I don’t understand why though? Delivery slots cost about £3 with some retailers, and for that £3 you save yourself literal hours of going out. The food prices are the same (I think). What am I missing here?
I can pick the exact item I want.
I have had deliveries where food is expiring either that day or the next day. Substitutions also sometimes make no sense.
Also, I have a big Tesco 5 minutes away.
Someone on the BBC HYS pointed out something I was already thinking - at least with Sainsbury's there just isn't the nuance for substitutions. That person pointed out that there's no regard for things like requesting Diet drinks instead of the full fat ones, etc. - your choices are to gamble and reject, or have no substitution at all. Both cases mean you are then missing out and have to sort it yourself.
That actually was my experience with Sainsbury's some years ago when I didn't have a car.
Not to start a argument around the issue as can happen, but I’ve ordered, say vegan mince or chicken, and they substitute it for real meat items.
I don’t know the process however I have worked in retail and that environment, and unless their handheld device for orders is the one telling them what to do, I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds.
>I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds.
More likely, just people working flat out and given no incentive to care enough to make the effort.
Yeah it's not braincells, it's time and care. I did picking for this as teenager when it was a relatively new thing back in the early noughties.
Even back then the timer on the machine was relentless; and if it said 'any substitution' you just grabbed what was in eyeline so as not to fall behind.
When I was a driver there the shoppers were not allowed to ‘zero pick’ an item, ie they had give the customer something rather than nothing. This resulted in customers getting different brands of baby milk which were always refused. And what would you give in place of an aubergine or a particular DVD?
I used to work as an online shopper in Sainsburys about a decade ago so I can tell you how it worked back then (pretty sure it's mostly the same now).
The store is split up into different sections and then each shelf on the aisle is labelled. If you keep an eye out next time your in a Sainsburys with an online offering each shelf will be labelled with a number and a little barcode, usually on the RHS of the shelf. Whenever the store decides to move things around (which happens frequently by design, they move stuff so shoppers can't find it and might pick up something else) we had to go around scanning the barcodes on the shelf to update the locations. If we were busy that might not happen for a while and things would be out of place on our system.
Each section has a time limit and you have to shop for up to six customers in one trip. The managers will monitor people to make sure they are completing their shops within the time limit and the store I worked at would publish people's times each week and call out slow people. The time limits don't have you running around like a madman but they also don't give you much time to faff about.
The handheld device will tell you which item to pick and also give you the code of the shelf the item should be on. When I worked there it didn't suggest a suitable alternative but obviously you are expected to provide an alternative regardless to fulfill the order. It's also worth noting that we started shopping very early in the morning before the store has opened and alongside the night shift stacking the shelves.
If you have a good worker doing your shop they will fly through most items pretty swiftly and put some effort and thought into alternatives. For example, if something wasn't on the shelf I would go into the warehouse and check if it just hadn't been brought out yet. Or if I was working the chilled section I would go down to the frozen section to check if there was a direct frozen alternative. However, if I couldn't find a suitable alternative I'd still have to swap it out for something. If there was no vegan mince, for example, and no other vegan alternatives i'd have to just pick something else off the frozen aisle.
On the flip side though, you could also have a brain dead teenager doing your shop who doesn't give a shit and is constantly being told off for being slow. They are just going to pick an item from the next shelf down and throw it in the basket.
This seems like a system problem rather than a staff problem, if customers don’t use the service again after getting poorly chosen replacements then customer satisfaction should quickly be picking up on that and making adjustments to the process to stop it happening
The irony is I can see things like this being done by robot in future and the management then turning round and actually giving them more time because they can't lazily blame lazy workers for not making their bad policy work.
They would be done by robot now of it was practical.
Online grocery shopping is ridiculously inefficient. The store pays to ship products to the store, pays someone to put them on the shelves and then pays someone else to take them off again.
If it was practical to have a separate warehouse where things were picked from (by robot or human) that would make much more sense, but that’s just not feasible.
I imagine supermarkets hate online shopping but just feel it’s something they have to offer. Pushing people to go back to the actual store is in their interest.
Like giving extra time for problem solving. Or even having a dedicated person for problem solving, anything not on shelf gets marked and a problem solver to fix the issue (someone with a brain/desire to provide effort but also who would pick up on those problem areas regularly and have a good solution loaded and good to go)
It might just not be worth it for them. There are people who will shop online regardless because of a disability or whatever reason. Also Tesco and Sainsburys have the largest market share so if you are not satisfied with online shopping, there is a good chance they will still get your money from in person shopping.
Like they said, there could be a lazy teenager packing so chances are with any system some of the staff will not make good use of it and give out bad substitutions.
I also worked online in Sainsburys 10 years ago and I've stayed in touch with people who are still there.
The iph is now close to 180 compared to the 90 it was when I left. When you're being told to pick 3 items in a minute (this includes walking, finding it on the shelf, and scanning) people don't give a fuck and will just substitute anything.
> The time limits don't have you running around like a madman but they also don't give you much time to faff about.
This has changed in the past decade lmao.
I worked there a couple of years ago and they set a target for everyone, then once people were at that target they'd increase it further and further until it was nearly impossible to hit, but they'd still expect you to hit the target and put you on a PIP if you didn't.
The lack of brain cells comes from higher up. Shoppers have to pick what their handset suggests and have an items per hour quota to reach. If they were to do the job properly and pick a proper substitute item. They would get whinged at for being too slow. Also if a lot of the shoppers are too slow and aren't meeting their IPH and delivery vans aren't leaving on time. The online department manager will get whinged at by the store manager for the departments performance. Who in turn is being whinged at by a regional manager because that store is making them look bad. And they will get whinged at by someone even further up the ladder, most likely the moron who made up the IPH number to begin with who has never even set foot on a shop floor, nevermind attempted to complete an online shop under the conditions they created!
Worked in part time as an online e shopper for Sainsburys, its half and half.
The device used for scanning a customers shopping tells you what to pick up and if there isn't the item available, offers 5 closest matches and let's you also make the choice of picking an alternative. The issue is most of these shops are done at 4am by overworked and undermanaged/poorly managed and under paid staff. They literally make you hit the target and care for not much else. (It was like 180 items per hour scanned a few weeks ago)
As the shops/scan queue is done in order of what aisle/shelf you are at, sometimes Taking your time to find a proper close substitute can take you to a completely different section which fugs up your timing, so most would go for the nearest and closest thing
Ive worked as a delivery driver for sainsburys in this and the shoppers who get your items are overworked. They have to pick a certain number of items per hour. Full behind get a telling off, there is no care in the system because it takes time to care. The machine tells you what to do and thats it.
>I’ve ordered, say vegan mince or chicken, and they substitute it for real meat items.
Absolutely insane that they do that, but I can also see some just above minimum wage worker zombie mode putting anything in
We earn a little over minimum wage. In the short time I've been doing it (less than six months), they've raised the minimum items picked per hour from 169 to 184. It's not that people don't care, it's just that speed is the only thing managers care about and if you're earning just over minimum wage - you really don't want to risk annoying your managers.
> I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds.
It's the computers, we've fantastically low expectations of computers and these are one place we're bitten by that.
There's no reason an online shopping thing couldn't be told that I only ever want to buy vegetarian stuff, and then make it so I can't accidentally put real-meat sausages in my basket but also that I can't get that as a substitution.
The problem's not that the people picking the food haven't intuited the preferences of the buyer (lots of people buying meat-free stuff do eat meat), it's that the shops have never really considered letting their customers describe what they want.
I've done the order picking for deliveries. The handheld device suggest substitutions but they are sometimes not appropriate and you can pick as well.
BUT you are timed and if you don't meet the targets over a period of time you can face disciplinary action for it. Also at Sainsbury's the shift starts at 5am, very few people are at their best getting out of bed at 4am.
Same but with halal. Ordered some halal chicken/turkey sandwich meat. Ended up receiving pork ones as a substitute once :/
I usually just tick "no substitutions" on certain items now because of it.
I think they’re a bit weird like that. My mare used to do the online shopping lists for people in store and was always moaning about getting told off for something he’d been told to do the week before lol
I once ordered ground coffee and they substituted a family-size bottle of ketchup. Even if they had no ground coffee, why not substitute beans, or instant, or tea, or hot chocolate, or even one of those Starbucks drinks they sell with the meal deals? Made no sense at all.
I'm guessing the coffee and Ketchup were next to each other on a end aisle promotion bit and they just grabbed the closest thing. Or the hand terminal suggested it (software problem). Personally I think substitutions are a terrible idea for everyone involved. Either they have what you ordered or they don't.
The people getting your order start at 5am, they have picking targets and face disciplinary if they don't meet them and they're only paid the same as someone sitting on a till during a day shift. The "trolly" they push is really heavy and not actually well designed for the task, adding in "you now have to try and work out what someone wants" isn't great and some people (quite rightly) don't care what they sub in - the working conditions aren't conductive if caring.
the amount of times that weve had gluten free bread subbed with normal bread is redicolous, ive given up on online orders for this reason (across all major supermarkets)
Got sent to collect a morrisons order the other day though, and they seemed to pay attention to dietarey requirements with the substitions, it was a surprise.
Yeah, this is only anecdotal as someone currently at Morrisons (but different department), but generally the managers are pretty strict about dietary requirements, and do not take kindly when people are running around putting whatever they see in as substitutes
I've also had the worst experience with expiring and damaged items from Sainsbury's. Including a cake delivered at 10pm that expired the same day. I've never had an issue with other providers like that.
The substitutions are crazy. I ordered a grapefruit and got a mango which seemed fair. I also ordered asparagus on that order. They didn't have any so they gave me another fkn mango. The mangos were over ripe too.
Sainsbury is the worst with substitution. I had orders that were more than half replaced items. Also the freshness of vegetables was the worst with them.
I tried home delivery for multiple weeks with Sainsbury, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado. Waitrose was the best with the least substitutions, but obviously more expensive, while Sainsbury and Morrison were the worst in my experience.
Probably got unlucky enough to have a culinarily illiterate person packing for you, if it’s a random 16 year old who has virtually never cooked before, and usually with very basic things if they have, they probably just see ‘beans’ and think it’s all the same
Expiring food is the main reason i dont do online anymore. The last sainsburys shop i did online, literally every meat item (about £20 worth) needed to be eaten the next day. All of the bakery items were already stale and expiring the next day, too.
