I’ve not done a supermarket since these crazy sodas cleared everything off the shelves, but I’ve driven past a fair amount.
Now given that the supply chain is apparently catching up I’m expecting to see trucks queuing, except I’m not. Aldi Atherstone, Lidl Wednesbury, Asda Lutterworth, Tesco and Sainsburys at DIRFT, nothing.
So are they busy inside or am I missing something?
We are stupidly busy mate, like nearly double Christmas volumes
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toonsy:
I’ve not done a supermarket since these crazy sodas cleared everything off the shelves, but I’ve driven past a fair amount.Now given that the supply chain is apparently catching up I’m expecting to see trucks queuing, except I’m not. Aldi Atherstone, Lidl Wednesbury, Asda Lutterworth, Tesco and Sainsburys at DIRFT, nothing.
So are they busy inside or am I missing something?
You’re not missing anything.I asked at our supermarket why haven’t you got the stock to refill the empty shelves. The answer was …we don’t know why.
There’s obviously a big government diversion exercise ongoing to put the emphasis on panic buying when for some reason the warehouses are obviously empty.
With it being clear that the stock is being with held or diverted from point of manufacture.It’s not rocket science to realise where it’s going.
The conspiracy is added to by obvious establishment misinformation trolls stating on local neighbour sites here that the problem is supposedly that the supermarket stock rooms are over flowing and the stuff can’t be put on the shelves quick enough and trucks are queuing to offload but can’t because of the blocked unloading bays.They couldn’t make this zb up.But the sheep swallow it.
stuwozere1:
We are stupidly busy mate, like nearly double Christmas volumes
So where are the queuing trucks at the supermarket docks.Why are the shelves empty all day everyday from opening to closing.
toonsy:
I’ve not done a supermarket since these crazy sodas cleared everything off the shelves, but I’ve driven past a fair amount.Now given that the supply chain is apparently catching up I’m expecting to see trucks queuing, except I’m not. Aldi Atherstone, Lidl Wednesbury, Asda Lutterworth, Tesco and Sainsburys at DIRFT, nothing.
So are they busy inside or am I missing something?
Last time I went to Tesco Reading I drove straight up to the barrier and was the only lorry there. I thought I was gonna get a quick tip. But once I got round the other side there were about 25 lorries in front of me, and I was there 3 hours. Lots of coming and going. It was mental. And that was LAST Friday night. I dread to think what I’m going into this week (first shift back tomorrow (Fri) night). I’m expecting sheer mayhem over my 4 shifts.
Good.
See if stuff like this got “out there” then perhaps it might make people chill out with buying stuff by showing that the supply chain is reacting and stocks will be sorted.
toonsy:
Good.See if stuff like this got “out there” then perhaps it might make people chill out with buying stuff by showing that the supply chain is reacting and stocks will be sorted.
Don’t think so. THere was a report on one of the TVs a few days ago, they went into warehouses to show they’re full and still ppl kept buying things out faster and faster. When they go in and see the empty shelves (for like a 10th day in a row) they get panicked too and overbuy at the next opportunity etc. etc. I called it a week ago in one of my earlier posts in this thread. The only way it’s going to stop is (somewhat) by limiting quantities per buyer which is only now being introduced, however the more aggressive ones are still bullying their way past store staff so that’s not going to work unless police get involved in enforcing the limit; else we just have wait until people run out of storage space and/or money
The saddest part is most of these canned beans and similar are eventually going to end up on the landfills because who the heck wants to actually eat canned beans and tuna?? They will keep buying (and eating) fresh food as it’s still going to be available but those cans will just sit there for months/years. I just hope at the end they will have finally come to their senses and donate those to foodbanks.
My company did a charity drop of food in Birmingham and I was the ‘lucky’ one to deliver it. The sheer joy in people’s eyes, their gratitude moved me quite a bit (even though I wasn’t the one paying for the food, it was the company). One guy took his packets and walked away, he then stopped by a parked taxi (he had been there the whole time) and offered to share one of his food packets with the taxi driver. Yeah, the guy who had only 3 veggie stir frys until who knows when, offered 1 of his packets to another one. Elsewhere in the UK people rent vans so they can cram more stuff in…
toonsy:
I’ve not done a supermarket since these crazy sodas cleared everything off the shelves, but I’ve driven past a fair amount.Now given that the supply chain is apparently catching up I’m expecting to see trucks queuing, except I’m not. Aldi Atherstone, Lidl Wednesbury, Asda Lutterworth, Tesco and Sainsburys at DIRFT, nothing.
