Money Moral Dilemma: Should I be shopping online during the coronavirus lockdown?

KellyMarie4884

The original post is not about shopping for food and using a delivery slot which should be reserved for the vulnerable or elderly.

I am using my time locked in to redecorate. I had the paint before lockdown was announced, but I needed an extra paintbrush etc. So I ordered on ebay and a few picture canvas from places that are open. I have limited the number of times I normally shop online, but I'm taking the stance that if these stores are open online, then they feel they can do so in a safe manner and it will help keep money coming in - in turn, keep people employed.

ellykirk

Octonaut said:

If you are at all able to, then shop in store! 
I am in the group classified by the government at ‘vulnerable’, due to underlying health conditions, and so have been advised to stay at home, and therefore not go to the shops. Anyone over 70 is also in this category. The sad truth is that I cannot get an online shopping slot for love nor money (despite logging on several times per day to all the various supermarkets). I usually shop with Tesco, but my final shop from them will be delivered tomorrow, and due to the high demand, there doesn’t seem to be any prospect of getting another slot for the foreseeable future. Only those in the ‘extremely vulnerable’ category can get help from the government can get help with food deliveries (and I’m not in that category).
Please, please, please don’t shop online unless you need to, as there must be tens of thousands of people in my position who will be going without essentials, or putting themselves at risk in the shops. 

I’m volunteering through my local council, fetching shopping and prescriptions-see if your council are doing anything similar 👍🏻

Andy_L

"With the exception of some non-essential shops and public venues, we are not asking any other businesses to close – indeed it is important for business to carry on."
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/guidance-to-employers-and-businesses-about-covid-19/guidance-for-employers-and-businesses-on-coronavirus-covid-19

annieshb

If able to shop in store then you should. I can’t get groceries as unable to walk due to spinal stenosis. My surgery was cancelled. I’m not classed as vulnerable as no more likely to catch virus than anyone else but supermarket cancelled my regular delivery slot and now priority is given to those in said list. I live rural and struggling.
i did consider on line shopping for other goods but what if they have to be returned for some reason? That would require a trip to post office or somewhere and not sure it would be allowed,plus my situation rules that out.
I would love to support favourite stores as I’d hate for them to fold but ..
there is also issue that of workers in warehouses, delivery etc at risk.

Daleslass

My MyHermes courier is very happy with extra work. As long as sensible precautions are taken by you and them it's keeping some of the economy going.  People are rediscovering jigsaws and board games.

DPS-2016

I don't think you're doing anything wrong.  
Certainly should be online if you're being shielded for 12 weeks (and the Government have written to you).  
Highly recommend online if you're in a vulnerable category (incl. over 70's).  
Many people outside of these categories don't feel comfortable going out to the shops at the moment and I think that's perfectly understandable - and I can see why they do online too.  
Overall I think the guidance from the supermarkets is to leave slots for the most vulnerable (makes sense) but I don't see anything wrong with people using them if they're available.  After all - it means more social distancing.  And more social distancing means protecting the NHS (as well as yourself!) and saving lives.  

Crumble2018

Again - please read the first post proper;y - this is not about FOOD shopping!

From a workers point of view, I am still working in a factory - I am torn, as part of me is angry that I am still having to put myself at risk for something non-essential, the other part of me is grateful I still have a wage coming in.

jbeshir

It's a side thing, but a lot of people here are saying they have real distress from online grocery difficulties, and as someone who's been using online deliveries for years there's a trick I learnt a while ago I think could help a little: At least Tesco, and I think all of them, let you edit your order right up to just before midnight on the day before it's due to be delivered. You can click to amend the evening before, throw out the entire order, and put in a whole different set of items, if you want, and keep your slot.

In the Edinburgh area at least, there are slots 2-3 weeks out each time I checked, but normally none in the next week. So you can live off delivered shopping, but you have to book in a delivery way off in the future, fill it with just any old items (I try to make them roughly what I'll use in case Tesco are using them as a clue to what to have in stock, but can't be exact about what'll be needed in two weeks), and set a reminder to come back in two weeks, and edit it when you actually know what you need.

And then once your shopping is delivered, you book another slot right away, as far out as you need it. If you can get a delivery every two weeks that might be enough to avoid going out, depending on freezer space and how much your diet relies on fresh food. Otherwise it could just help reduce the amount of trips you need. I don't know if the "book in advance then amend" trick works outside of my area- maybe other areas are -completely- out of slots all the time- but worth throwing out there maybe.

In terms of the main question, I'm really not sure; on one hand the more you order stuff, the more delivery workers are having to interact. The working conditions in the delivery industry have sucked for many years and I don't trust any of the delivery companies, or Amazon, to be doing social distancing properly if it costs them a single penny. On the other, there's a lot of local businesses which have had to close up their sales and have gone to online delivery to get by, and it seems kind of harsh to them to adopt a principled position of "buy NOTHING" you can avoid

There's local cheesemongers and bakeries which will send food via DHL, which (very expensively) gets you food without it coming through the supermarket infrastructure. Food being essential anyway that seems fair enough, even if that particular food is a luxury. I'm less sure about anything else.

I think I'm taking it as a bit of a push to really ask myself "do I *need* this" before I buy something. Is something broken? Am I having difficulties with my life at home because of a lack of something? Then yeah I think it's fair enough. But maybe taking it as a push to better money saving is worth it.

bopsybunny

*talking about non-grocery shopping here*
Personally I have placed 3 online orders since I got sent to work from home on 18th March (i.e. before formal lockdown).
I ordered an office chair from TK Maxx so I can comfortably work from home.
I ordered some comfy clothes for home working from H&M, and I ordered a gorgeous dress from Dorothy Perkins to wear to a wedding (that has now been postponed...)
The clothes, I definitely felt guilty about, even though the orders were placed before the government announced lockdown. The H&M order didn't arrive until a few days into lockdown and I felt really bad that the warehouse and courier staff were risking their health for my home comforts. 
Personally I won't be ordering anything else online for now, unless it is something completely necessary. With the exception of possibly ordering in some special-diet food items (gluten free) as certain things are impossible to find in supermarkets now. 

Pollycat

phoebe1989seb said:

I assumed the question referred to non-grocery/food/household items....but I could be wrong 

We get all those items in person from the supermarket - haven't done an online grocery shop for years - but we do buy quite a few items online (mostly eBay) and this has increased since the government ordered certain types of shop to temporarily close.

For example - books, dvds, gardening related items. I'm also in the process of ordering some plants from our local nursery as collecting in person would be considered non-essential. Imho, this is all good for the economy/keeping smaller businesses afloat. I know that when we ran an online business - for over ten years - we'd have been glad of the business.

I think the replies would be very different if the original dilemma had specified clearly whether the online shopping was for groceries or a new pair of sandals for the holiday that might happen this time next year.

But I too assume that it meant the latter not the former.

So if online shops are still doing business - and a lot of shops such as Next, River island, TKMaxx have stopped all online orders - then I don't see why the end customer should be blasted for using those online stores.

I'm currently waiting for a delivery of wild bird food from Wilko. It made more sense than getting in the car, driving 7 miles to the shop and mingling with people who may or may not be infected on the off-chance they had the stuff I wanted in stock. They often don't and I have to resort to ordering online and doing click & collect - which is not currently an available option.

I will be careful and allow the courier to leave the parcel where he feels comfortable and allow him to get back in his van/lorry before going to pick it up.

I've never done grocery shopping online and certainly wouldn't consider it at this time.

OH goes shopping once a week to one shop (Tesco Extra) and gets pretty much everything we need (but not necessarily everything we want which is a different thing altogether).