Visit to the lockdown supermarket

[sven karma]

Had I known what awaited me on my return to lockdown Wales I would have brought a 'proper' camera, hey ho.
There is a ban on supermarkets selling 'non-essential' goods. It is absolutely bonkers.

(1) The newsagents/stationers. The guy at the till said they could in fact sell printer cartridges. But they were not allowed to sell usb cables:

   ---            

Then I went to the supermarket, where you can buy chocolates, but you cannot buy clothes:

   ---            

You can buy your child a birthday card, but you cannot buy it a birthday present:

   ---            

You could buy your child a bag to put a present in, or a random reduced price thing, but not a water bottle:

   ---            

But if you want to buy male smelly accessories gift boxes, you are in luck:

   ---            

It is not just urban legend. The girl down the aisle said if I took them up to the till I could buy them, but on this shelf sanitary products are deemed non-essential.

   ---            

 

[AlwaysOnAuto]

Wow. The logic is unfathomable.

 

[sven karma]

Wow. The logic is unfathomable.

I know. Driving back from the gf.'s I had a fun near-death experience encounter with muppet driving on the wrong side of the road so it didn't help my brain that I then found myself in Alice-in-Wonderland world!

 

[davect01]

Wow, that seems completely random and makes no sense.

Here in AZ, if a store is open there is nothing off-limits to buy.

 

[MWhite]

Bizarre, truly bizarre...

 

[WNG]

 

[sven karma]

I think the intention was that big businesses shouldn't be able to sell what small businesses now wouldn't be able to during this new lockdown, but leaving aside the buy it on the internet anyway thing, the result is as you see.

 

[Thad E Ginathom]

Please don't come near me with that camera... unless it is wearing a mask!

Honestly, though, I don't know about all this stuff. I'll try anything to stay safe, including 24 hours a day indoors for a given period. That makes sense to me, whereas, being able to go to the pub before, but not after, 10pm doesn't. I'd rather have the greater restriction, if it makes some sense, than the lesser one that doesn't.

 

[WNG]

Nothing new, bureaucrats always do things half-assed.

 

[JonathanF2]

I'm all for proper social distancing, mask wearing in close quarter spaces, etc., but why limit certain items for purchase? Wouldn't it make more sense to limit the number of customers given the space of the establishment to reduce possible infection?

 

[sven karma]

Yeah they do have customer limits in most supermarkets, with a red light/ green light system at the entrance.

The concept is apparently known as a 'fair market'. The devil is in the details though and the result here is a mess.

The newsagents has closed off the self-service tills, in order people don't try and slyly purchase summat they shouldn't, so you have to have a personal purchasing encounter. And while the newsagents can't sell you a book, they will sell you all the vaping materials you want.

 

[WoodWorks]

Wow. You’d think at some point someone would say: “Wait, this doesn’t make any sense.” But you’d be wrong.

 

[Ziggy99]

The goal is to reduce unnecessary movement. You can try blanket rules or discriminating ones. The first is easier to enforce but catches low-risk categories in the net. The second encounters unavoidable differences on what's essential.
Public health authorities are damned either way - but just be grateful you've got a functioning public health system at all.
Keep in mind that there's no manual for this. We are writing it as we go.

 

[bdbits]

This is not directed at anyone in particular, but let's be careful not to degenerate into a political discussion.

 

[Richard Crowe]

When I was stationed in Norfolk, VA in the early 1960's there was a "blue law" against selling anything that needed cooking on Sunday... Supermarkets could sell bread and fruit but, not eggs or bacon.