# I have some suspicions about online grocery shopping **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2021, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330 "2021-05-03T22:56:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/21 "2021-05-05T10:32:08Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The person shopping for me will text me the entire time (usually about 20ish texts, from placing the order to picking it up) with a lot of them letting me know that they’re out of one thing and asking if I want to sub in something else. I’ve never had the nerve to say ‘welp, if they’re out of X, I don’t need W, Y or Z either, sorry’. I’d feel bad doing that Other people do do that - I’ve checked out Shipt shoppers where the person hands me a pile of stuff and says “the customer changed their mind”. Which is, yes, a little inconvenient BUT at least with the Shipt people they’ll either stick it back on the shelf properly (if not out of their way) or hand it to one of us so we can properly and efficiently reshelve it. I mean, we also all cook/shop, too, and we understand how missing one ingredient can cause issues with your shopping. It is far, far, far from the worst thing customer do to us. 😆 But do what works for you, options are good. I agree that there are issues surrounding what’s in stock when you order vs. what’s in stock when the shopper comes by. For popular items it might, in fact, be in stock when you order and even when the shopper arrives at the store but other customers might clear the shelf before the buyer actually gets to that item and, contrary to what some believe, we don’t have an immense hidden stock of stuff in the back room. We’re there to sell stuff, not hide it. If the shelf is empty odds are high that we really don’t have any stock left in the store although you can always ask us to check. > [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > My only complaint is their search engine which must have been designed by an idiot. I have the same complaint. Last time it was “revised” some clueless idiot put Swiss chard under the fruit category. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [May 5, 2021, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/22 "2021-05-05T22:43:29Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > {…} My only complaint is their search engine which must have been designed by an idiot. This morning I was searching for buttermilk and the engine found buttermilk biscuits, pancakes, batter-fried chicken, whatnot. I noticed as typed it in a suggestion for 1% buttermilk, so tried that and the buttermilk came right up. If you search for BBQ chicken you get all sorts of crap, sauce and unrelated things. But if you search for barbecue chicken, it is the first item. Luuccckky, half of my searches, when sorted by unit price, have pet foods as the top results. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/23 "2021-05-06T00:24:14Z")
A bit off topic, but I’ve gotta say I see the Instacart shoppers at the Brooklyn Wegman’s, and holy shit, these people hustle. They’ve got stickers all over their shirts (not sure what the stickers are – they seem to have bar codes on them, something to do with the order, I guess), they’re obviously handling two or three shopping orders, and two or three carts, simultaneously, and they get it done _fast_. And Wegman’s has a special area set aside for them to put their stuff and their shopping carts and so on, and a dedicated checkout for them. They’re amazing. I hope they’re making good money. They’re certainly earning it. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/24 "2021-05-06T00:53:24Z")
I guess the US is just catching up with other countries in city areas, and has different issues to most of Europe in more rural regions. Online grocery shopping is almst the norm in England now, depending on age. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > And looking at Ocada’s website, they’re not an actual retailer but are developing the technology for others. The website says they’re working with Kroger in the US and have a location in Ohio already. Not exactly - you can order from Ocado; they don’t just make software. They delivered Waitrose groceries for a couple of decades, and now deliver M&S products, and have their own branded vans as well as vans branded for specific supermarkets. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 11:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/25 "2021-05-06T11:12:12Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > A bit off topic, but I’ve gotta say I see the Instacart shoppers at the Brooklyn Wegman’s, and holy shit, these people hustle. > > They’ve got stickers all over their shirts (not sure what the stickers are – they seem to have bar codes on them, something to do with the order, I guess), they’re obviously handling two or three shopping orders, and two or three carts, simultaneously, and they get it done _fast_ . And Wegman’s has a special area set aside for them to put their stuff and their shopping carts and so on, and a dedicated checkout for them. > > They’re amazing. I hope they’re making good money. They’re certainly earning it. Yep, the professional shoppers are efficient. Well, the ones that last longer than a month, a lot of people try doing this but find out that it is actual work and you do have to hustle. That said, I know one of our shoppers earned $30k+ last year. If you’re good you get not only the base rate but tips. What trips some people up is that you are, in fact, considered an independent contractor so taxes at the end of the year can be a problem if you aren’t aware of the differences between that and a W2 formal employee type job. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2021, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330/26 "2021-05-06T11:24:28Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > 1. There are often substitutions made, and it seems that almost every time the substitution picked is more expensive than the originally chosen product. I think that’ll depend on what your first choice was. If you ordered Megafarm’s conventionally-grown cabbage, and the only substitution available is Dave and Cindy’s organically-grown hand-caressed cabbage, it’s not surprising that the substitution will be more expensive. > [@Grrr](#): > > Also produce and meats: Gonna give you the worst picks since the know in grocery customers won’t buy them. Shoppers are on the clock; they’re not going to waste time seeking out produce/meat of a particular quality, they’re going to give you the first one their eyes lock onto. Besides, if your delivery service is a third party (e.g. Instacart), they have an incentive to give you the absolute best items they can find, not the worst. Whole Foods also has a very forgiving satisfaction policy: if the quality of your food item doesn’t measure up, they’ll refund your cost, and they won’t even ask you to return the item. So their shoppers don’t have a particular incentive to foist their lowest-quality items off on delivery customers. Overall our experience with delivery has been very good for the past year, with some surprising windfalls: - Last summer we ordered $30 worth of chicken ribs from Whole Foods, but got $30 worth of boneless skinless breast cuts instead. Called Amazon, and they refunded our cost and said we could keep the breast cuts. - Earlier this year the Whole Foods shopper dropped off a bag of somebody else’s groceries along with our order. I called Amazon to let them know what happened, and they said thanks, keep it. It was about $70 worth of food in that bonus bag. - A couple of months ago we had Instacart deliver some stuff to us from Costco, including four 1-pound packages of smoked salmon. Not sure how, but we were only charged for one package, meaning we got about $50 worth of smoked salmon for free. Some crap produce has also come our way once in a while, but Amazon’s system makes it extremely easy to ask for (and receive) a refund). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-have-some-suspicions-about-online-grocery-shopping/941330.md?page=1)