Panic Buying

Brazo said:
Shelf’s pretty much back to normal this morning even toilet paper aisle was fully stocked in Sainsburies.
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We went this morning and there were several pallets of bog roll in the café area. My guess is that it'll be on special offer in a week or 2 because so many people's garages are still full of it! Didn't look for sanitiser or soap since we have enough of both - we raided Mrs Nod's studio for its supplies.

broc said:
Don't forget there are millions of other people that do not fall into the Government 'most at risk' categories but remain at greater risk than the general population. People under 70 who have had for example a stroke or suffer from high blood pressure or other cardio-vascular conditions do not qualify for priority delivery slots but perhaps should be allowed to do their shopping online?
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Mrs Nod's Mum is 90 with high blood pressure and other assorted ailments and apparently not considered at risk or vulnerable. Doesn't drive and has been self isolating for the past 3 weeks. Doesn't have the internet. Has managed to find a local farm shop that delivers so is OK for fresh F&V at the moment but relies on us for other stuff. We've tried to get a delivery slot for her from Tescos and Sainsburys - none available (not none available for the next 3 weeks, NONE available...) M&S claim to have slots available. Guess what...
 
@Nod that's pretty staggering that she is not considered at risk?? the person at work who said he got a slot, said he got it trying after midnight, was put in a queue at asda, and meanwhile got one at sainsburys and they were in the next few days. I don't know when you've tried but perhaps give that a try? have you looked on the local council website - my day to day involves updates to our local ones and most councils are putting helplines together to connect at risk/people who need to help with volunteer groups who can help, a facebook page is sometimes linked to it, assume you may be able to look at it, without actually being on facebook. but def check out council for possible steers.
 
@Nod My FIL is 90, doesn't drive etc, sounds like your MIL, my wife (his daughter) got a home delivery slot on Iceland website just after she received notice he was regarded as vulnerable. There were no slots for later in the week, perhaps they only release today/tomorrow for the vulnerable thinking they cant wait days and days, or more likely she was just lucky as finding slots seems to be her full time job at present.
 
@Nod A friend got a Sainsbury's slot by calling their vulnerable persons careline on 0800 052 5500. She waited over an hour to get through though!
 
Tesco's online shopping has been updating it slots for delivery at around midnight. Everyday around midnight another day is added to the available list. We have tried the last three nights.

At one point the page says you are in a queue but on each of the days we tried as soon as the "in a queue" message disappears and a new day of delivery slots appears, all of the slots are taken. Just going to keep trying.

Dave
 
We have been lucky with Sainsburys Click & Collect...... basically a man in a van in their carpark who hands your groceries over when you turn up.
 
On the plus side, it does give us a legitimate excuse to go for a drive to deliver stuff to her (also gives her a chance to see people face to face, even if it is at several metres distance! Must remember to get her to put her hearing aids in next time - her whole street know what size her incontinence pads are now...)
 
Not exactly panic buying but social distancing. We got to Tesco at 8:20 this morning for our weekly shop. Wife wanted to go early just in case she gets a call to go into work later.
Due to social distancing, it took almost an hour of queueing before we could set foot in the store, but it's the gaps people are leaving in the queue. When we queued, the gaps were about 2 car park spaces. I am now in the car waiting for my wife to come out and the gaps are growing to 3 or 4 spaces. The queue is snaking up and down the length of the car park. The queue was 2.5 lengths of the car park at 8:20, now it's over 5 lengths.
 
I dunno if you are complaining about the distance people are leaving between themselves, and as a consequence the thought that the queue may eventually escape the car park.
Or that its just busy.
People stand where they feel comfortable, and that is ok by me since the length of the queue matters far less than the number of people in it.
 
