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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

#371

Post by [deleted] »

favorited wrote: post #349
spaceisballer wrote: post #254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

[deleted]

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

#372

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]

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

#374

Post by perl4ever »

irrational wrote: post #341
colejohnson66 wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I think you're ignoring the meaning and history of the word "epic". For one thing, it comes from a time when cities and armies were thousands instead of millions, and for another, it just never was based on some specific numeric scale.

One description is: "...involving a time...in which occurred the extraordinary doings of the extraordinary men and women who, in dealings with the gods or other superhuman forces, gave shape to the moral universe for their descendants...to understand themselves as a people or nation"

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

#375

Post by jedberg »

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…

I'm the designated shopper in my family, since my wife has higher risk factors for COVID-19. Usually when we go shopping, I push the cart and pick the obvious items, but leave most of the picking to her because she's very specific in what she wants.

But now I have to do it.

I totally sympathize with the Instacart shoppers. Even with direct access to my wife via text including pictures, it's still hard to find exactly what she wants, and it takes a long time and a few passes through the store.

They're not getting paid enough to care or do it right. Instacart needs to pay their pickers a lot more if they want it done right, but then of course they don't have a viable business model anymore.

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

#376

Post by matz1 »

BurningFrog wrote: post #333
irrational wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

None of your "actual disasters" have actually happened. For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. Though I'm open to give other candidates a fair hearing. Keep in mind that this one is far from over yet!

I would call this epic over reaction. The actual virus is not as scary as being reported in the news. The death rate are very low. If this virus has death rate like ebola then that would be really is a disaster.

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

#377

Post by ravenstine »

wozniacki wrote: post #329
siruncledrew wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interacting with instacart sums up the expression: ”if you want something done right, do it yourself” . At least for me, having to go a store is not a big deal, it’s just overcoming “inertia to leave home”. I would much rather: order directly from the store, have the store pack everything up, express pick it up from the store, and have a confirmation expected=actual for the order. The abstraction to having a third-pa…

Some places make you dread going to grocery stores. Even club stores that require membership are bad. The experience has been nothing short of a nightmare off late, even prior to these pandemic times. Costco & Whole Food stores have especially declined in overall shopper experience. Clueless store staff, shoddy inventory levels, incompetent employees who cant be bothered to educate themselves on elementary details, r…

Whole Foods stinks. I used to shop there a lot but, as the years went on, their employees became more clueless and apathetic, the checkouts became very slow, and the food from the hot bar got really bad. I mean like they add too much salt and everything has no flavor, which is weird because they seem to have no problem adding sugar to things, yet somehow their food kinda tastes bad to me now. Maybe I've changed. IDK

Plus, the worst thing about Whole Foods stores is the layout. Whole Foods stores tend to be laid out in such a way that there are shelves and bins that are effectively obstacles you have to dodge, turning the shopping experience into a human pechinko machine. I know they think this will get people to buy more, but it makes me not want to come back because it's so unpleasant having to try and serpentine around their bins of stuff and get stuck behind people half the time.

Lousy store experience is one reason why I don't want to go grocery shopping in general, and it's why I am much more likely to patronize a grocery store with self checkouts.

Except for Sprouts, which I love despite their lack of self checkouts. It's probably the only grocery store I genuinely like visiting.

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

#378

Post by ravenstine »

javiramos wrote: post #327
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

Ocado is an amazing company. Their warehouses are a beautiful feat of automation [0]. They have signed deals with a few U.S. supermarket chains so you should expect the Ocado experience in the sometime in the near future. EDIT: Their other robotic platform [1] [0] https://youtu.be/XJqsdprXF5c [1] https://youtu.be/4DKrcpa8Z_E

The code that runs all that must either be elegantly simple or ridiculously complicated. In either case, what's in those videos is the future.

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

#379

Post by [deleted] »

BurningFrog wrote: post #333
irrational wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

None of your "actual disasters" have actually happened. For most living Americans, I think you can make a fair argument that this is the biggest disaster in their lifetime. Though I'm open to give other candidates a fair hearing. Keep in mind that this one is far from over yet!

[deleted]

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

#380

Post by [deleted] »

vmception wrote: post #279
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…

yeah but the joy of getting fresh baguettes delivered instead of merely getting left over sustenance in an after thought after a long day at work another perspective

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