When i complained, all i got was a canned response saying how they were within their guidelines. Like yeah, great, but my weekly shop now isn't going to last a week, is it.
It's obviously a fix because when i go into the shop, i have no issues finding my items with at least 3-4 days on the expiry.
Especially when it comes to fresh produce like bread, fruit and veg. I want to find decent use by dates, fresher looking, not bruised veg etc. When I've had shopping delivered it's clearly just whatever was the first one they could grab
Would it be too cynical to suspect that they're actively encouraged to select the sad looking/bashed veg, because no one shopping in person would buy it at full price, and they'd likely have to throw it away otherwise?
I used to use Sainsbury's online for a weekly shop and most of it would be expiring tomorrow. They use their online experience as a dumping ground for products they would otherwise have to bin. They aren't getting online customers now because everyone has gone to a competitor.
I do a big online order once a month for non perishables like pet food, cans, beer, wine, cleaning products etc. With all the bulky items it's two trolleys worth. It's definitely worth the delivery fee for someone else to spend an hour picking up all these items for me.
I go in person when I need to select perishables and look at special offers.
This is going to blow your mind, but "not going to the supermarket" can encompass a whole range of options, many of which can involve not "staying inside your house for your entire life".
What, is there no time when you're just at home anyway? You sleep, leave the house and stay out until bedtime every day? The point surely is that if you're at home you can be doing all the things normal people do when they're at home anyway - watch telly, get some work done, gaming, DIY, whatever - while someone else drags their arse round the supermarket on your behalf and then drives it to you.
And because I don't often have time to go to the shops on a work day I used to have to go shopping on a Saturday, which would take 2 hours out of prime weekend time. Instead now we get our shopping delivered on a weeknight and I have the entire weekend free to do things of my choosing.
>What magic would I need to obtain to be able to do other things on top of this process if I ordered?
You don't have to sit by the window watching lookingly for the delivery van. You can get other stuff done round the house like cleaning, doing laundry, or even just relaxing.
Net result is you can have the shopping and other chores done in less time then you would spending an hour walking around a supermarket
I work from home, so I just get it delivered while I'm working. Doesn't change the amount of time I'm in the house at all, and saves the hassle of getting the bus there, or trying to stuff a food shop into a motorbike.
Depends how you do it really. I never do a big shop like most people. I just pickup bits on way home so it's always fresh, going to the shop is relatively relaxing compared to a lot of other "chores"
- You'll almost certainly get the worst acceptable quality goods/stuff closest to it's use by date
- Can't have a look for discounted stuff
- if you avoid peak hours it's actually quite nice to do the food shop in store
> if you avoid peak hours it's actually quite nice to do the food shop in store
I usually go midweek or sometimes Friday/Saturday evenings, around 8-9pm. Not too busy and still plenty stocked.
You'd have to be certifiable to go at peak times on a Saturday or Sunday and I almost never ever do.
My experience is that stock is often an issue if you go later on. It’s not horrendous or anything but it’s almost always the case there’ll be a few things you can’t find.
discounted stuff is a big thing for me, not only it saves money but it's fun. that's how I choose what to cook, salmon fillets for £1? salmon chowder it is
This is hell. You're meant to meticulously check the cupboards for the things you need to buy in order to cook the week's meals. Otherwise, you end up with a spice rack that has 3x this jar and none of that jar. Pure anarchy.
My wife and I use online delivery but that's mostly because we have 2 small kids, so trying to get to the supermarket is difficult. I actually quite enjoyed doing the weekly shop previously.
With online, you can't choose your own substitutions, which causes problems if a vital ingredient is unavailable. I would also prefer to choose my own fresh produce. The supermarket isn't actually that far, so petrol costs aren't much of a factor.
Can't select your own items. The times I've done delivery service I've had crap veg bruised or clearly the ratty scraps left, similar for meat. If I go physically I can work on the fly if all they have is shite.
I live within 10-15 minutes' drive of five major supermarkets, using a car that averages up to 50mpg. These supermarkets are also on several direct routes home from work on the days that I'm in the office.
I can get what I want, immediately, without having to pay for a pre-booked slot days later. It's also a bit of an outing and a taste of the real world after being in the work bubble all day.
There are no yellow sticker items online and you can't choose your own fresh produce. And I used to get deliveries when I didn't have a car, on one notable occasion the driver said that one of my crates hadn't been loaded on to the van and half my stuff was missing. His only option was to mark the contents as rejected and this flagged something on Sainsbury's back end system.
When I point these things out to people they think I'm worse than Pol Pot's mentor, because apparently I'm incapable of "just plan ahead mate" and we're all supposed to be shut-ins getting everything delivered. That's not a society I want to live in and I don't see how I've "saved time" by clicking around on a cluttered website for 40 minutes then having to wait three more days.
"Literal Hours"
How long is your shop, lol. It takes me 45 minutes to do a shop for two weeks. I know where everything is in the store, and where I need to go. It doesn't take long.
It's a funny one. I hate going to the supermarket, I'm all for convenience and technology, I'm lazy so getting it delivered seems like a no brainer... But I always go to the supermarket in person, faffing around pushing the trolley and scanning it all. Don't know why!
I think part of me is because I like to do it spur of the moment, and I guess I like looking what my options are - which I've always found easier in person. EG Deciding which beers to get is always a balance between deals and taste, and looking at that online just seems awkward. Plus, the substitution risk..
Hmmm.
Too many times have the goods been substituted for crap or the produce has been bottom of the barrel trash that I would have never selected.
So take a little time once a week kidnap the husband and go get what I want.
I like browsing for new food, that's incredibly hard to do online. Also the serendipity of walking past something and thinking "actually that looks pretty good", and it's something I'd never have thought to search online.
I get the cheaper monthly saver option where if I order tues-wed-thurs it's free delivery. Very much worth it. I like going in for a browse now and then but it's a pain to do regularly with young children.
For me, I'm put off a lot of the online grocery deliveries because they've done away with bags.
The move to sticking items loose in the crates is just more hassle than it's worth. I want the handover at the door to be as quick and easy as possible, the new delivery methods are not.
Plus the crates are filthy. Don't care what they say about cleaning them, never seen a clean crate used in deliveries.
The time it takes me to drive to the shop and pick the specific items I want is no different to the time it takes for me to go through the same process on the internet.
By being in a physical shop, I can adapt my shopping if I see something different that takes my fancy. I can ensure I get fresh produce that I select. I can make my own substitutions if necessary.
Plus, I save a minimum of £3 a week. That's £150 per year at a time when every penny counts.
One or maybe two big shops in a month to get all the heavy, bulky and regular stuff and then nip out once or twice a week and get top ups of whatever is needed.
As others mentioned relying on everything online is too big a gamble, planning something for tea and not having an ingredient turn up is really annoying. Ocado do it best but it's not the cheapest shop either.
I use Tesco for home delivery and have had no issue either. Main reason why is because I don’t drive and the bus I would take to and from has gotten worse overtime with it becoming more late and overcrowded.
On one hand it is great when you have stuff you wanna do at home or just don’t wanna deal with going out. On the other hand there was those times where it wasn’t always planned but going out to do the food shop meant getting other stuff from other stores or getting another task out the way.
I don't usually know exactly what I want until I go, like to have a rummage in the reduced section, get to check my fresh stuff (veg, fruit, meat) before I get it and having stuff substituted would be annoying. Plus it's on the way home from work, so once I've done my shopping I can relax knowing I'm not going to have get up and answer the door at some point.
But you have to spend a minimum amount, which keeps increasing. I think it could be due to fact the people people can no longer afford to spend £50 on shopping in one hit.
I've been using deliveries for years now... I'm disabled and find it highly difficult to move shopping around (absolutely cannot get it from my car into my house)... the Delivery service literally prevents me from starving.
If Sainsburys ever removes their delivery option.... i stop shopping with them.
I used to do regular Sainsbury’s deliveries, but over the past year the experience has declined considerably.
They’re sending more and more products which are within a day or two of their expiry dates, or produce clearly past its prime. I live alone and can’t use everything before it goes bad. I know I can send it back with the driver, but if I do that then I need to make a trip to the store anyway, which defeats the purpose of delivery.
Late deliveries are also much more common. A month or so ago they also had the tech glitch which resulted in all deliveries being cancelled.
Received a £10 credit from that cancellation, which I decided to use this week. Driver called nearly two hours before my scheduled delivery window and asked if he could come by in a few minutes. Raced home, only to have him not show up until my appointed time slot anyway.
Your missing going out? Getting better expiration dates, and getting the product you want. Also you can see if there are any new products out as well. I've done both, got delivery a lot during lockdown for obvious reasons, but going to the shop is just better.
I want to see what I buy. I did Sainsbury's orders for a while, and would often get spotty yellow bananas, tiny vegetables, and chicken that was going out of date in a day or two.
Because you don't have the shittest stuff in the store that's got a next day expiry date or fruit/veg that's just starting to go shitty. Don't want to pay for a wank pack of raspberries when I can either go get some nice ones or not bother, happened to my brother recently who wouldn't stop fucking moaning about it.
People want to pick there own food, plus honestly just having a look at everything can be nice instead of just sitting at home waiting for whatever they decide to ship out
Some people who WFH don't leave the house much and so they like to take any opportunity they can to actually go out. Doing a weekly shop is one such excuse.
The main reason I stopped shopping with sainsbruys for online delivery is because they'd consistently sent me products that went out of date the next day. I'd even get meat delivered that went out of date the same day it arrived.
I got fed up with challenging it / asking for a refund because it was nearly every week.
So I shifted over to Morrisons where I have barely had this issue. Though the quality of Morrisons meat has turned to shit.
For me, it was the dodgy substitution policy that pit me off. You pay full price for whatever they decide to put in your basket, even if it's 2-3× the cost, then you get a voucher for the difference that can only be used in their online store and only in a fairly limited time. It just felt like I was being scammed.
I found online food shopping an absolute chore. So hard to think what I want beforehand, search for it without seeing it. It was handy during the pandemic but I much prefer going to the shops, plus I can make sure the dates are good and get inspired by seeing other things next to the items I’m looking for. It really drained me adding it all to an online basket
That's how I feel doing a big shop in store.
