alisoncooks Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 I know there was a thread that touched on this a while back, but today was a doozie. Fresh green beans were listed online in quarter (.25) pound units. I ordered 8 and even included an additional note that I wanted *2 POUNDS* total green beans. Wanna guess what I got? 8 individual green beans. In a bag. That'll be two for each of us at dinner, lol. Share your most recent online grocery order blunder! 😛 1 45 Quote
catz Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) This week I got FOUR giant heads of romaine. I was shooting for one. The neighbors are enjoying their salads I'm sure. 🤣 A while back I ordered a pack of raspberries and ended up with EIGHT packs of raspberries. We got a delicious crumble out of that deal though. LOL. 😍 I ordered fresh ginger a week or 2 ago. I expect like a piece of ginger - like maybe 5ish inches, knobby, typical piece you'd buy in the store. I got like not even enough for a single recipe. I have a 20 year old son and I am imagining someone like him doing the shopping for me. Anyway - we have one local chain that is now my covid curbside go to. We paid for a membership, their shoppers are fantastic. Texts things like "Oh, the gala apples aren't looking too good today how about honeycrisp?". It's like sending my mom shopping for me. 🙂 Every really crazy sub or mistake I've had has been out of Whole Foods/Amazon. I absolutely hate ordering from there, we are doing it rarely now. Their webpage is the worst - drop groceries out without warning, evidently easy to double up without noticing! I don't have issues ordering from Amazon. We also have huge issues getting delivery OR pick up times. With my lettuce order, I had ordered mid afternoon and got a 7 - 9 pm delivery time. I stayed up, dressed, and vertical waiting for that order. It was randomly cancelled with no warning at 10 pm. I couldn't get a delivery until 2 days later and that was a 7 am - 9 am delivery. So weird. We tip well too! Edited March 28, 2021 by FuzzyCatz 9 3 Quote
Spryte Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) Last week we ordered four red onions. We received four large bags of red onions. Edited March 28, 2021 by Spryte 17 1 Quote
Laura Corin Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 Not groceries, but I ordered a packet of socks from Marks and Spencer and received a cuddly toy elephant. There's one grocery store that made so many unacknowledged substitutions that I don't order from them any more. It made me wonder if perhaps the picker was hiding literacy problems. 5 4 3 Quote
Corraleno Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 I once ordered a large box of fresh basil to make pesto and got a tiny, half-dead plant with about 6 leaves on it. The last time I ordered a "piece" of ginger, since there was no way to specify weight, I got a "piece" the size of my head. I usually order sweet potatoes in a 5 lb bag, but one week that wasn't an option so I had to order per item. I ordered 6, figuring that would be ~3 lbs, based on what I usually get in a bag. I received 6 of the most enormous sweet potatoes I've ever seen in my life — each one weighed more than a lb and together they were almost 9 lbs! 2 6 1 Quote
ksr5377 Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) I can always tell who has done my shopping. There are two women who are middle-aged who do an amazing job. If there's a substitution it's always generously in my favor. The larger package for the same price as the smaller one I ordered. Name brand for the store brand etc. There is a younger woman who never subs anything which is frustrating and then two younger men who have made some interesting choices. Frozen chicken patties, the breaded kind, instead of frozen chicken breasts. Green leaf lettuce for kale, which I just couldn't see putting in my soup. Dill for rosemary, as if any seasoning subs for another? Really it's just obvious they don't cook 🙂 I adjusted my preferred pick up days/times in order to up my chances of having someone older do my shopping. It seemed like most ridiculous choices were made on weekends or later evenings. Now I pick up on Tuesdays at 11am. Edited March 28, 2021 by ksr5377 8 4 Quote
MEmama Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 1 hour ago, FuzzyCatz said: Every really crazy sub or mistake I've had has been out of Whole Foods/Amazon. I absolutely hate ordering from there, we are doing it rarely now. Their webpage is the worst - drop groceries out without warning, evidently easy to double up without noticing! I don't have issues ordering from Amazon. We also have huge issues getting delivery OR pick up times. With my lettuce order, I had ordered mid afternoon and got a 7 - 9 pm delivery time. I stayed up, dressed, and vertical waiting for that order. It was randomly cancelled with no warning at 10 pm. I couldn't get a delivery until 2 days later and that was a 7 am - 9 am delivery. So weird. We tip well too! Oh that’s too bad! I love ordering from WF—I don’t think I’ve ever had any mix ups or incorrect items. I find the ordering really intuitive and fast, usually I just go through my recent orders to select what I need that week so it takes just a few minutes. They always text if they are out of something and need to substitute; as long as I’m near my phone I can just accept or decline. 4 Quote
saraha Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 We ordered wonton wrappers, they substituted hummus. I can't make crab rangoons with hummus as the wrapper! 1 15 Quote
