this is why I can't stand curbside pickup!

[ktgrok]

I placed an order with walmart for pickup. 

The main thing I needed was eggs, but I also wanted some pumpkin spice coffee, needed snacks, etc. 

I checked allow substitutions for everything. 

They substituted regular coffee for pumpkin spice, but gave me zero substitutions for the 18 count cage free eggs. Um, I need eggs! Give me another brand, or not cage free, or a dozen instead of 18, whatever! (I actually asked for two 18 count packs, so easily could substitute 3 dozen packages). 

A friend got a bunch of weird substitutes, but rather than substitute the brand of butter she ordered, gave her no butter. And she's out of butter. 

Now i have to run into the store, which was the whole point of doing curbside! And pickup is right when people are getting off work, so will be packed. UGH!

[Sneezyone]

9 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

I placed an order with walmart for pickup. 

The main thing I needed was eggs, but I also wanted some pumpkin spice coffee, needed snacks, etc. 

I checked allow substitutions for everything. 

They substituted regular coffee for pumpkin spice, but gave me zero substitutions for the 18 count cage free eggs. Um, I need eggs! Give me another brand, or not cage free, or a dozen instead of 18, whatever! (I actually asked for two 18 count packs, so easily could substitute 3 dozen packages). 

A friend got a bunch of weird substitutes, but rather than substitute the brand of butter she ordered, gave her no butter. And she's out of butter. 

Now i have to run into the store, which was the whole point of doing curbside! And pickup is right when people are getting off work, so will be packed. UGH!

 

I had that experience ONCE. I started specifying in the comments which substitutions I would accept. So far, so good.

[alisoncooks]

Yeah. I told DH that that's the result of 16 yr old boys picking out my groceries. (I order online at Harris Teeter and most of their express shoppers look like high school boys.)

[stephanier.1765]

27 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

Yeah. I told DH that that's the result of 16 yr old boys picking out my groceries. (I order online at Harris Teeter and most of their express shoppers look like high school boys.)

One day I was shopping in Walmart's produce section when a 16ish yo boy employee came by picking groceries. He didn't look at, feel, or examine the produce in any way. You need 2 limes, he sticks his hand in, grabs the first 2 limes he touches and that was that. He repeated the same MO for every produce I watched him pick. My heart when out to those Walmart customers. LOL

[Katy]

My sister (lives in a city) has had terrible luck with it too.

I (live in an area where the closest Walmart is a half-hour drive) have had great luck.  Most of the shoppers are either college kids age taking a semester off, or retired and working in a store, judging from their ages.  It's been so great DH has routinely said he'd never step foot in a Walmart again.  Then he wanted something they didn't have pickup for, so he's already broken that.

I wish the local grocery store (5 minutes from home) had something like this, but they don't.  They employ a bunch of high school kids so it makes sense that even if they had the website capability they wouldn't have the people to make it work.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have to admit that I don't go to Walmart, but our local grocery store has excellent product choosers and have always gotten what I wanted or the specific substitutions that I wanted.  Do you perhaps have other better grocery choices in the area? 

[kbutton]

52 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

I placed an order with walmart for pickup. 

The main thing I needed was eggs, but I also wanted some pumpkin spice coffee, needed snacks, etc. 

I checked allow substitutions for everything. 

They substituted regular coffee for pumpkin spice, but gave me zero substitutions for the 18 count cage free eggs. Um, I need eggs! Give me another brand, or not cage free, or a dozen instead of 18, whatever! (I actually asked for two 18 count packs, so easily could substitute 3 dozen packages). 

A friend got a bunch of weird substitutes, but rather than substitute the brand of butter she ordered, gave her no butter. And she's out of butter. 

Now i have to run into the store, which was the whole point of doing curbside! And pickup is right when people are getting off work, so will be packed. UGH!

My DH ran in after a curbside order to find that nearly everything they couldn't fulfill was sitting on the shelves!!!

