Portuguese 
English 
Spanish 
2 min of reading 
0 comments 
Error in Tesco order leads Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, to receive 38 thousand bananas, mobilizes community and avoids waste after cancellation of ferries
A failure in Tesco’s order led to 38 thousand bananas arriving in Kirkwall, in the Orkney Islands, after requesting 380 boxes instead of 380 kilograms. The volume mobilized the community to avoid waste.
Error in banana order
The shipment was sent to the chain’s unit in Kirkwall, a town in the archipelago with 7,500 inhabitants. The problem began when an employee placed the order in boxes, not in kilograms.
Each box contains about 100 bananas. As a result, the order totaled far above what was expected, creating difficulty in storing and distributing the shipment received by the store.
-
Almost no ship sails directly between South America and Australia, and the reason is a combination of the vast distance, winds that circle the planet nonstop, and the absence of ports along the way, leaving the South Pacific as a water desert.
-
More than 85 million homes in China heat water for free with vacuum glass tubes invented at a Chinese university, a cheap technology with no moving parts that faces certification rules and codes in the United States, making installation too expensive.
-
In a boat just 1.19 meters long, smaller than many kayaks, Briton Andrew Bedwell wants to cross nearly 3,000 kilometers of the North Atlantic alone and spend more than two months without being able to lie down or stand up, all to break a record and honor cancer victims.
-
While most dealerships in Brazil take days to deliver cars, in Germany two 48-meter glass towers hold 800 vehicles and release each model via automatic elevators in a few seconds.
Weather prevented return
The situation worsened with the weather. Strong winds caused the cancellation of ferries between the islands and the mainland, preventing the return of the cargo and exacerbating the logistical problem.
Unable to resend the bananas, the store decided to give the fruit away for free to the residents. The measure aimed to reduce losses in light of the excess product accumulated in the establishment.
Appeal to the community
The mobilization gained momentum after a Facebook post by Paula Clarke, a representative of the chain.
She described the scene as “mountains of bananas” and invited schools and local groups to pick up boxes.
The response was swift. Residents began suggesting recipes and ways to utilize the bananas on social media, such as muffins, pancakes, banoffee pie, dehydrated chips, and even banana liqueur.
Part of the stock was sent to more remote islands in the archipelago. This measure expanded distribution and helped alleviate the surplus caused by the ordering error.
Case recalls previous episode
The episode recalled a case from 2024, also in Orkney. On the island of Sanday, an ordering error resulted in the delivery of 720 Easter eggs, which were later raffled to raise funds for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution.
With information from O Globo.
Be the first to react!