Heck, no! I enjoy grocery shopping. I also buy in smallish amounts according to whim and what I think we would need for the next couple of days. I don’t even know if they would deliver “one chicken breast, a box of chicken rice-a-roni, a head of Boston lettuce, 6 black olives from the olive bar, a cup of walnuts from the bulk foods, a handful of dark chocolates from bulk foods, two oranges, a single bottle of Sam Adams Oatmeal Stout, and a package of Little Debby Pumpkin Bars”. The extra expense wouldn’t be worth it… If I needed big hunks of cow, a 5 lb. sack of rice, a gallon of milk, a six pack of Bud light, and sacks of potatoes to feed a big crowd, that would be different, but we just don’t roll that way.
Maybe I’m just not very observant, but I’ve never heard of grocery delivery in Canada. I just Googled and found an on-line delivery service (for $12!), but none of the stores I shop at seem to offer delivery.
Anyway, I like grocery shopping. I’d rather buy what’s on sale than just go by brand loyalty. And I like to see what’s new.
I would use it for stuff that is reasonably universal, like dairy [one brand of cheese, milk or butter is reasonably identical to any other as long as the category is the same, like extra sharp cheddar or homogenized whole milk or sweet cream butter unsalted] canned goods, dry goods [dried beans, herbs, noodles, and so on] cleaning supplies, paper goods but never for meat or fruit/veggies. I am very particular about meat and produce. When I have a roomie, or BF that lived with me I had to train them before I trusted them to buy for me. [nothing like getting some totally lean fatless hunk of meat that would be perfect for braising when you are looking for something with lovely marbeling for a quick romp on the grill] I think about the only meats that I would go with a random pick is prepackaged chicken, or frozen fish sticks …
I don’t, purely because I do the weekly shop with my little girl and it’s usually enjoyable and helps her to understand that stuff doesn’t just magically appear at home.
I think that I’d use delivery for stuff that we get every week, that’s canned or branded in some way. For instance, I’d have a weekly order that was something like “Borden 2% Hi Protein milk, one gallon, 5 pounds pounds Russet potatoes, white onions, 1 loaf rye bread, 1 loaf white bread, 5 oranges, 5 bananas, 1 bag frozen green beans (name brand), 1 bag frozen broccoli (store brand), 2 cans cream of mushroom soup (Campbell’s), 1 box (size) Bigelow English Teatime tea” etc. For other things, I’d still want to check out the produce and meat selection, and choose what I want. Even if I have a chuck roast on my shopping list, for instance, if I don’t like the looks of the chuck roast selection (they all have too much fat in them, or I just don’t think they look that fresh), then I’ll get something else. So I’d probably go to the store about as often, I just wouldn’t buy as much on the personal trips.
in NYC we have a delivery-only grocery service (they have all types of grocery and prepared foods, but do not have any retail outlets) called “Fresh Direct.” It’s quite significantly more expensive than (expensive) NYC grocery stores but it is very, very, convenient. Most of the time, unless someone is deathly ill, it isn’t worth the additional expense. And I feel just like Lynn I would rather choose my own meat.
Delivery of all things is much more common in NYC (and maybe other major metros) than elsewhere in the country. I’ve lived in Michigan (collegetown/semiurban) and Virginia (extremely rural) and no one delivered groceries.
Yeah, here in the US I wouldn’t expect to find it unless I lived in a mega-city. I’ve certainly never lived anywhere that it’s been available.
Not having ever had it, I can imagine a few complaints about it…
- Not being able to pick out your own meat and produce; not even being able to see the quality of it beforehand (and produce in the US can be dismal… it’s important to smell and handle fruit before you buy it)
- The inconvenience of having to be at home when the delivery is made. I HATE waiting at home for services.
- Supermarkets just don’t want the hassle of keeping updated websites full of every single item they carry
- Since we all (outside of New York) drive our cars to the grocery anyway, the “how much can I carry home” problem doesn’t apply
I have always tipped the delivery person, but then they come in and leave the bags on my kitchen counter. It’s enormously helpful when my back is bad.
Our service is relly great. All the sales are marked clearly on the internet site, and you can even use your coupons.
Who do you use? Was the delivery person surprised?
The thought never actually crossed my mind until this thread.
