Just back from doing the weekly shop...

We get a regular weekly Ocado order where you're notified of the contents of your next week's delivery about 6 days beforehand. You can log on anytime and remove or add items as you want.

As with all shops they now charge for the bags but you can return them to next week's driver and get your 5p per bag back. Indeed you can add other ship's bags and get the 5p back on those too.

I believe I pay about £30 per 6 months for a Smartpass that gets me deliveries for no extra charge and some of those cost £5.99. I reckon we actually pay under £2 per delivery and a 10 mile round trip to the nearest store costs much more than that in the car. The Smartpass also gets us unique discounts on some items, the occasional free gift/sample and first dibs at Christmas week delivery slots.

As to shopping with Mrs SDA, it rarely happens, thank goodness. 

I developed a phobia for shopping when I worked as a rep. for Access credit cards between '76 and '80, spending every working day signing up, training and merchandising shops all over North West London. After that I eventually became an Area Manager and accompanied my reps on their daily round of stores. 

Askit wrote:
We prefer to see what's available and make our own selection based on quality, sell or use by date, etc. Self service checkouts are nothing but a nuisance though, with Morrisons being the worst.

Yes, I can understand that though, over the years, Tesco anyway, seems to have got their online deliveries right. I've no experience of other supermarkets online. Years ago you sometimes got the wrong product - memorably 12 tins of carrots rather than 12 fresh carrots- but it's a very long time since I had the wrong product and I can always specify how ripe I want something or whether I want the longest sell-by date or one big or small fruit or veg. I get all the offers online and the 2 for 1 deals so know whats in fresh and what is good value and, I can honestly say, the pickers do as well as I do when it comes to choice.

My shops are kept on record so I can paste the basics list without thinking and then add fresh things. At the end of my shop it even reminds me of items I buy regularly and have not put on the list. I can add or subtract items right up to midnight on the night before delivery. All this for £1 per drop- ie the cheapest  if you book a few days ahead. This is usually 5-6 pm.

Some supermarkets run what are known as 'blind stores', which are basically warehouses fitted out for picking home delivery orders. It means the ordinary stores in that area don't have to bother with home deliveries as they're all handled by the warehouse.

Ocado work that way, of course, and up to a year or so ago our orders were picked and packed in Hatfield, Hearts and driven up to the edge of Manchester in HGV's then transferred to their smaller delivery vans. However a year or so ago they opened a big warehouse in Tamworth and we now get deliveries that are prepared direct from there. The Manchester depot still relies on delivering orders packed elsewhere. 

Another useless piece of info, the Morrison's home delivery service is a joint operation with Ocado.

Somebody mentioned picking orders from storerooms. Stores no longer have such spaces and stuff comes straight off lorries and out onto the shelves. This maximises selling space and reduces handling.

I think its called, "Just in Time" we started it back in the late 80's at Marconi, didn't save the company though.
Boaby

we don't use Tesco.com very often but the nicest thing about it is we don't have to carry all that shopping up two flights of stairs.

steamdrivenandy wrote:
Somebody mentioned picking orders from storerooms. Stores no longer have such spaces and stuff comes straight off lorries and out onto the shelves. This maximises selling space and reduces handling.

I wonder what that big room full of pallets of stuff is at our local ASDA then? Come to think of it - Sainsburys have one too!

Frank

I don`t shop at Tescos, I go  Costco mainly, then Asda for a few items, convenient to Costcos, then Aldi for a few bits , never Co-op, Tesco, etc. I hate shopping even clothes shopping,  the view is that women love shopping, not all do.

I like Lidl myself, at least its not loads of walking up and down trying to locate what you want. I detest loyalty schemes hiking prices up and paying back. I have no children so why should I pay for school computers in Tesco, it annoys me. (I'm not uncharitable but object to being coerced by Tesco's and the like.)I like to simply buy at a reasonable price, if Lidl don't do it I go to Asda but a smaller one as detest shops with whole aisles of basically the same thing. I endure shopping I don't love it but tried home delivery and I always check sell by dates and buy the longest ones. They don't do that for home delivery. I also will not use self service checkouts in ASDA or anywhere else unless I have no option.
So can I win the award for being the grumpiest old man in here on shopping now?

We have a family joke about our daughter and shopping. Just after she moved from North Yorkshire to near Crewe she went shopping in Asda in Crewe. She went in through the car park entrance with he husband. Later in the same week she went into Crewe by bus and happened to call in at Asda via an entrance from the town centre. When she came to pay she mystified the cashier by complementing Crewe on having two Asda stores. The poor girl genuinely hadn't realised it was one and the same store.

Mind this was the girl who told me there was a bridge to Ireland.

And why does the person supervising the self service till always have such a smug look when they wave their magic card and say that's sorted now without saying what was wrong?

I can't vouch for the smug grin though these days the only hold ups I suffer are when purchasing alcohol. I've lost count how many shop assistants I've told that I'm really 12 but I've had a hard life. There really must be a better way to validate age restricted purchases without waiting ages for someone with the magic 'key' to bleep you through.

Try drinking the contents then walking out!!!