End of deliveries forces family’s return to supermarket

and Dargaville. She had been receiving deliveries since she moved there in November.

But instead of having her groceries turn up on her doorstep, she will now be charged $31.25 to have them brought by courier. Perishable items cannot be delivered.

‘‘I have ended up homeschooling my kids so they are with me 24/7,’’ Gerrie said.

‘‘Our son hates going to the supermarket. He just hates it, so avoiding that weekly drama and having everything turn up on the doorstep with a cheery delivery driver who I could have a chat with was a really lovely luxury, made affordable with the purchase of a ‘delivery saver’. We are no further away from a Countdown supermarket than we were when we lived in urban Auckland but their new policy means we are excluded from this service,’’ Gerrie said.

A Countdown spokeswoman said it regularly reviewed its delivery areas to make sure it was matching growing demand with capacity. ‘‘Over the last year we have also been working to tidy up our customers’ address and delivery details, and this has meant a small number of customers have been found to be outside an online delivery zone.’’

She said Tangiteroria had never been a full-service area and it could be that Gerrie’s address was entered incorrectly initially.

‘‘In these situations our team will often try and deliver the initial order but not further orders as it is outside our delivery zone.’’

Gerrie said it was confusing that the supermarket was advertising it would deliver to a beach or bach in December and January but some of the areas it advertised were listed on the website as non-full service areas, in the same way her house was.

Gerrie said she would now shop weekly at New World in Whanga¯ rei. ‘‘At least I can still do my order online from them and just go in to pick it up.’’