Poll

Are you using a delivery Service

Yes- I need things and am social distancing (or just scared to go out)
No- I will get what I need and practice as much social distancing as I can while I am out
I don't need anything for a long while. I am stocked up!
My location isn't a hot zone yet

Author Topic: Grocery Delivery Service  (Read 2311 times)

KBCB

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Grocery Delivery Service
« on: March 23, 2020, 06:59:13 AM »
With the pandemic, people either are fully stocked up or they need things. I am someone who relies on fresh food has made some adjustments but my family still drinks milk, my very young son only eats fresh raspberries, and my dog gets fresh cooked chicken for supplementing his dry food. I made my first order for Insta-cart with about 170 worth of items (yikes) plus the fees and the tip for the driver (which is high because I appreciate this service!) over 200$. I would have never used this service but am glad it is available now.

Please no negative comments about this.

economista

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #1 on: March 23, 2020, 07:38:42 AM »
My husband is blind and can’t drive, so when we had a baby in October we used instacart a few times when I first got home from the hospital. I think it’s great for times when you really can’t get out and about, and worth the delivery fee. One bonus is that for a few months afterward almost every weekend they would send me a code for free delivery to try and hook me back in. Whenever I have a free code I use it, because why not?

Same thing with hello fresh - I used the intro credit then cancelled. Every few weeks they send me another code that cuts at least 50% off the cost for a few weeks so I use it then cancel. Anytime it’s cheaper to use hello fresh than it is so buy the groceries myself I use it. I think with stores having less inventory and people scared to leave home, services like hello fresh and blue apron are going to see a jump in business.

KBCB

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #2 on: March 23, 2020, 10:03:01 AM »
My husband is blind and can’t drive, so when we had a baby in October we used instacart a few times when I first got home from the hospital. I think it’s great for times when you really can’t get out and about, and worth the delivery fee. One bonus is that for a few months afterward almost every weekend they would send me a code for free delivery to try and hook me back in. Whenever I have a free code I use it, because why not?

Same thing with hello fresh - I used the intro credit then cancelled. Every few weeks they send me another code that cuts at least 50% off the cost for a few weeks so I use it then cancel. Anytime it’s cheaper to use hello fresh than it is so buy the groceries myself I use it. I think with stores having less inventory and people scared to leave home, services like hello fresh and blue apron are going to see a jump in business.

I totally agree. It's a good service if you need it. The perks of this service go well beyond this pandemic time. I am glad I tried it. My shopper was awesome and got my everything on my list with a few substitutions.

CodingHare

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #3 on: March 23, 2020, 10:05:26 AM »
I've considered it, but in Seattle the delivery dates are all out 2-3 weeks from now.  SO and I are young and healthy, so a once a week trip to the store will likely not kill us.

I have had coffee delivered in an attempt to support local roasters, though.

Shinplaster

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #4 on: March 23, 2020, 10:17:22 AM »
InstaCart is now available in Canada too for Loblaws, Real Canadian Superstore, and Walmart.   Just did an order to be delivered on Wednesday.  First time I have ever used a service for grocery delivery, but it will ease my son's mind that I am not going out, so worth it.  We're in our late 60s, so he's gonna worry, even though the confirmed cases in our city are very low.

The default tip for the person doing it is ridiculously small though - I hope everyone that does it ups that tip considerably.  I did - 25% instead of 5%, because I really appreciate someone else navigating the stores for me.    If I get half the things on the list I will consider it a success.

Raenia

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #5 on: March 23, 2020, 10:19:24 AM »
We're fairly well stocked here, I only have to go out for milk, eggs, and fresh produce.  Can't really stock up on those, they'll either go bad before we can eat them or the stores are limiting quantities.  Even so, I should only have to go out once every week or two.

If I had anyone high risk in my household, I'd probably be using it.  As it is, it's impossible to get a delivery date within two weeks, and they still don't guarantee you'll get everything you ordered, so it wouldn't be my first choice.  I do have a coworker who's using Peapod delivery, and I'm very glad it's available to her, since she has severe asthma (high risk) and doesn't drive, so she'd have to be taking a bus to the store.  I certainly wouldn't fault anyone who wanted to use delivery to stay safe during this time.

