COVID - general discussion - Temp Locked

Checking on line she can see we do still have priority access, but the only available slots in the next 10 days are the 7am-8am ones. For a more reasonable time we will need to wait till at least the 21st.  Must be more people booking a delivery than previously, due as David said, to the lower spend now required.

We could book one well in advance for a reasonable time as the freezer is well stocked at present, then go in and amend the order later.  Can one of you experienced Waitrose shoppers tell me......do the special offers all last for a calendar month?  

Kj

I imagine you don't have that many Waitrose stores around where you live. If that is the case that could put pressure on the delivery rounds. We probably have about five or six  Waitrose stores within a 20/25 mile radius so the demand can be spread out more. Some Waitrose branches have the advantage of extra staff from the JL stores nearby which are currently closed during the lockdown. Slots seem to be available on a two week rolling basis. It used to be four weeks but I think they found at busy times that put too much strain on their IT. We currently have two further orders places and the day before our next one we can usually book for two weeks time. Rarely do we have to deviate from our usual delivery day/time slot.

With regard to the offers they used to put the expiry date on the shelf edge tickets but for some reason they have stopped doing that. I think they do run for a month at a time. Don't forget there are other offers, particularly on meat where you get three for £10 and these seem to be on offer all the time. We like their Waitrose British Chicken Pork & Apple Stuffed Thighs and they are also three for £10 as are many of the other meat products. Handy if you want to stock up the freezer. 

David

I don't think they were dropped but more a case of coming to the end of the original agreement. It was only in 2020 but that was always going to be the case, it wasn't a surprise. Waitrose have been planning for the split for some time. Local Waitrose branches have extended their online services and I think in London they have built three fulfillment Centres.  The system that Ocado setup, initially with financial help from Waitrose, was very expensive could only be profitable if they have operated on a massive scale and as Waitrose is one of the smaller operators they were never going to be able to maintain Ocado on its own. I think M&S invested £750 million into Ocado to kickstart their delivery service. Be interesting to see how that pans out? 

David

I would be happy with a 7am delivery. But prefer to choose my own product. Never had a delivery yet. 

Back when I worked for a living, I hated having to do the time consuming, things in trolley, things out of trolley, things back into trolley dance at checkouts, so we tried online shopping. Started first with Asda, that was ok, on time, good quality fresh stuff, but there were a lot of substitutions for my liking. Then we tried Tesco, excellent, very few substitutions. We shopped online until I finished work, by then the scan and shop had happened so I could whip round a supermarket in 20 minutes, unless I was browsing. We decided to use deliveries for holiday Cottages we use, as didn’t have to cart a lot of fresh stuff or shop in an unknown supermarket. Have done this for years, and Tesco has all cottage addresses stored, so if we revisit a cottage, I merely change the address from home.

During last yearwe have got organised so that I shop online for around three weeks groceries, topping up at one or two carefully selected shops to visit in person for things like fresh veg, milk etc.... (We don’t eat meat). We bought a small chest freezer mid lockdown to carry extra produce, and to store home made stuff. It’s really worked for us. Been lucky in that I haven’t had an issue getting a Tesco slot. 

As far as we know, there is one Waitrose in Glasgow itself, in the West End (posh area),  plus two others in the "upmarket" suburbs of Newton Mearns (to the south) and Bearsden/Milngavie (to the north), the latter being only about 2 miles from us and the biggest and newest of the three.  About 3 years since it opened I think.

The store is fairly popular, but rarely crowded.  They have a bit of competition as we also have a few M&S Simply Food stores in the area,  a Sainsburys Local, plus a superstore one not too far away, then Tesco, Asda, Aldi, Lidl, and a Morrisons a little further away.

From Waitrose we mainly buy the Easy Cook range, the 3 for £10 offers, good for stocking up the freezer, plus some cheeses, cold meats and Deli items, and occasionally some fresh veg.  Otherwise we check out the special offers, can often be some good prices there.  

Always do a Waitrose shop when they send us discount vouchers, sadly very rare these days!

We signed up for Sainsbury’s deliveries just after the first lockdown started. Took a few frustrating days and numerous phone calls to register but it’s been worth it.

Don’t even mind the ‘substitutions’ but sometimes they do seem very odd. 

Can, just about, understand substituting a low calorie soft drink for a full cal one of the same brand but had to scratch my head last weekend when an order for a large bottle of virgin olive oil was substituted by a small bottle plus 2 tins of mackerel fillets in olive oil.

We’ve been using delivery service since March which we’re sort of locked into now as we also shop for a couple of older neighbours. We’ve used Asda & Tesco as getting slots have sometimes been very challenging. Without exception Tesco have been the best, hardly ever get a substitution, whereas with Asda it was commonplace. We also subscribe to Tesco ‘DeliveryPlus’ which at £7.99 per month allows us to book 4 weeks ahead including delivery charge - definitely worth it.

You have a lot of options there K, more than we have, no Waitrose or M&S close to us. I am so used to Tesco now, other websites seem clunky to me. I actually gave up registering on Ocado/M&S. we don’t buy enough from M&S. 

Our nearest supermarkets are 8-9 miles away in different directions, Sainsbury's is 20 miles. Tesco was good when I was working, we didn't have a Waitrose then. I've only opted for Waitrose because I got familiar with the store in recent years so can visualise my way round when trying to think of items . I managed to join the system just before the first lockdown, I'd got fed up with the drive, parking, shopping and a painful shoulder, it took a chunk out of the day. This particular shop is quite small but covers a big rural area so they're doing well getting deliveries into three neighbouring counties.

I used to nip into the M&S foodhall when going to town and Lidl too. But I'm happy that we've got deliveries sorted and athough we pay more we're not spending money on much else just now. I order for our neighbours...they also get a free Daily Mail and I have to pay for the i !!

Our son now uses Tesco exclusively since about 6-7 years back, previously they  used Asda.  I believe they have some sort of annual sub that lets them order as often as they wish.  They live out in the sticks south of Glasgow, on a farm, though they do not farm themselves, rather rent out multiple acres.  He works from home, always has done, his wife is a teacher.

His wife hates shopping for food, so he is in charge of ordering.  They have had some problems getting slots in the past 9 months as so many new shoppers wanted deliveries, so I think he has had  to shop in person quite a few times.  Luckily a new Tesco store opened not too far away.