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Supermarket Update

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Gloster

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The local large Tesco had the queuing barriers back at the entrance today. I am not sure if it is the weather, easing of lockdown or the number of tourists that caused that.
 

Hadders

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I had to queue outside a Sainsbury's earlier today. Nobody was bothering with any sort of distancing with the queue being rather bunched up.

I hadn't seen a queue outside a supermarket for several months before today.

The local large Tesco had the queuing barriers back at the entrance today. I am not sure if it is the weather, easing of lockdown or the number of tourists that caused that.
For the umpteenth time let me explain again.....

Every supermarket has a maximum number of people that are allowed into the building at any one time. These numbers were increased when 1 metre+ came in last summer. Normally these numbers aren't exceeded and you can simply walk in and shop as normal.

However if you shop in a store that happens to be very busy then you might have to queue to enter. This is more likely to happen at a shop that has a high customer count for its size. But add in a Bank Holiday weekend and hot weather, which normally see supermarket sales increase, and there will be some additional stores where you might have to queue to enter.

I know some supermarket managers who were expecting to be close to their limit this weekend, and they will have put up queuing systems outside the store so they are prepared 'just in case'. They will likely get removed next week after the Bank Holiday.
 

3rd rail land

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For the umpteenth time let me explain again.....

Every supermarket has a maximum number of people that are allowed into the building at any one time. These numbers were increased when 1 metre+ came in last summer. Normally these numbers aren't exceeded and you can simply walk in and shop as normal.

However if you shop in a store that happens to be very busy then you might have to queue to enter. This is more likely to happen at a shop that has a high customer count for its size. But add in a Bank Holiday weekend and hot weather, which normally see supermarket sales increase, and there will be some additional stores where you might have to queue to enter.

I know some supermarket managers who were expecting to be close to their limit this weekend, and they will have put up queuing systems outside the store so they are prepared 'just in case'. They will likely get removed next week after the Bank Holiday.
I understand there is a limit on customer numbers allowed in a shop at any one time that supermarkets must not exceed. I was just pointing out that I hadn't seen a queue outside of a supermarket in my area for many months. It didn't totally surprise me given the weather is improving and it's a bank holiday weekend.
 

Hadders

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I understand there is a limit on customer numbers allowed in a shop at any one time that supermarkets must not exceed. I was just pointing out that I hadn't seen a queue outside of a supermarket in my area for many months. It didn't totally surprise me given the weather is improving and it's a bank holiday weekend.
No problem :) You'd be amazed at what a hot Bank Holiday weekend can do to supermarket sales!
 

Mojo

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Meanwhile the Sainsbury’s near my work has finally removed in the past couple of weeks the barriers outside. It was quite annoying actually as you had to walk quite a long way away from the main road and then double back on yourself. I’ve been working there nearly a year and in that time had never seen a queue, but I don’t doubt it would have been quite bad during last spring.
 

Hadders

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A fair bit changed in supermarkets once non-essential retail opened and there other shops where you could go and buy clothes, general merchandise etc. Th next key date will (hopefully) be 21st June when there shouldn't be any need to count the number of customers in a store, encourage people to shop alone etc.

Given the mixed messages from Government I'm not holding my breath though....
 

PeterC

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Last bank holiday my local supermarket had a short queue for an hour or so on the Saturday. I did my shopping for this weekend on Friday without any hold up but somebody was actively monitoring customer numbers.

As an aside I went to my local tip recycling centre today. All bays are now back in use without any distancing. Something I always thought pointless in a open air site.
 

Class 33

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Stopped off in Tesco in Weston-Super-Mare to get some sandwiches for the journey home on the bus. Seen there was a queue of about 20 people outside. Decided not to bother! Can't be doing with waiting in a queue to go into a supermarket! Absolutely bonkers! Sooner they get rid of these "social distancing guidelines" in shops and indeed everywhere, the better! We really don't need this nonsense now! Bring on 21st June and hopefully finally the end of this nonsense!
 

brad465

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Recently in my local Sainsburys one of the automated announcements talked about us being nearly at the end and praising customer's caution/action so far, which was nice to finally hear them recognising the end is supposedly nigh.
 

Baxenden Bank

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Variable prices for Tesco home delivery slots return from Monday 28 June. Ranging between £1.50 and £7.00 but too early to know what the prices will be on the busy weekend days/slots.
 

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Wasn't sure whether to put this in the "Ping" thread, just been to my local Morrisons after work and several of the shelves in the fruit and veg section were empty/nearly empty. I usually go at this time, and in the last 7/8 months there's been the odd time that maybe an item or two have been nearly out/out of stock, but over the last few weeks the amount of empty shelves have been increasing. Today was a lot worse:

Apples - minimal stock, a dozen or so packs of Gala and Braeburns
Bananas - Nothing
Potatoes - Shelves about 25% full, bags of various types but in small quantities
Cauliflowers/Broccoli/Beans/radishes/etc ... - there's a long bit of shelving opposite the potatoes with these on, less than half full in total and a large section at one end totally empty.

Had a bit of a look up to about halfway down the store, the only other obviously low stock I noticed was the fizzy drinks section; a lot of bottles at the front that minimised gaps to some extent, but not much behind these (in fairness, it's the school holidays and it's been warm).
 

py_megapixel

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Had a bit of a look up to about halfway down the store, the only other obviously low stock I noticed was the fizzy drinks section; a lot of bottles at the front that minimised gaps to some extent, but not much behind these (in fairness, it's the school holidays and it's been warm).
I noticed that too. I've been into 3 separate supermarkets all of which have had reasonable amounts of stock apart from fizzy drinks.
 

greyman42

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Are certain parts of the country suffering more shortages than others? I l live in York and all the supermarkets i use seem to be business as usual.
 