NotJen

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #6 on: March 23, 2020, 10:27:05 AM »
I tried a delivery service when they gave me a free trial and a discount.  It was really not for me - I am able bodied and have plenty of time to shop, and prefer to make my own decisions if something is out of stock.  It was frustrating to find what I wanted online, and at least one thing in every order was wrong (usually acceptable, but sometimes not).

However, it's a great service for people who need it.  And if I do happen to get sick, it's what I'll do to get what I need (if delivery times are sparse, I'll start contacting friends, though).

mm1970

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #7 on: March 23, 2020, 10:31:48 AM »
We are trying to space out our grocery trips as much as possible (will be tomorrow, due to milk.  If they have it, buy two and freeze one).

We are fairly well stocked with canned beans, rice, pasta, and a few pounds of dried beans.  Canned chicken. Etc.

We already were getting 2 delivery boxes a week of produce.  We are still getting those.  I am liberally adding things to them that I can.  The mid-week box (from one particular farm) offers eggs, beans, rice also.  So I added potatoes, dried black beans, and eggs (1 doz) this week.

The weekend box does not offer eggs, but they do offer things like jam, honey, etc.  Both services are taking care to use gloves, etc. - hopefully better than people at the grocery store (the shoppers). 

My goal is to keep our stock to 3 weeks worth at a time.  Difficult because now I'm feeding the kids lunch too, and that teenager can eat.  The virus is starting to ramp in my area.

Zikoris

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #8 on: March 23, 2020, 10:44:10 AM »
We're thinking about it. I've been looking into options, but haven't found one yet that covers all our bases - I'm pretty all-or-nothing about this, because if I'm going to pay a premium I'd better not still need to go out to get stuff.

BigMoneyJim

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #9 on: March 23, 2020, 11:03:52 AM »
I've had a bit of a quandary deciding where to draw my paranoia line with respect to grocery shopping.

A couple of takeaways from my self-analysis:

- It is certainly possible to survive a while on what I have in the house, but I'm not so paranoid (at this point) that I'm going to deny myself more desirable foods or even prepared/restaurant meals

- My next grocery store trip will probably be safer than my last! Because my last trip happened to be a couple of days before everyone got serious here in the USA, so the virus was silently spreading and almost nobody was taking special precautions. But for my next trip coming soon, social distancing has been practiced (albeit not universally) for 10 days and people are generally taking extra precautions, and presumably those who got infected would have shown symptoms by now (if symptomatic) and hopefully self-isolated.

As far as delivery, I used Amazon Fresh for a while. I like the concept, but it was kind of expensive, and living alone and then-not eating at home as much it was difficult to make the $50 order for no (additional) delivery fee and keep my few perishables on hand.

Just today I ran to the drug store to get cash to pay my lawn guy, and I looked for a couple of food items. They only had one can of the soup I like and one jar of jelly that I wanted and no bread (not sure if they usually carry bread, though). I decided not to take their last (visible) items as I'm not nearly desperate and can order restaurant food when I tire of oatmeal and beans.

KBCB

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #10 on: March 23, 2020, 01:25:54 PM »
The default tip for the person doing it is ridiculously small though - I hope everyone that does it ups that tip considerably.  I did - 25% instead of 5%, because I really appreciate someone else navigating the stores for me.    If I get half the things on the list I will consider it a success.

I thought the 5% default was way to low also. They should default to a higher percentage.

John Galt incarnate!

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #11 on: March 23, 2020, 02:35:05 PM »
2,3, and 4 apply to me so I don't need a delivery service.

Sibley

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #12 on: March 23, 2020, 04:39:42 PM »
I'm not in a hot zone (yet), I'm pretty well stocked, but I will get very cranky if I run out of milk. I will go to the store, infrequently.

My mom is in the process of trying her first grocery delivery service. Do not ask me what tipped her over the edge into taking this seriously, but something did.

Dollar Slice

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #13 on: March 23, 2020, 07:18:52 PM »
I didn't vote because there's no option for "I would like to use a delivery service but it's almost impossible in my region." NYC is a hotspot and every time I look there are no delivery slots available. I was able to get one by camping out on the website, but by the time my order arrived almost all of the things I ordered were out of stock and I hardly got anything.

I'm moderate risk (40s but with asthma and a history of pneumonia/bronchitis) so it would be nice to get deliveries, but I've been going to the store myself because I don't really have a choice.