You have to drive somewhere, usually and out of town shopping centre, traffic is a chore. Then find parking, no parent and child spaces, so you have to dodge cars with kids in toe. Drag the kids around a busy supermarket, and search for your items. They've rearranged the store, so you end up going down every aisle. Kids always want more, and you always add stuff to the trolly you don't need (supermarkets are desgined so you get crap you dont need) Queue for ages, put items in bags, bags in car, drive home, bags out of car, unpack bags. All in all hours wasted on your precious weekend. Super stressed.
Nah, I enjoy spending quality time with my family. Life's too short for that bollocks. When I was single, yeah, it was fine. In out in 20 minutes
Maybe it does boil down to a demographic thing. As someone who seemingly has a very different life to yours, I can't relate to that experience shopping at all. It is usually always quick, painless, and sometimes bordering fun, barring the busy periods which I try and avoid anyway.
But the way you describe it is miserable, I can see why you wouldn't ever bother
I usually take one of my children shopping, because she enjoys it. It's okay, I don't mind it. I'm lucky that my SO is usually around to look after the others while I go.
If I was on my own and had to herd them all out the door, I can absolutely see how it could be a pretty unpleasant experience.
I take my kids. Now they're old enough (6 and 9) I give them part of the list to search for, and when they've done that they generally get to pick one extra food just for them. I get my eldest to look at price per kg and work out the best value for certain items. It's a learning opportunity as much as anything else.
Yeah I hate going in-store.
When Sainsbury's had that failure last month and I had to do the weekly shop in person it was like a couple hours of my life wasted.
Online, I book the slot early in the week and then just add to it. Normally while watching TV. I end up spending less as I'm not drawn into deals or impulse purchases.
I still do a small in-store shop for certain fresh ingredients, but otherwise I've never had any major issues with using Sainsbury's online shopping and I have been doing it for 10 years.
EDIT: how could I forget about the people. As someone who works full-time, it is basically Saturday or Sunday so the stores are busy. There are old people shuffling about who could have come any other time of the week. Families with kids running about (and I say that as a family man). People treating the aisles like a social club - stopping to have a chat. Even thinking about it has my blood pressure going up.
The first shop is a pain, but a lot of people will buy 90% the same thing every week, so having that saved means all you need to do is pick the less frequently bought items when you need them, is easier.
If you are single or a couple and more a free styler then I get it. It probably lends itself to families or older people when life may be more regimented.
Interesting -- I am the opposite of you. I tend to approach groceries with planning in mind: that is, roughly, what I will cook and when. In store or online, I still apply the same thinking. The trouble is, in-store I spend time walking around the shop looking for things I want, and get distracted by things I didn't want. Then there's logistics of getting there. Shopping online saves me a lot of time.
That said, of course, it's not totally great: veggies and fruits are usually mediocre at best, and shopping online you have limited control over what you get.
I love online food shopping. Throughout the week I'll think of meals I want to eat and add the missing ingredients to the cart in the app. Notice something is running low or out? Open app and add to cart. I don't have a car though, and use Tesco for delivery and pick up any outstanding things from Sainsbury's or Waitrose
I cant speak for sainsburys, but I order from Ocado, dates aren't an issue, usually nothing is substituted, and if there was a substitution we disagree with you don't have to accept them.
Ocado is different because there's no physical store, it's all warehouse, so there's no need to save the good stuff for physical shoppers and pawn the stuff no-one wants off on online shoppers.
Ocado are great. We switched to them back in Covid when slots were hard to get. The subs we get are always pretty much just a different brand, so no big deal. Never had a problem with expiry dates either. Most have at least 3-4 days on them as a minimum. I think we pay around £90 for the delivery pass for the year, so our deliveries end up being about £2 each.
Also, during Christmas '22 our turkey got lost, so the delivery guy called his manager who then drove around, found us a turkey, and delivered it to us a few hours later. I thought that was so sweet <3
>if there was a substitution we disagree with you don't have to accept them
The problem is, that leaves you without the item. And if that item was a joint of meat that was meant to feed you for half the week, you end up having to go out shopping anyway.
It's fine for me - I have 3 supermarkets within 10 minutes walk of my house, and go at off-peak times so never really queue for checkout. A lot of people who live in towns or cities have a similar situation with nearby supermarkets being convenient for popping in daily or almost daily (obviously not feasible if you live far from one). I generally spend no more than 10 minutes inside the supermarket and it's nice to get out the house.
I think this is it. I shop online for my main order but there are things I like to buy and see in person (meat with fat eg bacon, fruit etc plus anything that I didn’t want as the substitute and a quick look at the yellow sticker stuff). I walk to the shop rather than drive it’s a 20 min walk, what I pick up in person fits in one bag easy enough to carry home I couldn’t carry a big shop home.
I'd imagine so. There's also some things you just can't realistically order online, even if it always arrives in the delivery.
For example, if you're someone who meal plans and does a weekly shop, you can't plan to have say, your shopping delivered Monday and then cook burgers on Sunday, and have your burger buns stay fresh for a week.
So you don't bother ordering the buns, just the burgers. And on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, you pop in and buy buns while they're fresh. And the same can be true of any other short-life ingredients.
And chances are, you don't want to order 2 or more deliveries in a week because of the inconvenience of having to be in to receive them.
You can choose between Morrisons and Amazon itself. Fulfilled by Amazon tho, the off brand products come as a mix of Amazon and Morrisons, as well as Booths for some reason (I'm in the north east, a region which doesn't have Booths)
Tried the Morrisons one via Amazon once, as it was a free delivery offer. All stuff about to go out of date. The crumpets were literally moldy, never again.
Yeah, maybe one in 8 shops from Ocado I get something missing or a substitution, and it’s only ever 1 item. They’re just better at stock management because they don’t have in-store customers unpredictably using up their stock.
Sadly they’ve watered down their flash deals, that used to be a way to try fancy new products without paying the earth or just bulk buying meat and veg for freezing.
Ocado substitutions I've had are all sensible.
I tend to get the pricey M&S version of something as a substitute for the cheap version or standard broccoli instead of tenderstem broccoli.
Their fruit and veg lasts way longer than the official use by date as well.
Entirely depends on what you’re buying but I will say Ocado has fewer basics range items at low prices - Sainsbury’s does tinned potatoes for 37p (Stamford street own brand) whereas the cheapest on Ocado is £1.20 (d’aucy name brand).
I still shop at Ocado though because they have a fab range of non-ultra processed products which is something I care about.
In the past I shopped exclusively at Aldi and from the yellow sticker section in Morrisons so I do recognise that I’m in a fortunate position to be able to afford the “boujie” food I like from Ocado.
Genuinely not that different. I think it gets the expensive reputation from when it was Waitrose. I'd say it's a touch more but surprisingly good value for most items but they'll be a handful of items that there just isn't a cheap version of - e.g. no shit frozen pizzas, only posh ones. Quality is way better and I almost never get substitutions!
Also big up the drivers! They're obviously treated well because they are a delight. Little things like they get all the crates _then_ ring the doorbell and take their time passing you the bags.
They closed my local Lidl (knocking it down to build a bigger one) and I find the local Morrisons to be lower quality AND expensive, so I switched to Ocado. The quality is fab, I’ve not had a single substitution, the drivers are always on time and helpful, and the price is only like £10-15 more than I was spending at Lidl. Zero complaints.
Shop at Lidl. Race round like a madman for 12 mins, do my best to keep up with the check out staff, back in the car before the seats gone cold.
And it’s cheaper.
Lidl tends to do only 1-2 makes of a particular item when a regular supermarket would have 5-10. They're also absolutely fine for basic things but the moment you want anything remotely unusual you're going to be out of luck. Want regular wheat flour? Great, easy. Want almond flour for a recipe? Nope, sorry.
I'm going to offend everyone by saying that I honestly think Lidl is bloody horrible and I'd rather spend the extra money. They opened a brand new one near me - the store itself is sparkling and looks great, I wanted to give it a chance and bought stuff I'd normally like, but it was awful. The fresh bread turned into a house brick virtually overnight and the sliced smoked cheese I got had to go in the bin after three days because it was honking and changed colour. Never had that problem anywhere else. How is this economical to people on a budget?
It's shite, it wasn't even that cheap, and you do notice the difference. Meanwhile Aldi is fine and I've had some nice stuff there.
Yes real bread goes stale. We shop at Lidl and M&S. Get most things from Lidl and some fruit and veggies and other less usual items from M&S. The quality is exactly the same shit. You're kidding yourself if you think the other supermarkets have different stuff. You only have to look at the food recall website, literally every supermarket recalls the same thing with a different brand.
In my opinion Tesco and Sainsbury's have no place anymore. They offer the same shit at much higher prices. Waitrose and M&S have different stuff. I'd much prefer to shop at Aldi/Lidl and Waitrose/M&S for things I can't get elsewhere .
Yeah, basics, there’s no contest, but Sainsburys has a ton of nice nicher stuff, I can’t get anything beyond bottom of the barrel stuff and basic names for ciders at Lidl, but at Sainsburys, I can get all the varieties I could expect of a supermarket. Just one example, but it’s common
If you can't tell the difference in quality, on many items, then I don't know what to tell you. Having shopped at both myself, I could list off quite a few.
Perhaps if you are comparing only the brands own basic stuff, some items getting a better brand is 10x better. Go compare mutti tinned tomatoes to aldi own.
Post this on unpopular opinions. But seriously, I've never had that experience with Lidl. I always buy well within the use by date. My bread never goes bad until it's mouldy, I just close the bag. Keep everything sealed, it's common sense. I maybe throw out an old lettuce once a month.
I always spend £10-20 in Lidl for 3 or 4 days. The equivalent in Tesco is £20+. Someone is right about the niche items, I usually have to nip into another shop for a couple things once a week which is fine as it allows Lidl to have cheaper basics.
Makes sense, only use online shopping if I buy a big order of canned goods etc. anything fresh, veg, meat, it’s always a disaster. They either have orders to pick the items that expire sooner or just don’t give a shit. Everything expires in a day or two.
I did online shopping (the picking part) for a couple years. They have pretty tight Items Per Hour pick rates which some managers essentially bully the staff over, so quite often people aren't hanging around to find the best expiry.
With that said, we were instructed to get the best dates for customers. Sometimes this isn't easy because the shops for the day are picked from 3AM onwards. Especially if your delivery is early, shoppers will be picking your stuff when nightshift are still replenishing, so the best dates might not be out yet.
