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What a slip-up! The shop in Orkney that accidentally ordered 38,000 bananas

The Kirkwall branch of Tesco meant to buy 380kg of fruit. Instead, it placed an order for 380 boxes – each containing 100 pieces Age: A few days old – and getting riper by the minute. Appearance: Try to imagine a lot of bananas. Easy. How many bananas is a lot of bananas? About 38,000 bananas. I’ve changed my mind. This is impossible to visualise. Then you need to get to Orkney as soon as you can. I suppose I should have seen that coming. The real question you should be asking is why there are 38,000 bananas in Orkney. Because the answer is “human error”. Explain. The Kirkwall branch of Tesco recently intended to order 380kg of bananas, which is about 2,500 bananas. But it accidentally ordered 380 wholesale boxes, each of which contained about 100 bananas. We’ve all been there. Once, I thought I had ordered a family pack of Mini Babybels, but in fact I had ordered one Mini Babybel. Did this hilarious mix-up result in you having to deal with 38,000 bananas? No, it resulted in me having five fewer Mini Babybels than anticipated. What a bad story. Try again when you’re up to your armpits in bananas. Couldn’t the surplus be absorbed by the local population? Only about 22,000 people liv

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Mar 31, 2026·The GuardianT2 · Outlet report
What a slip-up! The shop in Orkney that accidentally ordered 38,000 bananas

The Kirkwall branch of Tesco meant to buy 380kg of fruit. Instead, it placed an order for 380 boxes – each containing 100 pieces Age: A few days old – and getting riper by the minute. Appearance: Try to imagine a lot of bananas. Easy. How…

Read original at The Guardian →
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Mar 31, 2026·The GuardianT2 · Outlet reportLATEST
What a slip-up! The shop in Orkney that accidentally ordered 38,000 bananas

The Kirkwall branch of Tesco meant to buy 380kg of fruit. Instead, it placed an order for 380 boxes – each containing 100 pieces Age: A few days old – and getting riper by the minute. Appearance: Try to imagine a lot of…

Read original at The Guardian →

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What this story stands on. Tier 0 is a primary record or the subject's own words; higher tiers must be attributed, never stated as bare fact.

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T2 · Outlet reportThe GuardianMar 31, 2026

The Kirkwall branch of Tesco meant to buy 380kg of fruit. Instead, it placed an order for 380 boxes – each containing 100 pieces Age: A few days old – and getting riper by the minute. Appearance: Try to imagine a lot of bananas. Easy. How…

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Tier key: T0 = Primary source · T1 = Wire · T2 = Outlet report · T3 = Commentary

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