Waits for curbside Kroger here are ridiculous, and the teenagers running it don't seem to have any idea what they are doing--they are surprised if you ask them if there were substitutions, but they are supposed to know and discuss it with you; they are supposed to know what to do with coupons rather than being incredulous you hand them over, lol! Just taking the groceries out of the boxes and putting them in my cart took them forever, and that was after waiting about half an hour for groceries. 

I wish groceries weren't such a high-risk job because my 16 y.o. could seriously reform the process. He's Mr. Logistics and very efficient (and he has ASD and ADHD and an expressive language disorder, so I get really annoyed that presumably NT teenagers can't get with the program). 

42 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

I had that experience ONCE. I started specifying in the comments which substitutions I would accept. So far, so good.

Oh, that would be worth a try. I have been wondering if besides it being a teenager problem, maybe the stores don't want to pay for the substitutions since they sometimes will be pricier. I like this idea. 

The other thing I don't like about curbside is that sometimes you can't check ingredients--depends on the store. It's really inconvenient with food allergies and intolerances!!! 

[Jean in Newcastle]

Reading these other comments I wonder if age isn't an issue.  Our grocery store only has teens working as baggers and whatever you call the people who stock the shelves.  The people who do the curbside service are all regular cashiers (who are older and with more experience) who take a shift in that area. 

[Pam in CT]

I usually check "no substitutions" on nearly everything.... except things like eggs or milk or lettuce cheddar where I really don't much care... and for my ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL FOR MY PERSONAL HAPPINESS Greek yogurt I specify that I want 32 ounce size and 2% or full fat, don't care about brand... and have done pretty well. I don't have particularly picky eaters though, and at this point we're well enough stocked that if I don't get the chicken thighs or whatever that I ordered, I just pull something from the freezer.

I've always loathed shopping, and once I figured out how to DO it, I've come to love delivery and curbside. I dunno that I'll ever go back to all that lugging; I expect that even on the other side of this I'll be doing much more having particularly dry goods shipped. 

[ktgrok]

Oh, and last time they DID have eggs but put the 20lb cat litter box on TOP of them and crushed several!!! Who does that!

[Spy Car]

During this lockdown (and for me it has remained a lockdown since March) I grant "grace" to any shopper or delivery-person who puts themselves in harm's way to do the shopping for my family and me.

There is no screw-up that can undermine my profound sense of gratitude. 

Bill

Edited August 25, 2020 by Spy Car

[ktgrok]

2 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

During this lockdown (and for me it has remained a lockdown since March) I grant "grace" to any shopper or delivery-person who puts themselves in harm's way to do the shopping for my family and me.

There is no screw-up that can undermine my profound sense of gratitude. 

Bill

Oh, I'm grateful, and at the places that allow tips I tip generously. But I'm still a bit mystified at the logic behind the substitutions or not. It's VERY weird. 

[kbutton]

21 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Oh, and last time they DID have eggs but put the 20lb cat litter box on TOP of them and crushed several!!! Who does that!

The same people that put rotisserie chicken on top of ice cream in the same bag. That was not a curbside problem though, lol! 

[ktgrok]

52 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

I have to admit that I don't go to Walmart, but our local grocery store has excellent product choosers and have always gotten what I wanted or the specific substitutions that I wanted.  Do you perhaps have other better grocery choices in the area? 

Sort of?

All the other stores use Shipt. And I do have a membership and use it a LOT, but at most stores it is significantly more expensive than just buying it yourself. Like, each item is more expensive, plus tip. At Target Shipt is about the same price or at least reasonable, so I do use it weekly at least from there, but they don't have everything I need. And even there, the tips (10 percent at least) are really adding up on our budget 😞

[Kassia]

I like it for the convenience, but we've had two times recently where they forgot we checked in and left us waiting in the hot parking lot for over an hour!  We could have shopped and gone home by then.  And they didn't even seem to care.  Their customer service used to be good, but really went downhill.

[kbutton]

4 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

During this lockdown (and for me it has remained a lockdown since March) I grant "grace" to any shopper or delivery-person who puts themselves in harm's way to do the shopping for my family and me.

