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NFT: Thoughts on Instacart and other grocery delivery services

Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 1:52 pm
I've had my own health issue so these have been a lifesaver. I imagine those who have been in my boat or have trouble in their later years would really like it. You have to be careful when one store might say "store prices" and another is basically charging a fee for every item, which doesn't go to the driver btw. But I think you can still manage costs well, they do make picking sale items easy.

I'm thinking of using this full time for the $10/mo and saved timed/gas/hassle after a brief stint because my monthly only went up slightly. Does anyone else use this full time?
Whats not to like  
give66 : 8/1/2024 2:09 pm : link
time=money. $15 extra so I don't have to deal with the grocery store, it's a bargain. Also, all the regular crap I buy is right there, takes me 10 minutes to order. I use Shoprite Direct and sometimes Wholefoods.
it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
djm : 8/1/2024 2:15 pm : link
it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...
RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
Jim in Fairfax : 8/1/2024 2:27 pm : link
In comment 16566095 djm said:
Quote:
it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...

RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
Greg from LI : 8/1/2024 2:38 pm : link
In comment 16566095 djm said:
Quote:
the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...


Funny Instacart story  
Steve L : 8/1/2024 2:45 pm : link
We have a couple kids and a dog. W and I are constantly cock blocked by all this. Sunday afternoon the kids (all over 20) were outside with the dog so W and figured what a great time for a little matinee. We totally forgot we had done Instacart and don’t they roll up just as we start doing our thing?! Dog starts barking, kids start yelling to us about it (cuz they couldn’t simply accept the order of course) and we totally lost the moment.

Got cock blocked by Instacart.
RE: RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
djm : 8/1/2024 2:47 pm : link
In comment 16566105 Jim in Fairfax said:
Quote:
In comment 16566095 djm said:


Quote:


it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...




You sending the wolf?
RE: Whats not to like  
Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 2:57 pm : link
In comment 16566091 give66 said:
Quote:
time=money. $15 extra so I don't have to deal with the grocery store, it's a bargain. Also, all the regular crap I buy is right there, takes me 10 minutes to order. I use Shoprite Direct and sometimes Wholefoods.


That's great to hear. No one in my close circle does it regularly and I just did it because I had to, but now I don't see the point of wasting my saturday morning. Thanks.
RE: Funny Instacart story  
Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 3:01 pm : link
In comment 16566118 Steve L said:
Quote:
We have a couple kids and a dog. W and I are constantly cock blocked by all this. Sunday afternoon the kids (all over 20) were outside with the dog so W and figured what a great time for a little matinee. We totally forgot we had done Instacart and don’t they roll up just as we start doing our thing?! Dog starts barking, kids start yelling to us about it (cuz they couldn’t simply accept the order of course) and we totally lost the moment.

Got cock blocked by Instacart.


That's too funny, one tip at a time.
RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 3:06 pm : link
In comment 16566095 djm said:
Quote:
it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...


With Insta you can pay $3 and have it within the hour, which seems pretty good, same as a pizza these days. I can see the produce being a problem so I will keep an eye out how they do with that, thanks.
to me the biggest issue  
ILGMan : 8/1/2024 3:12 pm : link
is the markup, just like food delivery.

so an item in store is $5 but it shows as $6 in app. that adds up fast. if you don’t mind being ripped off it is worth time savings. but not everyone can afford the convenience.

we used Shipt, Instacart, etc during Covid and after.

the best bet to guarantee no mark up is Walmart+ if you have one in the area.
Not for me  
UConn4523 : 8/1/2024 3:32 pm : link
same reason as takeout delivery - I really don’t like people touching my food and/or it sitting for who knows how long before it gets to me.

In contrast, I’d probably pay a pretty good penny to have exclusive access to Whole Foods before regular hours so I don’t have to deal with shopping with those who have no sense of decency when out in public, which is the overwhelming majority of grocery shoppers it seems.
RE: to me the biggest issue  
Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 3:52 pm : link
In comment 16566141 ILGMan said:
Quote:
is the markup, just like food delivery.

so an item in store is $5 but it shows as $6 in app. that adds up fast. if you don’t mind being ripped off it is worth time savings. but not everyone can afford the convenience.

we used Shipt, Instacart, etc during Covid and after.

the best bet to guarantee no mark up is Walmart+ if you have one in the area.


Instacart tells you if it in-store pricing, so then you are only on the hook for service charge and tip. Some stores are bad though, agreed. Everyone's experience might be a bit different based on what is around them which is why I asked.
RE: Not for me  
Blue Baas : 8/1/2024 3:55 pm : link
In comment 16566159 UConn4523 said:
Quote:
same reason as takeout delivery - I really don’t like people touching my food and/or it sitting for who knows how long before it gets to me.

