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Supermarkets and Covid-19

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CrispyUK

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I can't help thinking that some of these solutions needed a bit more thought!
A bit like the handy sanitisation stations in the supermarket entrance so you can wipe down your trolley handle, the one you’ve had your hands all over for 30 minutes already in the queue outside...
 
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Pete_uk

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With all this cueing in supermarkets, doesnt that mean you spend more time inside a beeezeless are and thus more at risk of picking things up?
 

Hadders

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With all this cueing in supermarkets, doesnt that mean you spend more time inside a beeezeless are and thus more at risk of picking things up?

You queue outside the supermarket, not inside.
 

WM Bus

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You queue outside the supermarket, not inside.
The queue inside can be long as well sometimes - one day it went all the way to the back and along the back of the shop.
And half the tills aren't in use still so probably is longer than before.
 

Hadders

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The queue for the tills might appear longer but that's because there is a 2 meter gap between customers.

Fewer tills are open, although screens have been installed in many supermarkets now allowing more tills to open, but numbers inside the store are being restricted which helps to reduce the number of people in the queue.
 

sheff1

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One thing that does occur to me though, and that is the issue of the plastic screens at checkouts. Many seem just to be directly in front of the staff, but most people have to move past in order to pack and often inside of 2m. In fact the screens are in the place where customers interact with staff the least as one checkout lady pointed out to me the other day. All this feels like a gigantic effort to give the illusion of doing something, whilst actually creating a whole raft of new problems.

A local mini-market has gone one better - the screen runs from the checkout operator to the end of the (small) packing area which means that to pack the customer has go round the end and stand next to the operator ! Of course, being in Yorkshire, the operators are usually happy to chat whilst the shopper is packing thus increasing the length of time they are in close proximity. I only go there for milk so no packing required.

Not a supermarket, but the chippy has erected a screen.... but with no gap to hand over your money (cash only) so both you and the server have to step to the side of the screen to complete the transaction.

You couldn't make it up.
 
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Bantamzen

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A local mini-market has gone one better - the screen runs from the checkout operator to the end of the (small) packing area which means that to pack the customer has go round the end and stand next to the operator ! Of course, being in Yorkshire, the operators are usually happy to chat whilst the shopper is packing thus increasing the length of time they are in close proximity. I only go there for milk so no packing required.

Not a supermarket, but the chippy has erected a screen.... but with no gap to hand over your money (cash only) so both you and the server have to step to the side of the screen to complete the transaction.

You couldn't make it up.

Oh dear, but I suppose for screen manufacturers & installers its boom time. However supermarkets are sooner or later going to have to figure out how to return to normal checkout capacity. Do they simply return to previous configurations or are they going to need to completely redesign store layouts? They have kind of made rods for their own backs with some, let's say slightly less than intuitive solutions.
 

CaptainHaddock

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A local mini-market has gone one better - the screen runs from the checkout operator to the end of the (small) packing area which means that to pack the customer has go round the end and stand next to the operator ! Of course, being in Yorkshire, the operators are usually happy to chat whilst the shopper is packing thus increasing the length of time they are in close proximity. I only go there for milk so no packing required.

Not a supermarket, but the chippy has erected a screen.... but with no gap to hand over your money (cash only) so both you and the server have to step to the side of the screen to complete the transaction.

You couldn't make it up.

Call me naive but I was quite surprised the other day to find that, if you pay by contactless card, it works through the plastic screening so the card never actually touches the card machine.
 

westv

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Call me naive but I was quite surprised the other day to find that, if you pay by contactless card, it works through the plastic screening so the card never actually touches the card machine.

It isn't called contactless for nothing. :)
 

Mag_seven

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OK its time to remind ourselves that this thread is specifically to talk about supermarkets and COVID-19. If anyone wants to discuss anything else then feel free to start a new thread.
 

111-111-1

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Been to large Tesco. First time since COVID19.

No queue to get in in evening hand sanitiser at door

1 way system good but cannot get to self scan til without going away from arrows, but that they say is ok.

self scan ok but i get random check, no problem all payed for but no distancing while doing check.
 

Jamesrob637

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Been to large Tesco. First time since COVID19.

No queue to get in in evening hand sanitiser at door

1 way system good but cannot get to self scan til without going away from arrows, but that they say is ok.

self scan ok but i get random check, no problem all payed for but no distancing while doing check.