So are they busy inside or am I missing something?
My Daughter works at Aldi in the offices she has said anybody that is able from EVERY department are being ask to volunteer to help out in the warehouse,its absolutely manic worse than Xmas. All down to panic buying,by the same people when the crisis is over won`t need to go near a shop for two or three weeks
lolipop:
toonsy:
I’ve not done a supermarket since these crazy sodas cleared everything off the shelves, but I’ve driven past a fair amount.Now given that the supply chain is apparently catching up I’m expecting to see trucks queuing, except I’m not. Aldi Atherstone, Lidl Wednesbury, Asda Lutterworth, Tesco and Sainsburys at DIRFT, nothing.
So are they busy inside or am I missing something?
My Daughter works at Aldi in the offices she has said anybody that is able from EVERY department are being ask to volunteer to help out in the warehouse,its absolutely manic worse than Xmas. All down to panic buying,by the same people when the crisis is over won`t need to go near a shop for two or three weeks
We’re running at 150% Christmas levels, 2 million cases to pick next week. Record levels of deliveries, there literally is no spare time for deliveries at some shops, I went to one of ours last night and upon leaving there were 2 queueing to come in with 2 more on the way. Its madness!
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The butchers i deliver too are seeing new faces pop in that never appear. So they are limiting them to what they can buy. They are however honouring the usual punters whatever they want.
One guy said he was in for pork mince because he couldnt get it at costco or supermarkets.
The owner told him politely to ■■■■ off. He didnt get his mince.
Supermarkets are greedy. The local firms are thriving from what i hear but they are standing loyal to there regulars. Its a dog eat dog world now. Selfush ■■■■■■■■ everywhere. Hope they bring in the military to stand at the tills and strangle the knobheads who think its acceptable to have 2 trolleys to a till.
Sheep of society. Social media has a lot to answer for.
cgscott:
The butchers i deliver too are seeing new faces pop in that never appear. So they are limiting them to what they can buy. They are however honouring the usual punters whatever they want.One guy said he was in for pork mince because he couldnt get it at costco or supermarkets.
The owner told him politely to [zb] off. He didnt get his mince.
Supermarkets are greedy. The local firms are thriving from what i hear but they are standing loyal to there regulars. Its a dog eat dog world now. Selfush [zb] everywhere. Hope they bring in the military to stand at the tills and strangle the knobheads who think its acceptable to have 2 trolleys to a till.
Sheep of society. Social media has a lot to answer for.
Sometimes I think about…whether this world/society is really worth fighting for but I keep telling myself it’s the minority that are the selfish ones. Unfortunately panic/greed/selfishness in times of (even a perceived) crisis will be contagious and survival instincts take over - it’s why we’re still here, after all.
Carryfast:
stuwozere1:
We are stupidly busy mate, like nearly double Christmas volumesSo where are the queuing trucks at the supermarket docks.Why are the shelves empty all day everyday from opening to closing.
Generally because there’s extra staff on to tip you. As we carry a particularly valuable (at the moment anyway) product, we get tipped as soon as we arrive, and we’re doing 400+ pallets a day for each rdc. We also get pulled to the front of the queue at Costco too - long may it stay that way !!
Just wondering when Carryfast last rolled up at an rdc in his Atki Borderer ?
ETS:
toonsy:
Good.See if stuff like this got “out there” then perhaps it might make people chill out with buying stuff by showing that the supply chain is reacting and stocks will be sorted.
Don’t think so. THere was a report on one of the TVs a few days ago, they went into warehouses to show they’re full and still ppl kept buying things out faster and faster. When they go in and see the empty shelves (for like a 10th day in a row) they get panicked too and overbuy at the next opportunity etc. etc. I called it a week ago in one of my earlier posts in this thread. The only way it’s going to stop is (somewhat) by limiting quantities per buyer which is only now being introduced, however the more aggressive ones are still bullying their way past store staff so that’s not going to work unless police get involved in enforcing the limit; else we just have wait until people run out of storage space and/or money
If the warehouses are supposedly full why are the shelves empty and not being refilled.
While Chinese Communist State propaganda machine’s UK arm shows a shop warehouse in China.While telling us we’re rationed if we’re lucky.
Mackem:
Carryfast:
So where are the queuing trucks at the supermarket docks.Why are the shelves empty all day everyday from opening to closing.Generally because there’s extra staff on to tip you. As we carry a particularly valuable (at the moment anyway) product, we get tipped as soon as we arrive, and we’re doing 400+ pallets a day for each rdc. We also get pulled to the front of the queue at Costco too - long may it stay that way !!