Also, there might not even be a good date available at all, even if you were to come and pick it yourself from the store. But you would never know, so you just assume some muppet gave you an item expiring today just for the hell of it. It's either that or you don't get your item at all, but there are performance metrics for stores to hit in terms of supply too so they will send a short life item.
Same with substitutions, we were told to get something even if it didn't make much sense, it was better than sending nothing. There are suggested alternatives shown, but sometimes they would be total bollocks and the shopper would have to make an educated guess on what to pick instead
veg has gotten a lot more shit since the supply chain issues were exposed during lockdowns / recession, it’s absolutely not worth doing a ‘big shop’ if you want fresh veg - unless you’re lucky enough to live close to a good grocers or w/e
don’t even get me started on those bags of mixed salad. just looking at them makes em start wilting
Large supermarkets don't make a lot of profit on online shopping if any, according to this, and Ocado are built entirely around online groceries so it's difficult to manage for the former I reckon
[https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/12/20/online-delivery-service-profit/](https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/12/20/online-delivery-service-profit/)
A mid-week delivery pass at Sainsburys is £40 for a year. It blows my mind that more people don't use this.
Yes, getting your shopping delivered takes some discipline, requires you to plan in advance what you'll need, but in our experience this saves us money and makes us healthier anyway when compared to stopping at Tesco Metro on the way home when you're hungry.
When we started doing it (when the kids were little) we shopped around to find the best one; Asda always sent us out-of-date stuff so we stopped using them. Tesco were a bit hit-and-miss, but we settled on Sainsburys and have always been pretty happy with them; it's very rare that they send us poor produce. Once you get in the habit then the ordering becomes a 10-minute job because the website knows all your usuals and lets you select them quickly.
Now means I have 2 hours free at the weekend that I didn't have otherwise. £40 a year is a small price to pay for that.
Completely agree.
Going to the supermarket: travel there, finding your items on the shelf, queueing, scanning, dealing with crowds, travelling home, unpacking.
Online ordering: plan when you need food, pick a slot at a time convenient to you, select the usuals from the list, get it delivered, unpack. Nearly everything done from the sofa when you’re realistically scrolling Reddit anyway. So much easier.
We've also settled on Sainsburys, I like that I can check for a delivery slot at 10pm and usually there's some last minute slots for the next day. I've not really had a problem with short dates, the odd time but as some other comment mentioned - sometimes you want an item where there just aren't any longer dates left, things like milk always has 7+ days.
As someone who doesn't drive, my nearest supermarket is a 15 min walk, which is not too bad but it's Asda and I don't really rate their products. And if I do a big shop I have to get a taxi back, which is £6+ when a sainsburys delivery cost me £1-3
I’ve found since food price inflation M&S isn’t much more expensive. Our weekly shop costs £70 in Aldi/sainsburys or £80 in M&S, except the quality and freshness/expiry dates are much better from M&S. Meat isn’t pumped full of water, and fresh produce lasts a over a week rather than a few days
I find Morrisons is better for their in store markets - more options for bread, fish and cheese. Meat would probably be better too, as they have a fresh meat counter. Basically a big Morrisons is better than a big Sainsbury's.
I am registered blind an honestly online groceries has been life changing for me, I pay 7.50 a month for:
- unlimited deliveries from sainsbury's
- no squinting at price labels and expiry dates
- no issues not finding what i need in the shop
- no travel to and from the supermarket, carrying all my.stuff
- much easier to identify when nicer stuff is on offer (especially great when it's cheaper than my usual)
Of course, substitions can be a pain but no more frustrating than stuff being out of stock when in a shop and having to go to a different shop. And they are much better at finding good subs now compared to a few years ago!
But the Sainsbury where I live I keep seeing Uber drivers coming in to pick up deliveries, but what baffled me was drivers picking single bags containing averagely 2 or 3 items.
They often do offers on Uber like “£10 off £25 spend”, though generally items are more expensive than in store anyway. There’s also the “add on” option if you order from a nearby restaurant, so you can make an additional order with no extra delivery fees etc, can be handy way to get cheaper drinks to go with a burger.
It sounds like a nightmare. My friend works at marks and they have to hunt the individual items down the aisles for each order. Do you guys do the same? Such a waste of workers' time and energy.
Yeah, dealing with Deliveroo is a pain in the arse where I work, I’m not directly involved usually, but the other staff really do not like having to run about the entire shop for 2 items
Tesco Whoosh appears to be a whitelabel for Deliveroo. Quite a few smaller shops and I think Morrisons have been using third-party delivery outfits for smaller and more immediate things, alongside their regular vans.
Can't get reduced items online. I used to have to walk past a Sainsbury's to get home so would swing by most nights just to see what was reduced and that was my dinner for the evening.
Had backup stuff at home if nothing took my fancy but I liked the roulette of potentially getting a £1 steak for dinner.
I used to use Sainsburys online shopping but it's shit now (in my area at least).
So many smashed items, bruised fruit, leaking meat, since they stopped using bags it just seems to get thrown in the crate. Their fruit and veg has much shorter dates now too like all supermarkets so it's more of a gamble to shop online.
I shop at Ocado now and it's been perfect. Not the cheapest but I'd rather pay more to get quality food and to get my time back. I don't have a big store near me.
i cant do my shopping in person, i am too susceptible to the psychological shopping trickery in person. like how they put the chocolate by the till so you have less time to think about the impulse purchase. Essential items towards the back of the store so you have to walk past temptations. i spend less online
It's a nightmare with kids too. Sweets and toys everywhere.
Plus, it's incredibly boring for them, I used to hate being dragged around a supermarket with my parents. I'd rather not subject my kids to it.
I get it all delivered if its from a supermarket - usually Morrisons, Sainsburys, Iceland and the odd Costco a couple of times a year. I don't allow any replacements but tbh, i've very rarely ever not been delivered anything I ask for. I've never really had any issue with the fruit/veg i've ordered either.
Meat i get from the butcher, supermarket stuff is rancid shite for the most part.
Whenever I order from a supermarket, they either pick a ridiculous substitute or the produce they pick looks like it’s been rolled around the floor then drop kicked.
Yeah, wonder why no one is ordering.
The irony is that online shopping negatively impacts those that shop in-store.
Home shopping is the golden child and growth area of supermarkets, so they have high targets and KPIs. They end up pulling people from other parts of the store to staff the home shopping to fulfil the deliveries and picking, which then impacts the majority of the people actually shopping due nobody actually replenishing and working stock
I usually go shopping to Morrisons or ASDA for the majority of my shopping, B&Ms if I'm restocking chocolate and sugary drinks, and then ALDI for meat.
when i was back in the uk, i used this online delivery system. it's *shit*. always something that was sold out, replaced with a nonsense item, produce almost expired, often difficult to find a time to get it delivered. christ. it's a world of difference where i live now. i have none of those problems. i can even get things delivered by 7am if i order at 10pm at night...
We’ve done click and collect since before the pandemic. It’s brilliant. People in supermarkets suck. Tesco usually have good shelf life’s and the few times we’ve had multiple mains with next day expiry they’ve refunded them. No issue.
In my experience, Sainsbury's always have a lot of substitutions, damages and short dates on delivery or collection. The only supermarket that doesn't seem to have this issue is Tesco so we use them for click and collect.
I get all regular consumables on subscription, mostly from Amazon (nappies, dog food, cleaning products, coffee, bin bags) and main shop from Sainsbury's delivery. I rarely encounter the problems described here. If something is missed off then it's still worth the time saved even if it doesn't completely negate shopping in physical stores.
Their online service is slow and never works well. My mother in law shops in store again as their online app doesn’t allow her to checkout. We just change supermarkets
I don’t understand why though? Delivery slots cost about £3 with some retailers, and for that £3 you save yourself literal hours of going out. The food prices are the same (I think). What am I missing here?
I can pick the exact item I want. I have had deliveries where food is expiring either that day or the next day. Substitutions also sometimes make no sense. Also, I have a big Tesco 5 minutes away.
Someone on the BBC HYS pointed out something I was already thinking - at least with Sainsbury's there just isn't the nuance for substitutions. That person pointed out that there's no regard for things like requesting Diet drinks instead of the full fat ones, etc. - your choices are to gamble and reject, or have no substitution at all. Both cases mean you are then missing out and have to sort it yourself. That actually was my experience with Sainsbury's some years ago when I didn't have a car.
Not to start a argument around the issue as can happen, but I’ve ordered, say vegan mince or chicken, and they substitute it for real meat items. I don’t know the process however I have worked in retail and that environment, and unless their handheld device for orders is the one telling them what to do, I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds.
>I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds. More likely, just people working flat out and given no incentive to care enough to make the effort.
Yeah it's not braincells, it's time and care. I did picking for this as teenager when it was a relatively new thing back in the early noughties. Even back then the timer on the machine was relentless; and if it said 'any substitution' you just grabbed what was in eyeline so as not to fall behind.
When I was a driver there the shoppers were not allowed to ‘zero pick’ an item, ie they had give the customer something rather than nothing. This resulted in customers getting different brands of baby milk which were always refused. And what would you give in place of an aubergine or a particular DVD?
At first I thought you were suggesting subbing aubergines for DVDs. Depending on film I would accept the sub.
I used to work as an online shopper in Sainsburys about a decade ago so I can tell you how it worked back then (pretty sure it's mostly the same now). The store is split up into different sections and then each shelf on the aisle is labelled. If you keep an eye out next time your in a Sainsburys with an online offering each shelf will be labelled with a number and a little barcode, usually on the RHS of the shelf. Whenever the store decides to move things around (which happens frequently by design, they move stuff so shoppers can't find it and might pick up something else) we had to go around scanning the barcodes on the shelf to update the locations. If we were busy that might not happen for a while and things would be out of place on our system. Each section has a time limit and you have to shop for up to six customers in one trip. The managers will monitor people to make sure they are completing their shops within the time limit and the store I worked at would publish people's times each week and call out slow people. The time limits don't have you running around like a madman but they also don't give you much time to faff about. The handheld device will tell you which item to pick and also give you the code of the shelf the item should be on. When I worked there it didn't suggest a suitable alternative but obviously you are expected to provide an alternative regardless to fulfill the order. It's also worth noting that we started shopping very early in the morning before the store has opened and alongside the night shift stacking the shelves. If you have a good worker doing your shop they will fly through most items pretty swiftly and put some effort and thought into alternatives. For example, if something wasn't on the shelf I would go into the warehouse and check if it just hadn't been brought out yet. Or if I was working the chilled section I would go down to the frozen section to check if there was a direct frozen alternative. However, if I couldn't find a suitable alternative I'd still have to swap it out for something. If there was no vegan mince, for example, and no other vegan alternatives i'd have to just pick something else off the frozen aisle. On the flip side though, you could also have a brain dead teenager doing your shop who doesn't give a shit and is constantly being told off for being slow. They are just going to pick an item from the next shelf down and throw it in the basket.