There is no screw-up that can undermine my profound sense of gratitude. 

Bill

That's a good reminder. I forget this a bit because I live in an area that has been cavalier about precautions and where only about half to 3/4 of people will mask if it's not mandated (and local sheriff went on FB telling people how to avoid the mandate by claiming medical exemptions). 

[Spy Car]

Just now, Ktgrok said:

Oh, I'm grateful, and at the places that allow tips I tip generously. But I'm still a bit mystified at the logic behind the substitutions or not. It's VERY weird. 

The only kind of shopping I (formerly) enjoyed is food shopping. I love food shopping. The last thing (I thought anyway) I ever wanted was someone other than myself picking out my food. That's changed.

I've just made a decision to overcome every fiber of my nature and to accept that I get what I get and I consider myself lucky when it arrives.

Is it a form of psychological self-deception? Absolutely! 100%

But my self-delusional policy is firmly in place for the duration.

If I need to get "creative" when odd items arrive, so be it. 

Bill

[Jean in Newcastle]

6 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Sort of?

All the other stores use Shipt. And I do have a membership and use it a LOT, but at most stores it is significantly more expensive than just buying it yourself. Like, each item is more expensive, plus tip. At Target Shipt is about the same price or at least reasonable, so I do use it weekly at least from there, but they don't have everything I need. And even there, the tips (10 percent at least) are really adding up on our budget 😞

Our Safeway (grocery store) does not accept tips.  And if you spend over $50 (I think that's the right number?) you get free delivery. 

[Spy Car]

8 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Oh, I'm grateful, and at the places that allow tips I tip generously. But I'm still a bit mystified at the logic behind the substitutions or not. It's VERY weird. 

Some people might consider subbing out "pumpkin-spice coffee" to be a mitzvah. LOL.

Bill

[Jean in Newcastle]

12 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

During this lockdown (and for me it has remained a lockdown since March) I grant "grace" to any shopper or delivery-person who puts themselves in harm's way to do the shopping for my family and me.

There is no screw-up that can undermine my profound sense of gratitude. 

Bill

You can be grateful for people in those positions and still want the companies that hire them to do proper training and/or have proper systems in place to handle things like substitutions.  The two are not at all mutually exclusive.  To rave again about our Safeway, but they have excellent training and systems in place.  The service is only as good as the systems, in my opinion. 

[Spy Car]

We actually did get one especially weird substitution.

My wife ordered a small package of zip lock bags. Instead we got an absolutely enormous box of plastic wrap. $30 worth.

I was like, "don't worry honey, well end up using it over the next 10 or 15 years."

But she ended up arranging a curbside return. LOL.

I'm not "easy going." But nothing is going to break my pact with myself. 

Shoppers have "total immunity."

Bill

[Jean in Newcastle]

Adding:  when COVID shutdowns first hit, things were understandably chaotic but we are 6 or 7 months in.  Stores are not slammed like they were with panic buyers, supply chains have mostly come back (at least where I live - with the exception of my favorite peanut butter!) and it's really not unreasonable to expect stores to have systems in place to handle things like this. 

[cjzimmer1]

After my very first pick-up order, I learned not to ever allow substitutions.  I regularly order a bunch of something when it's on sale.  I ordered 10 pound of red grapes because they were on sale for 89 cents a pound.  However, turns out they were out of red grapes so the shopper subbed 10 pounds of green grapes at 2.99 a pound.  Um no, I will never pay that much for grapes, we'll just do without.  I'm a budget shopper, rarely is there anything I want them to sub for, I'd rather due with out than pay for a more expensive replacement.  But I realize those poor shoppers have to guess with no input, is this a shopper like you who just wants her item or a shopper like me who only wants it at that price and if it's not available I don't want anything.  They just can't win.  I did spend some time on Reddit reading comments from shoppers and pretty much everyone says, it is so helpful if you can specify replacements.  It's a total pain to do that on every item but since specify what I'm willing to accept, I never had a single flawed order after that.  So maybe if it's a must have item, try specify acceptable items or even leave a note that says "I'll accept any kind of egg available".  

