Supermarkets and Covid-19

[Enthusiast]

Over 50% of shoppers seemed to be wearing masks and giving dirty looks and a wide berth to anyone who wasn't,

But you get a nicer class of "dirty look" in Waitrose, though. If you can see it from behind the mask, that is.

 

[nlogax]

But you get a nicer class of "dirty look" in Waitrose, though. If you can see it from behind the mask, that is.

Masks don't stop Waitrose shoppers' huffing and tutting from being audible

 

[birchesgreen]

Waitrose staff do have access to masks but its up to the partner if they want to wear them or not, i suspect wearing a mask all day would be rather unpleasant.

 

[DannyMich2018]

We're lucky in our town as we have Asda, Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi, Iceland and Lidl!! To be honest queues in most have got less as garden centres, DIY stores and now other shops are open and people dont have to go supermarkets so much now for stuff such as clothes, DIY stuff, homeware etc. A long queue is rare now in most stores even at the weekend. Bit upset though as asda stopped selling my fave Hovis bread...

 

[adc82140]

I'm rather liking Iceland at the moment. No one way systems, no one on the door barking orders, no floor markings. Just a polite notice at the entrance reminding everyone to maintain appropriate distances.

Co op and Nisa are fine too. I swear I will never shop at Tesco or Sainsbury's after this. They've handled it terribly.

 

[Bantamzen]

I'm rather liking Iceland at the moment. No one way systems, no one on the door barking orders, no floor markings. Just a polite notice at the entrance reminding everyone to maintain appropriate distances.

Co op and Nisa are fine too. I swear I will never shop at Tesco or Sainsbury's after this. They've handled it terribly.

The Snakes & Ladders system with it's one way system divided into 2 metre boxes was probably one of the daftest so-called Covid-Solutions I've seen to date, with perhaps the exception of the Waterstone's proposed book quarantine. The idea that people will shuffle slowly around a store box by box until they get to the end, whilst presumably staff restocking the shelves would also have to feed into this was just insane. I'd honestly recommend some help for whomever sat around a virtual meeting room and said "I got an idea, how about a one way system with socially distanced boxes? What could go wrong?".

I haven't used Sainsburys since working from home, but I do forgive my local Tesco Express whose staff took one look at the resulting shuffle on Day +1 of lockdown, scratched their heads and just thought "stuff it", so long as people aren't taking the you-know-what, just let them get one with it!

 

[birchesgreen]

My Coop did plan out a one way system but either abandoned it as unworkable or was just ignored anyway. One rather major drawback of adhering to the system would be you would have to pass every check out queue (and thus pass closely to people) even if you didn't want any items in a certain aisle...

 

[Bletchleyite]

I'm rather liking Iceland at the moment. No one way systems, no one on the door barking orders, no floor markings. Just a polite notice at the entrance reminding everyone to maintain appropriate distances.

Co op and Nisa are fine too. I swear I will never shop at Tesco or Sainsbury's after this. They've handled it terribly.

Tesco seem to have very much used the "rentathug" approach, finding, in my observation, their thuggiest member of staff to stand on the door and manage the queue in a very unfriendly manner.

I was a bit unimpressed with Waitrose (mentioned above) to be honest - they were said to have "partners" acting as a welcome to those in the queue, sanitising and handing out trolleys, but they did none of those things - just a contract security guard, albeit a fairly polite one. It was an acceptable experience but it wasn't a premium one becoming of the impression they like to give.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

Tesco seem to have very much used the "rentathug" approach, finding, in my observation, their thuggiest member of staff to stand on the door and manage the queue in a very unfriendly manner.

Interesting - from what my Mum has said, it's usually a very cheery member of staff on the door of our local Tesco, always engaging in conversation and being as helpful as possible.

 

[SteveM70]

I did my first “big shop” since lockdown yesterday, at the massive Tesco in Burnley. Mid afternoon and it was far from busy, but their one way system was mad, with direction of travel in the aisles converging in the central cross aisle rather than flowing all the way from front to back, so people crossing each other’s paths in the middle. There also appeared to be a single queue for everyone from the majority with their trolleys down to the bloke trying to buy a sandwich

Simple stuff that could be changed to make it better, though I doubt it will be now

 

[High Dyke]

Tesco seem to have very much used the "rentathug" approach, finding, in my observation, their thuggiest member of staff to stand on the door and manage the queue in a very unfriendly manner.

