Waitrose online 1 out of 10?

[Mike.. . . .]

Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?
Added to that, for us, they have been tricked by the vagaries of the
GPO. We are in one of those strange areas of London the Royal Mail
insist are in adjoining home counties. I don't know the historical
reasoning for parts of London postally being in Kent (Dartford in our
case), probably to do with pre GLC boundaries, but it has fooled
Waitrose into delivering from Longfield, a small branch far away of
which we know little (10 closer) and more significantly, with few
lines and low stock levels (50% not available when we tried).
Right, so Ocado next.

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
so Ocado next.

this seems much more like it. The full Waitrose ranges + a lot of
stuff I find hard to source anywhere. I'm short of madiera, fresh lime
leaves and that dwarf gnocci stuff, they have it all. Also they tell
you when a van will be in your area so you can pick a "green" slot. I
may be moving to Ocado + local shops/stalls + online specialists, no
more Tesco, Waitrose?

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
I
may be moving to Ocado + local shops/stalls + online specialists, no
more Tesco, Waitrose?

been using them for a few deliveries now, cannot fault them. They say
cheaper than Tesco, which sounds about right. *Much* wider stock of
interesting things than Waitrose and things always seem to be
available. Delivery comes on time and useby dates seem long. Nothing
out of stock so far.There's usually a "green" slot available when the
van is near our street anyway.

[W.A. Sawford]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Right, so Ocado next.
--
Mike... . . . .

Ocado are a lot better IME, especially for fruit and veg, our local
Waitrose being a bit pants.

Wendy

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by W.A. Sawford

Post by W.A. Sawford
Ocado are a lot better IME, especially for fruit and veg,

miles better, lots of stuff Waitrose never have, things I go to
Borough Market to get or cannot find at all. All delivered in a time
slot with a receipt ordered by use by date! Price match to Tesco.
Brilliant. Good bye Waitrose, Good bye Tesco.

today: Madeira, wild chanterelles, njduga, white sweet onions, fresh
curry leaves........

[graham]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Following a post by W.A. Sawford

Post by W.A. Sawford
Ocado are a lot better IME, especially for fruit and veg,

miles better, lots of stuff Waitrose never have, things I go to
Borough Market to get or cannot find at all. All delivered in a time
slot with a receipt ordered by use by date! Price match to Tesco.
Brilliant. Good bye Waitrose, Good bye Tesco.
today: Madeira, wild chanterelles, njduga, white sweet onions, fresh
curry leaves........
--

Just discovered gnocchi flavoured with truffle at the Italian s/m. Delish!!
Had 'em with roasted pork fillet that had been marinated in lemon juice and
garlic.
Graham

[W.A. Sawford]

Post by Mike.. . . .
today: Madeira, wild chanterelles, njduga, white sweet onions, fresh
curry leaves........
--
Mike... . . . .

Oh yes, curry leaves! Lovely fresh ones, keep for ages in the freezer.
What is njduga?

Wendy

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by W.A. Sawford

Post by W.A. Sawford
What is njduga?

its an italian meat paste horribly misspelled! nduja, we use it in
bucatini amatriciano, which is probably also misspelled.

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:12:05 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

Steve

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

I don't mean "warehouse" as a separate business, I mean the shed with
the food in it. There has to be a warehouse, vertically integrated or
not.

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 14:02:53 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Following a post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

I don't mean "warehouse" as a separate business, I mean the shed with
the food in it. There has to be a warehouse, vertically integrated or
not.

The big stores these days have sufficient shelf space for all stock.
Food deliveries arrive all day and all night and go straight on the
shelves. Picking and loading the customer deliveries also run through
the night. The vans are full for deliveries to customers by about
06:00

Steve

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
The big stores these days have sufficient shelf space for all stock.
Food deliveries arrive all day and all night and go straight on the
shelves.

what are those big sheds at Bracknell and Aylesford?
<http://www.jlpjobs.com/jobs/distribution-warehouse.htm>

the food goes manufacturer - warehouse - shops, you only see Waitrose
trucks unloading at Waitrose, from the warehouse. You wouldnt expect,
say, the producer of Willie's Cacao Venezuelan Black to tour round all
the Waitroses in his van. Warehousing has always been about breaking
bulk and still is, but it's usually vertically intergrated. (Waitrose
Bromley also has off shelf storage below the shop).