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joxby said:
People stand where they feel comfortable, and that is ok by me since the length of the queue matters far less than the number of people in it.
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Agreed. I think that's the important thing at this point.
 
i'd rather people stood further away than too close - after my experience tuesday, i'd just be happy people were even bothering - they were not in Lidl, no limits on people going in the store and people just wandering arounf on their phones chatting and not paying attention to their own space or others. it would be good if each store had a camera or twitter update feed so you could check before heading out - like "currently queue of X to get in, average wait time of X - good stock levels of bog rolls, no pasta, limited bread" or whatever. that's prob asking too much but would be nice.
 
nilagin said:
...8:20 this morning .... Due to social distancing, it took almost an hour of queueing before we could set foot in the store
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You just can't tell TBH. I was indeed of a shopping trip (Jeeze how I hate shopping for anything)
I called in to my large Tesco, on the way home from work, that'd be around 11am.
The queue was quite long due to the social distance thing, they appeared to be letting in a dozen at a time, reality, I was queuing no more that 5 mins.

Some of the shelves were bare, but the essentials I needed, bread eggs milk Chops gammon steaks and other bits were readily available I saw no rice or pasta, save the "Uncle Bens" type rice
Not sure about loo roll, I didn't need that section, but also never saw any in any trolley's either.
TBH it was all quite civilised, apart from the woman that seemed to have stepped out of some apocalyptic film or anther ....

But the best bit? 2 passing couples suddenly stopped in the middle of the aisle ...
BLOODY HELL how the devil are you? not seen you in a very long time ....
It good to see some traditions are still being carried on in these troubled times...
FFS
:D
 
Lets exchange body fluids now in a supermarket isle since its been such a long time and we don't know when we'll next get the chance.

This 2m thing really magnifies an irritation factor created by people fannying about in front of the beans for a half hour, loitering at aisle ends tw4tting about on phones or waiting for further instruction from their controller.
ya can't just elbow em out the way anymore...:(


:D
 
joxby said:
Lets exchange body fluids now in a supermarket isle since its been such a long time and we don't know when we'll next get the chance.

This 2m thing really magnifies an irritation factor created by people fannying about in front of the beans for a half hour, loitering at aisle ends tw4tting about on phones or waiting for further instruction from their controller.
ya can't just elbow em out the way anymore...:(


:D
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ram them with your trolley........at arms length. My son in law said their local Aldi were insisting every customer take a trolley as a means of forcing social distancing, he said it seemed to work.
 
I'd like to say something about people shopping in pairs but there's no way to know whether they have good reason to do it or not.
After all, you can't expect Granny Smith to carry 8 metric tons of panic buying back to the car or the comatose trolley pusher to multi task by picking products from a list as he goes along.
Although I do suspect there are "pairs" shopping with not fully joined up appreciation of what they are supposed to be doing.

I will be The Loneshopper this week, with my trusty steed Bag For Life, Tonto will hang the washing out at home...:love:
 
joxby said:
Although I do suspect there are "pairs" shopping with not fully joined up appreciation of what they are supposed to be doing.
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I'd guess these 2 couples were early 40's ;)
 
joxby said:
I dunno if you are complaining about the distance people are leaving between themselves, and as a consequence the thought that the queue may eventually escape the car park.
Or that its just busy.
People stand where they feel comfortable, and that is ok by me since the length of the queue matters far less than the number of people in it.
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Tesco had actually cordoned off an area of the car park for people to queue in. Because people were standing 2-3 times the recommended distance, or too busy messing about on their phones to notice the queue had actually moved, the queue was now spilling over into the rest of the car park and they were now standing by peoples cars. A bit hard to social distance when your now in close proximity to people needlessly standing where they shouldn't be.
 
broc said:
ram them with your trolley........at arms length. My son in law said their local Aldi were insisting every customer take a trolley as a means of forcing social distancing, he said it seemed to work.
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I'd opt for 4 trolleys......in a star configuration......with rotation and an elliptical orbit around the toilet roll aisle just in case there is a delivery from the mothership....lol
 
Ricardodaforce said:
So now we know the price of the stupidity of some elements of the British public.

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Surely stocking up on storecupboard items is a sensible policy right now?
E.g. I normally buy flour every week or two but instead placed a £30 order with Shipton Mills.
We normally good to the chip shop once a week, eat out once a week and have lunch at work or the kids have lunch at schools. All of this has too be purchased in the supermarkets instead.
 