I was a bit unimpressed with Waitrose (mentioned above) to be honest - they were said to have "partners" acting as a welcome to those in the queue, sanitising and handing out trolleys, but they did none of those things - just a contract security guard, albeit a fairly polite one. It was an acceptable experience but it wasn't a premium one becoming of the impression they like to give.

Sorry, I misread that as 'Rentahug'.

Called in at a village Co-op yesterday, after work. Maximum 10 customers in the store. The two pitfalls of that were (a) Did that include those at the Post Office counter; (b) The staff member that authorised me to enter couldn't remember how many were actually in the store at that time.

My good lady was impressed with Waitrose, Lincoln. It's the first shop that's had jam sugar in stock. That and red Goosegogs. She'll be busy stewing them or making even more jam now.

 

[Busaholic]

My Coop did plan out a one way system but either abandoned it as unworkable or was just ignored anyway. One rather major drawback of adhering to the system would be you would have to pass every check out queue (and thus pass closely to people) even if you didn't want any items in a certain aisle...

My Coop not only planned this nonsense but brought it in and continue to operate it, although a couple of the more regular, sensible staff make no attempt to enforce it and even, privately, express their contempt for it. As you say, if I go just go in to get my newspapers I'm now expected to navigate four aisles rather than about six metres to the papers and then either two, four or six metres to the nearest open checkout. Yes, I continue to use it because it's less than 100 metres from my house and because, having MS, alternative shops are about eight minutes away on a good day

 

[Baxenden Bank]

My Coop not only planned this nonsense but brought it in and continue to operate it, although a couple of the more regular, sensible staff make no attempt to enforce it and even, privately, express their contempt for it. As you say, if I go just go in to get my newspapers I'm now expected to navigate four aisles rather than about six metres to the papers and then either two, four or six metres to the nearest open checkout. Yes, I continue to use it because it's less than 100 metres from my house and because, having MS, alternative shops are about eight minutes away on a good day

My local co-op has three aisles, so if you were to have a proper one-way system you would have to enter through the normal door and exit, without paying, through the stockroom. Haven't been in since early April to see how it is getting on as as they stopped stocking the two lines I specifically went to it for.

 

[Skutter]

More importantly, what about the small tins of Heinz beans and sausages that they've stopped producing?

Seen (and purchased) in my Sainsburys yesterday, first time since March.

 

[Busaholic]

My local co-op has three aisles, so if you were to have a proper one-way system you would have to enter through the normal door and exit, without paying, through the stockroom. Haven't been in since early April to see how it is getting on as as they stopped stocking the two lines I specifically went to it for.

Yep, my local Co-op has three aisles too: in order to get the papers I am expected to walk down aisle one, one-way, then retrace my footsteps along the length of aisle two to the end where the papers reside, then turn right again into aisle one (because aisle two is one-way as well) then across the back of the store to aisle three to join the queue or, more likely, go straight to the tills. Then, if there's more than one till operating, you have to pass the person being served at the nearest till within centimetres to access a further till. You really couldn't make it up: you're likely to have come into close proximity with at least four other customers or staff, whereas a look in the store from the door, grab the papers and go to the till would see near contact with one other at most. We're 'led' by knaves and fools!

 

[sheff1]

I swear I will never shop at Tesco or Sainsbury's after this. They've handled it terribly.

Same here - they lost our custom months ago.

Other than a couple of teething problems we have had no issues at Morrison's or M&S and they are getting our 'big shop' custom from now on. The smaller supermarkets / mini-markets we use for 'grab & go' purchase have been welcoming and efficient throughout as, of course, have been the independent butchers, bakers etc.

 

[al78]

My local Tesco is still decent to shop at, if I avoid peak times I can be queueing to get in for 10 minutes max, and once in, it is easy to move about even following the arrows because the number of customers is limited. The staff occasionally have a whiteboard at the entrance saying things like "Tell us your funniest joke", or "Ask us any question". I took them up on the second one.

It looks like the climate here in the SE is transitioning back to normal weather, rather than the semi-arid nonsense of the last three months, so it is going to be interesting to see what happens with the outdoor queueing when it starts raining properly far more frequently.

 

[Bald Rick]

Same here - they lost our custom months ago.

Other than a couple of teething problems we have had no issues at Morrison's or M&S and they are getting our 'big shop' custom from now on. The smaller supermarkets / mini-markets we use for 'grab & go' purchase have been welcoming and efficient throughout as, of course, have been the independent butchers, bakers etc.