2pm yesterday. Tesco Stockport. A massive store. 2 minute moving queue to enter - tolerable for 99% of the population. Almost everything in stock. Most people adhering to the one-way system. Small queue for the tills but again only a few minutes and staff were being polite but strict in directing you to an open checkout. Had way too much stuff for the self-service till.

Overall food shopping is a slightly/noticeably more agreeable experience than a month or two ago if you pick the right time to go, however there is still some way to go to get back to normal circumstances.

Just hope we won't still be queueing up for shops when the weather gets worse after October. Fine at the moment with the warm and sunny conditions which are set to last for a while.
 

Antman

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My local supermarkets have been OK, queue always looks worse because of social distancing but I've never waited more than 10 minutes to get in.
 

Darandio

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Not a supermarket as such, but Poundstretcher are selling masks at the till for £1 each. They are using a questionable method to sell them though, telling people that everyone is supposed to be wearing one.
 

Butts

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I get off my Empty Train arriving from Edinburgh into Falkirk Grahamston at 0645 and am inside an empty Tesco 5 minutes later.

The store is deserted, no queues, and you can "double back" without getting shouted at!

Glad a lot of people are happy to queue by attending later !!
 
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Enthusiast

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I find some of that is down to the idiots dithering in the aisles! Just go in get your shopping and get out!
They are not idiots. They are people doing their shopping. If this country is to get back to normal (which it must) the idea that shoppers must "get their shopping and get out" must be scotched. This is especially so from next week when all shops are allowed to open. Many shops cannot turn a profit if their customers get their shopping and get out. Supermarkets make a lot of their profit from "browsers" (there's a whole industry devoted to product placement, store layouts, etc.). Many people seem to believe that "Social Distancing" will prevail for the foreseeable future. It cannot and it won't.
 

Mojo

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I must admit to finding this whole thing very confusing, all supermarket branches seem to be doing their own thing, and there is no way of knowing what to do aside from getting scolded and spoken down to by supermarket staff.

Last week we went to the coast and stopped off at a Morrisons in a small south coast town. There was one person at the checkout who was in the process of paying so we walked up to the belt and was told to join a (non existent) queue in one of the aisles. About 3 Minutes later we were back at the same checkout, in the same position.

Yesterday, on another daytrip, we went shopping in another town, outside of London, and the man on the door asked us, when we went in to keep apart. Thinking I'd misheard, I'd asked him to repeat and he said it again. I was totally baffled by this, as in other shops I've been into, they ask where you have two people shopping together that you try and stay together whilst in the shop and not split up!
 

al78

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With all this cueing in supermarkets, doesnt that mean you spend more time inside a beeezeless are and thus more at risk of picking things up?

In my experience of two supermarkets all the queuing (cueing is what you do when playing snooker :smile:) is outside the entrance, once in there I can walk around and shop freely, obeying the arrows as much as is practical. Because the staff are limiting the number in the store at any one time, the checkouts are not very busy, and I tend to use the self service machines, which have a shorter queuing time as there is one queue for eight machines.
 

al78

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They are not idiots. They are people doing their shopping. If this country is to get back to normal (which it must) the idea that shoppers must "get their shopping and get out" must be scotched. This is especially so from next week when all shops are allowed to open. Many shops cannot turn a profit if their customers get their shopping and get out. Supermarkets make a lot of their profit from "browsers" (there's a whole industry devoted to product placement, store layouts, etc.). Many people seem to believe that "Social Distancing" will prevail for the foreseeable future. It cannot and it won't.

It would be ideal if people "doing their shopping" could have a bit of thought and not put themselves in the most obstructive place possible when facing the fundamental question of life as to what variety and flavour of pasta sauce to buy. An example would be don't stand in the middle of the aisle with your trolley, park the trolley to the side of the aisle, that leaves room for people to get past.
 

The_Train

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My local Aldi goes from having people on the doors allowing 1 in as 1 comes out one week to having no-one managing queues and people going in as they please the next week - no consistency. What I will say though is that they have distance markers down on the floor and despite there being no member of staff managing the entrance on Sunday just gone, everyone going in was waiting for the person in front to clear the first marker to maintain social distancing at the entrance.