Just wondering when Carryfast last rolled up at an rdc in his Atki Borderer ?
Which part of ‘empty’ shelves ‘and’ ‘no’ trucks at the supermarket unloading dock did you miss.
I’m heading to the local one soon for a few bits.So either I’m going to find stocked shelves and/or a queue of trucks at the entrance to the unloading bays.Yeah right.
Carryfast:
If the warehouses are supposedly full why are the shelves empty and not being refilled.
This question was posed on LBC last night, and the answer was that buying has been on par with Christmas. But at Christmas months of planning go into it, and extra staff are brought it. Don’t we all start to get busier around the beginning of November, and then it ramps and ramps? But this hit instantly and caught supermarkets unaware. Give it 2 or 3 weeks and shelves might look a little better.
Shelves are being stocked and deliveries going in. I put 2 deckers into hayes yesterday and another one also went in with approx 70 ton of ambient stock in total to back of store, all food/bogroll/soap etc items. All GM stock has been stopped (towels, cushions, home wares etc) 3 or 4 chilled/frozen were planned in there too. All external bread and milk deliveries went in too, in fact I was queued behind milk in the morning.
As far as stocking shelves goes, 24hr opening stores are now closing at around 8pm and stocking shelves overnight. They cannot re-stock during the day simply because people are savages. It is just not safe for colleagues or customers to be dragging pallets out onto the shop floor at the moment, the savages see a pallet come out and start barging staff out of the way to get to it, see an item they want half way down a 6ft tall 1 ton pallet and start ripping it out, pallet goes over all over the rest of the animals.
Anyway I’m off to do another 13hrs of dreaming that I’m delivering to stores 
Why are we not seeing long queues of supermarket lorries at all the individual shops and why are the shelves empty if there is plenty of product in the supply chain? With apologies to grandma, for those who don’t know:
Very simple. The amount of handling required between source and the shelf. If we start at the packhouse or processing plant and discount the inbound transport and handling of the raw product and its packaging, and the time required to switch a production line from one product to another, then the typical plant will produce numerous products (say 10) for orders from its main supermarket customers (say 3) which will be on pallets for the required number of RDCs (say 4- 7 for each ‘name’) Fowlers etc collect maybe three times a day (quite often a delay because it is not ready) and it is sorted into RDC loads from several collections (10/20?) a delay is often usual. We know the next bit 1 - 3 RDCs on the trailer and the waiting time.
Once in the RDC there will be some 50 - 2/300 shops to supply. Each individual product type (however many thousand) has to taken from the bulk pallets and put either on another pallet or in a cage in an isle on the warehouse floor - ambient, chilled or frozen - earmarked for particular shops (say a choice of around 10). This is a massive task and the principle source of delay, often because one or two products are late so the trailer can’t leave or that product has to be omitted. At the same time some product does not go directly to shops but is trunked to other RDCs for ultimate distribution.
Depending on the particular supermarket brand some food product is treated differently. Bread, milk, potatoes and tobacco are delivered into shops directly by some chains.
Once the supermarket trailer gets to store each individual pallet or cage then has to taken, often from a scissor lift (capacity two pallets or 4 - 10 cages) to the correct temperature stock room, which is often on a different floor via a lift ( capacity 2 - 4 cages or one pallet) along corridors sometimes no more than a three feet wide. The whole back area of the typical shop is usually rammed with cages, shippers, dollies, trays, pallets and recycling all of which has to go back for cleaning, recycling or disposal. This is the next source of delay because the shops get a sales-space enlargement and refit but the warehouse stays the same.
In store there is nearly always a chronic shortage of staff - absence is one cause but mainly an absolute determination from head office not to employ sufficient numbers and to rely on the goodwill of their salaried junior level management to work unpaid overtime.
And that is the situation every day in normal times.
Speaking to a friend who works for a large chain of chemists, the ordering system will only let them order the stock they need each day, so there is no stock kept in the shop.
This then means the wholesaler only keeps enough stock for predicted orders from shops each day.
Which means the manufacturers only make what they expect the wholesalers to order.
Which means when the selfish morons start panic buying paracetamol and Calpol etc the supply chain collapses.
No different to bog roll etc as most supermarkets keep limited stock of products and most chilled product is not stored and is picked within hours of arrival and is going back out of the gate within 12/24 hours.
Bog roll actually comes in from Cushelle and Andrex already packed on pallets destined for a certain store so its a cross dock product, comes in overnight, loaded and out next morning as said not something that is held in warehouse, takes too much room.