Waitrose introducing charges for home deliveries

Undervalued

coffeehound said:

Doc_N said:

pumpkin89 said:

Doc_N said:

Not at all. Certainly not at Tesco. Just a matter of choice.  And free range Waitrose is almost 50% more per kilo than free range Tesco. Both British.  Waitrose work to much higher margins across the board.

Waitrose free range is not the same as Tesco free range.  There is a minimum legal standard to label chicken as "free range" but some brands are very close to that minimum and others significantly exceed it.

I think you would be surprised how much more Waitrose pay farmers and suppliers in order to get better quality products.  A high price doesn't always indicate a high margin.

That is, of course, the Waitrose spiel. How true it is is arguable, and there’s no doubt whatever, because the accounts show it, that they operate on much higher profit margins.

We had a largish Waitrose delivery the other day, and what struck me was the high percentage of out of stock items, compared with Tesco - particularly on the special offer items which you’d expect them to have good stocks of. Not impressed either with a substitute for a meat item which weighed 25% less than we ordered. 

Tesco has been consistently more efficient in delivering what we ordered than Waitrose, over the last 18 months, and it’s interesting to see that this month’s Which? Report shows Waitrose as the worst of all the supermarkets for delivering fresh food.

If I pay high prices to Waitrose, I expect something in return for those high prices, but I’m afraid they’re just not providing that. Far too many out of stock items, compared with Tesco, and shorter dates on the food too.

Why would I want to pay yet a further charge on top of that for delivery?

This is relevant too, in that it refers also to Waitrose staff.  John Lewis is not the company it claims to be:

John Lewis faces criticism over "poverty wages" - Retail Gazette

I have more trust in Waitrose whereas see T as an altogether more slippery, tricky entity.  The fact that they (and Asda if i recall) were embroiled in the horsemeat scandal illustrates that well.  (And the fact that they ship in vast amounts of chicken fron SE Asia.)

Do tesco make up home deliveries at distribution centres or in stores?  I wonder if the former is better and trying to do it in store is compromised by the replenishment state at the time of picking — possibly done before the overnight replenishment has been c/o. Perhaps Ocado were better placed for the home delivery than the stores. 

As for the cost, £3 seems very cheap for the service. It must be at least a staff-hour per order.  Is the collection service still free?  Maybe a good compromise for those who live close to the store. 

Both I think, it varies from area to area.

Flat_Eric

Hello!

We've been notified of the delivery charge in the last week.  I'll still shop at Waitrose because there are certain products I like.  The delivery charge at £3 seems reasonable but maybe they are testing the water and it will increase in due course?

japitts

In the notification email one of our relatives had, Waitrose played on being the only supermarket to not have a charge. Well now they're the only supermarket to not have a saver option of some kind.

Very likely we'll be dropping down from a weekly Waitrose delivery to trying out other options. I'm currently very tempted by Tesco's saver options and perhaps the occasional Waitrose delivery rather than a regular one.

Bacman

... Sainsburys do their 4 hour slots and on the morning give you the 1 hour slot it will actually arrive, for £1

The_Money_Saver_2

The Waitrose most local to me (15 miles or so) has been trialling various fees for deliveries for sometime. These varied from £7.50, £5 and now £3. £3 seems to be the figure they have settled with. I asked about a delivery pass. They’d never heard of such things!

Nick_C

I was going to place a Waitrose order this week.  The £3 delivery charge is disappointing, but I get a bulk order every 3 or 4 weeks and was going to pay it. The deal breaker for me is that they no longer provide carrier bags.

I am not happy having to unpack everything from a crate while the driver waits.  I would have stuff all over the floor.  And I'm not going to unpack straight to the cupboards/fridges because I want to check use by dates and cross check the delivery against the order.

No more Waitrose deliveries for me.  And as the nearest store is a 20 minute drive, I'll simply buy from Waitrose less often.

Pity, because they were a lifeline during Covid.

(The carrier bags all get reused as bin liners.)

Mnoee

Nick_C said:

I was going to place a Waitrose order this week.  The £3 delivery charge is disappointing, but I get a bulk order every 3 or 4 weeks and was going to pay it. The deal breaker for me is that they no longer provide carrier bags.

I am not happy having to unpack everything from a crate while the driver waits.  I would have stuff all over the floor.  And I'm not going to unpack straight to the cupboards/fridges because I want to check use by dates and cross check the delivery against the order.

No more Waitrose deliveries for me.  And as the nearest store is a 20 minute drive, I'll simply buy from Waitrose less often.

Pity, because they were a lifeline during Covid.

(The carrier bags all get reused as bin liners.)

You could reuse some of your old carrier bags as carrier bags. 

coffeehound

Nick_C said:

I was going to place a Waitrose order this week.  The £3 delivery charge is disappointing, but I get a bulk order every 3 or 4 weeks and was going to pay it. The deal breaker for me is that they no longer provide carrier bags.

Yes it's an odd choice by them.  It also means things like flour and sugar in paper bags could get wet in the rain.  A bad commercial decision and I wouldn't be surprised if they are reintroduced in future when loyal customers complain or go elsewhere

Nick_C

Mnoee said:

Nick_C said:

(The carrier bags all get reused as bin liners.)

You could reuse some of your old carrier bags as carrier bags. 

They get reused for all sorts of things.  Storing things at home, putting my muddy hiking boots in, picking up dead animals, storing dirty laundry on holiday etc etc.  Eventually, they end up as bin liners.  If they have holes in, they get doubled up and used as bin liners.

Some get reused as carrier bags, although when I'm going to the shops I usually use bags for life.

The point I wanted to make is I'm not adding to environmental pollution by getting "single use" plastic bags with my deliveries.  I very rarely buy bin bags.

GaleSF63

coffeehound said:

Nick_C said:

I was going to place a Waitrose order this week.  The £3 delivery charge is disappointing, but I get a bulk order every 3 or 4 weeks and was going to pay it. The deal breaker for me is that they no longer provide carrier bags.

Yes it's an odd choice by them.  It also means things like flour and sugar in paper bags could get wet in the rain.  A bad commercial decision and I wouldn't be surprised if they are reintroduced in future when loyal customers complain or go elsewhere

I had eggs in my last delivery and they came in a carrier bag. Shop policy or company policy; I don't know.  Perhaps if they get complaints - particularly if  from their drivers, they will consider bags for other things. What have other supermarkets who have been bagless for a while, been doing?

Nick C said - "The deal breaker for me is that they no longer provide carrier bags."  Who are you going to use instead? Who still uses bags?