Delivery Slots For Christmas

3/27/2022

Tesco customers have been left furious after having to wait hours in a virtual queue to secure a Christmas delivery slot.

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Tesco had already laid on 1.5 million delivery slots a week, compared to 600,000 before the pandemic, but the vast majority of these for the Christmas period have already gone.
Tesco has helped its shoppers who have struggled to secure Christmas food delivery slots by giving them some great advice. Ahead of Tesco’s unmissable Black Friday 2020 deals that are dropping this week, the supermarket has issued some advice to its shoppers who have struggled to secure Christmas food delivery slots.

This morning the supermarket released slots for the week starting 21 December - but only to their delivery saver customers who pay a subscription fee.

Nov 30, 2020 CHRISTMAS delivery slots have already been released for supermarket shoppers. Sainsbury's has issued advice for those hoping to get a slot as they go live.

But after waking up to log on at 7am, many complained they had still not been given a slot after two-and-a-half hours of waiting.

One person posted on Twitter: 'What an absolute joke. Been a delivery customer for years, have delivery saver.

Almost two and a half hours waiting and still in the queue 😡

— Sonia Bradley (@50N1ABR4DL3Y) November 13, 2020

'Went on at 6.45am. Been in the queue for two hours and 20 minutes. What is happening? Should I just shop elsewhere this Christmas?'

Another user posted: 'Been waiting 2.5 hours now (since 6.59) in a queue for Christmas slot. What's happening? Am I lost in cyber hell somewhere?'

Customers were faced with a message that read: 'You are currently in a queue - we'll put you through as soon as we can.'

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On its Twitter page, the supermarket posted: 'A lot of customers are using our website and app at the moment. So we're temporarily using a virtual waiting room to help manage the flow.

'We're sorry if things take a bit longer than usual.'

Anyone else still in the online Tesco queue for a Christmas slot?! #tescopic.twitter.com/f4qKOrng2l

— SEN Resources Blog (@senresourceblog) November 13, 2020

While some were given slots after a long wait, others were unsuccessful and forced to shop for their Christmas dinner supplies elsewhere.

Those who did manage to book complained festive essentials like turkeys were not yet available.

There was also no mention of people on the government's vulnerable list, who are entitled to priority delivery slots because of coronavirus.

Sainsbury Delivery Slots For Christmas

@Tesco been waiting 2.5 hours now (since 6.59) in a queue for Christmas slot. What's happening? Am I lost in cyber hell somewhere?

— annie (@annie6724) November 13, 2020

A Tesco spokesman said: 'Demand for online slots over the festive period is high, and we have more slots this Christmas than ever before.

'We are experiencing high volumes of traffic to our website and groceries app and are temporarily limiting the number of customers using it.'

They apologised for the inconvenience and claimed home delivery and click and collect slots are still available for the Christmas period.

Delivery experts fear a massive shift to online shopping means many food and other retailers will be unable to cope.

The amount of money spent online this Christmas is expected to overtake the high street for the first time, creating a need for an armada of drivers to drop off orders.

However, industry experts have warned it will be impossible to recruit all the people needed.

Royal Mail is taking on 33,000 seasonal workers, Amazon UK is recruiting 20,000 staff, while delivery services Hermes and Yodel have announced 13,000 and 3,000 seasonal workers respectively.

Despite this, head of consumer research at courier specialists ParcelHero, David Jinks, said: 'Even though many retailers and delivery companies are attempting to hire thousands more staff in preparation for this year's Christmas peak, this might be difficult to do in practice. A capacity crisis is set to cause delivery chaos.

'The double-whammy of families, separated by Covid restrictions, mailing their gifts, plus a shortage of skilled drivers, could prove a mountain too high to climb.'

Waitrose has more than tripled the number of online order drop-off and collection slots ahead of the festive season to 190,000 each week, but these are already being sold out.

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© Provided by Daily Mail The amount of money spent online this Christmas is expected to overtake the high street for the first time, creating a need for an armada of drivers to drop off orders [File photo]

It has already had bookings for 115,000 deliveries for December 20 to 24, which compares with 44,000 slots for the whole Christmas run-up last year. As a result, all the slots between December 20 and Christmas Eve are already fully booked in some areas.

Video: Starbucks 2020 Christmas range revealed (Wales Online)

Tesco Delivery Slots For Christmas

Other online grocers will not open their delivery slots until closer to Christmas, however it is clear there will be a battle over the prime dates.

Tesco is using its sought-after festive delivery slots as an incentive for shoppers to sign up to its Delivery Saver subscription, which costs £7.99 a month. Slots for Delivery Saver members open up on November 13, but it is a week later for non-members.

Marks & Spencer has teamed up with Ocado to offer a hugely increased home delivery capacity.

Sainsbury's has increased its online order capacity from 340,000 a week in March to 700,000 this month. And Tesco has already taken on 16,000 more pickers and drivers.

Shoppers are being advised to make online purchases early to spread out demands on the courier system and so avoid the feared delivery log jam.

Amazon has tried to spread sales by launching Black Friday deals a month early while many others, including John Lewis and Debenhams are running 50 per cent off deals.

The chief executive at the British Retail Consortium, Helen Dickinson, said: 'We're encouraging people to shop early and prevent the last minute rush so their fellow customers and all the store colleagues, warehouse workers and delivery drivers working behind the scenes, have the space they need to stay safe and well.'

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