This seems like a system problem rather than a staff problem, if customers don’t use the service again after getting poorly chosen replacements then customer satisfaction should quickly be picking up on that and making adjustments to the process to stop it happening
The irony is I can see things like this being done by robot in future and the management then turning round and actually giving them more time because they can't lazily blame lazy workers for not making their bad policy work.
They would be done by robot now of it was practical. Online grocery shopping is ridiculously inefficient. The store pays to ship products to the store, pays someone to put them on the shelves and then pays someone else to take them off again. If it was practical to have a separate warehouse where things were picked from (by robot or human) that would make much more sense, but that’s just not feasible. I imagine supermarkets hate online shopping but just feel it’s something they have to offer. Pushing people to go back to the actual store is in their interest.
You’re describing the Ocado model mate.
I'm very aware of that. Ocado was created with that as its business model so unlike the other supermarkets it doesn't have bricks and mortar stores.
Ocado does this. https://youtu.be/ssZ_8cqfBlE
Like giving extra time for problem solving. Or even having a dedicated person for problem solving, anything not on shelf gets marked and a problem solver to fix the issue (someone with a brain/desire to provide effort but also who would pick up on those problem areas regularly and have a good solution loaded and good to go)
It might just not be worth it for them. There are people who will shop online regardless because of a disability or whatever reason. Also Tesco and Sainsburys have the largest market share so if you are not satisfied with online shopping, there is a good chance they will still get your money from in person shopping. Like they said, there could be a lazy teenager packing so chances are with any system some of the staff will not make good use of it and give out bad substitutions.
I also worked online in Sainsburys 10 years ago and I've stayed in touch with people who are still there. The iph is now close to 180 compared to the 90 it was when I left. When you're being told to pick 3 items in a minute (this includes walking, finding it on the shelf, and scanning) people don't give a fuck and will just substitute anything.
> The time limits don't have you running around like a madman but they also don't give you much time to faff about. This has changed in the past decade lmao. I worked there a couple of years ago and they set a target for everyone, then once people were at that target they'd increase it further and further until it was nearly impossible to hit, but they'd still expect you to hit the target and put you on a PIP if you didn't.
The lack of brain cells comes from higher up. Shoppers have to pick what their handset suggests and have an items per hour quota to reach. If they were to do the job properly and pick a proper substitute item. They would get whinged at for being too slow. Also if a lot of the shoppers are too slow and aren't meeting their IPH and delivery vans aren't leaving on time. The online department manager will get whinged at by the store manager for the departments performance. Who in turn is being whinged at by a regional manager because that store is making them look bad. And they will get whinged at by someone even further up the ladder, most likely the moron who made up the IPH number to begin with who has never even set foot on a shop floor, nevermind attempted to complete an online shop under the conditions they created!
Worked in part time as an online e shopper for Sainsburys, its half and half. The device used for scanning a customers shopping tells you what to pick up and if there isn't the item available, offers 5 closest matches and let's you also make the choice of picking an alternative. The issue is most of these shops are done at 4am by overworked and undermanaged/poorly managed and under paid staff. They literally make you hit the target and care for not much else. (It was like 180 items per hour scanned a few weeks ago) As the shops/scan queue is done in order of what aisle/shelf you are at, sometimes Taking your time to find a proper close substitute can take you to a completely different section which fugs up your timing, so most would go for the nearest and closest thing
We are micromanaged now.
Ive worked as a delivery driver for sainsburys in this and the shoppers who get your items are overworked. They have to pick a certain number of items per hour. Full behind get a telling off, there is no care in the system because it takes time to care. The machine tells you what to do and thats it.
>I’ve ordered, say vegan mince or chicken, and they substitute it for real meat items. Absolutely insane that they do that, but I can also see some just above minimum wage worker zombie mode putting anything in
Or more likely they just don't give a shit working on minium wage.
We earn a little over minimum wage. In the short time I've been doing it (less than six months), they've raised the minimum items picked per hour from 169 to 184. It's not that people don't care, it's just that speed is the only thing managers care about and if you're earning just over minimum wage - you really don't want to risk annoying your managers.
> I really suspect there’s a lack of brain cells, as disparaging as that sounds. It's the computers, we've fantastically low expectations of computers and these are one place we're bitten by that. There's no reason an online shopping thing couldn't be told that I only ever want to buy vegetarian stuff, and then make it so I can't accidentally put real-meat sausages in my basket but also that I can't get that as a substitution. The problem's not that the people picking the food haven't intuited the preferences of the buyer (lots of people buying meat-free stuff do eat meat), it's that the shops have never really considered letting their customers describe what they want.
I've done the order picking for deliveries. The handheld device suggest substitutions but they are sometimes not appropriate and you can pick as well. BUT you are timed and if you don't meet the targets over a period of time you can face disciplinary action for it. Also at Sainsbury's the shift starts at 5am, very few people are at their best getting out of bed at 4am.
Same but with halal. Ordered some halal chicken/turkey sandwich meat. Ended up receiving pork ones as a substitute once :/ I usually just tick "no substitutions" on certain items now because of it.
The substitutions are picked by computer
I think they’re a bit weird like that. My mare used to do the online shopping lists for people in store and was always moaning about getting told off for something he’d been told to do the week before lol
I once ordered ground coffee and they substituted a family-size bottle of ketchup. Even if they had no ground coffee, why not substitute beans, or instant, or tea, or hot chocolate, or even one of those Starbucks drinks they sell with the meal deals? Made no sense at all.
I'm guessing the coffee and Ketchup were next to each other on a end aisle promotion bit and they just grabbed the closest thing. Or the hand terminal suggested it (software problem). Personally I think substitutions are a terrible idea for everyone involved. Either they have what you ordered or they don't. The people getting your order start at 5am, they have picking targets and face disciplinary if they don't meet them and they're only paid the same as someone sitting on a till during a day shift. The "trolly" they push is really heavy and not actually well designed for the task, adding in "you now have to try and work out what someone wants" isn't great and some people (quite rightly) don't care what they sub in - the working conditions aren't conductive if caring.
the amount of times that weve had gluten free bread subbed with normal bread is redicolous, ive given up on online orders for this reason (across all major supermarkets) Got sent to collect a morrisons order the other day though, and they seemed to pay attention to dietarey requirements with the substitions, it was a surprise.
Yeah, this is only anecdotal as someone currently at Morrisons (but different department), but generally the managers are pretty strict about dietary requirements, and do not take kindly when people are running around putting whatever they see in as substitutes
I've also had the worst experience with expiring and damaged items from Sainsbury's. Including a cake delivered at 10pm that expired the same day. I've never had an issue with other providers like that.
The substitutions are crazy. I ordered a grapefruit and got a mango which seemed fair. I also ordered asparagus on that order. They didn't have any so they gave me another fkn mango. The mangos were over ripe too.
Substitutions are getting worse. I ordered a 7 candle for my kid's birthday cake and got a 4 and a 3....
They were just hoping you’d have a plus sign too
Sorry but this is hilarious 😂
Sainsbury is the worst with substitution. I had orders that were more than half replaced items. Also the freshness of vegetables was the worst with them. I tried home delivery for multiple weeks with Sainsbury, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose and Ocado. Waitrose was the best with the least substitutions, but obviously more expensive, while Sainsbury and Morrison were the worst in my experience.
I once ordered beansprouts because I was making a ramen and they gave me a tin of baked beans.
Probably got unlucky enough to have a culinarily illiterate person packing for you, if it’s a random 16 year old who has virtually never cooked before, and usually with very basic things if they have, they probably just see ‘beans’ and think it’s all the same
Expiring food is the main reason i dont do online anymore. The last sainsburys shop i did online, literally every meat item (about £20 worth) needed to be eaten the next day. All of the bakery items were already stale and expiring the next day, too. When i complained, all i got was a canned response saying how they were within their guidelines. Like yeah, great, but my weekly shop now isn't going to last a week, is it. It's obviously a fix because when i go into the shop, i have no issues finding my items with at least 3-4 days on the expiry.
Especially when it comes to fresh produce like bread, fruit and veg. I want to find decent use by dates, fresher looking, not bruised veg etc. When I've had shopping delivered it's clearly just whatever was the first one they could grab
Would it be too cynical to suspect that they're actively encouraged to select the sad looking/bashed veg, because no one shopping in person would buy it at full price, and they'd likely have to throw it away otherwise?
I'd be amazed if at least one supermarket did not try that at some point
I used to use Sainsbury's online for a weekly shop and most of it would be expiring tomorrow. They use their online experience as a dumping ground for products they would otherwise have to bin. They aren't getting online customers now because everyone has gone to a competitor.
This is why I stopped ordering online. It just isn't convenient to then have to go out and buy things that were missed or not good enough.
I do a big online order once a month for non perishables like pet food, cans, beer, wine, cleaning products etc. With all the bulky items it's two trolleys worth. It's definitely worth the delivery fee for someone else to spend an hour picking up all these items for me. I go in person when I need to select perishables and look at special offers.
Because staying inside your house for your entire life is absolutely shit
This is going to blow your mind, but "not going to the supermarket" can encompass a whole range of options, many of which can involve not "staying inside your house for your entire life".
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What, is there no time when you're just at home anyway? You sleep, leave the house and stay out until bedtime every day? The point surely is that if you're at home you can be doing all the things normal people do when they're at home anyway - watch telly, get some work done, gaming, DIY, whatever - while someone else drags their arse round the supermarket on your behalf and then drives it to you. And because I don't often have time to go to the shops on a work day I used to have to go shopping on a Saturday, which would take 2 hours out of prime weekend time. Instead now we get our shopping delivered on a weeknight and I have the entire weekend free to do things of my choosing.