[alisoncooks]

37 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Oh, and last time they DID have eggs but put the 20lb cat litter box on TOP of them and crushed several!!! Who does that!

After getting pears that had been demolished (2 weeks in a row) by my canned goods, I now put in the comments: "Please do not put fruit in the same bags as cans."  I assumed that was common practice. 

[Spy Car]

13 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

You can be grateful for people in those positions and still want the companies that hire them to do proper training and/or have proper systems in place to handle things like substitutions.  The two are not at all mutually exclusive.  To rave again about our Safeway, but they have excellent training and systems in place.  The service is only as good as the systems, in my opinion. 

I can't argue with you. And I can be a highly-demanding pain in the butt in ordinary times. LOL. I'm not kidding myself.

But my "total immunity" policy is working for me. I try to have a laugh when things aren't precisely what I expected.

Bill

ETA The "beets" we got the other day were so small, I wondered "what am I going to do with these?" Sunday's homemade beet pasta. Kinda like that lemonade saying, ony with beets. LOL. Dinner was a big hit. Yea tiny beets! You forced me to do something "creative."

Edited August 25, 2020 by Spy Car

[theelfqueen]

So I have been using Instacart for my big orders... yes theres a fee but theres usually.something availble to lessen it .... while they're shopping they are on the app asking you before they make substitutions and in contact about these things (one time the lady was like "the precut.pinapple doesnt look good. Should I get you a fresh one instead?" I do have to keep my phone handy during shopping time to respond that yes 2 6 packs of mini cans of soda instead of 1 12 pack is fine. But I've had a really good experience. 

[Zebra]

If I ask for Ultra tampons there is a darn good reason.    And it's a desperate situation when I get a teenage boys idea of a good substitution for feminine hygiene products.

So no, I am not grateful across the board with all substitutions.   Particularly when I specifically ask for NO substitutions.  

I'm with you OP.   The substitutions are baffling and more trouble than they are worth.   We've been in this pandemic long enough to do a reasonable job.   No one should feel bad about reasonable criticisms.

[ktgrok]

25 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Our Safeway (grocery store) does not accept tips.  And if you spend over $50 (I think that's the right number?) you get free delivery. 

No one has anything like that here. All the stores are Shipt, or instacart (aldi) or Whole Foods via Amazon Prime. 

24 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

Some people might consider subbing out "pumpkin-spice coffee" to be a mitzvah. LOL.

Bill

LOL. I know, I drink a good dark roast most of the year. Or more often, espresso based drinks. But man, there is something about pumpkin spice coffee. I really only truly love the Green Mountain brand, but was willing to get the Starbucks one to tide me over till I found it. It's not even really the coffee itself, I just have good memories associated with it I think - I wrote my first book while drinking a ton of it, and now it is associated with that, and getting stuff done, in my head. 

23 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

You can be grateful for people in those positions and still want the companies that hire them to do proper training and/or have proper systems in place to handle things like substitutions.  The two are not at all mutually exclusive.  To rave again about our Safeway, but they have excellent training and systems in place.  The service is only as good as the systems, in my opinion. 

Yes, the Shipt shoppers are, for the most part, amazing. SOME walmart shoppers are great. Some....well some put the 20 lb box of cat litter on the eggs. 

3 minutes ago, theelfqueen said:

So I have been using Instacart for my big orders... yes theres a fee but theres usually.something availble to lessen it .... while they're shopping they are on the app asking you before they make substitutions and in contact about these things (one time the lady was like "the precut.pinapple doesnt look good. Should I get you a fresh one instead?" I do have to keep my phone handy during shopping time to respond that yes 2 6 packs of mini cans of soda instead of 1 12 pack is fine. But I've had a really good experience. 

Yes, that is how Shipt works as well. Fantastic, but it does take time/effort to coordinate as there are often many messages per shopping trip. But they will even send me photos of the stuff on the shelves for me to pick from. 