If you are in a place that could become a hotspot, don't assume you will be able to get groceries delivered indefinitely. If you are young and healthy and looking to make some extra money, I think there's an opportunity to do grocery shopping for people without going through the apps. Wealthy older people or people with high-risk conditions would probably pay a pretty good fee to be able to get someone to shop for them without dealing with the endlessly unavailable delivery apps.

Cranky

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #14 on: March 24, 2020, 07:32:55 AM »
Delivery services seem pretty overwhelmed here. It's weeks to get a slot for actual grocery delivery, and when I put in a pickup order last week, the soonest slot I could get was this coming Thursday. I added some stuff to that order today and it took me about an hour because the system is so backed up.

Even Blue Apron is delaying shipments.

I'm reasonably well stocked up, and ventured out to the neighborhood store's Old People Hour yesterday, but I would really prefer not to go to the store again for the duration and I'm sure as heck not going to multiple stores looking for specific items. I hope it all settles down reasonably soon.

From what I hear, Instacart shoppers are being pretty picky about what orders they take, too.

Rural

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #15 on: March 24, 2020, 05:20:44 PM »
I'm with dollar slice except that it's not nearly impossible to get in my area; it's actually impossible. There is no grocery delivery service within 50 miles, maybe more. No restaurant delivery with, though there's Domino's coverage only about ten miles away.

MonkeyJenga

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #16 on: March 24, 2020, 05:33:46 PM »
I didn't vote because there's no option for "I would like to use a delivery service but it's almost impossible in my region." NYC is a hotspot and every time I look there are no delivery slots available. I was able to get one by camping out on the website, but by the time my order arrived almost all of the things I ordered were out of stock and I hardly got anything.

Yep. I tried to use online ordering and pickup, but:

1. The order was delayed.
2. Key items were out of stock by then.
3. The online system was crap. It didn't save my changes, which meant I had to go into the store anyway and paid more for items that were no longer on sale.

We've got probably a month's worth of calories, but only a week or so of produce/milk. I got shelf-stable milk alternatives, but produce is gonna be hard. I'll probably hit up the small grocery store nearby and put up with the higher cost. Certain times of day, there are almost no customers.

BigMoneyJim

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #17 on: March 24, 2020, 06:32:46 PM »
By the way, as an alternative you can get food from restaurants. (Possibly location dependent; I'm in Irving, TX, USA smack in the middle of Dallas/FW.)

I haven't been to a proper grocery store since things got real, but I've ordered meals from 3 different local restaurants and it's ready for pickup or delivery in about 10 minutes. Nothing seems to be scarce there. Tons of meat in my take-out meals! No shortage of aromatics. Same look, feel, and taste as pre-SARS-CoV2.

Sure it costs more, but in my case I'm retired anyway and have a large cash cushion. Sure I could go find more sandwich makings and cheap home groceries, but I can also order yummy food with no scarcity and not be part of the empty shelves problem and maybe do a tiny part in supporting local businesses during this time.

And it makes a refreshing break from oatmeal, ramen, and home sandwiches. Or whatever the home same ol', same ol' is.

And I can go cheap again once the empty shelves problem sorts itself out.

As far as restaurant delivery, there's the usual apps/services, but it seems like the local restaurants may be doing their own thing. Check their website/Facebook page or give them a call. Two local places were taking pick-up orders by phone, a different two also had their usual doordash/grubhub/whatnot delivery options, and one was delivering within 2 miles (shorter radius than usual) when ordering by phone.

Zikoris

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #18 on: March 24, 2020, 06:49:09 PM »
Actually, I'm getting a ridiculous amount of fancy chocolate delivered later this week. That counts, right?

hudsoncat

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #19 on: March 24, 2020, 07:11:51 PM »
I used a delivery service for the first time last week. Partner and I both traveled for work and the day after I got back, but before a grocery trip I came down with sometime of respiratory infection (fever, cough, tightness in my chest). No tests to be had here, so quarantine it is! About a week in we were really missing some fresh food and variety. Grocery delivery was a great option for us. I expect once we are out of quarantine (symptoms gone for me, none for the partner yet! But waiting a few extra days just in case), we will go back to the store, but I appreciate the option and would not hesitate to use it again should the situation warrant it. Totally upped that default tip though, it was way low here too.

