Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online • Hacker News Board

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#311

Post by code_duck » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

ping_pong wrote: post #19

I've been using Whole Foods delivery about 3 times a week, and it's been fantastic, I may never go back. Sometimes the fruits aren't the greatest, but the rate of that is low. Compared to the amount of time I save, it's totally worth the risk.

I was puzzled when this article mentioned Amazon and Walmart, saying Amazon had a disadvantage in providing fresh foods, and then said nothing about Whole Foods.

I have gotten about five orders delivered from Whole Foods. I definitely like that they operate their own service versus using instacart. While there have been some issues with the website, such as losing cart contents (and one would think that Amazon, of all companies would have their site perfect) I haven't had any significant problems with substitutions, quality, or the delivery itself. It was difficult to arrange a delivery slot at first. They seem to have fixed that. The sizes were unexpectedly small on a few things. That's about it.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#312

Post by maxerickson » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:46 PM UTC

kerkeslager wrote: post #45

denimnerd42 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't get any discount in this case though. You're still paying $2-3/lb for bruised apples that are like you said literally waste at that point and $2-5/lb for chicken that if you picked out yourself would be of higher quality. Even if they did give you a price break for lower quality food. They'd still do things like give you a pineapple that will never ripen before it rots like we received last week.

What I'm saying is that your perception of quality is not actually objective quality.

It doesn't sound like they are claiming that their perceptions are objective.

In your previous post, you trip all over yourself acknowledging that their preferences are valid.

It's obvious enough that's what they are driving at; they want a shopping service that accounts for their preferences.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#313

Post by mattkrause » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:48 PM UTC

hinkley wrote: post #158

klyrs wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's the sugar and vanilla flavoring that I find offensive -- are you suggesting that both would be addressed by dewatering? I can imagine it taking care of the sugar (with several washings, I suppose?) since it's water soluble, but I think that the vanilla would be irredeemably dissolved into the milkfat. Alas, I've gone back to shopping due to these experiences, so I've got a tub of the good stuff already. So on on…

My theory being that drained yogurt has a sharper flavor, it may or may not mask the unwelcome flavors. I had to double-check. The carb content of the 'water' you drive off (whey) is pretty high. I couldn't say one way or the other how much of the added sugar comes out with the whey, but I suspect a taste test will tell you. If you're stuck at home anyway it's worth a go. It's good to have an arsenal of substitutions…

For what it's worth, "hung" vanilla yogurt makes absolutely revolting chicken tikka.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#314

Post by kaikai » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

yuliyp wrote: post #288

kaikai wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I live in the US and 10 years ago ate almost entirely out of dumpsters. Grocery stores throw out perfectly good food every day. If you ask in front they'll say they donate it, but in back there's a dumpster full of cartons of eggs with one egg cracked, and packaged food that's a day past its sell-by date. We waste an absurd amount of food.

A good grocery store will waste less. They'll have someone merge multiple cartons of eggs to refill ones that have one cracked (assuming the carton isn't soaked). They'll see they have a bunch of inventory about to go past sell-by and will toss up a sale to get rid of as much of the near-expiration items. They'll be careful about rotating stock so that the older items are up front so people who are less date-sensitiv…

> They'll have someone merge multiple cartons of eggs to refill ones that have one cracked

That's technically illegal. Grocery stores are not allowed to repackage pre-packaged food. We have strict food-handling regulations in place to protect consumers, which is part of what makes food waste such an issue.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#315

Post by code_duck » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:49 PM UTC

Grocery shopping has been one of my main forms of entertainment and socialization for the past decade. I tended to go to the market at least once a day, sometimes three or four stores.

However, given the concerns about the pandemic, I have switched to delivery and curbside pickup. I knew enough from reading the instacart subreddits to know that I didn't really want to use instacart. I don't like the idea of paying a delivery fee in addition to higher prices, for one. So I've gone with stores that operate their own curbside pickup or delivery services, such as Safeway and Whole Foods. I've been quite satisfied with both. As much as I enjoy going to the grocery store, it feels very convenient to do things this way.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#316

Post by kbos87 » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

I see a lot of commentary about experiences people have had with grocery delivery services. I think this may be part of it, but it isn’t why I never have and likely never will use one.

