In praise of Peapod

In My Humble Opinion
1

Anyone else here use Peapod for groceries? (For those who don’t, it’s a service where you order groceries on the internet and they deliver them to your door. No, I’m not kidding. Breathe–in and out, come on!)

Peapod is probably the greatest business ever to do business in this great land of ours. I hate grocery stores and the process of shopping with a passion. Peapod lets you compare prices per unit and lets you save your order, so you can have a standing order that comes every week if you want. And you can just leave the boxes outside and when you get home–hey, groceries!

So share your love of Peapod with the rest of us. Also, I don’t work there or own stock in in (if it’s even publicly traded), I just think it’s awesome and thought I’d share with you guys in case someone’s hating the grocery store like I used to.

2

I have seen their trucks in the US. (Why not use cars?) How do they charge? A percentage?

3

Peapod totally saved my ass when I had a loooooong stretch on crutches after leg surgery. It was a long time ago, but back then they charged 5% of your order, with a $5 minimum (I think). Which was quite economical for cheap, heavy things like 25 lb. sacks of cat litter or 2-liter soda bottles.

I did have a couple of issues with them: 1) they didn’t do a great job with fresh produce, until I started putting things on my order like “if the bell peppers suck, then just don’t bother”; and b) no matter how often I told them not to, the delivery person would prop my door open and the cat would get out. Have you ever tried chasing after a panicky cat while on crutches?

Paul, they don’t use cars because they are usually delivering multiple large orders at once. When I was using them, you could only narrow down your delivery time to a 2-hour window; it wasn’t like ordering a pizza.

4

They are owned by supermarket conglomerate Royal Ahold. There’s a modest $4-5 fee for delivery but the bulk of their profit is built into the price just like every other retailer. The fact that they are owned by a company that has several traditional grocery stores means they have access to and offer products at nearly the identical prices to brick and mortar stores.

Presumably the trucks are more cost effective. One truck delivering 25 orders is almost certainly cheaper and more environmentally friendly than 10 cars delivering 2-3 orders or 5 vans delivering 4-6 orders. Additionally, the orders are packed in uniform, stackable, durable plastic bins which would not fit optimally in anything not rectangular shaped.

To the OP, I like the service but I haven’t used it much because I somewhat enjoy grocery shopping and I find that I like browsing the aisles and sale shopping. Peapod doesn’t have the “Card” that most chains have with weekly discounts and such. I find it’s a little easier to comparison shop when I looking a wall of products as opposed to a webpage. I haven’t explored things too rigorously but I think that Peapod is probably ever so slightly more expensive than brick and mortar stores and I frankly have the time and energy to shop so I do. If I ever returned to a point where there weren’t enough hours in a day or if I moved someplace where the store wasn’t located conveniently I’d probably be willing to go back to them though. I never had a bad experience.

5

I admit, it’s a brilliant idea, and it started around here, just north of Chicago, in Evanston, in 1989. I personally wouldn’t use it, because I like grocery shopping and (as Eva Luna alludes to) I don’t really trust someone else to pick out produce, meats, and the like for me. That said, it’s an awesome concept, and I’m surprised at how relatively affordable it is, given the convenience factor.

6

They still don’t exist in Pittsburgh. To my knowledge, we’ve never had a web-based grocery delivery company here, which is frustrating. But I do like to pick my own produce, and being a vegetarian that’s the bulk of what I buy, so it’s probably for the best.

7

My grocery store has a service to order online and pick up at the store within a 30-minute window with 4 hours notice. Since the store is very convenient to my house, the drive is trivial for me. They don’t give me unacceptable produce, but it’s not the very best like I’d pick out myself. What I have had a problem with is them just plain forgetting stuff. It has been annoying to unpack everything to realize they left off a key ingredient for a recipe. They charge $5 for the service no matter how much you order, and do allow you to use their discount card and coupons. On a large order I’m usually “saving” at least $20 with the discount card, so that’s something to consider when you compare prices. I use the service occasionally for a large order when I’m especially busy.

8

Sainsubury’s in the UK has had web-enabled shopping and delivery for at least four years now. I never used it because I actually truly enjoy grocery shopping, as long as it’s not at peak hours.

9

In NYC, we use Fresh Direct. The staples are competitively priced, but what really kills me is the outstanding beer and cheese selection. They lure me in ordering bulk cases of seltzer because they just know I have no car, and they practically put a gun to my head and FORCE me to order the Epoisses and a few bottles of Duvel.

