Community Chat

[suzyQ3]

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@stevieb wrote:

I used Instacart once and all I can say is never again. Their alleged service might work well under more normal conditions, but under current conditions, I found it to be a misery. I'll stick with store based delivery services and avoid the Instacart model going forward. I also think the store based services offer fewer windows for fraud. I'll be checking next week to ensure Instacart charged me the correct amount and not the amount they 'preauthorized', which was significantly more. 

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@stevieb, I did order on my store's site, but they partner with Instacart. I think that this might be the fact with many supermarkets. I had also placed one order yesterday for just a few things on a different supermarket site, and I'm pretty sure that it was either Instacart or Shipt.

[suzyQ3]

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@september wrote:

There are only two other stores (besides TJ and Whole Foods) where I've shopped since the covid crisis began, and they were good, also.  One was Market Basket, where the selection of products is just so huge.  If I need a bit of everything, that's the place to go.  

The other is Target, where I can pick up basic grocery items as well as various other things. That's where I'll go tomorrow, to get tea, coffee, Burts Bees facial wipes, maybe paper towels, if they have them!

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Wow, @september, your mention of Market Basket takes me back to my childhood. They disappeared ages ago. Vons (Safeway) and Ralphs (Kroger) are the main chains here, but there are also smaller, more expensive ones as well. Oh,yes, Whole Foods, which I do like but not for general marketing.

[tucsongal]

We considered delivery but it was just too difficult to get a time set up. I’ve been going to a smaller grocery store every two weeks on a non-senior day early in the morning (6:30). It’s worked out very well, and I feel safe as most of the few people there are wearing masks and they have added plexiglass at checkouts, marks to stand on, etc. 

I bit the bullet and went to Trader Joe’s recently. They did do a good job of counting people coming in, wiping down carts, etc but it was busier, has smaller aisles making it harder to social distance. 

I think once you find the right store and time and get a routine established you will feel pretty secure. Good

luck 🙂.

[happycat]

I have never used insta cart. I was pretty happy with my Kroger order, till I looked closer at my strawberries this last time. You know, with fresh produce, I'd rather pick my own out. Those strawberries were about half red, half green. I made a strawberry cake and I have had better. 

[stevieb]

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@suzyQ3 wrote:

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@stevieb wrote:

I used Instacart once and all I can say is never again. Their alleged service might work well under more normal conditions, but under current conditions, I found it to be a misery. I'll stick with store based delivery services and avoid the Instacart model going forward. I also think the store based services offer fewer windows for fraud. I'll be checking next week to ensure Instacart charged me the correct amount and not the amount they 'preauthorized', which was significantly more. 

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@stevieb, I did order on my store's site, but they partner with Instacart. I think that this might be the fact with many supermarkets. I had also placed one order yesterday for just a few things on a different supermarket site, and I'm pretty sure that it was either Instacart or Shipt.

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@suzyQ3  Yes, there are market chains that partner with Instacart to provide their shopping and delivery component. I tried once and only once shopping 'remotely' at Shoppers Food Warehouse, which uses Instacart, as I'd understood from neighbors they had better stock... Well, of course, 'better stock' is fluid right now... That said, some market chains have their own employees doing the shopping and have their own delivery service (which might or might not be via contract, but is ostensibly under the store's umbrella and not a stand along company...) and I've found using Peapod/GIant more to my liking. 

[september]

@suzyQ3    I learned that Shaw's is the Vons/Safeway counterpart in New England.  Haven't been to that one since the virus crisis began.  There is a store very close to where my new house is being built, so I'll be going there soon.  

[suzyQ3]

We sat down for dinner tonight with the local news on. So of course one of the main stories was the number of employees at local markets that have tested positive. The numbers were nothing to sneeze at.

I hope that if I go early in the morning halfway throught seniors hours, I'll be relatively safe.

[Hoovermom]

I have used Instacart for over two years and loved it up to this point.  They always send me a receipt listing items purchased/substituted through emails.  The last couple of times I have been charged for multiple items that I ordered but did not receive.  They have been impossible to reach, even through their chat option.  It took them over two weeks to respond to my emails to credit my account for these items.  I know they are overwhelmed with the virus that is sweeping our country.   From now on I will use my Shipt membership.

[RollTide2008]

I placed an order at Aldi through the Instacart site at 12:10 today. My order was delivered at 3:08 and Instacart emailed me a receipt then. With the mark up, fees, and a (hopefully) generous tip, $50 in groceries set me back $70. We’ve been swamped at work and I just didn’t have time to go shopping.

[TY]

I live close enough to grocery stores and I don't need or want to use grocery delivery. I am not afraid to shop in a grocery store, thank goodness, but I can understand why people think twice about it and want to have groceries delivered to curb side pick up or have them delivered.

From what I've seen of the store employees at different canadian grocery stores who actually are picking the groceries off the shelves and putting them into the big plastic bins for curbside pickup or delivery, none of those employees are wearing face masks. Some are wearing disposable gloves now, but face masks on grocery store employees is optional and not mandatory in British Columbia. When I shop, I would say that half to 3/4 of customers are wearing face masks. Also not all stores have implemented social distancing like one way directions in narrow aisles so you have to pass other customers as well as the store employees picking stock off the shelves. 

Just how sanitary is it to have some random stranger pick and pack your groceries? I have no idea but I wonder.