Ocado appear to get stock from those two centres, so its usually in
stock, while Waitrose.com picks it off a designated store's shelves.

[Kev]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Following a post by Stephen Wolstenholme

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
The big stores these days have sufficient shelf space for all stock.
Food deliveries arrive all day and all night and go straight on the
shelves.

what are those big sheds at Bracknell and Aylesford?
<http://www.jlpjobs.com/jobs/distribution-warehouse.htm>
the food goes manufacturer - warehouse - shops, you only see Waitrose
trucks unloading at Waitrose, from the warehouse. You wouldnt expect,
say, the producer of Willie's Cacao Venezuelan Black to tour round all
the Waitroses in his van. Warehousing has always been about breaking
bulk and still is, but it's usually vertically intergrated. (Waitrose
Bromley also has off shelf storage below the shop).
Ocado appear to get stock from those two centres, so its usually in
stock, while Waitrose.com picks it off a designated store's shelves.

I think Waitrose also have several "dark" stores - which are solely for
fulfilling net orders

[Steve Slatcher]

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:12:05 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

They don't call them warehouses - perhaps because the point is they
shift the stock ASAP - but the big supermarkets have distribution
centres. Here are Sainsbury's:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainsbury's#Distribution

We drive past the one in Stoke every so often - it is f***ing huge. Not
quite the area of wales, but a good 2 football pitches :)

[Jane Gillett]

Post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:12:05 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

They don't call them warehouses - perhaps because the point is they
shift the stock ASAP - but the big supermarkets have distribution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainsbury's#Distribution
We drive past the one in Stoke every so often - it is f***ing huge. Not
quite the area of wales, but a good 2 football pitches :)

Interesting piece on tv not so long ago. The logic was that the "static"
area occupied by the store was not large, the storage space was in the
supply lorries which drove into place in the unit and "connected". Goods
were not unloaded into any sort of storage but were "sent out" direct from
the lorry and when the lorry was empty the next one (waiting) drove into
its place.

Got the impression that at least one of the big smkts was using this system.

Cheers
jane

[graham]

Post by Jane Gillett

Post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:12:05 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

They don't call them warehouses - perhaps because the point is they
shift the stock ASAP - but the big supermarkets have distribution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainsbury's#Distribution
We drive past the one in Stoke every so often - it is f***ing huge. Not
quite the area of wales, but a good 2 football pitches :)

Interesting piece on tv not so long ago. The logic was that the "static"
area occupied by the store was not large, the storage space was in the
supply lorries which drove into place in the unit and "connected". Goods
were not unloaded into any sort of storage but were "sent out" direct from
the lorry and when the lorry was empty the next one (waiting) drove into
its place.

The "just in time" delivery system is widely used these days. It probably
started with car factories.
Graham

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Jane Gillett

Post by Jane Gillett
Interesting piece on tv not so long ago. The logic was that the "static"
area occupied by the store was not large, the storage space was in the
supply lorries which drove into place in the unit and "connected".

as the lorry is parked on land the smarket owns, there is little or
no saving in space but you do avoid moving goods twice.

Post by Jane Gillett
Goods
were not unloaded into any sort of storage but were "sent out" direct from
the lorry and when the lorry was empty the next one (waiting) drove into
its place.

unless its stuck in a roadworks on the M6!

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
as the lorry is parked on land the smarket owns, there is little or
no saving in space but you do avoid moving goods twice.

no,that's wrong, isn't it. Lorry needs space anyway.

[Steve Slatcher]

Post by Jane Gillett

Post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Stephen Wolstenholme
On Fri, 07 Feb 2014 08:12:05 +0000, Mike.. . . .

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?

Which warehouse? Most retail stores gave up using warehouses a long
time ago.