[ktgrok]

And to balance out my griping, I can say that one Shipt shopper was AMAZING!

I was ordering stuff to be delivered to my mom, on mother's day, across the state. They ended up being out of flowers, which I really had wanted to give her. So the shopper messaged me, and then said that he'd seen some at the Publix across the street, and would I like him to go there (he was at Target shopping my order) on his way to my mom's? He paid out of his own pocket, and then I reimbursed him in the tip (plus a GOOD tip!). 

I was blown away! He got the last bouquet at Publix, too!

[Spy Car]

3 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

LOL. I know, I drink a good dark roast most of the year. Or more often, espresso based drinks. But man, there is something about pumpkin spice coffee. I really only truly love the Green Mountain brand, but was willing to get the Starbucks one to tide me over till I found it. It's not even really the coffee itself, I just have good memories associated with it I think - I wrote my first book while drinking a ton of it, and now it is associated with that, and getting stuff done, in my head. 

I bet you could grind you own pumpkin spice. Or get some in a jar if that's your thing. I'm not saying I'm judging your taste here. LOL.

Bill

[frogger]

36 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

 

But my "total immunity" policy is working for me. I try to have a laugh when things aren't precisely what I expected.

Bill

ETA The "beets" we got the other day were so small, I wondered "what am I going to do with these?" Sunday's homemade beet pasta. Kinda like that lemonade saying, ony with beets. LOL. Dinner was a big hit. Yea tiny beets! You forced me to do something "creative."

 

 

I only used it a couple times but that was my attitude. We decided it was going to be a fun surprise finding out what is in bag #4 and never knowing what we weregoing to get. 

 

My favorite example was my nieces order for a variety 4 pack of dye before Easter. She recieved 4 individual bottles of dye but they were all the same color.  

[Spy Car]

8 minutes ago, frogger said:

 

 

I only used it a couple times but that was my attitude. We decided it was going to be a fun surprise finding out what is in bag #4 and never knowing what we weregoing to get. 

 

My favorite example was my nieces order for a variety 4 pack of dye before Easter. She recieved 4 individual bottles of dye but they were all the same color.  

It's like mystery shopping! LOL.

I'd convince myself that monochromatic Easter eggs were all the rage. And I got the best color.

Is my current attitude a form of self-delusion? Almost certainly 

Bill

Edited August 25, 2020 by Spy Car

[EKS]

3 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

(I actually asked for two 18 count packs, so easily could substitute 3 dozen packages). 

Maybe the person doing your order didn't know this.  I'm serious.

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, cjzimmer1 said:

After my very first pick-up order, I learned not to ever allow substitutions.  I regularly order a bunch of something when it's on sale.  I ordered 10 pound of red grapes because they were on sale for 89 cents a pound.  However, turns out they were out of red grapes so the shopper subbed 10 pounds of green grapes at 2.99 a pound.  Um no, I will never pay that much for grapes, we'll just do without.  

I think when Kroger substitutes, they are supposed to honor the price of the original item if it's lower. 

It's interesting how many different kinds of curbside shopping there are--store based, app based, etc. They all have different things to consider.

Aldi was our best experience so far. 

[sassenach]

This is why I like Shipt. My shopper texts me about substitutions so I can coach them. 

 

ETA: responded before I read the whole thread and I now see that the shipt suggestion is redundant!

Edited August 26, 2020 by sassenach

[Shoeless]

1 hour ago, alisoncooks said:

After getting pears that had been demolished (2 weeks in a row) by my canned goods, I now put in the comments: "Please do not put fruit in the same bags as cans."  I assumed that was common practice. 

 

We have a small butcher shop near here that also sells some produce.  Every.single.time. I shopped there, I had to remind them "Please do not put the meat in the same bag as the produce", and they look at me like I'm nuts and high maintenance.  

