Panic buying hits DKH Sainsburys

[gromit316]

I like how the staff have backbone when you pick up a carrier bag, announcing to the world 'have you paid for that'.

[edcam]

gromit3:16 - please calm down. You're not helping anyone, least of all yourself.

[dresswaves]

Got some shopping in for my mum this morning. At Morrison at 8:30 it was busier than usual but there was plenty of fruit & veg. No loo rolls & some gaps but managed to get a good range of food.

Lordship Lane at about 10 seemed fairly normal, plenty of people in Costa?s! CoOp had reasonable stock.

[gumshoe]

This may be of some help - Oddbox (https://www.oddbox.co.uk/) are a London-based sustainable fruit and veg box supplier, who deliver boxes weekly and can be tailored to family size or preference (fruit only). Obvs, you only get what is surplus/'odd' so don't have control over what is delivered but it might be useful as a supply source. I've been getting them for the best part of a year now and would really recommend them - hard to say what impact COVID-19 will have but it's something.

[Blah Blah]

Depending on where this goes, how many people can not go to work, how many companies go bust, the supply lines of plenty that we have all been used to, might begin to falter. It is all very well the government saying, there is plenty of food etc, but that is not what people see when they go to a supermarket with bare shelves. Something has to give.

[Sue]

gromit3:16 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> The communinity is not coming together,

Actually you are wrong.

Some lovely people in my road have started a WhatsApp group for the road, and dropped in flyers to people in the road giving their mobile numbers and offering to get shopping, post letters, etc..

I know there are similar initiatives in Nunhead. I don't know about in East Dulwich.

This has partly restored my faith in human nature. Good for them.

[Penguin68]

Although this does all seem like complete madness, HMG announcing 14 day strict quarantine for normal folk, and 84+ days for over 70s will have tended to focus minds. It's all well and good suggesting that kind folk will shop for them (well, they may, but paying for it is going to be an issue) but with delivery companies (i.e. Occado) not allowing people to change standing orders, and not taking on new customers etc. (and free order slots out over 3 weeks away) I can understand the panic setting in.

[savvygirl]

My lovely young neighbours asked if they could do a shop for me. So very kind. I do have my grandchildren nearby and they are making sure I'm ok and looking out for me. There are some wonderful young people around but all too often we only hear about the troublemakers.

[Bic Basher]

Milk was back in DKH this afternoon. I ended up doing around 80% at DKH as they had most things I required today with the rest in the Sainsbury's Local. They were better stocked than DKH where I was able to buy fruit and mineral water. No canned goods or bread however.

[binkylilyput]

I don't agree with stockpiling at the expense of others, of course not.

What I find more interesting though is our propensity to point fingers and blame others for shopping.....when we are in the shops shopping ourselves!

Everyone feels they have a justified reason to shop. Those shelves may well be empty because we are all shopping for our elderly relatives, friends and neighbours in addition to our own.

It is also the case that people are working from home and getting through more food.

Most of us have never been through any hardship or restriction so having less choice available to us feels like a disaster.

The hysteria on so many levels is boring and unhelpful.

gromit3:16 stop ramping it up!

[Bic Basher]

Finally grabbed some bread in Tesco Express in Forest Hill.

[fishbiscuits]

binkylilyput Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I don't agree with stockpiling at the expense of

> others, of course not.

>

> What I find more interesting though is our

> propensity to point fingers and blame others for

> shopping.....when we are in the shops shopping

> ourselves!

Generally my feelings are that having a 1-2 week supply of food in the house is pretty sensible. If you need to isolate your family for two weeks, you will be very, very glad you did it.

I think there is a line between sensible precautions, and "stockpiling" crazy amounts of canned and dried food, as if you were going to be spending the next two years in a nuclear bunker.

[gromit316]

Apologies everyone, I've calmed down now, I know it sounds silly to be upset over milk, but it was a shocking sight to see.

