Bloody Waitrose!

[Biggsy]

Most of our problems in the First World are First World problems!  All of us on YACF have some sort of shelter and food after all (even if it's just a bus stop and a flapjack for the Audaxers).

Re Tesco online:

How long ago?

About a year ago for the last order.  Any company badly pissing me off tends to get withdrawal of my custom for life, except Tesco's local Express shop is so convenient that I'd be a fool to myself to avoid.  For online, though, there's no need for me to give them another chance while their competitors are so good.

[Pancho]

Most of our problems in the First World are First World problems!  All of us on YACF have some sort of shelter and food after all (even if it's just a bus stop and a flapjack for the Audaxers).

I think that's exactly why the "meme" of calling out First World Problems had arisen. It's a (sort of) polite way of saying "it's unedifying to listen to you moaning about some inconsequential aspect of living in the richest and most privileged society that has ever existed - please shut up"

[mcshroom]

As a single person who tends to be close enough to Supermarkets or the local Coop often enough not to need online I've not had much experience of them. However Asda home delivery was very useful when I broke my arm last year and was recovering from surgery. The other one that delivered here was Tesco, but their website didn't seem to want to let me register.

[Biggsy]

I think that's exactly why the "meme" of calling out First World Problems had arisen. It's a (sort of) polite way of saying "it's unedifying to listen to you moaning about some inconsequential aspect of living in the richest and most privileged society that has ever existed - please shut up"

The point is that almost everything we moan and chat about in the First World is about inconsequential things in the First World.  Shutting all that up would be rather boring.

[CAMRAMan]

Waitrose "won't allow" their staff to join unions, and their disciplinary procedure doesn't allow appeals for anyone with under 5 years of service.

So the first is illegal and the second is at least against the ACAS code of practice.  How do they get away with it?

I can't answer that, but I did 3 months at Shiterose and hated it. "Being a partner (bollocks!), you can challenge things you don't like", I was told, so I challenged. Got me nowhere except gave me the will to leave a.s.a.p.

[caerau]

"Being a partner (bollocks!)"

Yeah my wife laughs a lot about their 'partner' bollocks.  Their charter sounds very nice but they seem to get treated just like everyone else in other companies.
They do get a nice bonus occasionally though. Depending on what department mind - some don't count it seems.

[CAMRAMan]

They might pay generous bonuses, but I was on £6.46/hour two years ago. Just above the minimum wage and far below the living wage figure.

[contango]

My wife and I gave up online orders for anything that was important.

If you're expecting dinner guests and so need four of something, or six of something, it really doesn't help at all to get your delivery only to find they didn't have six so sent five and one of something vaguely similar. At least if you go to the store yourself you can see they don't have six, so you can buy six of something else. It doesn't even work to say "no substitutions" because it just leaves you with five of something when you needed six, and unless you can group things together even an "all or nothing" doesn't work.

Sometimes they're really nice to you - they have an offer on multiples so you place an order to take them up on something like "three bottles of wine for a tenner", only to find they substituted one of the bottles for a more expensive one. So not only do you get to pay full price for two, because you didn't have a third, but the substitute costs more than you expected as well.

[ian]

We stopped doing the online  – it seemed like a good idea because I don't like shopping – but I'm a browser. I don't know what I want to eat till I see it. I bounce around supermarkets with a curious Brownian motion, one moment I'll be in veg, the next dairy, then veg. There's no actual logic to what I put in the trolley. It's less recipes, more Heston's bad dream.

My first ever job was in the Coop, Thursday and Friday evenings plus Saturdays*. That's probably child abuse these days. I think I earned enough in three years to pay for my first week's university bar bill. My mother works at Morrisons (or did, she just retired) – she'd have killed to work at Waitrose. That's where Morrisons employees go when they die apparently

[pcolbeck]

My wife and I gave up online orders for anything that was important.

If you're expecting dinner guests and so need four of something, or six of something, it really doesn't help at all to get your delivery only to find they didn't have six so sent five and one of something vaguely similar. At least if you go to the store yourself you can see they don't have six, so you can buy six of something else. It doesn't even work to say "no substitutions" because it just leaves you with five of something when you needed six, and unless you can group things together even an "all or nothing" doesn't work.

