Pass the mince pies- Christmas Chat Thread Part Deux

Sheep Shagger

Frankie19 wrote: »

Navan tesco had 2 tubs of roses e.t.c for 10euro and foxes and oreo biscuit tins e.t.c

Price positioning now so they can drop the prices in 28 days id say

Dunnes have boxes of Roses, Quality Street, Celebrations and Heros for €4 till tomorrow night....

Frankie19

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Dunnes have boxes of Roses, Quality Street, Celebrations and Heros for €4 till tomorrow night....

Eeeek don't tempt me!

DvB

Frankie19 wrote: »

Eeeek don't tempt me!

It tempted me, 3 quality street and 2 heroes picked up today and put at the back of the top shelf of the Christmas cupboard. 5 for €20 was hard to resist!

Frankie19

DvB wrote: »

It tempted me, 3 quality street and 2 heroes picked up today and put at the back of the top shelf of the Christmas cupboard. 5 for €20 was hard to resist!

I admire your will power. Wouldnt last to Halloween in this house never mind Christmas

DvB

Frankie19 wrote: »

I admire your will power. Wouldnt last to Halloween in this house never mind Christmas

Not committing to that happening in ours either!

Jude13

If I had those tins in my house it would be too much for me. We were out with another couple on Friday night and there was a lot of Christmas talk as no one is chancing flying home for Christmas. I mentioned that I was already listening to Christmas podcasts.....tumble weed. Really looking forward to it now. I have also booked the week after Christmas off.

DvB

Red zone back on sky sports mix, a definite stepping stone on the countdown to Christmas imo.

Smell the glove

Home Alone is on E4 and Fresh Prince of Bel Air Christmas episode is on comedy xtra now.

Sheep Shagger

Bit of a depressing read in todays business Post, is behind a paywall so can't share

In a nut shell:

A lot of work xmas parties wlll be cancelled
Supply chains for toys etc disrupted so could be a supply issue.
Start shopping early as the traditional last minute scramble in shops won't be allowed
Black Friday may not happen (maybe online only?)

Batgurl

Mince pies in my local convenience store!

It’s beginning to look a lot like ... eek!

Loughc

Batgurl wrote: »

Mince pies in my local convenience store!

It’s beginning to look a lot like ... eek!

Oh yes it is!

Loughc

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

Supply chains for toys etc disrupted so could be a supply issue.


Black Friday may not happen (maybe online only?)

Supply chains didn’t stop during the first lockdown so I don’t see that being an issue.

Black Friday originally started as an online thing for Amazon first then retailers jumped on the bandwagon. So it’s no harm going back to online only.

Frankie19

Loughc wrote: »

Supply chains didn’t stop during the first lockdown so I don’t see that being an issue.

Black Friday originally started as an online thing for Amazon first then retailers jumped on the bandwagon. So it’s no harm going back to online only.

Know someone who works for a toy distributor. Most toys are ordered/ made in Q1 and Q2 for Christmas. Due to lockdowns production wasnt at its needed levels and there will be shortages this year.

I work in an industry that black Friday would be the centre stage for the whole year. Its very much happening although starting earlier to encourage spreading customers store visits over a longer time. Online expected to perform better than retail....i hope An post and the couriers are prepared!

Sheep Shagger

I think anyone who has to do last minute shopping could be under more stress than normal with

a) stock selling out early in some categories
b) shops not allowed to have hoards in
C) there's no way An Post or couriers will cope with the volumes

I have family abroad to buy for, try to do this most years but will definitely be doing it this year, buying from their local websites so I'm not caught by any blockages in the postal system

Some countries are still not open to post and that may not change anytime soon...

Batgurl

Loughc wrote: »

Supply chains didn’t stop during the first lockdown so I don’t see that being an issue.

Black Friday originally started as an online thing for Amazon first then retailers jumped on the bandwagon. So it’s no harm going back to online only.

Looking at Ikea and a lot of their popular furniture is on backorder and not expected til January 2021 (according to the website).

It will only be Q4 when we see a lot of the delays to the production chain from China.

Black Friday was most definitely not an online thing in US. Cyber Monday is the online equivalent in the US. Black Friday will definitely happen this year, but the caliber of stock won’t be the same as previous years.

Littlehorny

I see one of the Sony movie channels will become Sony Christmas movies on Sept 24th.

Frankie19

100% sheep. I already have presents bought for this year that need to go to Oz and some stocking fillers. Also I wouldnt be ordering anything online for a pre Christmas delivery after the last week in November. I can see deliveries being delayed and wouldn't want the stress of waiting.

Social distancing in warehouses and sorting offices are going to put a huge strain on increased online orders.

It will be interesting to see how Smyths react to all of this. They usually open late till 11pm but at the moment have reduced hours. Also their Christmas magazine is due out this week.....wonder will they delay it due to the shortages

Loughc

Frankie19 wrote: »

100% sheep. I already have presents bought for this year that need to go to Oz and some stocking fillers. Also I wouldnt be ordering anything online for a pre Christmas delivery after the last week in November. I can see deliveries being delayed and wouldn't want the stress of waiting.

Social distancing in warehouses and sorting offices are going to put a huge strain on increased online orders.

