Tesco: changing the schedule
Tesco UK have numerous stores and are conducting food collections with charities across the country. This creates a complex schedule of daily collections with many different organizations involved. A third-party partner manages the national collection schedule, making it challenging to make changes—and Olio is unable to make adjustments independently or quickly.
How do we get collection slots if charities aren’t collecting?
Unfortunately, we cannot take over collection days assigned to charities, even if they’re not currently collecting. When this happens, we ask that Food Waste Heroes ask the store colleagues to reach out to their head office. This process can take up to seven days and depends on staff availability and partner coordination, which is difficult to predict. If the collection slots are released (because a charity isn't collecting), they will appear as soon as possible on the Volunteer Hub.
Why do some Tesco stores have morning collections, while others have evening collections?
Charities often collect surplus food in the morning so they can distribute it to their service users throughout the day.
Olio, on the other hand, prefers evening collections, as we collect all food items (including those close to the "use by" date and chilled items), allowing us to maximise food sharing. Evening collections also let us distribute food throughout the night with the help of our amazing community!
If Olio doesn't have all 7 collection days at a store, it means that other local charities are collecting on some of those days. In this situation, Olio also collects in the morning, as the scheduling system currently allows only one collection time per store.
Can you change our collection times to the evening?
Unfortunately, Olio cannot directly change collection times. The third-party scheduling charity assigns our collection slots each week, ensuring the correct schedule based on charities’ needs, as they take priority. If we try to change collection times in the app, they will revert to the original schedule each week. We can only switch to evening collections when Olio holds all seven collection days at a store. Once requested, the third-party charity typically updates the schedule within seven days.
How do I change collection times at my store?
If a store would like to adjust Olio’s collection times from morning to evening (or vice versa), this request must be made internally through Tesco HQ’s channels. Olio cannot make this request, as it requires confirmation from both the store and the third-party charity.