Here in St Albans, Sainsbury’s have been generally brilliant, Morrison’s so-so. The Tesco’s are all baby versions, so not really comparable; although I’ve only recently realised they have a one way system which I have been cheerfully ignorant of as I dash around the aisles.

 

[CrispyUK]

Here in St Albans, Sainsbury’s have been generally brilliant, Morrison’s so-so. The Tesco’s are all baby versions, so not really comparable; although I’ve only recently realised they have a one way system which I have been cheerfully ignorant of as I dash around the aisles.

It is interesting the differences you see between different branches of the same stores. My nearest Sainsbury’s has been great and where I’ve done most of my shopping over the last few weeks. The store on my route home from work however, whilst not terrible, manages their entrance/exit in a completely different and baffling way that I cannot understand the logic behind!

 

[Jamesrob637]

My local Tesco is still decent to shop at, if I avoid peak times I can be queueing to get in for 10 minutes max, and once in, it is easy to move about even following the arrows because the number of customers is limited. The staff occasionally have a whiteboard at the entrance saying things like "Tell us your funniest joke", or "Ask us any question". I took them up on the second one.

It looks like the climate here in the SE is transitioning back to normal weather, rather than the semi-arid nonsense of the last three months, so it is going to be interesting to see what happens with the outdoor queueing when it starts raining properly far more frequently.

The SE has the driest climate in summer so I'd be okay with short queues down there. In fact my local supermarket in Plymouth provided the only air-conditioning for me last week as that in my car has given up and naturally my mum's isn't air-conditioned!

 

[Tom B]

I understand that the precise measures adopted at each store are down to the manager to decide; for instance, whether to use the security blokes on the door, bring in additional agency security, or use in-house staff - what form of one-way system to adopt - what capacity to allow in (which may vary depending on time of day - for instance, being slightly lower in the morning to account for dotcom order pickers). This would probably lead to the differences in approach seen above.

 

[al78]

The SE has the driest climate in summer so I'd be okay with short queues down there. In fact my local supermarket in Plymouth provided the only air-conditioning for me last week as that in my car has given up and naturally my mum's isn't air-conditioned!

The SE has been exceptionally dry since lockdown started, so even queueing for nearly an hour wasn't unpleasant in 20C and sunshine. The SE did get a lot of rain in February (like almost everyone else did), and at some point we are going to get another soaking wet month, at which point people are going to be less tolerant of standing outside for half an hour to do their weekly shop.

 

[bramling]

The SE has been exceptionally dry since lockdown started, so even queueing for nearly an hour wasn't unpleasant in 20C and sunshine. The SE did get a lot of rain in February (like almost everyone else did), and at some point we are going to get another soaking wet month, at which point people are going to be less tolerant of standing outside for half an hour to do their weekly shop.

At some point we will be back to a westerlies pattern, if not there already. This is a fairly well understood feature of U.K. weather, which normally occurs some time around June.

Indeed the transition from wall-to-wall blue sky a couple of weeks ago to cloudy unsettled days suggests that this has already happened.

That’s not to say we won’t see fine weather over the summer, however it’s quite likely we’ve seen the end of what we saw over April and May.

How that might affect those supermarket queues and beer gardens of course remains to be seen.

 

[Jamesrob637]

At some point we will be back to a westerlies pattern, if not there already. This is a fairly well understood feature of U.K. weather, which normally occurs some time around June.

Indeed the transition from wall-to-wall blue sky a couple of weeks ago to cloudy unsettled days suggests that this has already happened.

That’s not to say we won’t see fine weather over the summer, however it’s quite likely we’ve seen the end of what we saw over April and May.

How that might affect those supermarket queues and beer gardens of course remains to be seen.

To be fair, April and May were pretty exceptional. Even the west saw very little rain, and most of what did fall was overnight. A good British summer consists of many sunny days but also a scattering of showers.

 

[al78]

At some point we will be back to a westerlies pattern, if not there already. This is a fairly well understood feature of U.K. weather, which normally occurs some time around June.

Indeed the transition from wall-to-wall blue sky a couple of weeks ago to cloudy unsettled days suggests that this has already happened.

That’s not to say we won’t see fine weather over the summer, however it’s quite likely we’ve seen the end of what we saw over April and May.

How that might affect those supermarket queues and beer gardens of course remains to be seen.

