I went to the supermarket today, Countdown, the Australian supermarket here in NZ. It was one in one out, we had to sanitise our hands before we were allowed in and social distancing of 2m was strictly observed by all. Shopping is harder than it should be during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Perhaps we should be shopping online and getting our groceries delivered instead? Food and supermarket shopping is considered essential and so couriers are allowed to deliver it to our doors. What are the NZ supermarkets doing in this regard?
Pak’nSave Online Shopping.
Pak’nSave only offers online shopping from its stores in the North Island, there is no delivery available anywhere at Pakn’Save and you cannot even collect your shopping if you live in the South Island.
The website to visit is PaknSaveonline.co.nz.
When I tried to see what the demand was like I found that I could easily choose a store, but there were no timeslots available at all, and the times went up to a week in advance. I guess this means that either they are totally booked out or they are not doing online shopping and have stopped shoppers selecting a slot.
If choosing a timeslot is impossible then that means online shopping is clearly a no-no. It might be that if you are persistant a slot will appear, so maybe keep trying.
Countdown.
What about online shopping at Countdown?
There is a prominent message on their website that states that they are reserving their delivery services for people who need it most, pickup is stil available but availability is limited. At least Countdown do offer delivery.
I could not find out what their criteria for the most needy of people are. So I am not sure how they enforce it, but it is probably wise and fair to leave delivery for those people if you can make it to the store yourself.
New World.
ishopnewworld.co.nz is the online shopping site for New World, owned by the same people as Pak’nSave of course, and again delivery, in store collection and online shopping is only available in the North Island of New Zealand. Normally the cost is $15 NZD.
Once again I was unable to secure a slot and collection from any store was also fully booked.
Fresh Choice.
My local Fresh Choice, which offers collection and delivery was the most successful of the lot. I was able to book a timeslot 14 days in advance! I’m not sure what shopping I will need in 14 days time, but at least a slot was available.
Conclusion
So it looks like that if you were hoping to do online shopping with either delivery or collection from any of the NZ supermarkets, Pak n Save, CountDown, Fresh Choice or New World you are going to be out of luck, and if you are lucky the chances are your slot will be a long way off.
Grab your face mask and your shopping bags, drive down to your favourite supermarket and remember to keep your distnace from everyone, as it is about the only way you can do it. I found that the shops were full of most goods, so there was no worries there, and when I got home I remembered to wash my hands!
Stay safe!