[Pugwash]

Talking with someone today who has a friend working in DKH Sainsbury's - she reports store is fully stocked at 6 am, by 7 am queues of people reaching out of the car park and as soon as doors open, they swarm in and within an hour of so, very little left on the shelf.

Agree, there must be enforced rationing, if some local shops can restrict you to 1 packet of loo rolls, kitchen roll, tissues. cleaning produce - then the big stores should follow suit. I was nearly 2 hours in t he shop yesterday - longer because I kept going back to the aisles hoping that they were being restocked - got lucky with long life milk and bananas.

[IlonaM]

Follow-up email from Sainsburys this morning:

'Dear [],

I wrote to you last week to tell you about some of the steps we are taking to support increased demand for food and other essential items.

After I wrote to you last week, many of you replied. You wrote to share your concerns about our elderly and vulnerable customers and to ask if we can do more to restrict the number of items each person can buy. I have listened to feedback from you and from Sainsbury's colleagues across the country and wanted to share some of the extra steps we are taking to make sure everyone has access to the items that they need:

A number of you suggested that we reserve an hour in stores for elderly and vulnerable customers. In response to this request, we will set aside the first hour in every supermarket this Thursday 19th March, for elderly and vulnerable customers. I hope that you can respect this decision and will work with us as we try our best to help those that need it the most. If you or an elderly family member, friend or neighbour would like to shop during this hour, please check online for your local supermarket opening hours.

We will also help elderly and vulnerable customers access food online. From Monday 23rd March, our online customers who are over 70 years of age or have a disability will have priority access to online delivery slots. We will contact these customers in the coming days with more details.

For any online customer who can travel to our stores, from Monday 23rd March, we will operate an expanded 'click and collect' service. We are significantly increasing the number of collection sites across the country over the coming days in preparation for this. Customers can place their order online as usual and pick it up from a collection point in the store car park. We believe this will also work for people who are self-isolating.

As we work to feed the nation, we are also focusing all of our efforts on getting as much food and other essential items from our suppliers, into our warehouses and onto shelves as we possibly can. We still have enough food for everyone - if we all just buy what we need for us and our families.

To help us get more essential items onto the shelves, from this Thursday 19th March, we will be closing our cafes and our meat, fish and pizza counters in supermarkets. This means we can free up warehouse and lorry capacity for products that customers really need. It will also free up time for our store colleagues to focus on keeping the shelves as well stocked as possible.

I mentioned last week that we had put limits on a very small number of products. Following feedback from our customers and from our store colleagues, we have decided to put restrictions on a larger number of products. From tomorrow, Wednesday 18th March, customers will be able to buy a maximum of three of any grocery product and a maximum of two on the most popular products including toilet paper, soap and UHT milk. We have enough food coming into the system, but are limiting sales so that it stays on shelves for longer and can be bought by a larger numbers of customers.

Finally, I wanted to end by saying a huge thank you to Sainsbury's colleagues across the business. Everyone is working flat out in difficult circumstances to do their best to serve our customers. If you're able to say thank you to them when you see them, I know they would hugely appreciate it.

Best wishes

Mike'

[lindylou]

So the elderly have to queue outside at 7am and run around to get their shopping done by 8am before the vultures arrive!

[gromit316]

You mean the elerdery will have to push past people to try and get in to th shop. Worker in the shop said they were queing all the way down to the nursery.

7-11am should be for the elerdery.

[gromit316]

Someone is gonna get hurt soon if the carpark is full of people waiting to charge around to grab stuff as soon as they open.

Do you think it's the same people hoarding the stock?

[singalto]

How do you prove you are elderly or disabled to get priority with online shopping? And just one hour on one day for the same people?

[9inthWave]

The Telegraph's YouTube channel has a video from DKH Sainsbury's this morning....

I have to admit, I do get a little annoyed by all of these people saying it is ridiculous or whatever filming it like this dude, whilst also being there himself at 6.58am and being one of these "ridiculous" people.

[IlonaM]

singalto Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> How do you prove you are elderly or disabled to

> get priority with online shopping? And just one

> hour on one day for the same people?

