Supermarkets and Covid-19

[DB]

I was chatting to the security guard in Morrison’s this afternoon. Apparently the reason why they have reinstated the queues and temperature scanning in their stores is because they’ve received a high level of complaints from elderly customers who said they didn’t feel safe inside the store and wanted this to be reinstated so they could feel safer. At least that’s what he told me.

I wonder if they've balanced that against those who will walk away as a result and go to one of their compatitors.

But seriously, this is yet more stupidity if true. If they are so determined to cater for the paranoid, why not cater for them for part of the day, e.g. 9-12 alternate days, and behave normally the rest of the time.

The trouble is that a lot of people seem to believe that all this theatre makes a difference, when there's no actual evidence for this at all.

 

[island]

It makes plenty of difference for the people whom it makes feel safer, and customers who feel safer may done more.

Whether that offsets the people who decide to not enter because of the measures I do not know.

 

[kristiang85]

I was so happy when Morrissons disbanded their blooming queuing system, but to my dismay it is indeed now back. So today - even in a quiet time - the middle aisle was clogged up with trolleys waiting for the tills, which surely caused more bottlenecks of people.

For someone like me who knows exactly what I'm getting, and is generally in and out very quickly with minimal ground covered, it is incredibly annoying.

 

[DB]

It makes plenty of difference for the people whom it makes feel safer, and customers who feel safer may done more.

But it probably doesn't actually make them any safer, and this whole performance about making peole feel 'safe' becomes a vicious circle, where the measures reinforce the sense of danger, so more measures are demanded, and when they are introduced more are demanded. This is what we have seen with the gradual encroachment of the mask rules.

 

[Scrotnig]

Certainly at the store I was at today (Partick) they were

If it wasn’t a temperature scan then it involved pointing a device at each customer which beeped as they walked past, perhaps this is something else?

Could be counting people as they go past.

I would hope it's not a temperature scan, especially if they aren't even pointing it out.

Those temp check devices have to be specifically pointed at the forehead though I believe. They can't be randomly pointed at any part of the body.

 

[DelayRepay]

I don't mind queueing to get into the store, provided they are busy and the queue isn't just for show. Most of the time these days they are not so busy because they're doing more trade online and I think people who do go to the shop are doing bigger, less frequent shops.

I don't mind having a single queue for the checkouts. If it's properly organised it shouldn't take any longer than having individual queues and avoids all the 'unfairness' when you get stuck behind someone who's forgotten half their shop, has a card that doesn't work etc.

I don't mind the disinfectant to wipe down trolley handles, the hand sanitizer stations and the plastic screens.

I don't even mind the 2m floor markings and occasional posters/announcement about maintaining a distance.

I can just about accept wearing a face covering, and I understand that's the law and not the shop's choice anyway.

But if they try to take my temperature as a condition of entering, they have just lost a customer.

 

[bramling]

I was chatting to the security guard in Morrison’s this afternoon. Apparently the reason why they have reinstated the queues and temperature scanning in their stores is because they’ve received a high level of complaints from elderly customers who said they didn’t feel safe inside the store and wanted this to be reinstated so they could feel safer. At least that’s what he told me.

If true, this is simply not good enough. The working population simply don’t have the time to have to faff around, simply to appease other groups of people in “feeling safe”.

Perhaps we should be having segregated days for specific groups.

To be honest I’m getting to the point where my view is increasingly becoming that those who don’t feel safe should stay at home, simple as, with measures taken to mitigate against risk to people in their workplace and not a lot beyond that.

 

[stevetay3]

Maybe those that don’t feel safe should stay at home and let the rest of us with common sense get on with our life.

 

[adc82140]

I had a great experience at Asda today. There was a queue out the front. But I carried on driving, went round the back, and I was the only one there doing click and collect. Buzzed the intercom, my stuff was brought out 2 minutes later. No masks, no queue, no hassle.