Pre-covid, I was teaching DS12 how to properly bag groceries at the self-checkout.  It doesn't seem like the stores around here teach the employees how to bag things correctly.  It's all about speed. 

 

[EmseB]

Our Walmart must be the exception? I don't even like going in during normal times, but pickup is 👌. When pandemic craziness hit it was hard to get stuff and time slots were cut, but since about beginning of May-ish I can get a time almost anytime or day, and almost everything is in stock all the time except cleaning wipes.

I sometimes get something subbed but I've only had one truly weird item. If I order store brand or a small size they sub with brand name or bigger size if they have it at the same price. They are always friendly and almost always wear their masks properly.

[rebcoola]

I never had problems pre-covid. I've pretty much switched to Instacart since things got crazy since we can afford the upcharge.  I like that you can choose specific substitutions.  My mom kept using Walmart and has had some interesting substitutions.  They have also gone inside and found the stuff that was unavailable.  

[Sk8ermaiden]

3 hours ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Reading these other comments I wonder if age isn't an issue.  Our grocery store only has teens working as baggers and whatever you call the people who stock the shelves.  The people who do the curbside service are all regular cashiers (who are older and with more experience) who take a shift in that area. 

It may be. EVERY curbside worker at my Walmart *looks* (if we're judging books by their covers) like a mom. They are all grown adult women, and with the exception of the first month of lockdown, all my substitutions are very reasonable. 

[Katy]

2 hours ago, cjzimmer1 said:

After my very first pick-up order, I learned not to ever allow substitutions.  I regularly order a bunch of something when it's on sale.  I ordered 10 pound of red grapes because they were on sale for 89 cents a pound.  However, turns out they were out of red grapes so the shopper subbed 10 pounds of green grapes at 2.99 a pound.  Um no, I will never pay that much for grapes, we'll just do without.  I'm a budget shopper, rarely is there anything I want them to sub for, I'd rather due with out than pay for a more expensive replacement.  But I realize those poor shoppers have to guess with no input, is this a shopper like you who just wants her item or a shopper like me who only wants it at that price and if it's not available I don't want anything.  They just can't win.  I did spend some time on Reddit reading comments from shoppers and pretty much everyone says, it is so helpful if you can specify replacements.  It's a total pain to do that on every item but since specify what I'm willing to accept, I never had a single flawed order after that.  So maybe if it's a must have item, try specify acceptable items or even leave a note that says "I'll accept any kind of egg available".  

 

It may be too late, but I would have complained to corporate about that.  My store specifically does NOT charge more for a substitution, if they substitute in something else they'll honor the original price, even for sale items.  Like if I order a generic they'll deliver name brand at the same price. Other times they'll send a warning that there will be no substitutions for this item (like a few weeks ago when I ordered a smaller TCL TV to act as a computer monitor, they would not offer substitutions for an $83 sale TV when the next closest was three times the cost).

[cjzimmer1]

1 hour ago, kbutton said:

I think when Kroger substitutes, they are supposed to honor the price of the original item if it's lower. 

It's interesting how many different kinds of curbside shopping there are--store based, app based, etc. They all have different things to consider.

Aldi was our best experience so far. 

I've read that from other people online before but none of the places around here operate that way.  They all charge you for the item they actually pack for you.  If it's higher you pay more, if it's lower your total is lowered too. 

[Farrar]

I can't even trust my husband not to come home with a bunch of crazy, overpriced weird stuff if I send him to the store. So I definitely don't trust the curbside pickup or delivery.

[mumto2]

4 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

And to balance out my griping, I can say that one Shipt shopper was AMAZING!

I was ordering stuff to be delivered to my mom, on mother's day, across the state. They ended up being out of flowers, which I really had wanted to give her. So the shopper messaged me, and then said that he'd seen some at the Publix across the street, and would I like him to go there (he was at Target shopping my order) on his way to my mom's? He paid out of his own pocket, and then I reimbursed him in the tip (plus a GOOD tip!). 

I was blown away! He got the last bouquet at Publix, too!

