose that a lot depends on the culture locally. For example, talking to a store dot com manager on the telephone, she referred to the pickers as "my ladies and gentlemen". Her positive attitude to them and her leadership in wanting to provide excellent service to customers gets good results.

Waitrose have them too. I ask for milk as long dated as possible. Or cake if use by a certain date. I don’t use them for most items though.