Latest supermarket delivery slot advice from Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Iceland

ANOTHER lockdown means many more people are turning to online deliveries for their food shopping.

Avoiding the shops is safer as coronavirus cases rise – but bagging a slot for getting groceries delivered to your door is proving a challenge.

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Supermarkets have struggled to keep up with demand, particularly over the festive period and with the latest lockdown rules.

Retailers continue to increase their capacity to keep up though, and they are introducing new ways to shop too.

Here’s the latest advice for landing a delivery slot from the leading supermarkets and other options for getting your food shop.

Sainsbury’s

Sainsbury’s now has 800,000 online shopping slots every week – that’s compared to 340,000 last March as the start of the pandemic.

The supermarket says it releases new slots regularly and this happens throughout the week.

Delivery slots are released up to seven days in advance according to Money Saving Expert, but there is no specific time of day they become available.

Vulnerable customers get priority and Sainsbury’s is working with the government to identify them.

Anyone can register for online deliveries, even those who haven’t shopped with Sainsbury’s before.

Delivery passes are also now available which can help save money when ordering regularly and give you views of slots further in advance, though there’s no guarantee of availability.

Shoppers with a delivery pass as well as vulnerable customers can see slots up to two weeks ahead rather than one.

Sainsbury’s charges £7 for delivery on orders under £40 and between 50p and £7 for orders worth more, depending on the day and time slot.

There’s a minimum order value of £25 but delivery is free for orders over £100 booked for between Monday and Thursday after 2pm.

There are different delivery pass options depending on the day of the week you choose and the cost ranges from £10 for three months to £60 a year.

Click and collect is also an option if you can’t get home delivery.

You order online and collect it at the store saving you from having to shop in the store and queue at checkouts.

This is free on orders over £40 or £4 on orders costing less.

There’s also an option on some locations to order from Sainsbury’s for same-day delivery.

It’s through an app called Sainsbury’s Chop Chop and you can buy up to 20 items.

You need to spend a minimum of £15 and delivery costs £4.99.

Tesco

Tesco says demand is still high for online slots and is encouraging people to shop in stores if they are able to.

If you can’t and need home delivery, the supermarket is offering 1.5million online slots every week – that’s more than double what it offered before.

Vulnerable customers will also get priority and Tesco has worked with the government to identify these customers.

You can find more about how slots are allocated to vulnerable customers on Tesco’s website.

Click and collect is an option at Tesco too.

To make sure as many people as possible can get slots, Tesco is limiting home deliveries and click and collect to one order a week.

The retailers says that this means if you’ve made a recent order you may not be able to see future delivery slots.

Slots at Tesco are released up to 21 days in advance according to Money Saving Expert, and at midnight each day.

Tesco has a Delivery Saver option, which can make shopping cheaper but sign-ups to this service have been halted for new customers for now.

The supermarket has a top tip for customers shopping online, explaining that they can add a few items to secure an delivery slot and return later to update it.

Delivery fees cost between £4.50 and £5.50 at Tesco depending on where your order is fulfilled by either a supermarket or warehouse, while click and collect costs £1.50.

There’s a £4 surcharge for deliveries worth under £40 and click and collect orders worth less than £25.

Asda

At Asda demand for online deliveries is high too and it advises people to try regularly as it is increasing capacity.

The supermarket is prioritising vulnerable customers , giving priority passes to those identified by the governments as vulnerable.

Delivery passes which can be more cost effective for regular deliveries are unfortunately not being issued to new customers at the moment.

You can see slots for Asda up to 14 days in advance and they are released overnight between 10am and 4am.

You can click and collect at Asda and it is also offering prepacked food boxes containing basic groceries and cupboard essentials.

You can’t choose exactly what you get, but there are different boxes which have different delivery availability to the main Asda grocery delivery slots.

Food box delivery costs are included in the price.

Normal grocery delivery costs between £3 and £5.50 depending on the day and time of your slot.

There’s a £3 surcharge for delivery orders for less than £40 and £25 for click and collect orders.

Morrisons

Morrisons is also experiencing high demand for online delivery slots.

The supermarket recommends checking back regularly for availability.

You can see slots up to three days in advance and they are released each day at midnight.

Customers can see slots up to seven days in advance while vulnerable shoppers and those who have a delivery pass can see slots up to 21 days ahead.

Again, the supermarket is working with the government to identify vulnerable customers.

Morrisons recommends that customers book their delivery slot first and then place their order to avoid disappointment.

But a reserved slot expires after 60 minutes if you haven’t checked out.

Delivery costs between £2 and £7 depending on the slot or with a delivery pass, it ranges from £5 per month to £65 a year depending on the times you choose.

You can do click and collect with Morrisons if you can’t get a home delivery slot and the retailer is also doing food boxes.

There are a range of boxes to choose from, including essentials or regular subscriptions and there is next day delivery.

Morrisons also offers delivery through Amazon for Amazon Prime members.

This usually has same-day delivery slots but with high demand, there is now virtual queuing in place and Amazon will notify shoppers when slots become available.

Iceland

Iceland says it has thousands of slots available and you can see them up to six days in advance.

The supermarket also promises to email shoppers when slots are released locally if you register with them.

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Next day delivery is free on orders over £35 at Iceland.

Vulnerable customers can get priority access and Iceland is working with the government to identify their shoppers who fall into this category.

There’s no click and collect, but if you shop in store and spend over £25 you can get it delivered to your home for free instead of having to carry it yourself.

This post first appeared on thesun.co.uk