 

[Busaholic]

Could be counting people as they go past.

I would hope it's not a temperature scan, especially if they aren't even pointing it out.

Those temp check devices have to be specifically pointed at the forehead though I believe. They can't be randomly pointed at any part of the body.

The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) makes it clear on every website that temperature checking/scanning is an unreliable method of detecting Coronavirus. 'Virtually useless' was the view of a Sage member (can't remember which) the other day.

 

[MattA7]

I could do with going to the my local asda (the only grocery store in the small town) but I’m absolutely dreading.
Especially as a neighbor said it’s like airport security. With one member of staff ensure everyone has a mask on and harassing those who don’t and a second member of staff ensure everyone uses the hand sanitizer and wipes down the handle of their shopping trolley/basket.

 

[45107]

I could do with going to the my local asda (the only grocery store in the small town) but I’m absolutely dreading.
Especially as a neighbor said it’s like airport security. With one member of staff ensure everyone has a mask on and harassing those who don’t and a second member of staff ensure everyone uses the hand sanitizer and wipes down the handle of their shopping trolley/basket.

Airport security ???

 

[MattA7]

Airport security ???

That’s what my neighbor compared it to with one member of staff checking mask compliance and a second checking hand sanitizer Has been used and The shopping trolley/basket disinfected before being allowed to enter the store

 

[kristiang85]

The Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) makes it clear on every website that temperature checking/scanning is an unreliable method of detecting Coronavirus. 'Virtually useless' was the view of a Sage member (can't remember which) the other day.

I always thought this too, but weirdly in Italy absolutely everywhere checks your temperature still (or last month anyway). It's not intrusive at all, so I didn't mind, but they must think there's some benefit as it is mandated it seems.

 

[45107]

That’s what my neighbor compared it to with one member of staff checking mask compliance and a second checking hand sanitizer Has been used and The shopping trolley/basket disinfected before being allowed to enter the store

Last time I went through an airport, I was subjected to a scan of my luggage & body. I was asked to remove belts and empty my pockets
That does not apply in supermarkets (or at least it doesn’t happen where I live)

 

[bramling]

I always thought this too, but weirdly in Italy absolutely everywhere checks your temperature still (or last month anyway). It's not intrusive at all, so I didn't mind, but they must think there's some benefit as it is mandated it seems.

To be honest I’ve no idea how effective it is, though the accuracy or the readings clearly leaves something to be desired. However as a measure it’s a wonderful way of being *seen* to do something, which will no doubt appeal to many.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I wonder if they've balanced that against those who will walk away as a result and go to one of their compatitors.

Almost none, you mean?

 

[WelshBluebird]

I get that it differs between stores and companies, but I simply cannot imagine going asda is anything like airport security.

I went to Tesco Saturday just gone and the only differences between normal were that I wore a mask, I used my own hand sanitiser before going in and after I came out, and people were giving each other more room than usual. It really wasn't that bad, nothing like an airport and not as traumatic as some people here having talked themselves into thinking.

As I said I accept other companies and other stores may do their own thing but come on, it really isn't that bad!

 

[DB]

Almost none, you mean?

Done a survey, have you? I don't know how many it will be, but it will be more than 'almost none' - even if they go in the first time they encounter it, they might well go somewhere else next week.

I get that it differs between stores and companies, but I simply cannot imagine going asda is anything like airport security.

I went to Tesco Saturday just gone and the only differences between normal were that I wore a mask, I used my own hand sanitiser before going in and after I came out, and people were giving each other more room than usual. It really wasn't that bad, nothing like an airport and not as traumatic as some people here having talked themselves into thinking.

As I said I accept other companies and other stores may do their own thing but come on, it really isn't that bad!

Tesco is (so far) being the most sensible - they were also the first of the big supermarkets to abolish the queues and one-way systems.

 

[MattA7]

I get that it differs between stores and companies, but I simply cannot imagine going asda is anything like airport security.