I have used them in the past and then I moved and the service was unavailable in our new house. They’ve since expanded their delivery area and I could set it up again but I’ve fallen out of the habit. Thanks to this reminder I probably will set up my account again. I’m starting to look for timesavings again and this is one where the cost/benefit is easy. I buy my meat once a month at the butcher anyway and I’ve never had a problem with the produce they selected for me in the past.
My inlaws use a different delivery service for my husbands grandmother. She has resisted all attempts to get her out of her home but she’s unable to deal with money (she’ll hand a salesperson a wad of cash and tell them to take what she owes out of it), so they order and pay for groceries over the internet and have them delivered to her house. She calls them every day anyway so they know what she wants and needs and this way they never have to worry that she is out of food and afraid to ask for help.
I have in the past, a time or two, when Velociraptor was small and we were practically snowed in. Too much hassle to deal with stroller/baby and groceries in the cold and deep snow when I didn’t have a car.
For sometimes it was handy, good quality food and easy to do. About the cost of cab fare to get home if I was to go myself (less really, the store who did it was further away). I don’t think it really took off here though, they closed it a couple years back. The main downside was I didn’t notice a lot of the store brand items, and some things just weren’t listed so if I wanted it, I still had to go in.
Not for all groceries, but I get a weekly delivery from Door to Door Organics - a box of organic, and mostly locally-grown, veggies every week. Four different sizes, they send you an email the Friday before to tell you what you’re getting, you can choose to substitute for things you don’t like or skip that week’s delivery, you can add stuff in like breads, coffee, honey, hormone-free meat. The prices are not any more than I would pay for organic produce at the store. And there’s no delivery charge.
Not available in all areas, sorry 
You can see what’s new, and what’s on sale, on the supermarket website, and it’s a lot easier to browse for what you want on one site than to trek up and down endless aisles.
Yup. The only bit that you get in the store but not at home is the discounted on-its-sell-by-date section.
TBH, the fresh fruit and veg at these supermarkets is all so similar that I wouldn’t spend much time selecting it anyway. I don’t know about meat or fish - I might be more inclined to check I was buying a really fresh one if I bought those items.
In the other thread, someone else mentioned that their grocery website prices rarely match the instore prices. It sounds like American grocery websites aren’t quite as good as the UK’s; maybe more people would use them if they were.
Or maybe American grocery stores are pleasanter, since I’m surprised to hear people saying they like grocery shopping!
What’s not to like? I enjoy cooking, and I enjoy eating. Why wouldn’t I like to browse through a store offering thousands of these products? The stores are clean, well lit, and it gets me out of the house for an hour or two!
Maybe it just doesn’t make economic sense except in very densely-populated regions, as others have said. Even in the UK, ISTR when online supermarket shopping started there were various industry figures saying that it was a licence to lose money. But I guess they’ve made it work, because those vans are everywhere.
We live in Canada and I have used Grocery Gateway a couple of times (both when I couldn’t walk due to injury).
Each time, they didn’t have things I needed and the selection wasn’t that great. Also, I don’t like putting my produce selection in anyone’s hands but my own.
To be honest, since I have to go out for produce anyway, it doesn’t take that much more time and effort (IMHO) to get the other things while I am there. (Though I do prepare my list in meticulate detail before I go which speeds things up a lot.)
Yup, they must definitely not be like ours then. I do kinda like shopping at the market, but not the supermarket.
When you both work, live in a city, love to cook and don’t have a car, grocery delivery is a life-saver. We can usually get by on 1-2 small trips to the supermarket per week, but every so often the stars align and you’re out of EVERYTHING. That’s when we place an order through Peapod.
Honestly, what I hate most about it is the sheer volume of bags that are used for one grocery order. I understand they’re just trying to protect the produce and keep meat from touching other items, but it really is ridiculous sometimes how many plastic bags come from a single order.
I’ve had organic produce delivered before and that worked well. But it was far too much for one person. I’ve heard excellent things about Amazon’s grocery delivery service - so I might try that someday.
The big problem is that I’m not organized enough for it. I tend to buy products on a whim and rarely have an idea of what I’m eating the next day, much less for the next week. Luckily, going to the store is convenient enough for that not to be an issue.