Tenaj Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 32 minutes ago, Corraleno said: I once ordered a large box of fresh basil to make pesto and got a tiny, half-dead plant with about 6 leaves on it. The last time I ordered a "piece" of ginger, since there was no way to specify weight, I got a "piece" the size of my head. I usually order sweet potatoes in a 5 lb bag, but one week that wasn't an option so I had to order per item. I ordered 6, figuring that would be ~3 lbs, based on what I usually get in a bag. I received 6 of the most enormous sweet potatoes I've ever seen in my life — each one weighed more than a lb and together they were almost 9 lbs! Sweet potatoes are an issue! Usually our store has the huge ones so I ordered an appropriate amount and then I got these tiny, skinny versions instead of the normal ones. I waited until the next order, ordered the same quantity and finally had enough for our clan 🙂 3 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 Y'all...I just want to say I cringe everytime my teen boy comes home from work at the grocery store and says he had to help with the curbside orders. He can hardly retrieve what I ask for from our own kitchen. Good kid. Hard worker. Math whiz. Does not need to be in charge of choosing produce or substitutions of any kind. 5 36 1 Quote
mmasc Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 1 hour ago, Corraleno said: I once ordered a large box of fresh basil to make pesto and got a tiny, half-dead plant with about 6 leaves on it. The last time I ordered a "piece" of ginger, since there was no way to specify weight, I got a "piece" the size of my head. I usually order sweet potatoes in a 5 lb bag, but one week that wasn't an option so I had to order per item. I ordered 6, figuring that would be ~3 lbs, based on what I usually get in a bag. I received 6 of the most enormous sweet potatoes I've ever seen in my life — each one weighed more than a lb and together they were almost 9 lbs! I was going to post this exact same grocery pickup blunder! I once ordered a 3-lb bag of sweet potatoes (each potato is normally small, which is why I like the bag). They were out and gave me like 8 HUGE sweet potatoes. Probably 10 pounds! My other was a chip blunder. Hello, my name is mmasc, and I’m addicted to chips and salsa. With that said, I always order On the Border tortilla chips. Wal-Mart was out—instead of subbing *any other brand* of tortilla chips, they tried to give me two bags of Fritos. No, just no. 😆 1 8 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 My Walmart never even tries to sub my coffee. It is just regular ole Maxwell House coffee. If there is one thing I NEED it is my coffee. I would accept pretty much anything and I know they have a whole aisle to choose from. Are people so particular about their coffee that they won’t even try? It drives me nuts because it is probably the only thing I can’t just roll without until I get somewhere or place another order. 4 Quote
catz Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, MEmama said: Oh that’s too bad! I love ordering from WF—I don’t think I’ve ever had any mix ups or incorrect items. I find the ordering really intuitive and fast, usually I just go through my recent orders to select what I need that week so it takes just a few minutes. They always text if they are out of something and need to substitute; as long as I’m near my phone I can just accept or decline. At the beginning of covid, they were great! The last 4-5 months has been awful here. So weird. Maybe stock turns over extra quickly at our local Whole Foods - I have 2 within 5 miles of me. I can't really work on a cart ahead of time without silently losing stuff with no opportunity to substitute. And I KNOW they have gorgeous produce, but somehow I've gotten some really ugly produce from there lately too. I suspect they are having staffing issues with their shoppers/drivers. I order for WF for my son at college too. NO problem there at all, he says he's getting nice produce too. Same day deliveries. Edited March 28, 2021 by FuzzyCatz 3 Quote
Annie G Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 We’ve never done curbside so I have a question- if you end up with 8 boxes of raspberries, can you return them? I know you’d have to go into the store but can you return things you just don’t want? I’ve only returned defective stuff so I don’t know how that works. Quote
Lady Florida. Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) A while back I had saltine crackers on my list, substitutions accepted. I figured they'd give me a different brand or a different type of cracker if they had to substitute. There were no crackers in the order but I did get a box of individual bags of microwave popcorn. I can't imagine who thought that was a good substitute for saltines. 🤣 Edited March 28, 2021 by Lady Florida. 1 10 Quote
Ditto Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 Like @Annie G I have never done curbside and I wonder what happens when you guys get these messed up orders. Surely you are not expected to pay for these massive mess ups? Quote
MEmama Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 8 minutes ago, Ditto said: Like @Annie G I have never done curbside and I wonder what happens when you guys get these messed up orders. Surely you are not expected to pay for these massive mess ups? This reminds me we did have one snafu with WF— they left us a bag full of gorgeous produce we didn’t order. It was a super late delivery so the store was already closed (we don’t live nearby), so I called their customer service in the morning. I think they were surprised I called and told us just to keep it. It must have been $50 worth of fresh fruits and veggies. So yes, you can always call the shop if they mess up. 🙂 I'm sure they build in the cost of mistakes. 2 1 Quote
