Coronavirus: New World refuses to deliver alcohol to people in self-isolation

New World say they won't deliver alcohol to people in self-isolation because they cannot verify the age of the person receiving the groceries from a distance. Photo / 123RF

New World say they won't deliver alcohol to people in self-isolation amid the spread of coronavirus as they cannot verify age from a distance.

It comes after Foodstuffs, which owns New World supermarkets, confirmed to the Herald they've had to cancel some online orders due to overwhelming demand.

Now, the supermarket chain has told customers it is unable to deliver liquor to its customers who are self-isolating, "as we are unable to verify the age identification from a distance."

It has also told customers who were self-isolating and ordering online not to come to the store to collect their "click and collect" purchase.

"Instead please arrange for a friend or family member to pick up your groceries for you or use online delivery service."

On Wednesday, Foodstuffs NZ head of corporate affairs Antoinette Laird said some stores had experienced "capacity issues due to the significant increase in customer demand for online".

"While they are doing their best to meet all customers' needs, on occasion, they have been left with no option but to cancel an order – this has usually been because the number of orders has exceeded the team's ability to pick and deliver.

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"Teams in-store are doing their very best to ramp up and meet customers' new online needs, but we ask customers to bear with us as the teams settle into this 'new normal' of needing to provide a much larger number of online and click and collect orders," Larid said.

In an email to a customer tonight at 6.30pm, New World advised them this was still the case.

"On occasion, due to demand we may have to decline an order. We are doing our very best to ensure this doesn't happen but die to current increased demand we may be unable to fulfil some orders.

"We apologise in advance for any inconvenience that you may experience due to this significant increase in demand," the email said.