In contrast, I’d probably pay a pretty good penny to have exclusive access to Whole Foods before regular hours so I don’t have to deal with shopping with those who have no sense of decency when out in public, which is the overwhelming majority of grocery shoppers it seems.


You know when they pull the item off the shelf. It isn't foolproof but generally not any longer than me. I suppose they could take one of my popcorn chickens without me knowing. Otherwise not much they can do with dealing with my food than the 20 people who touched it before it got to my shopping bag. Why do you think they mishandle it more than them?
Most of my shopping is fresh food  
UConn4523 : 8/1/2024 4:52 pm : link
so for the 25% of items that are packaged, sure, not a problem. But my Whole Foods has a whole pickup and delivery shelf of bagged items and I have no idea how long they sit there until they are packed in a car and then delivered. Not worth it for me and I’d rather pick my own produce, meats, etc.

I can shop for an entire week of groceries in 20 minutes, so the time savings for me isn’t a big enough benefit. But if I was in a different situation maybe it would be.
RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
Matt M. : 8/2/2024 2:28 am : link
In comment 16566095 djm said:
Quote:
it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...
Well, on Monday, Fresh Direct texted to say our order wasn't even on the truck. My wife saw the truck pull up within the allotted block of time, and saw the driver close up without taking anything off the truck and then received the text. They wanted to know if they should re-deliver? I asked them how that helps us cook dinner tonight with no groceries. I went to Trader Joe's instead this week and saved some money.
RE: RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
Blue Baas : 8/2/2024 7:35 am : link
In comment 16566558 Matt M. said:
Quote:
In comment 16566095 djm said:


Quote:


it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...

Well, on Monday, Fresh Direct texted to say our order wasn't even on the truck. My wife saw the truck pull up within the allotted block of time, and saw the driver close up without taking anything off the truck and then received the text. They wanted to know if they should re-deliver? I asked them how that helps us cook dinner tonight with no groceries. I went to Trader Joe's instead this week and saved some money.


It definitely seems like the quality of service varies widely depending on who you use. I used to hate the instacart fees after my introductory teaser rates expired but it sounds like others are much worse. I should tip more.
I'm normally similar to UConn  
pjcas18 : 8/2/2024 8:51 am : link
and I do not want anyone touching food I will eat.

packaged stuff, whatever, I could get past it, but produce and even meats are especially concerning.

During COVID, we used some food delivery (restaurant not grocery store) because it was convenient and to help the delivery service workers in a tough economic time. I was not impressed. Most hot food was soggy, or cold, or packaged in a manner I could not be sure no one messed with it.

The only ones I trust for food delivery is the Chinese. Somehow the Chinese have figured out how to take an order, cook food, package it impeccably, and get it to your house piping hot and very fast. Maybe because there isn't a lot of bread (any?) in their food. subs, sandwiches, french fries, etc. don't get delivered well IMO. the Chinese are light years ahead of everyone else in food delivery. And the way they package their food you can be reasonably sure no one monkeyed with it. And the bag is stapled (which can obviously be breached, but unlikely).

And we get Chinese food about once a year. nothing else delivered.

And also I haven't been in a grocery store, unless you count a butcher shop, in about a decade. My wife handles all that and it's fine with me.
RE: RE: it aint the money, the grocery delivery service is pretty cheap  
djm : 8/2/2024 8:58 am : link
In comment 16566558 Matt M. said:
Quote:
In comment 16566095 djm said:


Quote:


it's the service and the selection of produce or selections in general that finally turned me off. They also rarely if ever showed up on time and the delivery window was pretty wide to begin with so you had to block out a huge chunk of the day. Inevitably they would call and say hour or more delay, so now that 4 hour block extends to 6. And then 1/4 of the shit wasn't available and the produce they give you is the bottom of the barrel. I just go to the grocery store now. Takes me an hour tops and I get everything and get the freshest produce. When Bonnie goes shopping she buys SHIT. I buy the gourmet expensive stuff...

Well, on Monday, Fresh Direct texted to say our order wasn't even on the truck. My wife saw the truck pull up within the allotted block of time, and saw the driver close up without taking anything off the truck and then received the text. They wanted to know if they should re-deliver? I asked them how that helps us cook dinner tonight with no groceries. I went to Trader Joe's instead this week and saved some money.


I love Trader Joe’s. Wife shops there every month.
My big beef with Whole Foods is  
UConn4523 : 8/2/2024 8:59 am : link
where I’m at they don’t open until 8am, where ShopRite is 7am. I’d pay Amazon good money to be able to go in at 7am, and they have a full team in there anyway packing online orders so the staff is there for it. Plus I self checkout, so they can continue not having a register open until 8am if they wanted.
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