I think there’s a large number of people who don’t mind, and sometimes actually enjoy grocery shopping. It’s a relaxing activity that fits into my week. For me, it’s a chance to be out in the world, using my senses, exploring new things to incorporate into my daily life.

Convenience is often what people optimize for, but not when it’s outweighed by entertainment and other beneficial factors. When it comes to grocery shopping that may not be the case for everyone, but the opposite is far from representative of everyone, despite the reality that many tech CEOs and press put forward.

Edit: I’m talking mostly about grocery shopping under normal, non-COVID circumstances.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#317

Post by duncanawoods » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

klyrs wrote: post #97

hinkley wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You also can't substitute one brand of salsa for another. That'll start fights in some circles.

Recent substitutions I've seen (where I specified "no substitutions"): Ice cream flavors: my favorite for something I'd never pick (still ate it, annoyed) Margarine instead of butter -- the heck? Won't use it. Vanilla yogurt in place of plain yogurt. Slowly eating it for breakfast, annoyed; can't use it in savory dishes which is what it's for. Juices: I can't stand sugar alcohols, and got a ton of crap full of sucral…

> I can't stand sugar alcohols, and got a ton of crap full of sucralose

I don't think Sucralose is a sugar alchohol. You can spot those because they end with "ol" - Mannitol, Sorbitol etc. I find it pallatable myself.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#318

Post by mattkrause » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:50 PM UTC

hombre_fatal wrote: post #94

thomk wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This brings up another question in my mind. You are examining 10 apples, well, so is everyone else. So all that fresh fruit has been held, bare handed, by the person who picked it, the person who loaded it and x number of customers who've examined it. Not that ordering fruit online eliminates that problem but it seems like it would be a little more hygienic. One picker, one loader/examiner. Maybe we need a better way…

The solution is to simply wash your produce. I'm not sure how the examination can be done at a later time than picking. Either you want to pick it or you don't. And different people have different standards. The picker should just always choose the best available. Running low on selection is what naturally forces suboptimal picks.

It depends on what you want too.

For eating as a snack, I want small-to-medium sized apples. For cooking, I'd rather have a few giant ones so the peeling is easier.

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#319

Post by [deleted] » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

mcv wrote: post #297

monadic2 wrote: post #235

I have had so many bad experiences with instacart: * shopper buying yams rather than potatoes (note: this was not a replacement, they seemed to genuinely believe they had bought potatoes.) * shopper going to checkout before I can suggest a better replacement for an item. * shopper buys obviously moldy fruit. * shopper buys five roaster chickens as a replacement for five cornish hens. * shopper gives up really easily…

Sounds like instacart is independent from the shop it delivers from, and collects your groceries by hand. Is that correct? It sounds very inefficient to me. In Netherland, the largest supermarket chains all deliver to your home. (Used to be to your kitchen, but Corona changed that.) We've had our groceries delivered by Albert Heijn for about a decade now, and it's generally pretty good. You pay about EUR 5-10 for del…

[deleted]

Re: Americans, it turns out, would rather visit a store than buy food online

#320

Post by irrational » Wed, May 27, 2020, 10:57 PM UTC

davidw wrote: post #274

monadic2 wrote: post #235

I have had so many bad experiences with instacart: * shopper buying yams rather than potatoes (note: this was not a replacement, they seemed to genuinely believe they had bought potatoes.) * shopper going to checkout before I can suggest a better replacement for an item. * shopper buys obviously moldy fruit. * shopper buys five roaster chickens as a replacement for five cornish hens. * shopper gives up really easily…

We've had an ok experience with instacart. I've tried to think of it sort of like ... when you stop at a little store in a small town before going camping, and there's not a great selection and it's kind of expensive. But you are happy to get some of the things you need, and it's ok if it's not perfect, because we're in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions. That said, I'm really looking forward to doing my ow…

Off-topic, but do you really view that "we're in the middle of a disaster of epic proportions"? I can think of a huge number of actual disasters of epic proportions (full-scale nuclear war, 100 kilometer asteroid impact, yellowstone super caldera explodes, an actual pandemic that has 99% effective death rate arises, etc.) The current situation seems pretty low-key compared to a real disaster.