They don't call them warehouses - perhaps because the point is they
shift the stock ASAP - but the big supermarkets have distribution
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sainsbury's#Distribution
We drive past the one in Stoke every so often - it is f***ing huge. Not
quite the area of wales, but a good 2 football pitches :)

Interesting piece on tv not so long ago. The logic was that the "static"
area occupied by the store was not large, the storage space was in the
supply lorries which drove into place in the unit and "connected". Goods
were not unloaded into any sort of storage but were "sent out" direct from
the lorry and when the lorry was empty the next one (waiting) drove into
its place.
Got the impression that at least one of the big smkts was using this system.

Obviously that would be good if it could be organized, but I wonder how
it squares with all those large buildings. Tesco and Asda have them
too - google will find them. Perhaps that space is the bare minimum
they need, even if stuff is constantly arriving and leaving.

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Steve Slatcher
Obviously that would be good if it could be organized, but I wonder how
it squares with all those large buildings.

because last possible moment and stacking shelves from truck trailers
does not remove the need to carry out the wholesale function, (which
is "breaking bulk") whatever you call it and whoever does it.
Somewhere, you have to receive bulk deliveries of 50 tons of potatoes,
50 tons of carrots and so on and send each store 1 ton of each, that
is the warehouse/distribution centre that carried out a vertically
integrated wholesale function. They break bulk, its just now internal
to one company.
When you see Farmer Giles arriving at the back of Tesco in place of
the Tesco truck you know they stopped wholesaling.
Some of the supermarkets do now try to source locally, you have to
have a nagging suspicion, do those local carrots go to a national or
regional packing centre and then come all the way back?

Ocado of course have an advantage, thier warehouse is thier (online)
shop too. You order via the web for a few days time (unless you are
happy with what they already have in perishable items) and they put
lorry loads of final customer orders together, not tagged for retail
shops but for groups of final customers (they use large trucks which
offload groups of customer loads onto smaller trucks at "spoke"
centres for the final house delivery). They are yet to show a profit
although Morrisons are now coming on board after wasting £27m on an in
house solution.

For the customer this system means you can get anything they hold
nationally rather than what your local shop holds and in practice
thats a *big* advantage.

[Steve Slatcher]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Following a post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Steve Slatcher
Obviously that would be good if it could be organized, but I wonder how
it squares with all those large buildings.

because last possible moment and stacking shelves from truck trailers
does not remove the need to carry out the wholesale function, (which
is "breaking bulk") whatever you call it and whoever does it.
Somewhere, you have to receive bulk deliveries of 50 tons of potatoes,
50 tons of carrots and so on and send each store 1 ton of each, that
is the warehouse/distribution centre that carried out a vertically
integrated wholesale function. They break bulk, its just now internal
to one company.
When you see Farmer Giles arriving at the back of Tesco in place of
the Tesco truck you know they stopped wholesaling.
Some of the supermarkets do now try to source locally, you have to
have a nagging suspicion, do those local carrots go to a national or
regional packing centre and then come all the way back?

That is what I would have assumed, but I am not sure it is what Jane was
saying.

[Jane Gillett]

Post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Mike.. . . .
Following a post by Steve Slatcher

Post by Steve Slatcher
Obviously that would be good if it could be organized, but I wonder how
it squares with all those large buildings.

because last possible moment and stacking shelves from truck trailers
does not remove the need to carry out the wholesale function, (which
is "breaking bulk") whatever you call it and whoever does it.
Somewhere, you have to receive bulk deliveries of 50 tons of potatoes,
50 tons of carrots and so on and send each store 1 ton of each, that
is the warehouse/distribution centre that carried out a vertically
integrated wholesale function. They break bulk, its just now internal
to one company.
When you see Farmer Giles arriving at the back of Tesco in place of
the Tesco truck you know they stopped wholesaling.
Some of the supermarkets do now try to source locally, you have to
have a nagging suspicion, do those local carrots go to a national or
regional packing centre and then come all the way back?

That is what I would have assumed, but I am not sure it is what Jane was
saying.

What I understood from the tv was that goods did not get unloaded into
static stores - they stayed in the lorries until they went out to the
retailers or maybe directly to the customers by online ordering.

