Aldi Essential Item?

[malagabob]

Did a bit of shopping this morning at my local Aldi. Tilling out the checkout girl asked, is that an essential item? A 4 can pack of cider. Er yes I said. Am I buying before licensing time. Some supermarkets have this rule. No the girl said I have to ask and write a record of it. When did this come in. This morning she said.
It’s news to me.

[bednobs]

the local Tesco has stopped selling lottery tickets due to their non-essentialness

[Jackdaw33]

With respect, Chico, that is pure semantics. The same applies to all establishments selling alcohol. All licences have to be applied for, and can be restricted or refused.

[Smowball]

Danny I didn’t know that x

[emmie]

if they aren't allowed to sell alcohol then that aisle should be roped off i would have thought. I have no idea about our local waitrose whether they have done this.

[diddlydo]

As I understand it, any shop that's allowed to open can sell anything it stocks.

[Mamyalynne]

I believe Bob is in Wales.

The rules are from Jan 5th - no mention of alcohol.

https://www.itv.com/news/wales/2020-12-21/what-you-can-and-cant-buy-in-supermarkets-in-wales-during-the-level-4-national-lockdown

[New Judge]

//bob, shops are only supposed to sell essential items, e.g food etc.//

Here we go again. Misunderstanding of the legislation rears its ugly head.

Diddley is quite correct. Leaving aside the difficulty in determining what is "essential" and what is not, shoppers are not restricted to buying essential items and shops are not restricted to selling them. The legislation states this as one of the "reasonable excuses" for leaving home:

" (a) to buy goods or obtain services from any business or service listed in Part 3 of this Schedule,"

So what the shop sells is not the issue. It is whether it is allowed to open and if it is it can sell what it likes and shoppers can buy what they like from them.

If there is any conspiracy in this whole affair it is that formed by the authorities, the media and the police when they conflate the law with the guidance or even just with a "recommendation." To be fair, on this issue (unlike the "exercising" allowance) there has never been any misleading information within the government's official guidance. It simply says "You can leave home to buy things at shops or obtain services." So quite where this idea that you can only buy "essential" goods comes from, I don't know. It might have come about from the occasion when the police (Staffordshire, I think) began rummaging through shoppers goods to ensure they had only bought essential items. They were swiftly admonished and the practice stopped, but obviously some people believed what they were doing was within the law.

No doubt there will be some people who believe those police were perfectly justified in their action and would like to see more of it. My response is the same - police must act within the law and not make up their own rules.

[New Judge]

Just looking at the Welsh rules:

"As part of the lockdown, the Welsh Government has also issued guidance on what supermarkets can and can't sell - with items such as toys, clothes, electrical goods and gardening products not able to be sold."

The legislation says that you can leave home to buy:

(i) food and medical supplies for those in the same household or extended household (including animals in the household or extended household) or for vulnerable persons;

(ii) supplies for the essential upkeep, maintenance and functioning of the household or extended household, or the household of a vulnerable person;

I don't see anything in the "guidance" which defines (particularly) paragraph 2. But the Welsh legislation certainly seems tighter than the English.

[ichkeria]

If supermarkets were prohibited from selling non essential items they wouldn’t be on display.
If they are on display you can buy them and that still applies when you get to the till.
Sounds a bit odd. Why would buying cider be any more of a risk than anything else?

[Togo]

// Why would buying cider be any more of a risk than anything else?//

In case you got piste and fell on a corona virus germ?

[ichkeria]

Interestingly our local village butchers is still open, which is surprising to me, but heartening.
I note that the NI Executive are muttering about “clamping down” on shops selling “non-essential” goods. Which is less heartening.

[alavahalf]

Cider without doubt is essential.. is it possible to do a pork casserole without it !

[Hopkirk]

A bit comical to ask the customer