Packed stores and empty shelves: Supermarket do’s and don’ts during COVID-19

Issue 5, Volume 17

ANONYMOUS

No, we don’t have any toilet paper out the back.

​Oh, you weren’t about to ask me that question? My apologies, the answer is just automatic by now. What’s that you say? You want to know the dos and don’ts of supermarket shopping under the reign of COVID-19? Say no more, for I have a list right here.

Dos and Don’ts
Do

1. Do: Observe social distancing protocol

• I cannot emphasise this enough. OBSERVE SOCIAL DISTANCING PROTOCOL. Supermarkets may be exempt from the limits on gatherings, but this is no reason to forget about social distancing. Indeed, it’s a reason to be even more vigilant. It is true that aisles can be narrow (and busy) places. Despite this, always strive to maintain a 1.5m distance. Be patient and wait for other shoppers to clear an area. If you’re worried products will run out, ask yourself if you’d prefer picking up COVID-19 to missing out on that last pasta packet.
• It is critically important to maintain the 1.5m distance from workers wherever possible. We must carry out our functions largely fixed in place. We will maintain distance wherever possible but cannot take it upon ourselves to stay 1.5m away from people at all times – we’d get nothing done. We are exposed to hundreds if not thousands of people each day. Keeping your distance is in your own self-interest, as well as ours. If a worker is in your way, just ask us politely to move – we won’t get upset.

1. Do: Check the purchase limits before loading up your trolley and proceeding to the checkout 

• This is for both your sake and ours. Limits are posted prominently (at least in my store) on every affected shelf, every few metres. Don’t ignore these limits. It is highly embarrassing for you to reach the checkout and be told by the cashier that you cannot purchase your six bags of frozen veg because you have exceeded the limit.
• It is stressful and unpleasant for us to have to tell you. Not everyone takes the news well. Secondly, it creates more work as someone must now go and return each excess item to its rightful place. 

1. Do: Understand that just because we have some stock to put out, we do not have stock of all items

• If we are in the process of stocking shelves near the empty slot of the item you are looking for it does not mean we have that item. Our deliveries for different departments come at different times. The freezer delivery comes at a different time to the general grocery delivery, which comes at a different time to the dairy delivery, and so on. We receive varying amounts of each item, and sometimes certain items aren’t included in deliveries at all.

1. Do: Try and understand that item shortages are not our fault, and there is nothing we can do about it

• This is a basic point, but crucial. Those of us stacking shelves have no power whatsoever to make items appear or deliveries come more regularly. Even my store manager is effectively powerless at this stage. We’re all subject to the effects of panic-buying, head office decisions, and the vagaries of an overloaded transport industry.

1. Do: Be nice to us

• We are all working long hours, and have been for several weeks now. COVID-19 has had a huge impact. Pressures of increased demand and working hours have been exacerbated by staffing shortages. My store, for example, will be missing twenty regular staff for the duration of the pandemic as they are in at-risk categories. New staff have been hired but obviously cannot adequately fill the roles of experienced workers straight away. 

• We are under more than just work-related stressors. I am cognisant of the fact that my colleagues and I are fortunate to have jobs in which we can keep working. That said, other pressures do not evaporate. Many of us are students still trying to balance study with massively increased work commitments. I personally am struggling to balance working 30+ hours a week with studying four subjects.
• The upshot of this is: supermarket workers are tired and stressed enough as is. Please help us keep our heads up and the shelves filled. All you have to do is be nice. Don’t underestimate the positive impact this can have.

Don’t 

1. Don’t: Ask if we have [insert item] out the back when it’s not on the shelf

• If it’s not on the shelf, we don’t have it. Anything we get delivered goes out on the shelf ASAP. Normally, asking this question is slightly annoying but perfectly acceptable. These are not normal times. Customers seem to think the sadder their story/the more genuine their need, the more likely we are to have some out the back. Your story makes no difference, other than potentially making us feel even worse than we already do. Secondly, we should all be minimising our interpersonal interactions as much as possible – so think of avoiding asking this question as part of social distancing.

1. Don’t: Get upset with us for not going and checking if we have an item out the back

• Firstly, see point one. Secondly, unless you are an elderly or disabled person who has arrived during our community hour, I guarantee you will not be the first person to ask if we have more of the item – probably closer to the fortieth. We know when we don’t have things. Checking for it over and over is an enormous waste of time. Getting upset with us will not make the item magically appear either.

1. Don’t: Ask when the next delivery is coming in

• Delivery schedules at the moment are, in the words of Captain Barbossa ‘more what you’d call guidelines’. Most of the time we have no idea when deliveries are coming. Even when we do, they rarely show up as scheduled. Accordingly, if you ask when the next delivery is coming you will be told “we don’t know”. Pushing for a vague arrival time will not help. The social distancing point made in tip number one also applies here as well.

1. Don’t: Argue over the meaning of item limits

• Item limits are prominently listed. Granted sometimes it can be hard to interpret what ‘two items’ means in certain sections. However, if you ask, please don’t argue when we tell you what the limit means. If a limit is set of two items for long-life milk, it means two items of long-life milk. It does not mean two of each brand. It does not mean two full-cream and two light cartons. We have no power to change this, so arguing with us is pointless. Again, the social distancing point in point one applies here.

1. Don’t: Enter employee only areas

• This should be obvious, but either people cannot read ‘employee access only’ signs or are wilfully ignoring them. Entering such areas is not only prohibited (bonus law question: does entering a marked ‘employee only’ area without permission amount to trespass?) but is a danger to both you and all those working there. There is a reason we must all wear steel-capped boots. Furthermore, entering these areas increases both your and our potential exposure to COVID-19. 

1. Don’t: Act like we’re hoarding stock out the back

• Firstly, see point one about stock going onto shelves. Secondly, acting like you know we have some hidden is not only factually incorrect, it is both insulting and exhausting. There is no grand conspiracy here. We are not keeping stock for ourselves. Demonstration: my manager (who cares for her elderly father) recently had to get toilet paper from the Red Cross. 
• Acting like a co-conspirator won’t help. Saying you understand how hard work is because you work on a building site will not assist you in securing a supply of toilet paper for your porta-loo (yes someone tried this on me). If none of that convinces you, take the cynical approach. As a business, we want to sell as much as possible so have no reason to hoard saleable stock.

To anyone still reading this essay: I apologise for what is a decidedly sharp tone. I suspect my tiredness and general exasperation is showing. That said, I stand by what I’ve written.

​Next time you go to the supermarket, try and keep these tips in mind – they’ll help overworked supermarket workers as well as you. Oh, and also, you know, society as a whole.

Anonymous is a second year JD student working in a large chain supermarket.