Unfortunately it all went downhill after that as I then had to encounter those unable to read the direction of an arrow, that bloke who can't shop by aisle and works his way from top to bottom on his list - meaning he is literally all over the place and even worse, my first experience of the 'I'm wearing a face mask so social distancing and other rules don't apply to me' brigade.
 

Mag_seven

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We are just going to have to accept that social distancing in most settings such as supermarkets doesn't work and is unenforceable. Either the government need to scrap it or people will just scrap it themselves.
 

Pete_uk

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My local Iceland is as about as small as a supermarket can get. The one woman in there gets the hump when people get close to each other but they have no choice.

I did have to smile though, there was a guy shopping with his face mask down over his chin with his nose and mouth not covered.

What a ....
 

sheff1

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I find some of that is down to the idiots dithering in the aisles! Just go in get your shopping and get out!

Idiots ? The queues are people waiting to pay. If supermarkets are happy for me to get my shopping and get out without paying that is fine by me.
 

LowLevel

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It is easy to judge but we are all better at some things than others. I can deal with blood and guts, aggression, heights, tight spaces and nasty messes without so much as a second thought but put me in a bloody supermarket and unless it's fairly quiet and I am at liberty to go back for the things I've inevitably missed then I am well out of my comfort zone and liable to have issues.

The best one I have come across is my local Sainsburys. It's a good size, they are sensible with numbers (someone is on the door counting in and out), don't have a one way system and don't have anyone marshalling you into a queue at gunpoint.

At no point did I find myself on top of anyone or indeed within 2 metres. I didn't have a crisis because nipping back down an empty aisle having not worked out washing machine capsules and dishwasher capsules are at opposite ends of the store is forbidden on pain of death by tutting.

Having a one way system is all well and good if you're familiar with the store and where to find things. When you're juggling two shopping lists and a lifetime loathing of shops it's a waking nightmare.
 

High Dyke

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They are not idiots. They are people doing their shopping. If this country is to get back to normal (which it must) the idea that shoppers must "get their shopping and get out" must be scotched. This is especially so from next week when all shops are allowed to open. Many shops cannot turn a profit if their customers get their shopping and get out. Supermarkets make a lot of their profit from "browsers" (there's a whole industry devoted to product placement, store layouts, etc.). Many people seem to believe that "Social Distancing" will prevail for the foreseeable future. It cannot and it won't.
They need to get a wiggle on then, and not stand in the aisles browsing.
Idiots ? The queues are people waiting to pay. If supermarkets are happy for me to get my shopping and get out without paying that is fine by me.
Funnily enough, just earlier in my local Morrison's there were plenty of dithering people browsing the aisles and getting in the way. I know what I'm shopping for and try to make the whole experience as easy as possible. I obtained the items I required, then had to dodge both staff and customers dithering in the aisles as I made my way to the near enough empty checkout area.
 

6862

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Many people seem to believe that "Social Distancing" will prevail for the foreseeable future. It cannot and it won't.

I hope you are right and 'social distancing' goes down the pan soon, but I can't see the government dropping it any time soon - after all it's not just the UK doing 'social distancing', and if the government were to drop it completely while other countries continue the backlash would be massive. While compliance may decrease among individuals and perhaps even small businesses, I doubt that larger organisations are going to stop enforcing it any time soon. That's not to say that they won't reduce the 2m rule for example, but I think a significant chunk of 'social distancing' will be part of the so-called 'new normal'. We've already seen that the government has the power to remove a huge amount of our freedom overnight, granted some of it is returning, so I think it's not unreasonable to think that they will withold much of our freedom for a long time yet.
 

CaptainHaddock

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They need to get a wiggle on then, and not stand in the aisles browsing.

Funnily enough, just earlier in my local Morrison's there were plenty of dithering people browsing the aisles and getting in the way. I know what I'm shopping for and try to make the whole experience as easy as possible. I obtained the items I required, then had to dodge both staff and customers dithering in the aisles as I made my way to the near enough empty checkout area.

One of the odd things I've seen in supermarkets is people scared to pass the ditherers and instead backing up in a queue behind them until they move on. They don't sweem to relaise it's perfectly fine to walk past someone who's stopped in front of you, even if you might monetarily pass within two metres of them.
 
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