Substitutions
My grocery order has just been delivered, and it had some substitutions, which were quite acceptable. The young man helpfully holding up the crate so that I could transfer the contents to a bag – I always regard it as a weight-training exercise, which gets easier as the items are removed – told me that most of the substitutions are usually quite reasonable. Sometimes, though, they beggar belief, and bear little or no relation to the requested item. For example, one customer had ordered bread, but it wasn’t available and it had been replaced with tomato ketchup. What was the thought sequence there? Bread for sandwiches for cheese for pickle for ketchup . . .
Questions then arise about the state of mind of the employee whose job it is to select items for a customer’s list. These staff members are variously called Online Pickers, Online Assistants, Retail Assistants, or Personal Shoppers.
Everyone has off-days or lapses in concentration and I can well imagine how strange or unusual substitutions can be made occasionally. Lemon bleach for lemons?
Never having ordered food for delivery I have not faced these issues. So far I have been successful in making substitutions if I need to!
ReplyDeleteI have used online shopping for many years now, since before I stopped working for a living. There are not often substitutions.
DeleteI only ever use the home delivery option for my wine order as my favourite is not stocked in our local store. I always say no to substitutions though as goodness knows what I'd get otherwise!
ReplyDeleteSometimes there are no substitutions, just a hole where the item should be!
DeleteWe have had home deliveries and have been lucky with substitutions. I used to get texts as the shopper went through my list but this wasn’t needed too often.
ReplyDeleteI've never had a shopper contact me - that sounds quite special.
DeleteWhen I do my shopping at 7 AM on a Sunday, the aisles are blocked that early with Pickers. I've not used their service yet, but bread, now there's a story. Had a teen put a cantaloupe on top of my bread. I now bag my own groceries every week.
ReplyDeleteThat's not a problem we have in UK. We all pack our own bags (now wait for someone to counter that!)
DeleteWe only get home delivery for the heavy and bulky stuff, wine, cleaning gets bits, loo rolls, so we don't get substitutes often.
ReplyDeleteFor me, home delivery started when I had everyone living at home and I didn't have much time to shop - sounds daft, doesn't it?
DeleteSo far our subs with Tesco have been fine but I do sometimes take advantage of the ‘ write a note to your picker’ when ordering. I wouldn’t like to do their job, I’m guessing they are under pressure to be quick!
ReplyDeleteAlison in Devon x
It's not a well-paid job and I'd be far too critical, thinking people would be far better off with my choices!
DeleteWe seem to do alright with Morrisons and tend to order only the heavy stuff and necessities because we have no car.
ReplyDeleteWe don't often have substitutions, so I can't complain.
DeleteFor that reason alone I will continue to do my own shopping!!!
ReplyDeleteProbably wise!
DeleteYes, some of the substitutions do make you wonder. I had marzipan instead of almonds once. Which sort of makes sense or would have done had I wanted the almonds to make marzipan.
ReplyDeleteYes, you can see the connection there, but even so it would have been better to have no substitution.
ReplyDeleteours are called personal shoppers. we have in the app at the end before we press process, a list of possible subs, and we can approve or change it to do not replace. I do that because once I ordered Bob white sandwich bread and they gave him oat bread which he will not eat and I can not eat,
ReplyDeleteI do love ordering groceries for delivery, but do miss the conversations with strangers in the store while shopping
I don't need to order online anymore, I just go to the kitchen and ask for what I want. Our cook is Italian and "loves" me as compatriot !
ReplyDeleteMuch of my grocery list is fresh produce and I don't think I'd trust someone else to choose it for me.
ReplyDelete