Online is for the basics. Loo roll, tins of beans washing up liquid etc. Never rely on it for stuff you desperately need.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

My wife and I gave up online orders for anything that was important.

If you're expecting dinner guests and so need four of something, or six of something, it really doesn't help at all to get your delivery only to find they didn't have six so sent five and one of something vaguely similar. At least if you go to the store yourself you can see they don't have six, so you can buy six of something else. It doesn't even work to say "no substitutions" because it just leaves you with five of something when you needed six, and unless you can group things together even an "all or nothing" doesn't work.

Sometimes they're really nice to you - they have an offer on multiples so you place an order to take them up on something like "three bottles of wine for a tenner", only to find they substituted one of the bottles for a more expensive one. So not only do you get to pay full price for two, because you didn't have a third, but the substitute costs more than you expected as well.

If Tesco substitute, you pay the lower price - if your substitution was more expensive than what you wanted, you pay the price of what you wanted, and if the substitution was cheaper than what you wanted, you pay the substitution price. This does not, however, make up for the time we ordered 2 veggie stir-frys and they sent a seafood terrine.

[Vince]

This substitution business irritates me as with a half decent stock keeping system they should be able to tell you how many are in stock and reserve them for you when you pull the trigger. I can understand may be things like fruit where the last one has had something heavy dropped on it, but those items should have a higher re-order level.

Spoken by the man who has never ordered from an on-line supermarket, but has developed systems to keep them supplied.

[rafletcher]

This substitution business irritates me as with a half decent stock keeping system they should be able to tell you how many are in stock and reserve them for you when you pull the trigger.

Tesco pick from the local store shelves, and there are no in-store warehouses any more, so stock depends on other shoppers leaving it behind, or the delivery being made.

[hellymedic]

I generally accept no substitutes.
I vary this 'rule' if my need for something exceeds my preference for a specific type.
I generally have high stock levels.

[CAMRAMan]

Ah, but Sainsburys charge you the full price of the substitute, don't they? Tossco charge the price of the original item if the sub. costs more, or the lower price if it costs less.

[peliroja]

We mainly use Aldi - it works out at least £20 cheaper per usual weekly shop than Tesco. But, we just signed up to a Morrison's Match & More card which price matches Aldi and Lidl, so we'll be using that - and Evil Tesco - for the bits and pieces we can't get in Aldi (e.g. veg bouillon, frozen spinach, tofu, organic meat, etc).

[hellymedic]

Not only do Sainsbury's charge full price for a substitute but should a multibuy offer collapse due to unavailability, you can end up paying more for much less.

[contango]

This substitution business irritates me as with a half decent stock keeping system they should be able to tell you how many are in stock and reserve them for you when you pull the trigger.

Tesco pick from the local store shelves, and there are no in-store warehouses any more, so stock depends on other shoppers leaving it behind, or the delivery being made.

... which just makes shopping at the physical store even more of a pain in the backside, because you spend half your time dodging Tesco muppets doing shopping for other people. Last time I was in Tesco (I boycotted my Tesco Extra, partly because it was such a hassle to get to and partly because I grew to loathe the place with a passion) it seemed every which way you went another aisle was blocked by trolleys only very vaguely watched by Tesco staff filling online orders.

If ever there was a time to slip a few totally unrelated items into a trolley, that would have been it.

[contango]

Not only do Sainsbury's charge full price for a substitute but should a multibuy offer collapse due to unavailability, you can end up paying more for much less.

This is the bit where they really need an "all or nothing" option, and put multiple items into "all or nothing" groupings. So if I've chosen the "three for a tenner" option and they only have two, then I don't want any. If I want six beef steaks, some horseradish sauce and a bag of potatoes and they only have four steaks, I don't want four steaks and I don't want the horseradish or the potatoes either.

[tiermat]

I understand there are those to whom the home delivery servie is a life saver.

But to me part of the joy of cooking is the shopping element.  Mrs T might say to me, on a weekend morning, "What are we having for dinner tonight" to which I will say "I dunno, until I have been shopping".

Yesterday was a good example, woke up, no idea what day it was, never mind what I was cooking for dinner.

About 2pm I went for a wander to the Co-op.  They had chickens on offer, as well as a load of packs of soft fruits reduced.  Dinner became BBQ chicken and wedges with fruit salad to follow.  It was lush!