Maybe that’s why I saw a guy with a Shipt shirt coming out of Publix today as I waited for my curbside😂........yes, they do curbside.  You pay the instacart prices for the groceries but Publix employees select your groceries and bring them to your car.  Not every Publix does this but 2 of our 5 nearby ones do.  Look online.  We have done this at least once a week since this all started (well, maybe after the first month)  and they have been wonderful.  You can chat with them as they shop and we have even been sent pictures to pick what we want.  Generally we restrict substitutions or list the acceptable just to make it easier for the shopper.

[73349]

...

Edited October 2, 2020 by Carolina Wren

[Guest]

Instacart is my newest favorite sport. I really kind of love watching the app as they go through the store, seeing if they find some of the more tricky stuff (like my daughter's vegetarian "meat" which is shelved in two different cases almost at opposite ends of the store, or the Mexican chips she likes, which never seem to be shelved with chips, but might be with Mexican food or some other place (at Walmart, they are usually on an endcap, or the cat food that has a bag almost identical to dog food, which is so easy to grab the wrong one of-boh DH and I have done that by mistake because it was shelved wrong), and what substitutions they make. I actually think that there could be a televised shopping show based on giving contestants the same shopping list and seeing who comes closest to the customer's actual desires.

 

And I also really appreciate them letting me limit my exposure. It is worth every penny of the fee and tip for me.

[ScoutTN]

My Publix is good at it, but the store is eru expensive. Walmart is crummy, but has good prices. Kroger isn't free so I won't do it there. My Aldi has it, but I haven't used it.

 

[slackermom]

19 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

Instacart is my newest favorite sport. I really kind of love watching the app as they go through the store, seeing if they find some of the more tricky stuff (like my daughter's vegetarian "meat" which is shelved in two different cases almost at opposite ends of the store, or the Mexican chips she likes, which never seem to be shelved with chips, but might be with Mexican food or some other place (at Walmart, they are usually on an endcap, or the cat food that has a bag almost identical to dog food, which is so easy to grab the wrong one of-boh DH and I have done that by mistake because it was shelved wrong), and what substitutions they make. I actually think that there could be a televised shopping show based on giving contestants the same shopping list and seeing who comes closest to the customer's actual desires.

 

And I also really appreciate them letting me limit my exposure. It is worth every penny of the fee and tip for me.

 

I get to see a version of this when they shop for me, because I often place 2 different orders with a lot of the same items at the same time, one for me, one for my ex, and my ex usually does the curbside pickup. I do this so my kid has food to eat when visiting my ex, who is a really random shopper even with a super detailed list.

The first shopper might say that a dozen items are out of stock, and then the next shopper finds half of those when filling the other order. Now I sometimes adjust whichever order is done second, to make up for the issues on the first order. Thankfully I can follow on the app to see what is going on. It can feel like I am watching a really sedate scavenger hunt or something, as I refresh the screen again and again.

I am also so appreciative that people are providing this service. I do feel very guilty at least once a week, like I have a dodgy draft deferment and someone had to go in my place. 

[RootAnn]

Is there a place to put comments when doing Walmart curbside? I haven't found it, if so....

My DD applied for several jobs as a "picker" at various grocery stores this summer but never got contacted so I assume there were lots of qualified candidates to choose from....

[itsheresomewhere]

On 8/25/2020 at 5:37 PM, Ktgrok said:

Oh, and last time they DID have eggs but put the 20lb cat litter box on TOP of them and crushed several!!! Who does that!

His relative did my grocery order this morning.  In ONE bag, he put the bread on the bottom , 4 different melons, a jug of juice, other fruits and vegetables all on top of the bread. The bread was a very squished loaf.  Fortunately, the company gave me an immediate credit for the bagging stupidity. 

Edited August 26, 2020 by itsheresomewhere

[Guest]

Tonight's Instacart shopper is doing a good job so far, although I am glad I caught the substitution of cinnamon Grahams for honey ones.  Bonus points for substituting 2 12 packs for a 24 pack that was out of stock.