alisoncooks Posted March 28, 2021 Author Posted March 28, 2021 Today's 8 green beans were $0.28 so I didn't bother contacting the store. Not worth my time to sit through the automated options. Now, also today, they gave me the wrong chicken. I ordered chicken that was $2/lb. They gave me something different at $5/lb. The total price difference was around $15 -- that I called about and they refunded me the error amount. Sometimes they'll give store credit for a mistake. 4 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 17 minutes ago, Ditto said: Like @Annie G I have never done curbside and I wonder what happens when you guys get these messed up orders. Surely you are not expected to pay for these massive mess ups? It is easy at Walmart to just go to the website and request a refund. They immediately credit your card. 3 2 Quote
Junie Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 I started using curbside before the pandemic. If there is a substitution that you don't want (for any reason) you can either tell them at your car or they will sometimes send an email ahead of time that you can accept or refuse each substitution. If you tell them at your car, they will find the item, scan it, and it is removed from the order. The same happens with the email system, only they remove the item before you pick it up. 3 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 (edited) 3 minutes ago, teachermom2834 said: It is easy at Walmart to just go to the website and request a refund. They immediately credit your card. Walmart recently started sending substitutions about an hour before pickup and you can refuse them. They used to ask you at the car and you could still refuse them but now they text you ahead of time and you can look more closely at what they are subbing. It doesn’t save you from the errors though or the crazy produce quantities. Edited March 28, 2021 by teachermom2834 4 Quote
kbutton Posted March 28, 2021 Posted March 28, 2021 2 hours ago, ksr5377 said: I adjusted my preferred pick up days/times in order to up my chances of having someone older do my shopping. It seemed like most ridiculous choices were made on weekends or later evenings. Now I pick up on Tuesdays at 11am. Me too, and now I know which day is a GREAT day to get meat at our store. If I buy a week's worth of meat, it's all so fresh that I don't have to put any in the freezer. If I get groceries on Tuesday, I am lucky if meat isn't gross by it's sell by date. At first, we had a lot of trouble getting specific allergy-friendly items that we KNEW were in stock, but it was clear the worker was just unfamiliar with the store. Some of the items were pretty necessary to us, so my husband ended up going into the store after pickup, and the items were in stock. It really did help to change days and times. 1 hour ago, teachermom2834 said: Are people so particular about their coffee that they won’t even try? Many people are! My DH is only moderately picky, but he does call one popular brand, "cat pee coffee." He is willing to try most anything once though. 1 Quote
Plateau Mama Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 This was several years ago and it was totally my fault but I still laugh every year when it comes up on my FB memories. I was really, really sick with pnumonia. I placed Amazon Fresh order so the kids could have stuff they could prepare etc. My order arrived and I had 8 bags of bagels, I wanted 2..... I am pretty sure that every time I woke up from a nap I thought Oh, I need to get bagels for the kids and I would add 2 to my order. 8 Quote
Ausmumof3 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 5 hours ago, Corraleno said: I once ordered a large box of fresh basil to make pesto and got a tiny, half-dead plant with about 6 leaves on it. The last time I ordered a "piece" of ginger, since there was no way to specify weight, I got a "piece" the size of my head. I usually order sweet potatoes in a 5 lb bag, but one week that wasn't an option so I had to order per item. I ordered 6, figuring that would be ~3 lbs, based on what I usually get in a bag. I received 6 of the most enormous sweet potatoes I've ever seen in my life — each one weighed more than a lb and together they were almost 9 lbs! Ginger is currently $40kg here. I hate to think what that would cost 1 Quote
mlktwins Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 This was my boo-boo, but the two 2 places I usually order groceries from have their bananas as quantity of 1 (not 1 bunch). I ordered from a new store and apparently they don’t work the same way. I thought I ordered 8 bananas and got 8 bunches 🤣🤣🤣. Hubby got a big laugh out of that one! 5 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 25 minutes ago, mlktwins said: This was my boo-boo, but the two 2 places I usually order groceries from have their bananas as quantity of 1 (not 1 bunch). I ordered from a new store and apparently they don’t work the same way. I thought I ordered 8 bananas and got 8 bunches 🤣🤣🤣. Hubby got a big laugh out of that one! Haha. I did make a mistake once with a jar of fajita seasoning. I guess the price didn’t catch my attention but you lose a sense of scale not seeing the items on a shelf. I ended up with a huge jar of fajita seasoning which was not my intent. We used it eventually and it wasn’t something that could go bad but I’ve had a couple mistakes on my end because I didn’t see the size of the item in real life 😂 2 2 Quote
Tanaqui Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 5 hours ago, Ausmumof3 said: Ginger is currently $40kg here. I hate to think what that would cost That's like $15 US per pound. That's easily 5x the cost here! I routinely chop up a pound of ginger at a time to make an infusion for cough. (Well, not this year or last year. I'm never, ever giving up masking, at least in winter and crowds.) 3 Quote