AFA Farmer Giles is concerned .... I remember Riverford years back, the
owner talking about their new packing station and saying that before that
came onstream their goods went from Devon to S Wales (I think) for packing,
then to London for Distribution and then maybe back to Devon.

Cheers
jane

[Mike.. . . .]

Following a post by Jane Gillett

Post by Jane Gillett
What I understood from the tv was that goods did not get unloaded into
static stores - they stayed in the lorries until they went out to the
retailers or maybe directly to the customers by online ordering.

I dont its that brecause goods inwards to distribution centre is in
suppliers trucks. Goods inwards at the shops is supermarket trucks,
which are therefore under thier control. Also, when you see the
distribution centres there is acres of floorspace.
<http://www.waitrose.presscentre.com/Photo-Library/Waitrose-distribution-2-78b6.aspx>
<http://www.rgcarter-construction.co.uk/case-studies/waitrose-bracknell-chilled-distribution-centre/>

[Brian Reay]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves.

Tesco use the same system, you see the home delivery shoppers quite often.
They are the ones to ask if you want to know where the pink banana
flavoured crisps are.

As others have said, convention warehouses are pretty well a thing of the
past. Lorries back into the big stores, which have special bays, and
provide instant 'stock top up'. The larger stores will have several bays in
use at any one time. If they 'check the warehouse' for you they are
checking one of the lorries. Probably the only stock on hand in the shop in
our local Tesco building is the freshly baked bread.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with this, it is good planning and keeps
prices down. Stock rotation is good. I'm sure some will pick fault with it
but I don't have any issues.

[Mr Pounder]

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?
Added to that, for us, they have been tricked by the vagaries of the
GPO. We are in one of those strange areas of London the Royal Mail
insist are in adjoining home counties. I don't know the historical
reasoning for parts of London postally being in Kent (Dartford in our
case), probably to do with pre GLC boundaries, but it has fooled
Waitrose into delivering from Longfield, a small branch far away of
which we know little (10 closer) and more significantly, with few
lines and low stock levels (50% not available when we tried).
Right, so Ocado next.
--
Mike... . . . .

They take the bread of the front of the shelves in the shop as it is most
likely yesterdays bread. Stock rotation.
The fresher bread is at the back of the shelves.
Milk etc is the same.

[graham]

Post by Mr Pounder

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?
Added to that, for us, they have been tricked by the vagaries of the
GPO. We are in one of those strange areas of London the Royal Mail
insist are in adjoining home counties. I don't know the historical
reasoning for parts of London postally being in Kent (Dartford in our
case), probably to do with pre GLC boundaries, but it has fooled
Waitrose into delivering from Longfield, a small branch far away of
which we know little (10 closer) and more significantly, with few
lines and low stock levels (50% not available when we tried).
Right, so Ocado next.
--
Mike... . . . .

They take the bread of the front of the shelves in the shop as it is most
likely yesterdays bread. Stock rotation.
The fresher bread is at the back of the shelves.
Milk etc is the same.

We all take stuff from the back. We're not supposed to but we do!
Graham

[Mr Pounder]

Post by graham

Post by Mr Pounder

Post by Mike.. . . .
Seems a crazy system, rather than pick the goods in the warehouse,
staff slepp round the aisles with mega trolleys taking your order off
the shelves. If 10% of customers did this, I don't think the shop
would be usable for in person customers?
Added to that, for us, they have been tricked by the vagaries of the
GPO. We are in one of those strange areas of London the Royal Mail
insist are in adjoining home counties. I don't know the historical
reasoning for parts of London postally being in Kent (Dartford in our
case), probably to do with pre GLC boundaries, but it has fooled
Waitrose into delivering from Longfield, a small branch far away of
which we know little (10 closer) and more significantly, with few
lines and low stock levels (50% not available when we tried).
Right, so Ocado next.
--
Mike... . . . .

They take the bread of the front of the shelves in the shop as it is most
likely yesterdays bread. Stock rotation.
The fresher bread is at the back of the shelves.
Milk etc is the same.

We all take stuff from the back. We're not supposed to but we do!
Graham

We have always done this.
How do you mean "not supposed to"?