Sainsburys Complete System Failure

baza52

Azari wrote: »

Sorry, I don't believe this. (Not saying you're making it up, of course, just that the inferences you draw are suspect.)

They charge as much for most deliveries from a couple of miles away as couriers charge for deliveries from the other side of the country.

OK, you are no comparing like with like but it gives you some idea of the latitude they have in their pricing. Each van will deliver to a group of addresses in a small area so even if it has to travel a few miles from a store the average mileage per customer will be quite small.

My guess is that they try and run the delivery service at around break even and just get their profit from the sale of the goods involved.

Your not taking into account the cost of the delivery vans, the drivers wages, the running costs and upkeep of the van, insurance, wages for someone to pick the orders, wages for the call center and store staff dealing with customers etc etc.
Why do you think its often cheaper for the customer to have a home delivery than it is to go to the shop and bring it home in a cab/taxi?

Azari

baza52 wrote: »

Your not taking into account the cost of the delivery vans, the drivers wages, the running costs and upkeep of the van, insurance, wages for someone to pick the orders, wages for the call center and store staff dealing with customers etc etc.

Actually, I am.

There are figures available for the overall running cost of vans of various types and it's not hard to estimate the wages (or, more properly, total cost to employ) involved.

Why do you think its often cheaper for the customer to have a home delivery than it is to go to the shop and bring it home in a cab/taxi?

Because when they get a taxi they have to pay for the whole cost of the journey, both ways. When they get a home delivery they are only paying for a fraction of the round trip the van makes. Plus picking and loading/unloading costs. Picking several orders at once with a computer generated store route plan is a lot more efficient than picking one order at a time for yourself.

baza52

So how much do you think it works out per order then if the figures are available?
Its not like the driver just turns up at your house with a couple of bags then goes again. Some deliveries could take half an hour allowing for travelling time and unloading. Thats the delivery charge swallowed up in the drivers wages before you take into account any other related costs.

Azari

baza52 wrote: »

So how much do you think it works out per order then if the figures are available?

Between £2 and £5.

The lower end for small orders in high population density areas, the higher end for large orders in low population density areas.

Obviously some customers will subsidise others.

Its not like the driver just turns up at your house with a couple of bags then goes again. Some deliveries could take half an hour allowing for travelling time and unloading. Thats the delivery charge swallowed up in the drivers wages before you take into account any other related costs.

But, then again, it's not as if he loads up a van with your order, drives ten miles just to deliver it and then drives another ten miles back to the store. These journeys will be highly optimised and the cost apportioned over all orders on a van will not be that large.

baza52

Azari wrote: »

Between £2 and £5.

The lower end for small orders in high population density areas, the higher end for large orders in low population density areas.

Obviously some customers will subsidise others.



But, then again, it's not as if he loads up a van with your order, drives ten miles just to deliver it and then drives another ten miles back to the store. These journeys will be highly optimised and the cost apportioned over all orders on a van will not be that large.

Hold on a sec, where the driver delivers is dictated by customers placing orders within a certain timeslot. Its not like doing a paper round with shopping.

If i order goods for delivery between 2pm and 4pm the driver will be at the store loading up his van at 1pm. By the time he has made his first delivery he could have earned an hours pay, by the time he makes his last delivery he still has to drive back to the store which takes time.
In times of heavy traffic he could earn 4 hours pay for a 2 hour slot. in effect only making 2 delivery journies per working day.
Thats his days pay, diesel, insurance, upkeep and cost of van, wages for the pickers, wages for the IT department and wages for call center and store staff dealing with queries.

Suppose i order a lot of frozen items, that means there is less sapace on the van for other customers items in the freezer compartment of the van so the delivery would have to be done by another driver.
How many drops per van do you think the average is?

What figures did you use to work out the average cost?

baza52

Azari,
If you were talking about a courier i might agree.
If i and both my neighbours all have a parcel being delivered on the same day the driver can deliver them all at once.
If we all have shopping coming at different time slots the van has to make 3 trips in the same day.

mumoftwins

I was one of the customers hit by the problem Sainsburys had last week. They called me to tell me what was happening and that I probably would not get my order until the following day, in actual fact I received it 2 hours late so well done Sainsburys!

When they explained what had happened, yes I was disappointed, but did not rant and rave at them, after all what else could be done apart from what they were trying to do which was fix it!

These things happen :doh:

I have had HD from Sainsburys for the last 3 years due to severe back problems, the drivers are lovely, very helpful (if they can see I am really struggling they will bring bags into the kitchen for me), and come out in all weathers especially snow!

When my partner was terminally ill my head was all over the place, and we were in London at the hospital for him to have chemo and I remembered that Sainsburys were supposed to deliver that afternoon! I rang them told them what was happening, and the driver put himself out to deliver later that evening - I really have NO complaints with Sainsburys, they are certainly a cut above most of the other supermarkets for customer service and quality.

Merry Christmas one and all :xmastree: