I’ve always like grocery shopping but, oddly, I don’t miss it. I may go back to it when our local chain starts charging again for curbside pickup, but as long as it’s free, we’re opting for the convenience. The store app is easy and presents what you’d see on the shelves, and they’ve been great with produce selection, so it seems efficient and, bonus, eliminates impulse purchases. I dunno…
I’m not fond of any type of shopping, but I prefer doing it myself when Covid’s not around. It works out ok when I get what I would have picked out, but not when I end up with dented cans or subpar produce.
We have used drizly.com for beer/sake and Cameron Hughes for less expensive/mid-range wines. Generally, I will just go to Costco for beer/wine.
In the olden days, I would find grocery shopping at a supermarket mentally taxing – too many choices even with a list. I had printed a list of all likely items and put it on the refrigerator with a magnet. As the week went on, we circled any of those items and then I would pick up the circled items. Going to Costco is much easier because there are limited number of choices.
So far, sis has raved about delivered groceries from Whole Foods and local grocer. I haven’t yet tried either. Maybe I will someday but the numbers of covid cases in our remain pretty low and I’m generally in and out of the store quickly and that and walking around the block is about the only time I leave the house.
Hmmm will continue to ponder this.
We tried online order of groceries and did not feel want to try it again. First of all, it took hours to text back and forth with the pickers, because what we ordered was not in stock and the picker text back for alternatives.
Second, even we are not picky on vegetables, the quality of the food was not up to our desire.
Third, the picker made a lot of mistakes, ordered one thing and got another.
Fourth, the price is high, as expected, but the tips and fees really addsup.
Unless you are so afraid of the Covid, its better run around the store and pick what you wanted and leave asap. With your mask on, of course.
This is not at all what we experienced with Walmart’s curbside service. I got texts the first time notifying me of substitutions that were made and could reject the one I didn’t want at the curb. No back and forth. The items on their website were exactly what I ordered otherwise (size, flavor, brand) - probably identified by barcode I suspect.
No upcharge on items, and substitutions were given to me at the lower price if they cost more than what I wanted.
No tip expected, but one was happily accepted by the person bringing my groceries out. They acted like it was unusual. Honestly I don’t know if it is or not.
I feel better offering tips though - helping those who are working for me. I’m probably unusual that I also tip at Fast Food drive thrus though, even before Covid. We can afford it. The person working can probably use a few extra $$ per hour for their effort. There’s absolutely no harm to our budget.
Walmart, free. No tip expected
No texting and you can check a box for no substitutes. I bought vegetables, grapes and apples today and had no problems with the quality of any.
For me and I’ve said it. I have no problem going to the store with my mask on and social distancing. It’s convenient for me. I like it. I’ll continue to do it.
In fact before I picked up my Walmart order, I went to Meijer (they are next door to each other) and picked up a few things that they don’t sell at Walmart.
I tried internet shopping only once in late April. The online process was flawless. At that time the earliest delivery was about 10 days out, and I could change my order as many times as I wanted until the day before delivery. The communication was non-existent however. No confirmation calls. No calls from the shopper (which friends had received during their experiences). It didn’t arrive during the confirmed time window, so I didn’t know if they were just running behind, or if I was totally skipped. I tried calling the store, who sent me to the delivery service they contracted with, and the wait time was many many hours! (again early in the process).
The order did finally arrive, and it was nearly perfect, so all ended well. However, I was also VERY specific about acceptable substitutions, so I’m guessing there may have been little to call about (except for a significantly late delivery).
I ordered a pick up from Walmart (non-grocery items). I loved that! It avoided all contact, and I didn’t have to navigate the large stores, or wait in their typically very long lines at check-out. Will readily do that again if the service continues.
We don’t do online grocery shopping from the stores that use InstaCart or similar services, in part due to the numerous complaints I’ve read by neighbors about poor service, odd substitutions, cost, etc. Here that limits us to Walmart and Kroger, and we’re okay with that. We would prefer to pick out most produce, but these days we don’t buy many fresh items and content ourselves with frozen for the most part.
Two or three times a month H does curbside pickup at a big box hardware store or garden center. He’s done curbside meal pickup about half a dozen times since March.
Months ago I briefly went inside a liquor store and more recently had to go inside a Publix pharmacy for the flu shot. So other than a few medical appointments that could not be postponed, I could count on one hand the number of times I’ve been indoors around other people.
I don’t consider us being afraid of Covid-19 as much as being aware that there’s much we don’t yet know about it or its possible long term effects. H and I are at higher risk as is one of our adult children. It’s taken over a decade for our child to feel “normal” most of the time despite still being immunocompromised. We’re not going to take a chance on reversing that just to go shopping, out to eat or to a movie.
I’m so tired of the “are you so frightened of Covid?” “I’m surprised you’re all doing online ordering?” etc. comments. A lot of judgmentalism.
Covid is not gone. As much as I much prefer shopping in person, the more people are not gathered, the less it will spread. And I for one have not forgotten how dire it was in my town six months ago. Almost 70 people died in my not particularly large town. Well over a thousand in my county.
I have a family member with several risk-factors, and a close relative who is pregnant, and it’s really-- why not be cautious, even if it’s a bit annoying, rather than taking chances I don’t have to?
I mean, I will go to a doctor or dentist appointment when necessary, because they’re difficult to do online. But grocery shopping? Just not that important.
And this is not to denigrate anyone who shops in person. Just tired of caution re-defined as fear.
Regarding tipping - When we moved to online instruction in mid-March, I asked my students who work at Walmart& Kroger about tipping and I was told they could not accept tips and policy was that they had to turn it over to their manager or they could be in trouble (not sure what the manager does with it). I have made it a point to complete most of the Kroger surveys using the pick-up employee’s name so they get kudos for their efforts. Since they are waving the pick-up fee regardless of order size, I would be happy to tip if it were allowed. Maybe there is some “dark money” tipping going on and I’m not seeing it when I’m at Kroger.
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I’ve tried to tip multiple Wal-Mart employees, but they’ve all refused. One pointed out the cameras on the side of the building. On the other hand, most Kroger employees have accepted my tip, even though it’s against store policy. I made a “tip” index card that sits in my trunk with a few dollars underneath.
My grocery store has a tip line in the checkout. I always tip roughly $5 because they don’t get paid enough considering all the people they are exposed to. I justify it by knowing I make at least $5 less in impulse purchases like the latest Oreo flavor or ice cream bars.
I use them two to three times a week. I can have my husband swing by and pick it up if I have a migraine. The shopping is always done earlier than my pick up time and they are really diligent with texting about substitutions. It is so much easier to put an item in my cart using the phone app than to find a scrap of paper for starting a list. If I think of something at 11 pm and I’m in bed, I just reach for the phone.
I’ve been curious about this for many months, so I finally bit the bullet yesterday and gave it a try. I ordered from Wegman’s and did curbside pick up. The store is only 2 miles from home so it is easy to do. For each item, I put comments in the notes section regarding whether substitutions were okay and what the substitution should be. I ordered 32 items and they got 31 items correct. They only messed up on some crackers and gave me an odd substitute.
I have very bad back issues right now and going to the store has been challenging. It was so good to have someone do the shopping and load it into my car. I will definitely do this again.
The union grocery stores like Kroger do not allow tips to their employees.
I hope all of you using the services realize they aren’t free. The cost of groceries has gone up for everyone. They can charge anything they want for toilet paper and wipes and we’ll pay. The first time my mother scored the big TP (way back when, when everyone was out) it was some huge package of Charmin. She was so happy to get it she didn’t even ask how much it cost and it turn out to be $20, maybe more. The other day she paid $11 for wipes, but it used to be 5 in a package and now it is 3, with fewer sheets in each container. Again, thrilled to get it.
Someone is risking the germs to serve you, and we’re all paying more so that you don’t have to shop.
It’s a new way a life, but it isn’t free.
Thanks for the sermon. Shoprite has had curbside for many years. And the less people in the stores, the less people to crowd and spread. I haven’t seen gouged prices, unless I do some weird online attempts.
But it’s nice you just came here to scold.
We recognize that a) the prices Instacart/Costco charge is higher for the same items than Costco warehouse prices; and then b) we are tipping 20% to the workers. I am happy to pay both.
I do see price gouging but in limited ways. When a product category becomes hot (was TP, then beef, then hair cutting equipment, and most recently patio heaters), availability goes way down and prices shoot up. Some is opportunistic. We ordered two patio heaters from Wayfair for $169 each. Several weeks later, they delayed shipping from Sep 2 to Sep 4 and when it hadn’t arrived on Sep 9, the website said they were now back-ordered until Feb 15. When ShawWife called, the person offered to sell us equivalent ones for over $400 each if we didn’t want to wait until February. That is the kind of occasional opportunism I see. Not on everyday products.
[ShawWife was getting mad but I found the equivalent product online from walmart.com, which were delivered a day earlier than estimated.]
No change to our grocery bill that I can see, but perhaps that’s just due to the items we order.
Prices weren’t remarkably higher on anything we bought. I suspect stores might prefer people using this service. It’d be tough to shoplift anything! (Kids who work in our local Walmart tell me shoplifting costs the store quite a bit and is difficult to stop.)