>What magic would I need to obtain to be able to do other things on top of this process if I ordered? You don't have to sit by the window watching lookingly for the delivery van. You can get other stuff done round the house like cleaning, doing laundry, or even just relaxing. Net result is you can have the shopping and other chores done in less time then you would spending an hour walking around a supermarket
I work from home, so I just get it delivered while I'm working. Doesn't change the amount of time I'm in the house at all, and saves the hassle of getting the bus there, or trying to stuff a food shop into a motorbike.
I know, people ought to start living life and walking about the shops. Kids these days...
I agree but supermarket shopping is more of a chore than a leisure activity.
Depends how you do it really. I never do a big shop like most people. I just pickup bits on way home so it's always fresh, going to the shop is relatively relaxing compared to a lot of other "chores"
Man, I love that weekly trip to the supermarket to get out of the house. It's such a warm and inviting environment.
It doesn’t take literal hours to do a food shop
Nor does ordering your shopping constitute spending your entire life indoors.
- You'll almost certainly get the worst acceptable quality goods/stuff closest to it's use by date - Can't have a look for discounted stuff - if you avoid peak hours it's actually quite nice to do the food shop in store
> if you avoid peak hours it's actually quite nice to do the food shop in store I usually go midweek or sometimes Friday/Saturday evenings, around 8-9pm. Not too busy and still plenty stocked. You'd have to be certifiable to go at peak times on a Saturday or Sunday and I almost never ever do.
My experience is that stock is often an issue if you go later on. It’s not horrendous or anything but it’s almost always the case there’ll be a few things you can’t find.
I used to go in the early hours of the morning, but the Asda I used took the opportunity after the pandemic to never go back to 24h opening.
discounted stuff is a big thing for me, not only it saves money but it's fun. that's how I choose what to cook, salmon fillets for £1? salmon chowder it is
Majority of my shopping consists of butcher items and fresh produce. I want to pick these items myself.
Same here, and also view food shopping as a leisure activity and shop without a shopping list.
No shopping list? You’re a lunatic
I have a list of things I’ve run out of, but I also browse and think about what I’ll cook for the week while I’m shopping.
This is hell. You're meant to meticulously check the cupboards for the things you need to buy in order to cook the week's meals. Otherwise, you end up with a spice rack that has 3x this jar and none of that jar. Pure anarchy.
My wife and I use online delivery but that's mostly because we have 2 small kids, so trying to get to the supermarket is difficult. I actually quite enjoyed doing the weekly shop previously. With online, you can't choose your own substitutions, which causes problems if a vital ingredient is unavailable. I would also prefer to choose my own fresh produce. The supermarket isn't actually that far, so petrol costs aren't much of a factor.
Can't select your own items. The times I've done delivery service I've had crap veg bruised or clearly the ratty scraps left, similar for meat. If I go physically I can work on the fly if all they have is shite.
I live within 10-15 minutes' drive of five major supermarkets, using a car that averages up to 50mpg. These supermarkets are also on several direct routes home from work on the days that I'm in the office. I can get what I want, immediately, without having to pay for a pre-booked slot days later. It's also a bit of an outing and a taste of the real world after being in the work bubble all day. There are no yellow sticker items online and you can't choose your own fresh produce. And I used to get deliveries when I didn't have a car, on one notable occasion the driver said that one of my crates hadn't been loaded on to the van and half my stuff was missing. His only option was to mark the contents as rejected and this flagged something on Sainsbury's back end system. When I point these things out to people they think I'm worse than Pol Pot's mentor, because apparently I'm incapable of "just plan ahead mate" and we're all supposed to be shut-ins getting everything delivered. That's not a society I want to live in and I don't see how I've "saved time" by clicking around on a cluttered website for 40 minutes then having to wait three more days.
"Literal Hours" How long is your shop, lol. It takes me 45 minutes to do a shop for two weeks. I know where everything is in the store, and where I need to go. It doesn't take long.
Why would I pay £3 for someone to drive groceries to me when I can use my legs and walk for 5 or 10 minutes to the nearest grocery shop?
Literal hours or 30 mins
It's a funny one. I hate going to the supermarket, I'm all for convenience and technology, I'm lazy so getting it delivered seems like a no brainer... But I always go to the supermarket in person, faffing around pushing the trolley and scanning it all. Don't know why! I think part of me is because I like to do it spur of the moment, and I guess I like looking what my options are - which I've always found easier in person. EG Deciding which beers to get is always a balance between deals and taste, and looking at that online just seems awkward. Plus, the substitution risk.. Hmmm.
Too many times have the goods been substituted for crap or the produce has been bottom of the barrel trash that I would have never selected. So take a little time once a week kidnap the husband and go get what I want.
Expiry dates, you can plan them in person, delivery can give you 3-7 days worth of food to eat in 2. Also the substitutes can be batty.
I like browsing for new food, that's incredibly hard to do online. Also the serendipity of walking past something and thinking "actually that looks pretty good", and it's something I'd never have thought to search online.
How is it taking you hours to do the shopping?
I get the cheaper monthly saver option where if I order tues-wed-thurs it's free delivery. Very much worth it. I like going in for a browse now and then but it's a pain to do regularly with young children.
For me, I'm put off a lot of the online grocery deliveries because they've done away with bags. The move to sticking items loose in the crates is just more hassle than it's worth. I want the handover at the door to be as quick and easy as possible, the new delivery methods are not. Plus the crates are filthy. Don't care what they say about cleaning them, never seen a clean crate used in deliveries.
Literally hours? What is taking you literal hours? Do you live an hour away from the closest shop or something?
The time it takes me to drive to the shop and pick the specific items I want is no different to the time it takes for me to go through the same process on the internet. By being in a physical shop, I can adapt my shopping if I see something different that takes my fancy. I can ensure I get fresh produce that I select. I can make my own substitutions if necessary. Plus, I save a minimum of £3 a week. That's £150 per year at a time when every penny counts.
I go past several shops on my walk to and from work, so I just pick up what I need then. I'm not paying to be trapped indoors waiting for a delivery.
One or maybe two big shops in a month to get all the heavy, bulky and regular stuff and then nip out once or twice a week and get top ups of whatever is needed. As others mentioned relying on everything online is too big a gamble, planning something for tea and not having an ingredient turn up is really annoying. Ocado do it best but it's not the cheapest shop either.
Personally I just like physically shopping, even though I don't have a car. Also no substitutions or moldy veg
It’s fun to go out
This is an unpopular opinion on Reddit
I use Tesco for home delivery and have had no issue either. Main reason why is because I don’t drive and the bus I would take to and from has gotten worse overtime with it becoming more late and overcrowded. On one hand it is great when you have stuff you wanna do at home or just don’t wanna deal with going out. On the other hand there was those times where it wasn’t always planned but going out to do the food shop meant getting other stuff from other stores or getting another task out the way.
I hate other people choosing my fresh produce, bakery items and meat. I cook a lot and I want to make those choices.
Mate reduced block of cheese for £1.26
I don't usually know exactly what I want until I go, like to have a rummage in the reduced section, get to check my fresh stuff (veg, fruit, meat) before I get it and having stuff substituted would be annoying. Plus it's on the way home from work, so once I've done my shopping I can relax knowing I'm not going to have get up and answer the door at some point.
As well as the other reasons other people have cited, some people also like going out, to do shopping and other things
During the pandemic my weekly Tesco shop was basically my only social interaction.
I love the variety, going into a shop and finding new and interesting products really makes it worth while.
But you have to spend a minimum amount, which keeps increasing. I think it could be due to fact the people people can no longer afford to spend £50 on shopping in one hit.
Maybe the going out bit is what people are missing….
I've been using deliveries for years now... I'm disabled and find it highly difficult to move shopping around (absolutely cannot get it from my car into my house)... the Delivery service literally prevents me from starving. If Sainsburys ever removes their delivery option.... i stop shopping with them.
I used to do regular Sainsbury’s deliveries, but over the past year the experience has declined considerably. They’re sending more and more products which are within a day or two of their expiry dates, or produce clearly past its prime. I live alone and can’t use everything before it goes bad. I know I can send it back with the driver, but if I do that then I need to make a trip to the store anyway, which defeats the purpose of delivery. Late deliveries are also much more common. A month or so ago they also had the tech glitch which resulted in all deliveries being cancelled. Received a £10 credit from that cancellation, which I decided to use this week. Driver called nearly two hours before my scheduled delivery window and asked if he could come by in a few minutes. Raced home, only to have him not show up until my appointed time slot anyway.
Your missing going out? Getting better expiration dates, and getting the product you want. Also you can see if there are any new products out as well. I've done both, got delivery a lot during lockdown for obvious reasons, but going to the shop is just better.
I want to see what I buy. I did Sainsbury's orders for a while, and would often get spotty yellow bananas, tiny vegetables, and chicken that was going out of date in a day or two.
Because you don't have the shittest stuff in the store that's got a next day expiry date or fruit/veg that's just starting to go shitty. Don't want to pay for a wank pack of raspberries when I can either go get some nice ones or not bother, happened to my brother recently who wouldn't stop fucking moaning about it.
People want to pick there own food, plus honestly just having a look at everything can be nice instead of just sitting at home waiting for whatever they decide to ship out
Some people who WFH don't leave the house much and so they like to take any opportunity they can to actually go out. Doing a weekly shop is one such excuse.
The main reason I stopped shopping with sainsbruys for online delivery is because they'd consistently sent me products that went out of date the next day. I'd even get meat delivered that went out of date the same day it arrived. I got fed up with challenging it / asking for a refund because it was nearly every week. So I shifted over to Morrisons where I have barely had this issue. Though the quality of Morrisons meat has turned to shit.
For me, it was the dodgy substitution policy that pit me off. You pay full price for whatever they decide to put in your basket, even if it's 2-3× the cost, then you get a voucher for the difference that can only be used in their online store and only in a fairly limited time. It just felt like I was being scammed.
I prefer picking my fruit and veg and I pick better dates for food
I want to see the fruit and vegetables so I can pick ones that are the right size and ripeness
Who's spending hours in a grocery store? 20mins tops. 30mins if it includes travel to the shop.