It will be interesting to see how Smyths react to all of this. They usually open late till 11pm but at the moment have reduced hours. Also their Christmas magazine is due out this week.....wonder will they delay it due to the shortages

How come there was no delays in deliveries when the country was on lockdown? We had to order everything online and in most cases I experienced next day deliveries. The company I work for had more online deliveries in Mar/Apr than we had last 3 Christmas seasons combined.

I don’t see there being delays in supply chain or deliveries. Sadly warehouses don’t/aren’t socially distancing. Again the company I work for hired more warehouse staff instead of reducing staff.

Sheep Shagger

Loughc wrote: »

How come there was no delays in deliveries when the country was on lockdown? We had to order everything online and in most cases I experienced next day deliveries. The company I work for had more online deliveries in Mar/Apr than we had last 3 Christmas seasons combined.

I don’t see there being delays in supply chain or deliveries. Sadly warehouses don’t/aren’t socially distancing. Again the company I work for hired more warehouse staff instead of reducing staff.

There were big delays in some areas including Amazon who have priority within An Post given the value of the contract they have.

Factories in China hsve not been at full capacity so toys among other things won't be at the production levels they normally would be.

Loughc

Sheep Shagger wrote: »

There were big delays in some areas including Amazon who have priority within An Post given the value of the contract they have.

Factories in China hsve not been at full capacity so toys among other things won't be at the production levels they normally would be.

I actually experienced quicker deliveries times from amazon during lockdown than I would any other time of the year.

Deliveries won’t be a problem peak always results in temporary staff hires. Businesses won’t want to miss out on Christmas sales this year they will pull out all the stops. They need to.

Frankie19

Loughc wrote: »

How come there was no delays in deliveries when the country was on lockdown? We had to order everything online and in most cases I experienced next day deliveries. The company I work for had more online deliveries in Mar/Apr than we had last 3 Christmas seasons combined.

I don’t see there being delays in supply chain or deliveries. Sadly warehouses don’t/aren’t socially distancing. Again the company I work for hired more warehouse staff instead of reducing staff.

There was delays in some areas eg products coming from China however there would have been stock already produced and in channel ready to be purchased. We are only starting to see the affects of production shutdowns now as they havent been able to make up the gap. Also consumer demand was a fraction of what it normally was while yes it all moved online demand overall was still lower than normal. Retail store staff were moved to fulfill online orders e..t.c so they could cope.

Move to this christmas peak trading when online ordering will be at its highest.....probably ever its hard to see how deliveries won't take longer than normal.

The industry I work in are only seeing the impact now due to a shortage in raw materials.....due to lockdowns in March and April in the countries they come from.My husbands business has had supply constraints since July and its not expected to fully recover till March 2021.

PTH2009

this is madness

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIfAr3gESKs

The science behind competitive eating is amazing. You would imagine them all as really fat people but its the opposite. They have to be like athletes and burn off all the calories they intake. No way could I do it no matter what food or drink

Jude13

^^ I will watch this at lunchtime, it will make me too hungry now. Also are yorkshire puddings part of an Irish Christmas dinner? I bloody love the gluten free ones so I am open to it. Make a kind of pie, yorkshire pudding bowl, turkey and ham, stuffing, little bit of hot gravy, cover in a lid of mash.......to say I am struggling with the diet and food day dreaming would be an understatement.

We experienced big delays in shipping, amazon and from stores, during the outbreak. It might be as we are international and the cargo flights were being used by PPE etc. I wish we had proper post here as I think Christmas cards this year will be more important than ever.

DvB

I found at the start of lockdown Amazon were faster than usual, but towards the end had slowed down a fair amount, to the extent bits were taking longer than normal to arrive, though funnily enough always found books to be super fast no matter what I ordered.

DvB

They finally landed in Dunnes in Blanchardstown this week.

Sheep Shagger

DvB wrote: »

I found at the start of lockdown Amazon were faster than usual, but towards the end had slowed down a fair amount, to the extent bits were taking longer than normal to arrive, though funnily enough always found books to be super fast no matter what I ordered.

There was a large thread in boards about Amazon Prime not being able to honour its 2 day delivery promise to ROI so there were certainly delays....anyway we'll see i guess.

Lollipops23

I was chatting to my mother the other day about xmas- we always have an extended family get together in my aunt and uncle's on xmas morning for an hour or two. Can't see that happening this year....which is totally fine by me as it needs to be that way. I'm just upset that I know there's plenty who will ignore whatever advice there is and their xmas won't change in the slightest

Littlehorny

Looks like the staff Christmas parties are defo not going to be allowed go ahead

antimatterx

DvB wrote: »

I found at the start of lockdown Amazon were faster than usual, but towards the end had slowed down a fair amount, to the extent bits were taking longer than normal to arrive, though funnily enough always found books to be super fast no matter what I ordered.

I found them quite slow tbh. It was often taking me more than 5 working days to get prime items (and I'm a prime member). I live in Dublin, so it's not like I live in the sticks.

antimatterx

Littlehorny wrote: »

Looks like the staff Christmas parties are defo not going to be allowed go ahead

Not a hope I imagine. Which is sad, as I had my first proper one last year and it was fantastic.

The lockdown rules in Dublin/Limerick will be interesting.