While job loss, divorce, and moving house are cited as some of the most stressful things a person can go through, there’s another experience I’m adding to the list — grocery click and collect.
It may be touted as a more convenient and efficient method for undertaking what many view as a necessary evil in life admin, but for me at least, my last few weeks of using Woolworths’ direct-to-boot service have been anything but convenient or efficient, and to be honest, it’s driving me a tad bonkers.
Let me explain.
On a run-of-the-mill Sunday, we did as we normally did after receiving the notification that our grocery order was ready to collect from our local Woolworths store, and what the direct-to-boot instructions asked us to do — before leaving home, we navigated to the app to notify the store that we were on the way.
Upon arrival, however, there were no available spaces in the designated bays, so we joined a queue of other cars, thinking that in a few minutes, the cars in the bay would leave and we would park and click the ‘I am here’ option on the app, notifying them we were here and ready to collect our order.
We were wrong. Instead, what occurred was 45 minutes of face-palming, stress-inducing scenes, which had us both furious.
With our car windows down, we heard Woollies staff members come out of the door with the green tubs of grocery orders, and not once but more than a few times, calling a name, only to have no one there to collect the order, because clearly, they had advised the staff via the app that they had arrived, when really they were still on their way.
And this, of course, meant that everyone else who had done the right thing and waited until a bay was available to say that they were there, was left waiting as invisible shoppers were on the road somewhere, not collecting their now-ready orders.
Woolworths’ Direct-to-Boot service is popular among time-poor Aussies. Source: Getty
Common, selfish act taking place at supermarket car parks
To be honest, this selfish act is pretty common, something we’d experienced many times before, and while it definitely added to the frustration, it unfortunately wasn’t the worst thing to occur that day.
What really had my pretty level-headed husband and I both irked was that there were some individuals, who had parked in the general carpark, like us, unable, to get a spot in the direct-to-boot bay, but rather than waiting in line like the rest of us, decided to walk over to the staff members at the direct-to-boot area, and tell them their name so they could collect their order: in other words, they pushed in.
Not only that, but two men collected multiple orders at the same time.
Because, while annoyed, I was nosey and I listened as one picked up orders for *‘Betty’, for *‘Angela’ and for *‘Mary,’ clearly not his name and put them all into the boot and backseat of his car, with the second man also doing the same thing, albeit with different names.
While we did not confirm with these men, it is pretty safe to assume that they were delivery service drivers of some description, picking up multiple orders at the same time and carrying them across the car park to their car, something I wouldn’t say is the safest way to collect their groceries.
Meanwhile, none of the customers in the allocated bays who wanted to collect their own orders were being served, and the line to get into the bays was now wrapping around the car park.
Eventually, my husband had had enough and politely approached the Woolworths staff member, asking her to serve the line of people in order of how long they’d been waiting.
He also asked her how often people say they are here but aren’t, to which she responded: “All the time.”
Followed by “it’s frustrating.” And, I agree. It’s frustrating for you and for us.
Woolworths’ direct-to-boot policy questioned
When contacting Woolworths for clarification on their direct-to-boot policy, the grocery giant said it would look into the incident.
It’s understood that there is no preference given to who gets their order first, and the system is programmed based on notification to the teams that the driver has arrived.
Uber drivers are allowed to use the bays to collect orders on behalf of customers, but is limited to two orders at a time.
On their website, it does say that when collecting your order, an order number must be provided, something which has never once been asked of me, nor on this day in question.
What happens if a customer is running late to collect their order?
“If you’re running a little bit late, don’t worry — we understand life can get in the way sometimes,” the website states.
“When you’re on your way, just let us know using the Woolworths App, or via the link in your SMS notification so we can know when to expect you.
“If you don’t think you’ll be able to pick up your order for the day you selected, please contact us, and one of our team members will be able to assist you.”
In reference to where you should park, collecting multiple orders from different people at one time, or the use of delivery services to collect your order, there is nothing explicit about this online.
However, it does say that if someone is collecting an order on your behalf that they “must (upon request) provide us with proof of their identity (including photographic ID), the card used for payment or the order number, and, where relevant, their age”.
* Not their real names.
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