I do the shopping solo every week, have done since long before this outbreak. The odd time the kids would tag along but then they remember my trolley rage and impatience for mankind so usually opt out.

I hate having to queue, but it's worth it when you do get in as there's less people inside - the less the better, it's the thing I hated most about regular shopping .... people! I queued yesterday for Tesco, I was about 12-13 spots back at start but it took no longer than 10 minutes, so less than a minute per spot if want to guesstimate how long you'll be in queue
 
Can you see this happening here?
No I didn't think so either ..

I've just had contact with a friend near Phoenix, Arizona.
He was going into Walmart and a guy was heading that way with a trolley load of bog roll.
My mate asked if it was defective ...
But no, It seems they are offering a refund on it !
 
@Cobra at the risk of running off topic - i have american friend who works for Costco - i don't know if it's the same here but people can return things at any time, even if they are broken or something? you should see the s*** she get left with.

Not panic buying, but i ordered some beer from Clapham Craft late last night (well just after midnight so technically today) and it's gonna arrive tomorrow. My craft beer bro recommended some places to support that are small etc (rather than beer hawk etc) - didn't expect it to be so speedy. if only the cat food delivery was this quick! haha
 
Our Tesco have closed the alcohol aisle to stop people browsing forever.....There is a member of staff to fetch your tipple on request.
 
Mozthecat said:
Our Tesco have closed the alcohol aisle to stop people browsing forever.....There is a member of staff to fetch your tipple on request.
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In our Tesco they always seem to be the quietest aisles. Easier to walk down without having to worry about keeping a distance from walking past someone.
 
Mozthecat said:
Our Tesco have closed the alcohol aisle to stop people browsing forever.....There is a member of staff to fetch your tipple on request.
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In my local Tesco that's usually the speediest aisle, it's the chocolate and sweets aisle that is always jammed up
 
dan_yell said:
i don't know if it's the same here but people can return things at any time,
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Yep its the same here.
It was a point about bog roll being returned ...
It'll never happen here ;)

Mozthecat said:
Our Tesco have closed the alcohol aisle to stop people browsing forever.....
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When I walked past it, it was open and no one in there.
 
dan_yell said:
@Cobra at the risk of running off topic - i have american friend who works for Costco - i don't know if it's the same here but people can return things at any time, even if they are broken or something? you should see the s*** she get left with.
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It is - I bought a TV from them about 15 years ago, about a month before the standard 5 year guarantee (that they offer) ran out, it developed a sound fault... So next time I was in I asked at customer service how to get it fixed. The response was "oh, yeah I can see you bought it in the Gateshead warehouse 4.95 years ago, just bring it in for a refund". So I did and unsurprisingly bought my next TV that day from Costco
 
@hunnymonster i had no idea this was how costco works and it seems kinda insane - maybe the majority of people do as you did andalways buy again in store. seems weird tho.

beer arrived this morning, hurrah! i have plenty of spirits so im totally sorted now.

I imagine the biscuit aisles must be quite busy. i will need some buttermint tea bags soon but asda don't sell them but now is not the time to be doing tours of supermarkets for one or two items. annoying. usually i'd do a sporadic tesco order to get them but obv not in these times!
 
dan_yell said:
but now is not the time to be doing tours of supermarkets
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Pre the apocalypses I used to do a "big shop" about once a month,
And as I pass a couple of "local express" on the way home, I'd nip in for a couple of bits here and there.
Having to think ahead and totally shop in advance to stop all that, is a bit of a PITA for me

#1stworldproblems
 
Cobra said:
Pre the apocalypses I used to do a "big shop" about once a month,
And as I pass a couple of "local express" on the way home, I'd nip in for a couple of bits here and there.
Having to think ahead and totally shop in advance to stop all that, is a bit of a PITA for me

#1stworldproblems
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Same here, monthly shop on Ocado and walk up the road to Waitrose for fresh stuff.
(no, not rich, but only supermarket in walking distance, free newspaper for spending a tenner saves me £2..20 as well)
Trying to get it all in one hit online is very hard, not keen on trolling round the shops though
Went the other day and it was horrible, so many people with no clue on keeping a safe distance
Others just downright stupid or ignorant, probably both
 
