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

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

#341

Post by irrational »

colejohnson66 wrote: post #332
irrational wrote: post #331

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'd be happy to speak with them. It is a sad state of affairs, but in my book, a disaster of epic proportions is a large percent of the world population dying. It is a disaster of such proportions that entire nations collapse. It is a economic depression that lasts for generations. What we are going through right now is like a hangnail compared to your entire foot being ripped off. It is scary for the people most aff…

I’m curious what you would call this situation then?

A disaster. It's not epic, yet. Now if the virus starts mutating and we start getting a million death a day, then I'd definitely start calling it epic.

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

#342

Post by op00to »

irrational wrote: post #331
op00to wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hundred thousand people dead and millions out of work in the US alone would like to have a word with you about your denial that the COVID-19 pandemic is not of epic proportions.

I'd be happy to speak with them. It is a sad state of affairs, but in my book, a disaster of epic proportions is a large percent of the world population dying. It is a disaster of such proportions that entire nations collapse. It is a economic depression that lasts for generations. What we are going through right now is like a hangnail compared to your entire foot being ripped off. It is scary for the people most aff…

You must be insane, not just because of your willingness to speak with the dead.

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

#343

Post by nmstoker »

gramontblanc wrote: post #142
nmstoker wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is why I avoid online for fresh food, instead getting them to do the heavy lifting items and resilient commodities (eg they can't mess up a bag of flour, bottles of wine, beer, Coke etc; if they're damaged too badly they'll obviously be unable to supply them). Deselecting the substitution acceptable option is also wise. This was a major obvious flaw even back in 1999 when Shatner was pushing Priceline - obviousl…

Seems like a bold prediction that most (maybe any?) grocery stores have the level of corporate organization or even level of education to even consider a "secret order substitution to prole cart-pushers who will then have to answer customer service calls asking why their order was amended to add a more expensive item". Someone down the line has to actually act out the 'evil algorithm', and will then have to actually…

Maybe we have different experiences but you talk as if substitutions are not a regular part of the process - I'm not a massive delivery shopper but in the pre-Covid era it was almost unheard of to get a delivery without at least one item substituted when you forget to deselect substitution. I switch amongst three of the major chains and the experience is basically the same.

Also I don't think your approach need be how it's enacted. You could quite easily run a set of adjustments against the restocking priories to see which had the least negative effect on profits and that would likely result in this kind of substitution the way it's observed. This wouldn't even need one to put on a "let's do evil hat", couched in these terms it comes across as perfectly reasonable.

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

#344

Post by gniv »

I just realized that the "UI" presented by the supermarket shelves as you walk by them is very dense and yet we are good at identifying things quickly.

Short of a full VR experience, I haven't seen a similar UI on a computer.

My problem with shopping for groceries online is that there is no easy way to browse and discover new things. Especially nowadays when some favorites are out of stock I keep finding new things in store that I like.

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

#345

Post by nitwit005 »

jedimastert wrote: post #117
nitwit005 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But when a crop is complete, farmers plow everything back into the soil. Some of it ends up as organic matter that is supporting soil health, and that is okay, too. Basically declaring that the waste is not waste. Solving problems by changing definitions.

It's it essentially composting? How is that waste?

If I buy a tomato, and throw it in my garden, eating none of it, most people would say I wasted the tomato.

There are far cheaper methods of fertilizing my garden than tossing food into it, which makes it "wasteful".

At a certain point you have to pick a definition of what counts as food waste, and stick with it. Fiddling with the definition isn't going to make the world a better place.

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

#346

Post by cortesoft »

barrkel wrote: post #222
fsckboy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in a competitive market (which US groceries mostly are) if the store has to "eat the cost" of bruised fruit, then the price will necessarily have to be higher on the fruit they sell. Think of it this way, you have fruit at home to be shared by all the members of your family, it was fine when you bought it, but now some of it is bruised. So now you own a mix of fruit: what do you do, throw away the bruised fruit, or t…

What you're missing out on is information asymmetry. If you're insuring against a risk, and you have more information than the insurer, you may be profiting and the insurer may be running a loss. If you're picking out your own groceries, you can select the pristine fruit and vegetables, and the grocery store takes the loss. With a disinterested picker, you take a portion of the loss.

You take a disproportionate portion of the loss, because in person shoppers are taking the pristine fruit, leaving more non-pristine fruit for the pickers.

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

#347

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

elmerfud wrote: post #2

It's not that I want to visit the store it's that I can't trust the store people to properly pick out fresh produce or good meat. When the stock person just takes a bucket of apples and dumps them in without care so most of them are bruised, why would I want that same person selecting which apples to send me? Often times to find 3 apples I have to examine 10+. Most of the produce selection is this way. Meat selection…

I eat bruised apples. Who cares?

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

#348

Post by cortesoft »

kerkeslager wrote: post #14
elmerfud wrote: post #2

It's not that I want to visit the store it's that I can't trust the store people to properly pick out fresh produce or good meat. When the stock person just takes a bucket of apples and dumps them in without care so most of them are bruised, why would I want that same person selecting which apples to send me? Often times to find 3 apples I have to examine 10+. Most of the produce selection is this way. Meat selection…

Playing devil's advocate: an enormous amount of food waste is caused by people simply refusing to buy ugly food. It's literally less wasteful to shave off most of a carrot so that it's a baby carrot, than to try to sell the same carrots as-is. There's nothing wrong with the ugly carrots--but they'll rot on the shelves. Bruised apples are perfectly edible. Maybe you just don't like them, and that's fine--there's no ac…

There are other things I consider when shopping, too, that pickers don't.

I try to pick fruits and vegetables at various levels of ripeness, so that I can have ripe produce throughout the week at home.

I don't want only green bananas or only super ripe ones; I need some ripe ones for today, and then some greener ones for later in the week.

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

#349

Post by favorited »

spaceisballer wrote: post #254
shawabawa3 wrote: post #244

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find it hard to believe instacarts model is still the best way of doing online grocery shopping in America... In the UK there's Ocado that has their own warehouses and most of the selection and packing is automated. If there are replacements you're told in advance and can accept or reject the replacement Most of the main supermarket chains have followed suit and have similar services

There are other options, we have Peapod in my area. It’s the same stuff in grocery stores but from the warehouse. This pandemic has them overburdened and I can’t seem to find a delivery time. I tried Instacart once and the shopper was great but with so many things being out of stock I end up having to go out anyway. That plus the markup on all the items (the receipt was $20 less than what Instacart charged me, not in…

Wow – I haven't thought about Peapod in years! I didn't even know they were still around.

I remember their trucks in the 90s or early Aughts. I think they only delivered Stop & Shop at that point (in my area), because they're owned by the same parent company.

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

#350

Post by NeutronStar »

skywhopper wrote: post #93
nitwit005 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But when a crop is complete, farmers plow everything back into the soil. Some of it ends up as organic matter that is supporting soil health, and that is okay, too. Basically declaring that the waste is not waste. Solving problems by changing definitions.

Plowing it back into the fields means less fertilizer is needed for future crops. How is that waste?

It needed that fertilizer to grow to even be plowed back in to start. It's just a waste of space for a "good product". It's basically a free pass for next year. No money gained means no profits means profits loss.
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