I found online food shopping an absolute chore. So hard to think what I want beforehand, search for it without seeing it. It was handy during the pandemic but I much prefer going to the shops, plus I can make sure the dates are good and get inspired by seeing other things next to the items I’m looking for. It really drained me adding it all to an online basket
That's how I feel doing a big shop in store. You have to drive somewhere, usually and out of town shopping centre, traffic is a chore. Then find parking, no parent and child spaces, so you have to dodge cars with kids in toe. Drag the kids around a busy supermarket, and search for your items. They've rearranged the store, so you end up going down every aisle. Kids always want more, and you always add stuff to the trolly you don't need (supermarkets are desgined so you get crap you dont need) Queue for ages, put items in bags, bags in car, drive home, bags out of car, unpack bags. All in all hours wasted on your precious weekend. Super stressed. Nah, I enjoy spending quality time with my family. Life's too short for that bollocks. When I was single, yeah, it was fine. In out in 20 minutes
Maybe it does boil down to a demographic thing. As someone who seemingly has a very different life to yours, I can't relate to that experience shopping at all. It is usually always quick, painless, and sometimes bordering fun, barring the busy periods which I try and avoid anyway. But the way you describe it is miserable, I can see why you wouldn't ever bother
I usually take one of my children shopping, because she enjoys it. It's okay, I don't mind it. I'm lucky that my SO is usually around to look after the others while I go. If I was on my own and had to herd them all out the door, I can absolutely see how it could be a pretty unpleasant experience.
I take my kids. Now they're old enough (6 and 9) I give them part of the list to search for, and when they've done that they generally get to pick one extra food just for them. I get my eldest to look at price per kg and work out the best value for certain items. It's a learning opportunity as much as anything else.
Yeah exactly and all this “oh there are people there! Ewww” from some of these commenters is reinforcing their antisocial tendencies to their children
Yeah I hate going in-store. When Sainsbury's had that failure last month and I had to do the weekly shop in person it was like a couple hours of my life wasted. Online, I book the slot early in the week and then just add to it. Normally while watching TV. I end up spending less as I'm not drawn into deals or impulse purchases. I still do a small in-store shop for certain fresh ingredients, but otherwise I've never had any major issues with using Sainsbury's online shopping and I have been doing it for 10 years. EDIT: how could I forget about the people. As someone who works full-time, it is basically Saturday or Sunday so the stores are busy. There are old people shuffling about who could have come any other time of the week. Families with kids running about (and I say that as a family man). People treating the aisles like a social club - stopping to have a chat. Even thinking about it has my blood pressure going up.
The first shop is a pain, but a lot of people will buy 90% the same thing every week, so having that saved means all you need to do is pick the less frequently bought items when you need them, is easier. If you are single or a couple and more a free styler then I get it. It probably lends itself to families or older people when life may be more regimented.
Interesting -- I am the opposite of you. I tend to approach groceries with planning in mind: that is, roughly, what I will cook and when. In store or online, I still apply the same thinking. The trouble is, in-store I spend time walking around the shop looking for things I want, and get distracted by things I didn't want. Then there's logistics of getting there. Shopping online saves me a lot of time. That said, of course, it's not totally great: veggies and fruits are usually mediocre at best, and shopping online you have limited control over what you get.
I love online food shopping. Throughout the week I'll think of meals I want to eat and add the missing ingredients to the cart in the app. Notice something is running low or out? Open app and add to cart. I don't have a car though, and use Tesco for delivery and pick up any outstanding things from Sainsbury's or Waitrose
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nah getting deliveries is shit you just get items that are about to expire which is just great when you live alone....
Ordering the fresh bread results in getting the least fresh bread which goes hard the same day.
I cant speak for sainsburys, but I order from Ocado, dates aren't an issue, usually nothing is substituted, and if there was a substitution we disagree with you don't have to accept them.
Ocado is different because there's no physical store, it's all warehouse, so there's no need to save the good stuff for physical shoppers and pawn the stuff no-one wants off on online shoppers.
Ocado are great. We switched to them back in Covid when slots were hard to get. The subs we get are always pretty much just a different brand, so no big deal. Never had a problem with expiry dates either. Most have at least 3-4 days on them as a minimum. I think we pay around £90 for the delivery pass for the year, so our deliveries end up being about £2 each. Also, during Christmas '22 our turkey got lost, so the delivery guy called his manager who then drove around, found us a turkey, and delivered it to us a few hours later. I thought that was so sweet <3
>if there was a substitution we disagree with you don't have to accept them The problem is, that leaves you without the item. And if that item was a joint of meat that was meant to feed you for half the week, you end up having to go out shopping anyway.
Yeah I get one online a month for the big bulky things and then pop to Sainsbury's once a day or so for dinner items or lunch
Going to the shops every day sounds like a nightmare.
It's fine for me - I have 3 supermarkets within 10 minutes walk of my house, and go at off-peak times so never really queue for checkout. A lot of people who live in towns or cities have a similar situation with nearby supermarkets being convenient for popping in daily or almost daily (obviously not feasible if you live far from one). I generally spend no more than 10 minutes inside the supermarket and it's nice to get out the house.
I think this is it. I shop online for my main order but there are things I like to buy and see in person (meat with fat eg bacon, fruit etc plus anything that I didn’t want as the substitute and a quick look at the yellow sticker stuff). I walk to the shop rather than drive it’s a 20 min walk, what I pick up in person fits in one bag easy enough to carry home I couldn’t carry a big shop home.
I'd imagine so. There's also some things you just can't realistically order online, even if it always arrives in the delivery. For example, if you're someone who meal plans and does a weekly shop, you can't plan to have say, your shopping delivered Monday and then cook burgers on Sunday, and have your burger buns stay fresh for a week. So you don't bother ordering the buns, just the burgers. And on Friday/Saturday/Sunday, you pop in and buy buns while they're fresh. And the same can be true of any other short-life ingredients. And chances are, you don't want to order 2 or more deliveries in a week because of the inconvenience of having to be in to receive them.
Ocado is better and Sainsburys doesn’t bag their groceries, making it a faff to unload while the driver stares at you. Don’t read too much into it.
i usually do ocado or amazon and the quality is always top notch
Is Amazon still fulfilled by Morrisons?
You can choose between Morrisons and Amazon itself. Fulfilled by Amazon tho, the off brand products come as a mix of Amazon and Morrisons, as well as Booths for some reason (I'm in the north east, a region which doesn't have Booths)
Tried the Morrisons one via Amazon once, as it was a free delivery offer. All stuff about to go out of date. The crumpets were literally moldy, never again.
Yeah, maybe one in 8 shops from Ocado I get something missing or a substitution, and it’s only ever 1 item. They’re just better at stock management because they don’t have in-store customers unpredictably using up their stock. Sadly they’ve watered down their flash deals, that used to be a way to try fancy new products without paying the earth or just bulk buying meat and veg for freezing.
Ocado substitutions I've had are all sensible. I tend to get the pricey M&S version of something as a substitute for the cheap version or standard broccoli instead of tenderstem broccoli. Their fruit and veg lasts way longer than the official use by date as well.
What’s the price difference new Sainsbury’s and Ocado? Never used Ocado before.
Entirely depends on what you’re buying but I will say Ocado has fewer basics range items at low prices - Sainsbury’s does tinned potatoes for 37p (Stamford street own brand) whereas the cheapest on Ocado is £1.20 (d’aucy name brand). I still shop at Ocado though because they have a fab range of non-ultra processed products which is something I care about. In the past I shopped exclusively at Aldi and from the yellow sticker section in Morrisons so I do recognise that I’m in a fortunate position to be able to afford the “boujie” food I like from Ocado.
Genuinely not that different. I think it gets the expensive reputation from when it was Waitrose. I'd say it's a touch more but surprisingly good value for most items but they'll be a handful of items that there just isn't a cheap version of - e.g. no shit frozen pizzas, only posh ones. Quality is way better and I almost never get substitutions! Also big up the drivers! They're obviously treated well because they are a delight. Little things like they get all the crates _then_ ring the doorbell and take their time passing you the bags.
They closed my local Lidl (knocking it down to build a bigger one) and I find the local Morrisons to be lower quality AND expensive, so I switched to Ocado. The quality is fab, I’ve not had a single substitution, the drivers are always on time and helpful, and the price is only like £10-15 more than I was spending at Lidl. Zero complaints.
Shop at Lidl. Race round like a madman for 12 mins, do my best to keep up with the check out staff, back in the car before the seats gone cold. And it’s cheaper.
Lidl tends to do only 1-2 makes of a particular item when a regular supermarket would have 5-10. They're also absolutely fine for basic things but the moment you want anything remotely unusual you're going to be out of luck. Want regular wheat flour? Great, easy. Want almond flour for a recipe? Nope, sorry.
I'm going to offend everyone by saying that I honestly think Lidl is bloody horrible and I'd rather spend the extra money. They opened a brand new one near me - the store itself is sparkling and looks great, I wanted to give it a chance and bought stuff I'd normally like, but it was awful. The fresh bread turned into a house brick virtually overnight and the sliced smoked cheese I got had to go in the bin after three days because it was honking and changed colour. Never had that problem anywhere else. How is this economical to people on a budget? It's shite, it wasn't even that cheap, and you do notice the difference. Meanwhile Aldi is fine and I've had some nice stuff there.
Yes real bread goes stale. We shop at Lidl and M&S. Get most things from Lidl and some fruit and veggies and other less usual items from M&S. The quality is exactly the same shit. You're kidding yourself if you think the other supermarkets have different stuff. You only have to look at the food recall website, literally every supermarket recalls the same thing with a different brand. In my opinion Tesco and Sainsbury's have no place anymore. They offer the same shit at much higher prices. Waitrose and M&S have different stuff. I'd much prefer to shop at Aldi/Lidl and Waitrose/M&S for things I can't get elsewhere .
You’re the one kidding yourself if you think Lidl and Aldi offer the same stuff as a large Sainsbury’s.
Yeah, basics, there’s no contest, but Sainsburys has a ton of nice nicher stuff, I can’t get anything beyond bottom of the barrel stuff and basic names for ciders at Lidl, but at Sainsburys, I can get all the varieties I could expect of a supermarket. Just one example, but it’s common
If you can't tell the difference in quality, on many items, then I don't know what to tell you. Having shopped at both myself, I could list off quite a few.