I agree. It looks like the blocked pattern has broken down and we have gone back to more normal weather, sunny intervals with occasional rain. I'll be interested to see what happens with the outdoor queueing when we get the slow moving Atlantic depression bringing hours of steady rain.

 

[bramling]

To be fair, April and May were pretty exceptional. Even the west saw very little rain, and most of what did fall was overnight. A good British summer consists of many sunny days but also a scattering of showers.

Having had a couple of disasters over the last couple of years (I say disaster in a philosophical way as anyone who takes U.K. holidays knows weather is an occupational hazard!), I've done a bit of layman's analysis of how the weather has behaved over the last few years, and there is a definite trend that May tends to produce a dependable amount of dry and sunny weather compared to other months, April also to some extent but less reliably so. There has been a definite trend over the last few years for July to be dodgy, which does fit with the general trend (even in the well-regarded 2018 summer there was a tidemark, albeit that year it came later than usual). Another observation is that once things return to unsettled grey skies mixed with wind and rain it seems to have had a habit of remaining like it for the rest of the summer.

Ultimately we perhaps got lucky over April and May that as well as fine weather it wasn't too hot, which could also have been problematic with people queuing in the open-air. A solution will need to be found to this, as it's going to lead to frayed tempers - I get the sense there's already quite a bit of pent-up anger and frustration floating around, and queuing outside in the wind and rain isn't going to help that.

One other semi-related thing to watch will be if many people decide to do "staycations" this year - bad summer weather could well result in a couple of scenarios, some deciding to cancel at the last minute, or others deciding never again - neither of which would ultimately be good for UK businesses.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Having had a couple of disasters over the last couple of years (I say disaster in a philosophical way as anyone who takes U.K. holidays knows weather is an occupational hazard!), I've done a bit of layman's analysis of how the weather has behaved over the last few years, and there is a definite trend that May tends to produce a dependable amount of dry and sunny weather compared to other months, April also to some extent but less reliably so. There has been a definite trend over the last few years for July to be dodgy, which does fit with the general trend (even in the well-regarded 2018 summer there was a tidemark, albeit that year it came later than usual). Another observation is that once things return to unsettled grey skies mixed with wind and rain it seems to have had a habit of remaining like it for the rest of the summer.

Ultimately we perhaps got lucky over April and May that as well as fine weather it wasn't too hot, which could also have been problematic with people queuing in the open-air. A solution will need to be found to this, as it's going to lead to frayed tempers - I get the sense there's already quite a bit of pent-up anger and frustration floating around, and queuing outside in the wind and rain isn't going to help that.

One other semi-related thing to watch will be if many people decide to do "staycations" this year - bad summer weather could well result in a couple of scenarios, some deciding to cancel at the last minute, or others deciding never again - neither of which would ultimately be good for UK businesses.

Well there are enough construction workers who could erect quick yet secure canopies. They'd have to be covered at the sides too though, as rain doesn't always fall vertically! The canopies which go between the rows of car park spaces are completely ineffective in anything other than drizzle.

 

[james60059]

The smaller supermarkets / mini-markets we use for 'grab & go' purchase have been welcoming and efficient throughout as, of course, have been the independent butchers, bakers etc.

I know some have been slated in the media as profiteering, but local corner shops have been super, well in my area anyway. They rigorously enforced the "1 per customer" on loo roll and hand wash in the early days when people went mad, and the prices remained the same - and they still do enforce it even though things appear to have settled down now.

I was in Sainsbury's back in March, and one customer brought 9 packs of anti-bacterial wipes even though the signage was clear "3 per customer" - the checkout op put them in separate transactions, with the last 3 going in with the main shop. Whether it was because the checkout op was afraid of confrontation or not with the customer I don't know.

 

[james60059]

More importantly, what about the small tins of Heinz beans and sausages that they've stopped producing?

My better half got some from Morrisons yesterday. So they are still about

 

[route101]

At some point we will be back to a westerlies pattern, if not there already. This is a fairly well understood feature of U.K. weather, which normally occurs some time around June.

Indeed the transition from wall-to-wall blue sky a couple of weeks ago to cloudy unsettled days suggests that this has already happened.

That’s not to say we won’t see fine weather over the summer, however it’s quite likely we’ve seen the end of what we saw over April and May.

How that might affect those supermarket queues and beer gardens of course remains to be seen.

In Scotland the weather usually turns in July to become more unsettled. August is usually quite damp