I am trying to work that out at the moment. No facility via online account that I can find. Tried to phone earlier, but lines keep failing or if you get through long wait. They don't appear to allow email anymore.

[sally buying]

IlonaM Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Follow-up email from Sainsburys this morning:

>

> 'Dear [],

>

> I wrote to you last week to tell you about some of

> the steps we are taking to support increased

> demand for food and other essential items.

>

> After I wrote to you last week, many of you

> replied. You wrote to share your concerns about

> our elderly and vulnerable customers and to ask if

> we can do more to restrict the number of items

> each person can buy. I have listened to feedback

> from you and from Sainsbury's colleagues across

> the country and wanted to share some of the extra

> steps we are taking to make sure everyone has

> access to the items that they need:

>

> A number of you suggested that we reserve an hour

> in stores for elderly and vulnerable customers. In

> response to this request, we will set aside the

> first hour in every supermarket this Thursday 19th

> March, for elderly and vulnerable customers. I

> hope that you can respect this decision and will

> work with us as we try our best to help those that

> need it the most. If you or an elderly family

> member, friend or neighbour would like to shop

> during this hour, please check online for your

> local supermarket opening hours.

>

> We will also help elderly and vulnerable customers

> access food online. From Monday 23rd March, our

> online customers who are over 70 years of age or

> have a disability will have priority access to

> online delivery slots. We will contact these

> customers in the coming days with more details.

>

> For any online customer who can travel to our

> stores, from Monday 23rd March, we will operate an

> expanded 'click and collect' service. We are

> significantly increasing the number of collection

> sites across the country over the coming days in

> preparation for this. Customers can place their

> order online as usual and pick it up from a

> collection point in the store car park. We believe

> this will also work for people who are

> self-isolating.

>

> As we work to feed the nation, we are also

> focusing all of our efforts on getting as much

> food and other essential items from our suppliers,

> into our warehouses and onto shelves as we

> possibly can. We still have enough food for

> everyone - if we all just buy what we need for us

> and our families.

>

> To help us get more essential items onto the

> shelves, from this Thursday 19th March, we will be

> closing our cafes and our meat, fish and pizza

> counters in supermarkets. This means we can free

> up warehouse and lorry capacity for products that

> customers really need. It will also free up time

> for our store colleagues to focus on keeping the

> shelves as well stocked as possible.

>

> I mentioned last week that we had put limits on a

> very small number of products. Following feedback

> from our customers and from our store colleagues,

> we have decided to put restrictions on a larger

> number of products. From tomorrow, Wednesday 18th

> March, customers will be able to buy a maximum of

> three of any grocery product and a maximum of two

> on the most popular products including toilet

> paper, soap and UHT milk. We have enough food

> coming into the system, but are limiting sales so

> that it stays on shelves for longer and can be

> bought by a larger numbers of customers.

>

> Finally, I wanted to end by saying a huge thank

> you to Sainsbury's colleagues across the business.

> Everyone is working flat out in difficult

> circumstances to do their best to serve our

> customers. If you're able to say thank you to them

> when you see them, I know they would hugely

> appreciate it.

>

> Best wishes

>

> Mike'

So Moxonx and Rose's will be raided by the ED citizens so they will run out.

[Ole]

My partner is in Sainsbury's now and he tells me there is no:

pasta

milk

tinned stuff, couscous - all that aisle empty

paracetamol

toothpaste (!!)

toilet roll

cereals

frozen food (apart from ice cream)

How much of this is people really hoarding, or sainsbury's just being crap at shelf management?

Also many people who would often eat out are now not doing it so demand will generally be up even without frenzied shopping?

Sighs.

I just want to do our normal weekly shop!

[gromit316]

I don't think Sainsbury is fully stocking shelves, yesterday I went and got two shepherds pie ready meals at 11.30am no more was left.

3pm to went back to Sainsbury, and there were two more sharpards pies on the shelf. why did they only put two on the shelf?

[sally buying]

If you go back on Sainsbury's threads you will see that people have said this about the shelves long before this crisis.