Sainsbury’s is first supermarket to lift rationing measures by stopping three-item limit on thousands of products – except pasta, UHT milk, antibacterial gel and some tinned and frozen foods
- Sainsbury’s lifts three-item limit on thousands of shopping items
- Limits stay in place for items such as pasta, tinned goods and antibac products
- Asda and Tesco keep their product limit, as does Waitrose
By Luke May For Mailonline
Published: | Updated:
Sainsbury’s is the first supermarket to lift buying limits on thousands of products as Britain’s lockdown continues but essential items will still be rationed.
Panic buying had placed supermarkets across the country under enormous pressure as Covid-19 spread across the country, with many supermarket websites crashing in the hours after Boris Johnson announced a lockdown two weeks ago.
Sainsbury’s put a cap on its products, limiting them to three-per-customer, with more sought after essentials such as toilet roll, tinned goods, bread and milk, being limited to two.
Panic buyers stripped supermarkets of toilet paper at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, as this aisle in Sainsbury’s at the start of March shows. Toilet paper will continue to be rationed while a cap on other items has been released
Mike Coupe, CEO of the supermarket giant, wrote to customers today to say: ‘You wrote to tell me that product limits were a barrier to being able to shop for other people.
‘We understand that it can be difficult to buy what you need and shop for someone else with the 3 item product limit. We have now lifted buying restrictions on thousands of products and hope that this will help more of you to shop for others.’
Sainsbury’s appears to be the first supermarket to make the move, with Asda and Tesco still keeping three or two product limits, while Waitrose is running a slightly scaled back rationing scheme.
Mike Coupe, CEO of Sainsbury’s, has written to customers announcing thousands of items were being taken off the supermarket’s rationing list
The CEO assured customers stock levels had improved in stores, adding: ‘We are keeping limits on the most popular items for now, including pasta, UHT milk, antibacterial products and some tinned and frozen foods.’
The company claims it has offered around 500,000 elderely and vulnerable customers priority bookings for online delivery in England, Mr Coupe said it was waiting for more information from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland so it could contact more vulnerable people.
He added: ‘We know many elderly and vulnerable people who need to self-isolate are relying on the kindness of family, friends and local communities to shop on their behalf and we encourage this.’
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