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Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

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Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#61

Post by thomas »

handedness wrote: post #35
thecodemonkey wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thanks a ton for the feedback! Hope this could be helpful for your parents. 1. We decided to use geolocation because it removes one more form field. It also makes it easier to expand to additional countries ( https://github.com/MiniCodeMonkey/curbside/issues ) we may reconsider in the future. 2. Happy to explore adding additional ways to tackle the problem. For now, we just have a simple map of stores to visualize co…

Please reconsider #1.

Agreed. Not opening up location.

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#62

Post by bdcravens »

smoyer wrote: post #32

I appreciate this effort ... when we thought things were going to get bad in late February, we put about 3 months of food in our larder (like a root cellar but reachable from the basement of our house). We've been ordering about every 2 weeks just to keep it replenished just in case things get significantly worse. I've got three at risk people in my house so we can't really afford for any of (the five of) us to catch…

We did the same, but only about a month of food, and I ordered TP on Amazon when I started seeing shortages in other countries. (I have a respiratory condition)

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#63

Post by bdcravens »

floatingatoll wrote: post #45

Has anyone started scalping pickup slots yet? “If you want toilet paper, you’ll have to buy our pickup slot for $50”.

Our grocer (HEB in Texas) requires you to have paid for your order to book the slot. My wife went to the store 2 days ago and was able to buy TP without any issues, but until recently, even a pickup slot wouldn't guarantee you any of the products you reserved.

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#64

Post by bdcravens »

kylecordes wrote: post #27

The fundamental problem here is grocery stores and others needlessly limiting when they make pickups available. Lots of people are sitting at home with extreme schedule flexibility, and would be happy to choose a slot 10 days out or whatever. Instead there is the silliness (and third-party app workarounds like this) of only releasing slots much closer. In other conversation I have seen the following explanation: thos…

HEB used to let you schedule out further in the future, but it looks like they've now reduced that to 7 days.

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#65

Post by gorgoiler »

This looks like a neat bit of tech but it doesn’t sit quite right with me. In particular it doesn’t feel very fair to our fellow shoppers.

We wait in line for the ATM or the checkout or anything else because a scrabble is unfair. Using a tool like this when others almost certainly are not doesn’t really feel fair on those other people.

Having to check manually for a slot sucks, but so does waiting in line, and that’s the lowest common denominator of behavior that still counts as fair which we can all adhere to right now.

I get that the grocery companies should make the slot selection better. But laying the blame on them feels a bit like the FAQ for those padlocks that stop the airline passenger in front of you from being able to recline, where the manufacturer tried to claim we are all in this together their product is just part of a campaign for better airline seating for us all. It was no such thing: it was kind of selfish.

In any other climate I’d happily be told to quit my social justice moralism, but things seem quite serious at the moment, and I wouldn’t encourage using this tool, but maybe I’m taking it too far.

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#66

Post by freepor »

gorgoiler wrote: post #65

This looks like a neat bit of tech but it doesn’t sit quite right with me. In particular it doesn’t feel very fair to our fellow shoppers. We wait in line for the ATM or the checkout or anything else because a scrabble is unfair. Using a tool like this when others almost certainly are not doesn’t really feel fair on those other people. Having to check manually for a slot sucks, but so does waiting in line, and that’s…

The rich are hiring serfs to do their shopping and not needing online delivery. Coders like me are writing our own bots to get deliveries. The tall are reaching items on high shelves that others can't. Life isn't fair and you should expect people to avail themselves of any tools to help themselves that are not wantonly destructive to the society at large.

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#67

Post by gorgoiler »

mjwhansen wrote: post #56
giggles_giggles wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> One of the reasons we decided to release the app was so friends of ours who are immunocompromised could use it. Understandable, but it becomes a gold rush if people with normal immune systems use sites like yours to reserve slots. My only real suggestion is that your site call out the moral dilemma to users. Basically our only choice now is to use a service like this (which I guess I will now do; yes you do cover o…

Thanks, I appreciate your honesty. We're all struggling through this and need to vent it. We hope that since this doesn't require any real tech knowledge, even people who aren't super tech savvy can use it. I've shared it with my neighborhood, which has lots of elderly people, and they seem to be using it okay (only a handful of tech support requests). We think this is a service the grocery stores should be offering…

I don’t think you can claim we’re all in this together while providing an unofficial tool that prioritizes people you know and HN readers.

A good solution is to spread the word as far and wide as possible so that everyone can use your tool, and that at least seems to be what you are doing so good for you.

Have you had a shot at getting national press coverage for this, or even (long shot) having the vendors link to your service?

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#68

Post by CamperBob2 »

kylecordes wrote: post #27

The fundamental problem here is grocery stores and others needlessly limiting when they make pickups available. Lots of people are sitting at home with extreme schedule flexibility, and would be happy to choose a slot 10 days out or whatever. Instead there is the silliness (and third-party app workarounds like this) of only releasing slots much closer. In other conversation I have seen the following explanation: thos…

What I've found annoying with Amazon Fresh in particular is that they don't tell you there are no slots available until after you spend half an hour fighting with their search engine and populating the cart. And then, as you point out, they only show a few slots in the immediate future with large Xs across them.

Yeah, thanks, guys, that's really helpful. You've been screwing around with grocery delivery for what, 15+ years now, and still can't make it work?

Re: Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available

#70

Post by gorgoiler »

freepor wrote: post #66
gorgoiler wrote: post #65

This looks like a neat bit of tech but it doesn’t sit quite right with me. In particular it doesn’t feel very fair to our fellow shoppers. We wait in line for the ATM or the checkout or anything else because a scrabble is unfair. Using a tool like this when others almost certainly are not doesn’t really feel fair on those other people. Having to check manually for a slot sucks, but so does waiting in line, and that’s…

The rich are hiring serfs to do their shopping and not needing online delivery. Coders like me are writing our own bots to get deliveries. The tall are reaching items on high shelves that others can't. Life isn't fair and you should expect people to avail themselves of any tools to help themselves that are not wantonly destructive to the society at large.

It sounds like your life might be harder than most right now. I hope you’re safe and getting what you need.
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