Darandio

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Are certain parts of the country suffering more shortages than others? I l live in York and all the supermarkets i use seem to be business as usual.

I assume so. On Saturday gone Morrisons here in Redcar had zero freshly prepared salad whether it be bags of leaves or anything else ready to be eaten. And there wasn't a fresh carrot to be had whether it be standard, wonky, posh little Chantenay things or organic. None at all.
 

Red Onion

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My local Tesco has been really well stocked with everything bar varieties of soft drinks, very few gaps elsewhere.

Whilst I was in today, I heard a lady say to her friend that she felt silly for stocking up on toilet roll last week, which made me chuckle.
 

greyman42

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I assume so. On Saturday gone Morrisons here in Redcar had zero freshly prepared salad whether it be bags of leaves or anything else ready to be eaten. And there wasn't a fresh carrot to be had whether it be standard, wonky, posh little Chantenay things or organic. None at all.
If certain parts of the country are suffering shortages, more than other parts, does anyone have any theories as to why?
 

Hadders

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The sort of things that are affecting supermarket availability at the moment:

- late or non-existent inbound supply to depots caused by suppliers suffering with fewer staff due to pingdemic, their own issues with inbound supplies and HGV driver shortage
- Delays at ports due to Brexit and high levels of absence among port staff due to c
- depots suffering with high levels of staff absence capping the volume that can be picked
- depots suffering because of the general driver shortage
- supermarket staff absence at record high levels due to pingdemic and start of summer holiday season
- late deliveries caused by depot issues described above

Then add to this that sales are higher than expected due to the heatwave last week, plus more customers buying food from supermarkets due to more staycation this year and something ends up giving….
 
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Gloster

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From my limited observations, it seems to be a bit hit and miss: what is short in one supermarket has normal availability in another. The only items that seem to be short in most places are Nairn’s oatcakes and salad, although toilet paper and Duracell batteries seem to be short in quite a few places. I wonder if the situation with fruit and veg, including salads, is aggravated by the predicted shortage of pickers (and possibly the weather making everything sprout at once).
 
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route101

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Noticed in one Coop they had run out of soft drinks and water. They had opened some multipack cans and put a reduced sticker on them.
 

Huntergreed

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I work in retail (for a major supermarket) and I can confirm that there’s been national supply issues as a result of the pingdemic.

Fizzy drinks (as well as alcoholic drinks, water, and packs of ice) are facing shortage due to the heatwave increasing sales quite significantly.

This will only get worse until our gracious leaders ease the rules to stop the impact of the pingdemic (although cases are falling so there’s hope things could improve!)
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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One of my twin sons took me to the John Lewis large department store and Sainsbury's large superstore at their jointly conjoined large premises facility at Cheadle Royal last Sunday. I was quite surprised to see a very large number of shoppers who still were wearing face coverings in both those stores. Facilities were still available to sanitise shopping trolley handles and customer's hands. In both stores, we had no problems in sourcing the goods we came to purchase. The only difference at the Sainsbury store was that printer ink cartridges are now only available in the in-house Argos store section.
 

Hadders

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The only difference at the Sainsbury store was that printer ink cartridges are now only available in the in-house Argos store section.
Printer ink is one of the most frequently stolen items these days. £millions of pounds lost annually.
 

py_megapixel

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Printer ink is one of the most frequently stolen items these days. £millions of pounds lost annually.
At first that seemed a bit of an odd choice, but then I realised they probably steal it to resell, as the huge markups it's sold at means that firstly it can fetch a decent amount on the likes of eBay whilst still undercutting the retailers, and secondly people are more likely to be looking for it on the likes of eBay
 

westv

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Printer ink is one of the most frequently stolen items these days. £millions of pounds lost annually.
I rarely used a printer in the office (pre March 20) whereas others seemed to print off reams and reams.
Last time I used a printer at home was years ago.
 

SteveM70

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At first that seemed a bit of an odd choice, but then I realised they probably steal it to resell, as the huge markups it's sold at means that firstly it can fetch a decent amount on the likes of eBay whilst still undercutting the retailers, and secondly people are more likely to be looking for it on the likes of eBay

Yep. Ultimately the biggest risk products for theft are:

- low cube
- high value
- readily sold on

So cigarettes, razor blades, quarter bottles of spirits, ink cartridges etc etc
 

LAX54

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One of my twin sons took me to the John Lewis large department store and Sainsbury's large superstore at their jointly conjoined large premises facility at Cheadle Royal last Sunday. I was quite surprised to see a very large number of shoppers who still were wearing face coverings in both those stores. Facilities were still available to sanitise shopping trolley handles and customer's hands. In both stores, we had no problems in sourcing the goods we came to purchase. The only difference at the Sainsbury store was that printer ink cartridges are now only available in the in-house Argos store section.
Tesco Extra Clacton, still have One Way in, one way out, and request distancing, not that many took notice of that, they also had the sanitising stations, which everyone seemed to ignore, but wore masks, which seemed a bit bizarre, and of course there was the 25% or more that wore a mask, under the nose :) :)
 
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