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Supermarkets struggling to cope with on-line orders.

(13 Posts)
Tweedle24 Sat 14-Mar-20 22:35:02

I expect a lot of you have discovered this for yourselves already but just in case you haven’t - online supermarket deliveries are under terrific pressure to keep up with demand because of Coronavirus. I have had to book my delivery for over a week in advance and others using different supermarkets are finding the same. I had naively imagined that, if I had to self isolate, I could easily get a food delivery within the next day or two.

It helps, of course, that it is only a seven day curfew now but, nevertheless, this could cause problems for some.

Auntieflo Sat 14-Mar-20 23:09:11

I believe that I heard on the news, that Waitrose were not accepting new customers for online deliveries.

Doodledog Sat 14-Mar-20 23:49:38

Yes, I use Sainsbury's and usually get a delivery on Fridays. I tend to book it on Thursday, when I have a better idea of what my plans are going to be. Lately, though, I've had to book days in advance - I booked next week's yesterday, and even then, not all the slots were free.

V3ra Sun 15-Mar-20 00:11:48

The earliest slot I could reserve today with Tesco is for Monday 23rd ?

BlueSky Sun 15-Mar-20 00:43:42

Same here went to do my online order tonight as usual for delivery on Tues the only slot I could get for some reason was Fri, all other days before and after up to April were unavailable. So had they been reserved already or the supermarkets release them slowly? I was naive thinking I could do my normal shopping this way.

sharon103 Sun 15-Mar-20 01:05:03

I had an email from Morrisons as I've done a weekly online shop with them for about three years. they said that booking slots were going fast and deliveries may arrive a bit late as people are placing bigger orders. I've booked the next two Fridays. As long as you book a slot and spend the minimum amount you can always edit your order the day before your delivery.
They're not taking back used carrier bags until further notice and the driver won't come into your house. He put our shopping just inside the front door. I don't know how other stores are operating though.

GagaJo Sun 15-Mar-20 05:55:25

I did an order last week for my daughter, only a few things didn't arrive. One of which was a book for my grandson. Surely we're not panic buying books now? I wish! (English teacher)

Cunco Sun 15-Mar-20 08:26:34

My wife just had an e-mail from Mike, you know Mike, Mike Coupe, the Chief Executive of Sainsbury's. He's doing lots of stuff so we have enough stuff. So, looking on the bright side, we won't have to cut up newspaper into squares for toilet paper. Let's just hope we live long enough to use the Andrex we already have although it would always come in handy for the kids. [PS: Other brands of toilet paper are available].?

annsixty Sun 15-Mar-20 08:45:53

I had the e-mail from "Mike" in the night and went online to book a delivery, none available before April 1st when the slots are not open yet.
I have a delivery every week, I had one on Thursday but as I am unable to go out presently quite apart from being made to self isolate I am "stuffed"
I shall have to rely on family who both work fulltime.

As to relying on neighbours , I am still waiting for anyone to knock and ask me how I am after losing my H last year.
They are hardly going to shop for me.

BlueSky Sun 15-Mar-20 08:53:29

Surprised that I never had a warning email from Sainsbury's and I'm a regular customer! angry

annsixty Sun 15-Mar-20 09:01:38

It wasn't warning really it was to say, don't worry we are getting supplies in everyday, increasing warehouse capacity and asking us not to order more than we need as supplies are available.
It should have added but you will have to shop for them yourself as we cannot deliver due ti demand.
As a weekly customer they have lost my loyalty by taking on thousands of new online shoppers.
This could backfire when/ if things get back to normal and the new customers go back to shopping anywhere and they have lost their old regular loyal customers.

Anrol Sun 15-Mar-20 09:13:27

Due to this extra demand I’m unable to have my weekly Wednesday delivery. To enable me to have my Wednesday slot, I have had to pre order for the next three weeks. It’s no hardship just a bit of juggling meals.

HurdyGurdy Sun 15-Mar-20 09:17:32

My son works in a relatively small branch of FarmFoods and has been experiencing abuse daily because of the lack of availability.

This morning he went into work, braced for another day of it, to find that when the store's delivery arrived, they had received 30% of the dry goods he had ordered, and 60% of the frozen.

I am sure this is repeated in a lot of supermarkets up and down the country.

At this rate, we're surely not far away from war time type rationing where we're ending up with coupons dependent on the size of your family, directing how many of each item you can buy.