10

A couple of different grocery chains here in Philly offer home delivery. I use Genuardi’s (which is owned by Safeway); Acme (which is owned by Albertson’s) has it also. The fee is a flat rate ($6-8 if you pick a four-hour window, $10 if you pick a two-hour window) and you do have to be home. The produce thing is definitely hit-or-miss: I’ll order potatoes, onions, bananas, packaged mushrooms from them, but otherwise not. (Luckily, a new “produce and plants” place just opened around the corner from me a week or two ago – which reminds me, I need to check that out.) They automatically give you any Club Card savings for what you order.

11

When I first moved into my current apartment, I had no easy way to get groceries. I ordered from Peapod every week. It was nice, but I found that

a) It was amazing how often they got stuff wrong.

b) Since there was a minimum order, and produce is cheap and goes bad quickly, I ended up ordering nothing but expensive items. I had a freezer full of steak and not a stalk of broccoli in sight.

12

Er… don’t you also not live in the UK?

I think it’s a cool idea, but I eat out 75% of the time and generally I get different stuff every time I go to a grocery store, so 'snot for me.

13

I have chatted with disgruntled employees of Royal Ahold. On more than one occasion they’ve leaned closer and whispered conspiratorially, “Guess what we call the company?”

Yes, I guessed correctly. :dubious:

14

I LOVE PEAPOD!

However, I don’t currently live in a state they service.

After working 50-60 hours a week, I loved driving home and having groceries delivered to my house. They would bring it right inside, let me unpack it, and take all the plastic bags back with them. I could hand them the coupons I had at the door and they would automatically deduct them.

And saving orders made 75% of my order take less than 2 minutes to re-order. And it was easy to take my Sunday flyer coupons and shop specifically for the items.

As for produce and bakery items, they would let me examine them and refuse them at delivery if I thought they sucked. They would adjust the cost off my bill. (But, to be honest, I usually did my produce shopping at a nearby farm stand, so it didn’t really factor in to my regular shopping anyway.)

Also, I had the same delivery guy (Brian) each week. In fact, quick funny story:

Every 2 weeks I ordered a case of individually wrapped toilet paper and 2 dozen bars of soap. One day, I noticed Brian trying to peer down the hallway as he stood waiting for me.

“It’s just you and your hubby, right?” he asked cautiously.

I nodded.

“That’s a lot of toilet paper” he finally said.

I burst out laughing. “Umm - we donate it to the local food bank run by our church,” I explained.

After that, he would just load the stuff directly in my car for me. He even got his supervisor to donate some extra cases now and again.

When we moved out of the Peapod service area - I started using Schwan’s. Much more expensive, but it was semi-prepared food so it helped make dinners easier to throw together. And their ice cream was awesome.

Now it’s just me, and I don’t really do a lot of food shopping except on weekend’s. And the grocery store is literally right down the street.

But if I was ever doing regular shops again, I would search for a grocery shopping service again.

15

We used to use Peapod. Yes, it was GREAT having the bulk of the groceries delivered to the house. Lots less schlepping.

Reasons we quit using them:
[ul]
[li]We never knew which items would actually arrive: a lot of times, some critical items would be out of stock and not included in the order. Every order was missing at least one such item. So we had to plan on going to the store anyway.[/li][li]Base prices were comparable to the grocery store, but the loss-leaders weren’t as good. [/li][li]You have to plan ahead even more than we currently do - e.g. have your order submitted by 10 Pm the night before you want a delivery.[/li][/ul]

The real killer was the first one - since we had to shop at the store anyway, it was simply easier to plan on doing everything there. Then the third one, the need to plan ahead. As my kids are old enough to leave at home while I shop, or at least not have to be watched so closely if they come with me, the biggest reason for me to use Peapod has evaporated.

16

I remember a “Peapod” grocery delivery service. I thought it went out of business years ago. Did someone buy the name?

17

According to Wikipedia, it has been in continuous operation since 1989. There’s no mention of a bankruptcy or anything, just that controlling interest is now owned by Royal Ahold as mentioned above.

Fun titbit: it was originally called IPOD, apparently.

18

I do sometimes!

I have been with someone who used Fresh Direct in New York. I didn’t look at the shopping list that closely, but it seemed like an awful lot for very little (and I’m saying that as a Whole Foods fan).

19

Have you ever shopped at an ordinary grocery store in NYC?

20

According to Wiki, Peapod started as an independent service that partnered with region grocery chains for it’s supply. In Chicago it was the Jewel chain, in SF it was the Safeway chain, etc. When Royal Ahold bought the brand they canceled partnerships with the competing stores and only used it’s brands Giant and Stop and Shop. Since Royal Ahold had no market presence in SF and Houston they abandoned the markets.

Based on your location this is the explanation as for why they left San Fransisco.