It was a mistake, and has been clarified.

i get that it's a short period of time, but even the shops that have had to close understand that people will just buy what they need online. So the local councils need to ask themselves if they want the money that people would have spent in local shops going to local residents or an international company like Amazon

Tesco in Wales not selling sanatary products as they are not essential.

Fury as Tesco in Wales bans sale of tampons

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...end-chaos.html

Absolutely ridiculous

Tesco have deleted that tweet, because it's not true.

Our government have told supermarkets to use their discretion, they haven’t been told what to sell or not

There is business support for those affected, this is a means to an end. Personally I think it's very fair that if the non essential shops have to close then the supermarkets (themselves faceless corporations) don't cash in.
Maybe these things can still be purchased with your online food shop or click and collect though if desperate . I'm aware not everyone has that facility however if they don't they won't be ordering from amazon either will they?

Well that's the point isn't it, when you hand out vague-as-**** "guidelines" that are clear as mud and expect a Supermarket manager whose qualifications amount to 3 GCSE's and 20 years in retail to make the final judgement call, mistakes are going to be made.

Clear guidance on what is or isn't to be sold, or allow the full product range of stores that are open. It should be relatively simple but it seems everyone wants to pass the buck when it comes to responsibility.

Here is an apology from tesco

Tesco spokesperson told Manchester Evening News: "Of course sanitary products are essential items and are available to customers in all of our stores, including those in Wales. The reply to this customer was sent by mistake and we’re very sorry for any confusion caused.”

I don't know how qualifications are relevant here, and if you have 20yrs experience in retail you'd think it would be in your nature to want to sell more, not less.

It was a mistake, they are made expecially during unforseen pandemics. I think we're being whipped up onto a frenzy about this Welsh lock down so there isn't a call for one here.
The knee jerk reaction is going to be no, regardless of whether or not it's needed.

the welsh government have now told supermarkets to use their discretion .... carefully avoiding any responsibility

looks like some don't think brushing your teeth is a twice daily ocurrence so this should be fun

Eh. where did toothpaste come into this?

Yes it was a mistake, as I said with mistakes being inevitable when everyone is passing the buck and refusing to give clear, simple guidance and leaving the decision down to people who are not qualified to make such decisions, and based on absolutely nothing other than gut feeling. There is no science at all behind this.

And qualifications of course are absolutely relevant here. A supermarket management team, you may expect, will have vast experience in staff management, stock ordering, budgeting, security concerns, cleanliness and hygiene, store layouts... all sorts of things that are relevant to their job.

They have no relevant knowledge or experience whatsoever in making executive decisions about which products should or shouldn't be considered essential purchases. You might as well ask the next person you pass in the street. The scope for subjectivity is so massive that it just becomes ridiculous, and that is evident from the number of "mistakes" that have been made already.

Again; there needs to be clear, simple, cohesive guidance on which aisles should be closed coming from the people calling for closures (in this case, the Welsh government) OR shops should simply continue to sell their whole range whilst encouraging customers not to "window shop".

some health and beauty aisles were condoned off which included sanitary products and toothpaste its in one of the links

the other side of it is why should a shopper have to justify a purchase to a shop worker.

I know people are looking to find fault in it now and that comes from the less than 100% commitment to the circuit break. If they repeat it again later in the year i can see there being a revolt

Yes that's already been clarified, the clarification is in the link you posted.

The welsh government seems to have been a little dumb in their approach to this.

It should have just been decorating stuff, shops that don't sell any essentials, beauty stuff etc. Sanitary products, basic clothing and stuff for repairs and such shouldn't be considered non-essential.

I think cutting off non-essential aisles is absolutely the right thing to do, but a lot of the stuff they're cutting off are essentials.

Science..., which science tells you what items to sell during a lock down?

Again your reference to qualifications makes no sense in the context of the topic covid essential items. You appear to have contradicted your earlier '3 GCSE' comments by now admitting that managers are indeed intelligent to be able to run stores effectively.

Yes there have been one or two errors but we are in unchartered territory here, I think there's a review today so maybe later they'll be greater transparency on what is and isn't available?

You aren't having to justify anything to a shop worker... if the item you need isn't available to purchase the onus is not on them to explain why you can't have it.
They didn't make the rule neither did the company they're employed by. It's a government initiative.

Yes, you're getting it now Kizzy!

Intelligence doesn't really factor into it - my point then and now was that they have the education, qualifications and training required to run a supermarket under normal circumstances and thus, when it comes to closing off aisles based on what is and isn't an essential purchase, they're playing guessing games - evident from the multiple mistakes made and the discrepancies store-to-store.

Again this is an unforseen pandemic, why should anyone be hauled over the coals for making one or two mistakes?...it's unprecidented that's why there's not been a very joined up approach to this circuit breaker by either the Welsh govt or supermarkets.

It's 17 days, then everyone will have to find something else to whinge about.

You would think a female staff would have pointed out the folly

What if the infection numbers haven’t dropped sufficiently in 17 days?

Have you forgotton you asked the question :shrug:

"unprecedented times" shouldn't translate to "making it up as we go along" and these blunders are going to end up leading to increasing frustration, disillusionment and fatigue which will ultimately lead to fewer and fewer people bothering to stick with any of the guidelines at all. It's not a "might as well give it a shot, can't do any harm" situation. It's doing a tonne of harm.

I didn't ask a question about toiletries, the answer is in your link the govt stated supermarket's can sell whatever pharmacies do.

It should all be common sense, really. If you go into, say, Tesco. You'd probably cut off the decorating stuff, garden stuff (as in furniture, flowers etc, not stuff for repairs of fences or whatever), Christmas and Halloween stuff, etc.

People should only really be going out to get essentials they need in the moment. Anything else can be ordered online.

What should it translate as then... I'm sorry if the response hasn't been as seemless as you'd have liked, has it anywhere?

There have been errors, delays and turns costing billions and thousands of lives, get some perspective.

the elephant in the room is that the reason wales needed the circuit break was because people were not social distancing. Most had already had pretty strict restrictions on them for months to no avail.

People are not going to social distance more with additional restrictions, they are going to get more pissed off, and i'm sure the figures will reflect that at the end of the circuit break

Then it won't have worked... obviously. The fact is they are trying to save lives. Why that's seen as a bad thing I don't know.
It's based on science however, and we all know everyone loves that.

A lot of sweeping statements there

Oh here we go.. it's their fault in the first place blah bloody blah.... pfft!

Not what id I'll will anyone but when the SE and the SW lock down I'm going to revisit this post to ask what you did wrong.

not really, if people had been social distancing, the infection rate wouldn't be so high. Restrictions have been severe in wales for a while, another fact ... and we will know in a week or so if i am correct in the numbers ....


So, all in all, not much sweeping at all

Clear, reasonable guidance that would apply in all supermarkets coming from a central source (the Welsh govt.)

The only reason it isn't is that no one wants the buck to stop with them.

If infection hasn’t dropped they will extend lockdown is my point, so 17 days could turn into any number