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dan_yell said:
i had no idea this was how costco works and it seems kinda insane - maybe the majority of people do as you did andalways buy again in store. seems weird tho.
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I had a similar experience with PC World. About 15 years ago I bought a convertible laptop with a 5 year extended warranty from them. The laptop beat the warranty to expiration by a couple of months and the parts were no longer available. The first iPads had just been put on sale and PC World offered me one of those with a three year extended warranty as a straight swap.

I still have the iPad. :)
 
For those unable to book a home delivery slot and can't face the idea of going to the supermarket, there is an alternative service.
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There are cheaper alternatives but less reliable.

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So, things that have changed since last week
Car parking is now free
Priority shopping for high risk oap's and NHS staff have been separated so they each go on different days
Shopping in pairs is banned, though that just seems to invite dingbats to take a trolley each.
Plastic screens up at checkout
A shouter has been placed mid queue outside advising shoppers of these changes
No eggs, spam, corned beef, sweetex, cheese&onion crisps, stuffed crust pizza, Tonto was not pleased with my subs..:confused:
 
corned beef and spam? have people really not got the message that food supplies are fairly decent and things like that are a bit overkill and just taking away from the people who do actually buy them regulary? so weird.

maybe they can also inform the queue of bog rolls stocks, as this will be the main thing i'll be after when i try this queuing lark.
 
joxby said:
So, things that have changed since last week
Car parking is now free
Priority shopping for high risk oap's and NHS staff have been separated so they each go on different days
Shopping in pairs is banned, though that just seems to invite dingbats to take a trolley each.
Plastic screens up at checkout
A shouter has been placed mid queue outside advising shoppers of these changes
No eggs, spam, corned beef, sweetex, cheese&onion crisps, stuffed crust pizza, Tonto was not pleased with my subs..:confused:
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The shopping in pairs ban will hopefully stay in place for good
So many times you see one of the pair, usually an old bloke just stood there like a useless appendage.
The woman then buys everything with the words, "i'll get these, you like them"
Just once I want the old geezer to say, " I hate those s***ty cheap things, get the nice ones"
Think they are only there as the transport driver, bloody nuisance hanging about gormlessly in the shop.
Why not just sit in the car and listen to the radio, got to be better than dragging round the supermarket
 
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joxby said:
So, things that have changed since last week
Car parking is now free
Priority shopping for high risk oap's and NHS staff have been separated so they each go on different days
Shopping in pairs is banned, though that just seems to invite dingbats to take a trolley each.
Plastic screens up at checkout
A shouter has been placed mid queue outside advising shoppers of these changes
No eggs, spam, corned beef, sweetex, cheese&onion crisps, stuffed crust pizza, Tonto was not pleased with my subs..:confused:
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I'm not sure if the Tesco we went to is still operating special times for nhs staff and oaps, but yesterday, they did have a woman walking up and down the queue asking if anyone was nhs, if they had their ID, they were escorted to the front of the queue, OAPs are obviously easier to spot, so automatically escorted to the front of the queue.
It did strike me as funny that they did have a sign up saying that OAPs and nhs could go to the front of the queue, except you had to be at the front of the queue to be able to read the sign.
 
tijuana taxi said:
The shopping in pairs ban will hopefully stay in place for good
So many times you see one of the pair, usually an old bloke just stood there like a useless appendage.
The woman then buys everything with the words, "i'll get these, you like them"
Just once I want the old geezer to say, " I hate those s***ty horrible cheap things, get the nice ones"
Think they are only there as the transport driver, bloody nuisance hanging about gormlessly in the shop.
Why not just sit in the car and listen to the radio, got to be better than dragging round the supermarket
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My wife and I go to Tesco together, but I have my trolley and get my own stuff and a few bits for my son, the wife gets the rest. I am done and back in the car in 10-15 minutes, the wife is anything upto 45 minutes later.
 
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