I went to Tesco Saturday just gone and the only differences between normal were that I wore a mask, I used my own hand sanitiser before going in and after I came out, and people were giving each other more room than usual. It really wasn't that bad, nothing like an airport and not as traumatic as some people here having talked themselves into thinking.

As I said I accept other companies and other stores may do their own thing but come on, it really isn't that bad!

I think what the neighbor was probably meaning is the fact the two security guards were stopping everyone to make sure they were wearing the mask properly and a using the hand sanitizer Before the customers could enter made it seem high security

 

[Royston Vasey]

I think what the neighbor was probably meaning is the fact the two security guards were stopping everyone to make sure they were wearing the mask properly and a using the hand sanitizer Before the customers could enter made it seem high security

Good. I wish they were doing that in our local Tesco.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Good. I wish they were doing that in our local Tesco.

Though forcing me to sanitise my own basket is a bit low. They should do it for me then hand it to me rather than scowling about it. Would take the same amount of time and is better customer service.

 

[Smidster]

Definitely seems to be taking several steps backwards last couple of trips - local Asda has gone back on only one entrance (which is annoying as a pedestrian) and the mask patrols.

Can anyone explain the benefit of having someone sanitise a basket / trolley when I enter the shop? Surely the next second I get germs on it again.

Not good at all

 

[Royston Vasey]

Though forcing me to sanitise my own basket is a bit low. They should do it for me then hand it to me rather than scowling about it. Would take the same amount of time and is better customer service.

I agree with that! Since the queue system ended I haven't noticed any trollies being sanitised outside, but I've only ever gone in with my own bag and used scan as you shop anyway. The rest of the time we've had deliveries.

 

[Bikeman78]

But if they try to take my temperature as a condition of entering, they have just lost a customer.

On the rare occasion that I've had a temperature, I have felt so grim that I wouldn't be wandering off to the supermarket. That said, when I was at uni I came down with something whilst out on the bash. The 1630 Crewe to Holyhead had no heat (despite both locos being 37/4) and then later on the Crosscountry was late as usual so that meant a long stand in the cold at Bristol Parkway for a bus having missed the last Swansea train. By the time I got back to South Wales, I barely had the strength to cycle home.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Most supermarkets use d10 as their brand of sanitiser.
The contact time for d10 on a surface to kill germs is 5 minutes

 

[Busaholic]

Most supermarkets use d10 as their brand of sanitiser.
The contact time for d10 on a surface to kill germs is 5 minutes

In which case,spraying before a new customer handles one seems a prerequisite. Why do the supermarkets not have a handle on this by now? But then, they witness the total incompetence seen by our so-called government.

 

[DelayRepay]

On the rare occasion that I've had a temperature, I have felt so grim that I wouldn't be wandering off to the supermarket.

I would not go to a supermarket or anywhere else at the moment if I thought I had a high temperature.

My objection isn't that I'm scared of being turned away due to having a temperature. It's that to me it feels like a gross invasion of privacy. And according to the government it is not a reliable way of detecting Covid anyway.

I appreciate that the supermarket is entitled to make it a condition of entry, just as I am entitled to shop elsewhere.

Like I said I can tolerate queues, sanitiser and even masks. But for me temperature checking is a step too far. If they do feel it's necessary to screen people for Covid symptoms, then this should be done by a qualified medical professional, not a checkout assistant or contracted security guard.

 

[adc82140]

Most supermarkets use d10 as their brand of sanitiser.
The contact time for d10 on a surface to kill germs is 5 minutes

This is true. Anyone wiping off any disinfectant spray is doing it wrong. It needs to be left to evaporate. This trolley wiping thing is just nonsense.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

This trolley wiping thing is just nonsense.

Is it? Have always thought that supermarket trolley handles and basket handles are invariably somewhat scuzzy. And this was pre COVID-19.

And don't get me going on the plastic trays that supermarket home deliveries are often put in.