cactustwirly
Established Member
My Waitrose had a long queue, probably about 15 people deep
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Supermarkets and Covid-19
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My Waitrose had a long queue, probably about 15 people deep
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cactustwirly
Established Member
Waitrose and M&S are the worst with this, ignorant shoppers with their trolleys barging you out of the way.
Aldi and Lidl on the other hand, are pretty good, their customers on the whole are more considerate.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
I think in Aldi and Lidl (noting what I said upthread about people letting you skip the queue if you only have a few items) people do by and large "get" that to sustain the low prices you have to play along with the system that allows them to be that low. So adding a bit extra to it temporarily is within their ability to handle things.
I personally always find it the other way round!
Then do a number of smaller shops. No one is counting how many times you visit the shops.
I have never been barged out of the way in M&S. Refuse to use Waitrose as a matter of principle.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Er, why? What, other than it being a bit expensive (M&S is pricier IME) is your reason for that?
james60059
Member
I must admit, since the social distancing and one way aisles were implemented, shopping has been more of a pleasurable experience, no people barging past, and scrums for an empty checkout. I mostly shop at Morrisons or Tesco.
The nearest Waitrose to us, which we did use from time to time, advertised that they were starting home delivery and had an introductory promotional offer. Someone from work recommended it. I logged on to set up on order but got a message saying they did not deliver to our address. I contacted them to ask why and was told we were "too far away from the store". I pointed out that we lived less than 3 miles from the store whereas my work colleague, to whom they had happily delivered, lived more than 5 miles from the store. They then started waffling on about the “wrong direction”. It was pretty obvious that they did not want to deliver to us because our area was only a ‘mid-ranking’ one whilst my colleague lived in one of the leafiest parts of town.
Certainly would not use them again – we have a choice of M&S, Sainsbury’s, Tescos, Morrisons, Asda, Aldi & Lidl which are at least as easy to reach.
Sainsbury's have recently introduced the ridiculous 'one adult per shop' system so we now concentrate on M&S and Morrisons.
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In what way is it ridiculous? If a couple is in the shop then they are stopping one other person doing their shopping, slowing down the queues for everyone. Obviously there are exceptions, like shopping with small children, but how is it fair to make everyone else have to wait longer?
bramling
Veteran Member
I’d expect a couple from the same household to get round far more quickly and efficiently than one person. And it would certainly save time at the checkouts.
This seems like something which hasn’t been properly thought through. Certainly we went to Tesco’s last weekend (at a non-busy time) and we had a relatively sedate and relaxing amble round the deserted homeware section, followed by a fairly military-efficiency operation in the rest of the store.
What should be banned is people taking the whole family, which still seems to be happening in places. I *hope* this isn’t happening simply as a means of finding something to occupy the kids, but is instead due to genuine childcare issues.
I think that’s highly likely. I don’t know if you’ve got younger children? But if this had happened to us a few years ago I could easily see a situation where we would’ve been forced into taking at least two kids (and possibly my other half) with me to go to the supermarket due to various different reasons.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Why? That would only be true if you're discussing what you're going to get. You need to do that (including possible alternatives) before you go. And it would make sense, assuming a disability doesn't preclude it, to have the person who normally makes those decisions be the one that shops. (In most families food shopping is the preserve of one or the other person, not so much both).
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The forum loves niches and this is another one. The situation exists where they would have to but it is not common.
You could have the situation where one adult drives but is disabled, and the other one shops. But then you can take the kids to the supermarket but sit in the car with them.
Single parents often don't have a choice (particularly as they can't leave the kids with their parents at the moment) however there are in normal times a lot of full families of "mum, dad and 2.4 kids" in supermarkets treating it as a day out, and that is not really on at the moment if it really ever is.
krus_aragon
Established Member
It would save some time at the checkouts, but I'd take three times as long in the aisles if I took my wife along with me!
Why is it ridiculous?
We have a global pandemic at the moment.
Social distancing is part of the Governments guidance to mitigate this.
This means the number of people allowed to enter a supermarket at any one time needs to be limited (meaning people potentially have to queue before being allowed in)
If one adult per shop is allowed in then it means representatives from more 'households' can enter the store at the same time, reducing the queue length outside the store.
Am I missing something.....
I have seem some strange assertions on here, but this takes some beating. How does shopping as a couple stop someone else from doing their shopping. The queue at the checkout is actually speeded up as one person continues putting the shopping into the trolley as the other pays, rather than having to either (i) take everything off the belt and then pay or (ii) pay and then finish packing the shopping.
It would appear so.
The queue outside 'one person' Sainsbury's always seems to be longer than the queue at 'two person' Morrisons. 2 out of 3 times there is actually no queue outside Morrisons anyway. I have never seen a queue outside 'two person' M&S.
Sainsbury's have more customers than Morrisons and M&S.
I have no idea what the situation is in "most families" - I don't even know how other people on our street do it. What I do know, is that we do the big shop together which, as others have said, speeds things up and allows everything to be bought in one visit rather than two.
221129
Established Member
It also allows you to get more items and therefore less trips to the shops overall if neither of you drive.
Well, good luck to them, but our Sainsbury's now has at least two fewer customers than before.
Indeed.
Qwerty133
Established Member
If they constantly have a queue to get in they probably welcome having two fewer customers, especially as said customers are unwilling to follow the perfectly reasonable rules.
Same here. Waitrose ask those ignoring the request if they would mind one of them waiting outside and most, having been asked, sheepishly agree. It seems that here, a specific number of shoppers in the store at a time has been determined and a one out - one in system operated. If couples turn up, not only are they delaying their entrance until two have left, but they are also delaying everybody else behind them as well. It seems that couples who enter the store then act as if it was a normal shopping visit, standing across gangways or side by side alongside shelves cogitating over the details of their purchases. Self-awareness doesn't seem to be seem to be much in presence, either inside or outside stores.
I don’t see how it’s a strange assertion at all, but I’ll try to explain it simply. A couple going in to a shop with a limited number of customers in it takes up 2 spaces, instead of one. When this happens every single customer afterwards needs to wait outside for longer than they would’ve otherwise. Meaning the queue is longer than necessary.
And from my experience couples are not faster to shop, and only fractionally faster at packing at the checkouts than individuals. And anyway, checkouts is not the main bottleneck for the rate people go through, it’s how long they take to shop.
You can wait outside, and bring everything to the front in a trolley if you need two people to carry it home.
Two people together is a disaster for social distancing as they block the aisle (especially as couples rarely pay attention to anything else going on around them......)
Nothing stopping one person waiting outside to carry the stuff home.
Things are obviously different where you are then. Here customers are encouraged to join the staffed checkout queue with signage and staff directing people towards it. Direct access to the self checkouts is blocked off from all but one shopping aisle and two thirds of the self checkouts have been taken out of service to faciltate social distancing. As for scan and go, I have no idea what that is.
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