Waitrose introducing charges for home deliveries

pumpkin89

Doc_N said:

Incidentally, one other downside to Waitrose is the 1200 cut-off for orders. Almost 12 hours earlier than the others. Why?

The fresh stock for the following day will be picked and dispatched from the distribution centre to the individual stores in the afternoon/evening.  I would guess - because Waitrose stores are generally smaller than their competitors, so can physically hold less stock - that they can't have a buffer to accommodate late changes.

For example, if the weather suddenly picks up in the afternoon and lots of people add barbecue food to their orders, that could use up all the stock sent to the store so there would be nothing left on the shelf for in-store shoppers.  Whereas the big four supermarket chains typically have a much larger stockholding in each store so might be better able to accommodate the late changes (and Ocado doesn't have stores to worry about at all).

Farway

Doc_N said:

Incidentally, one other downside to Waitrose is the 1200 cut-off for orders. Almost 12 hours earlier than the others. Why?

Because that's when the butler has to set the downstairs staff to work in time for dinner, pheasants don't pluck themselves you know

Bacman

Indeed, why - after all when you have an afternoon delivery you don't get notification of what they have picked until late morning either.

I like Waitrose however not happy to pay delivery charges; it will end up costing Waitrose many customers...

GaleSF63

Bacman said:

Indeed, why - after all when you have an afternoon delivery you don't get notification of what they have picked until late morning either.

My notifications come in from about 9am to half an hour before delivery  but don't seem to bear any relation to time of delivery (which is usually 4-5pm). 
Occasionally something must have come in late because I get the right thing, not the substitution that is notified. Sometimes even both!

JezR

It was a morning click-and collect rather than delivery but once something that had been out of stock when the main picking had been done (and bill totalled) was added in later for free.

cymruchris

Bacman said:

I like Waitrose however not happy to pay delivery charges; it will end up costing Waitrose many customers...

I would likely say 'a few' rather than 'many' - but no doubt time will tell... 

MrsStepford

Farway said:

Doc_N said:

Incidentally, one other downside to Waitrose is the 1200 cut-off for orders. Almost 12 hours earlier than the others. Why?

Because that's when the butler has to set the downstairs staff to work in time for dinner, pheasants don't pluck themselves you know

Waitrose is now called Waitrose & Partners, to reflect that it's a co-operative, ie owned by the workers, just like John Lewis and Riverford. 

MrsStepford

GaleSF63 said:

Bacman said:

Indeed, why - after all when you have an afternoon delivery you don't get notification of what they have picked until late morning either.

My notifications come in from about 9am to half an hour before delivery  but don't seem to bear any relation to time of delivery (which is usually 4-5pm). 
Occasionally something must have come in late because I get the right thing, not the substitution that is notified. Sometimes even both

Morrisons is bad at notifications (arrive after delivery often) and even if you expressly say you don't want a sub and explain why, you're still likely to get it eg normal beer instead of gluten-free. I ditched my delivery pass after it happened nine times in a row. 

Waitrose is the only supermarket I know, that will send out yellow-stickered short-dated stuff to fulfill an order but they don't charge for this. I got freebie organic veg and freebie organic chicken drumsticks this week. Supper that night was a stir-fry with roasted drumsticks. 

Still no delivery fee here. 

GaleSF63

MrsStepford said:

Waitrose is the only supermarket I know, that will send out yellow-stickered short-dated stuff to fulfill an order but they don't charge for this. I got freebie organic veg and freebie organic chicken drumsticks this week. Supper that night was a stir-fry with roasted drumsticks. 

Still no delivery fee here. 

The free short-dated items do rather make up for some of the things that are more expensive than other supermarkets! I got pomegranate seeds last week and have had some very good bargains in the past - I think my record was about £12 of free stuff in one delivery. 

MysteryMe

I've never had any free short dated stuff.
Have a delivery tomorrow (no charge) and I only decided to order on Thursday so they appear to have a lot more slots available now. Previously it would have been a week at least before there was a slot available. I can't see slot availability decreasing if they start charging for delivery.