OtherJen

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #20 on: March 24, 2020, 07:53:01 PM »
Husband came home from work, ate dinner, and went to bed sick. It’s probably just a head cold, from his symptoms, but I’m not going to risk carrying germs to a crowded grocery store and think we should just self-quarantine for 14 days. I just signed up for Instacart from the local Aldi to replenish our perishables, so we’ll see how that goes. Earliest slot I could get was Saturday afternoon, which is fine (I was planning to shop on Thursday). I bumped the tip to 20% because seriously? 5%?

ixtap

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #21 on: March 24, 2020, 08:10:20 PM »
I am trying to convince people to leave the available slots for these cases.

But our roommate is one of those people who gets her value out of her Prime membership by spending as much money as she can.

Villanelle

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #22 on: March 24, 2020, 08:11:32 PM »
Might be worth checking to see if Amazon Fresh is cheaper.  (If available in your area.)

Dollar Slice

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #23 on: March 24, 2020, 08:36:53 PM »
I am trying to convince people to leave the available slots for these cases.

It would be really nice if the delivery services reserved some slots for people who genuinely needed it. I am pretty sure the people camping out on the websites to grab delivery slots are not the very elderly and severely disabled. I hope they are at least trying to expand rapidly and can hire some of the recently laid off people who are looking for work.

I'll probably hit up the small grocery store nearby and put up with the higher cost. Certain times of day, there are almost no customers.

This is my plan, too. I don't particularly like that store, for a lot of reasons (tiny/cramped, very expensive, hit-or-miss quality, no deli, etc.) but that means it's everyone else's last choice, too, and it's relatively uncrowded. There's also an outdoor farmer's market which could be handy, assuming they stay open. It's not really practical for a single person like me, but for other folks a CSA could be a really good option if there's one that delivers in your area.

KBCB

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #24 on: March 25, 2020, 05:50:16 AM »
Actually, I'm getting a ridiculous amount of fancy chocolate delivered later this week. That counts, right?

Absolutely :) 

KBCB

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #25 on: March 25, 2020, 05:52:48 AM »
I am trying to convince people to leave the available slots for these cases.

It would be really nice if the delivery services reserved some slots for people who genuinely needed it. I am pretty sure the people camping out on the websites to grab delivery slots are not the very elderly and severely disabled. I hope they are at least trying to expand rapidly and can hire some of the recently laid off people who are looking for work.

I'll probably hit up the small grocery store nearby and put up with the higher cost. Certain times of day, there are almost no customers.

This is my plan, too. I don't particularly like that store, for a lot of reasons (tiny/cramped, very expensive, hit-or-miss quality, no deli, etc.) but that means it's everyone else's last choice, too, and it's relatively uncrowded. There's also an outdoor farmer's market which could be handy, assuming they stay open. It's not really practical for a single person like me, but for other folks a CSA could be a really good option if there's one that delivers in your area.

I didn't know you had to sign up for slots, I just checked out with my regular grocery website and chose the instacart option. It automatically gave me a window. They could do something like grocery stores and only have set hours for the elderly, but i don't think you need to give your age to sign up. That could be a good idea.

Shinplaster

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #26 on: March 25, 2020, 03:33:24 PM »
Reporting back on our Instacart experience - the guy that did our shop did very well.  His suggested substitutions on a few items were good, and I was able to "watch" him do it in real time, and approve any changes.  Out of 19 items, the only thing we didn't get were chicken breasts, and I expected that.  The quality of veggies was also good, something I worried about a little when I ordered.

I would definitely use this again if needed.   I gave him a 5 star rating, and upped his tip a little more - the price of the cart had increased some, so I wanted his tip to go back to 25% again.    He was fast and efficient, and delivered what we asked for to the best of his abilities.
« Last Edit: March 25, 2020, 03:35:01 PM by Shinplaster »

martyconlonontherun

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Re: Grocery Delivery Service
« Reply #27 on: March 25, 2020, 04:10:36 PM »
Tried Shipt this week to have one less family in the grocery store. Seems like there is a 25% markup ballpark (15% on groceries/10% tip). I paid $50 for the year membership. Will probably use it since a new born is coming in May.

Not sure how I feel about it. Saves a ton of time and probably keeps some snacks out of your cart, but I don't mind shopping and you also miss out on the clearance deals.

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!