Doing Sums

Just blogging to get my thoughts straight, but I think it's a useful exercise.  Most of you reading will have a better grasp than me, but I think it's worthwhile sharing.

I am shopping a lot with Tesco at the moment.  They do a feature with a Delivery Saver so that you pay so much then afterwards get free delivery for a set time.  I'm trying to work out whether it is worth it for me.

I've looked at the days I normally get deliveries.  There is no pattern.  I would love to be the sort of person who had rhythm and order in their groceries but I have to face facts.  Also I quite like the idea of having the occasional Sunday delivery as I will be gearing up for bear's packed lunches.  If I was disciplined enough to stick to Tuesday to Thursday then I could try the midweek saver.  You pay £27 for three months or £45 for six months either up front or monthly and you then get any delivery slot free on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.  The delivery costs range from £3 to £4.50 and you could have a delivery on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday if you like.  If you have one delivery per week at £3 per delivery then you would spend £12 per month on delivery fees instead of £9 which you would spend on the three month plan.  I find it difficult to arrange the £3 delivery slots as they are usually when I am busiest with bear and overlap school run time.  If you had one £4.50 delivery per week and went for the six months in advance plan you would save £10.50.

I am more likely to go for the Anytime Plan, which is up to one delivery per day at any time as long as a slot is free and if I pay for six months up front I pay £60, or £10 per month.  If I want a Sunday delivery it can be as much as £6 per delivery so I would save up to £14 in a four week month, if I went for the more expensive slots.  Even if I managed to work things to have the cheaper slots, it would still save a few pennies.  All pennies are welcome.  I quite often get more than one delivery per week as well, depending on what is happening.  It makes sense to save money on what I am doing already.

There are, of course, downsides.  I am waiting for Morrisons to start deliveries, but I have no idea when that will be.  I would hate not to be a customer for the first week.  Paying for the deliveries like this would tie me into Tesco, which is currently okay.  The big problem is that the minimum order size is £40.  I am getting my veggies delivered from the market and I have meat from the farm shop and available from the market.  I regularly use Approved Foods.  I am concerned that I will struggle to make the minimum order, especially if Famous Grouse is not on offer.

If I take the Anytime six month plan, which is £10 per month, and the average cost of deliveries which is as far as I can tell around the £4.50 mark, then I would need to do three orders to save money.  At the cheapest I would need to do four orders and at the most expensive I would need to do two.   The £40 minimum is going to be a struggle unless I am getting things wrong.  Mind you, there is a weakness for strong drink in the house which will help boost the totals.

Summary If you get one Tesco delivery per week of over £40 and do not go anywhere but Tesco and that is not likely to change in three or six months then the Delivery Saver is a good idea.  I'm still thinking.