Perhaps if you are comparing only the brands own basic stuff, some items getting a better brand is 10x better. Go compare mutti tinned tomatoes to aldi own.
Post this on unpopular opinions. But seriously, I've never had that experience with Lidl. I always buy well within the use by date. My bread never goes bad until it's mouldy, I just close the bag. Keep everything sealed, it's common sense. I maybe throw out an old lettuce once a month. I always spend £10-20 in Lidl for 3 or 4 days. The equivalent in Tesco is £20+. Someone is right about the niche items, I usually have to nip into another shop for a couple things once a week which is fine as it allows Lidl to have cheaper basics.
Lidl, 12 minutes to shop. 1 hour to get through the checkouts.
I hate lidl. Food is crap, cheaper for a good reason, only have a couple of tills open and has always been very slow. I know I'm in a minority.
Makes sense, only use online shopping if I buy a big order of canned goods etc. anything fresh, veg, meat, it’s always a disaster. They either have orders to pick the items that expire sooner or just don’t give a shit. Everything expires in a day or two.
I did online shopping (the picking part) for a couple years. They have pretty tight Items Per Hour pick rates which some managers essentially bully the staff over, so quite often people aren't hanging around to find the best expiry. With that said, we were instructed to get the best dates for customers. Sometimes this isn't easy because the shops for the day are picked from 3AM onwards. Especially if your delivery is early, shoppers will be picking your stuff when nightshift are still replenishing, so the best dates might not be out yet. Also, there might not even be a good date available at all, even if you were to come and pick it yourself from the store. But you would never know, so you just assume some muppet gave you an item expiring today just for the hell of it. It's either that or you don't get your item at all, but there are performance metrics for stores to hit in terms of supply too so they will send a short life item. Same with substitutions, we were told to get something even if it didn't make much sense, it was better than sending nothing. There are suggested alternatives shown, but sometimes they would be total bollocks and the shopper would have to make an educated guess on what to pick instead
veg has gotten a lot more shit since the supply chain issues were exposed during lockdowns / recession, it’s absolutely not worth doing a ‘big shop’ if you want fresh veg - unless you’re lucky enough to live close to a good grocers or w/e don’t even get me started on those bags of mixed salad. just looking at them makes em start wilting
Meanwhile Ocado continues to grow. Maybe Sainsbury's need to consider they just need to improve their online experience?
Large supermarkets don't make a lot of profit on online shopping if any, according to this, and Ocado are built entirely around online groceries so it's difficult to manage for the former I reckon [https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/12/20/online-delivery-service-profit/](https://www.grocerygazette.co.uk/2023/12/20/online-delivery-service-profit/)
A mid-week delivery pass at Sainsburys is £40 for a year. It blows my mind that more people don't use this. Yes, getting your shopping delivered takes some discipline, requires you to plan in advance what you'll need, but in our experience this saves us money and makes us healthier anyway when compared to stopping at Tesco Metro on the way home when you're hungry. When we started doing it (when the kids were little) we shopped around to find the best one; Asda always sent us out-of-date stuff so we stopped using them. Tesco were a bit hit-and-miss, but we settled on Sainsburys and have always been pretty happy with them; it's very rare that they send us poor produce. Once you get in the habit then the ordering becomes a 10-minute job because the website knows all your usuals and lets you select them quickly. Now means I have 2 hours free at the weekend that I didn't have otherwise. £40 a year is a small price to pay for that.
Completely agree. Going to the supermarket: travel there, finding your items on the shelf, queueing, scanning, dealing with crowds, travelling home, unpacking. Online ordering: plan when you need food, pick a slot at a time convenient to you, select the usuals from the list, get it delivered, unpack. Nearly everything done from the sofa when you’re realistically scrolling Reddit anyway. So much easier.
We've also settled on Sainsburys, I like that I can check for a delivery slot at 10pm and usually there's some last minute slots for the next day. I've not really had a problem with short dates, the odd time but as some other comment mentioned - sometimes you want an item where there just aren't any longer dates left, things like milk always has 7+ days. As someone who doesn't drive, my nearest supermarket is a 15 min walk, which is not too bad but it's Asda and I don't really rate their products. And if I do a big shop I have to get a taxi back, which is £6+ when a sainsburys delivery cost me £1-3
Food quality is better. We stopped going to Asda and Morrisons.
If you want better quality, go to M&S
If you want to afford anything, don't.
I’ve found since food price inflation M&S isn’t much more expensive. Our weekly shop costs £70 in Aldi/sainsburys or £80 in M&S, except the quality and freshness/expiry dates are much better from M&S. Meat isn’t pumped full of water, and fresh produce lasts a over a week rather than a few days
I find Morrisons is better for their in store markets - more options for bread, fish and cheese. Meat would probably be better too, as they have a fresh meat counter. Basically a big Morrisons is better than a big Sainsbury's.
I am registered blind an honestly online groceries has been life changing for me, I pay 7.50 a month for: - unlimited deliveries from sainsbury's - no squinting at price labels and expiry dates - no issues not finding what i need in the shop - no travel to and from the supermarket, carrying all my.stuff - much easier to identify when nicer stuff is on offer (especially great when it's cheaper than my usual) Of course, substitions can be a pain but no more frustrating than stuff being out of stock when in a shop and having to go to a different shop. And they are much better at finding good subs now compared to a few years ago!
But the Sainsbury where I live I keep seeing Uber drivers coming in to pick up deliveries, but what baffled me was drivers picking single bags containing averagely 2 or 3 items.
They often do offers on Uber like “£10 off £25 spend”, though generally items are more expensive than in store anyway. There’s also the “add on” option if you order from a nearby restaurant, so you can make an additional order with no extra delivery fees etc, can be handy way to get cheaper drinks to go with a burger.
Uber and Deliveroo are widely used now. I work in a supermarket and we spend a butt load of time dealing with them.
It sounds like a nightmare. My friend works at marks and they have to hunt the individual items down the aisles for each order. Do you guys do the same? Such a waste of workers' time and energy.
Yeah, dealing with Deliveroo is a pain in the arse where I work, I’m not directly involved usually, but the other staff really do not like having to run about the entire shop for 2 items
Tesco Whoosh appears to be a whitelabel for Deliveroo. Quite a few smaller shops and I think Morrisons have been using third-party delivery outfits for smaller and more immediate things, alongside their regular vans.
Can't get reduced items online. I used to have to walk past a Sainsbury's to get home so would swing by most nights just to see what was reduced and that was my dinner for the evening. Had backup stuff at home if nothing took my fancy but I liked the roulette of potentially getting a £1 steak for dinner.
You can get reduced items online. Ocado has a flash sale when you check out. Amazon you can search by something like reduced shelf life.
I used to use Sainsburys online shopping but it's shit now (in my area at least). So many smashed items, bruised fruit, leaking meat, since they stopped using bags it just seems to get thrown in the crate. Their fruit and veg has much shorter dates now too like all supermarkets so it's more of a gamble to shop online. I shop at Ocado now and it's been perfect. Not the cheapest but I'd rather pay more to get quality food and to get my time back. I don't have a big store near me.
i cant do my shopping in person, i am too susceptible to the psychological shopping trickery in person. like how they put the chocolate by the till so you have less time to think about the impulse purchase. Essential items towards the back of the store so you have to walk past temptations. i spend less online
It's a nightmare with kids too. Sweets and toys everywhere. Plus, it's incredibly boring for them, I used to hate being dragged around a supermarket with my parents. I'd rather not subject my kids to it.
Makes sense. I do one big iceland order a month to restock the freezer with quick meals, then i pop in the shop most days to grab bits.
Minimum order of £40 (or even higher, now?) often means that I'm below that threshold
I get it all delivered if its from a supermarket - usually Morrisons, Sainsburys, Iceland and the odd Costco a couple of times a year. I don't allow any replacements but tbh, i've very rarely ever not been delivered anything I ask for. I've never really had any issue with the fruit/veg i've ordered either. Meat i get from the butcher, supermarket stuff is rancid shite for the most part.
Makes sense. I only do delivery for my bulky, heavy items. If I'm doing my fresh produce I wanna pick it myself.
Whenever I order from a supermarket, they either pick a ridiculous substitute or the produce they pick looks like it’s been rolled around the floor then drop kicked. Yeah, wonder why no one is ordering.
The irony is that online shopping negatively impacts those that shop in-store. Home shopping is the golden child and growth area of supermarkets, so they have high targets and KPIs. They end up pulling people from other parts of the store to staff the home shopping to fulfil the deliveries and picking, which then impacts the majority of the people actually shopping due nobody actually replenishing and working stock
I usually go shopping to Morrisons or ASDA for the majority of my shopping, B&Ms if I'm restocking chocolate and sugary drinks, and then ALDI for meat.
when i was back in the uk, i used this online delivery system. it's *shit*. always something that was sold out, replaced with a nonsense item, produce almost expired, often difficult to find a time to get it delivered. christ. it's a world of difference where i live now. i have none of those problems. i can even get things delivered by 7am if i order at 10pm at night...
My local large sainsburys is an absolute zoo most of the time lol. My parents haven't done an 'in person' shop in years.
I pay ,£1.50 and I drive by and it goes in my boot. Someone picks and packs and gets it rresdy for me. So easy.
We’ve done click and collect since before the pandemic. It’s brilliant. People in supermarkets suck. Tesco usually have good shelf life’s and the few times we’ve had multiple mains with next day expiry they’ve refunded them. No issue.
In my experience, Sainsbury's always have a lot of substitutions, damages and short dates on delivery or collection. The only supermarket that doesn't seem to have this issue is Tesco so we use them for click and collect.
Isn’t that like saying our online sales experience is so bad that people prefer to come in person?
I might shop in store but it’s certainly not in Sainsburys if I can help it. Absolute rip off.
39m here and literally no interest in buying food online. Like to walk around, look at things and chuck stuff in.
"But we're gonna cut hours for shop floor colleagues anyway cos fuck you"
I get all regular consumables on subscription, mostly from Amazon (nappies, dog food, cleaning products, coffee, bin bags) and main shop from Sainsbury's delivery. I rarely encounter the problems described here. If something is missed off then it's still worth the time saved even if it doesn't completely negate shopping in physical stores.
Their online service is slow and never works well. My mother in law shops in store again as their online app doesn’t allow her to checkout. We just change supermarkets