Ausmumof3 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Tanaqui said: That's like $15 US per pound. That's easily 5x the cost here! I routinely chop up a pound of ginger at a time to make an infusion for cough. (Well, not this year or last year. I'm never, ever giving up masking, at least in winter and crowds.) Yeah it’s crazy. Typically it’s between 18-20 I’m not sure why it’s gone up so much this year. All fruit and veg is expected to go up due to the shortage of imported labour but not that much! edited to add so I did some quick googling and it looks like it’s a combination of a worldwide shortage plus dry conditions for local ginger. And ouch - $40 kg was a bargain the average is $55 and one woman paid $70! https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2021-02-07/covid-19-ginger-shortage-drives-prices-to-record-highs/13124794 Edited March 29, 2021 by Ausmumof3 2 Quote
Laura Corin Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 10 hours ago, teachermom2834 said: My Walmart never even tries to sub my coffee. It is just regular ole Maxwell House coffee. If there is one thing I NEED it is my coffee. I would accept pretty much anything and I know they have a whole aisle to choose from. Are people so particular about their coffee that they won’t even try? It drives me nuts because it is probably the only thing I can’t just roll without until I get somewhere or place another order. Don't you have a box to tick next to each item saying whether you want substitution? Quote
TravelingChris Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 13 hours ago, Corraleno said: I once ordered a large box of fresh basil to make pesto and got a tiny, half-dead plant with about 6 leaves on it. The last time I ordered a "piece" of ginger, since there was no way to specify weight, I got a "piece" the size of my head. I usually order sweet potatoes in a 5 lb bag, but one week that wasn't an option so I had to order per item. I ordered 6, figuring that would be ~3 lbs, based on what I usually get in a bag. I received 6 of the most enormous sweet potatoes I've ever seen in my life — each one weighed more than a lb and together they were almost 9 lbs! We are not big sweet potato fans and with my recent week lonc hospital stzy and my continuing recovery, it is a lot harder for me to cook too since I have tubing and medical equipment and walker to contend with. We belong to a more meat based CSA ( that is mostlh what they raise) but they also grow some things and have arrangements x other local farmers for other products. A few days before my hospitalization, we got five huge sweet potatoes, along w our other items. ( many others since the sweet potatoes weren't ecoens7ve I guess). Thankfully,, ds took them off our hands this week. Quote
Guest Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 Hello. My name is Quill and I just did online grocery pickup for the first time yesterday. I like many facets of actually *going* in the store, and talking to people, and selecting things myself, but, due to dh having COVID, I thought now was as good a time as ever to try it. I used the Really Nice grocery store, because I’m confident their staff will do a good job. My sister’s kid is a shopping assistant there, too. They did the job perfectly, I probably saved money overall because of not buying impulse cookies or Lindt chocolates, and...holy moly; so easy, convenient, fast and awesome! There is a really good chance I am doing it this way going forward. 20 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Laura Corin said: Don't you have a box to tick next to each item saying whether you want substitution? Yes. But sometimes they just say it is unavailable and don’t substitute even though I say I will accept substitutions. 1 Quote
teachermom2834 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 31 minutes ago, Quill said: Hello. My name is Quill and I just did online grocery pickup for the first time yesterday. I like many facets of actually *going* in the store, and talking to people, and selecting things myself, but, due to dh having COVID, I thought now was as good a time as ever to try it. I used the Really Nice grocery store, because I’m confident their staff will do a good job. My sister’s kid is a shopping assistant there, too. They did the job perfectly, I probably saved money overall because of not buying impulse cookies or Lindt chocolates, and...holy moly; so easy, convenient, fast and awesome! There is a really good chance I am doing it this way going forward. I started grocery pickup a little bit before Covid. It definitely saves me money because I stick to the list and it is easy to have a menu open in one window and the order in another and just add what is needed. I haven’t done any grocery shopping to otherwise in well over a year. The few occasions we have needed something, dh has gone for it. Just over the last month or two I am really feeling the desire to go back into stores. Mainly I am really tired of just ordering and cooking the same stuff.I try to browse a little online but it isn’t the same. I feel like I need to wander a store and make some impulse buys or gain some new inspirations. It definitely is easy and convenient and I do save money. 2 Quote
Tenaj Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 37 minutes ago, Quill said: There is a really good chance I am doing it this way going forward. We've already decided that unless something drastic happens, we are going to continue grocery pickup forever. Saves us money because of no impulse buys plus I don't forget things as much. Also, my Saturdays are days off again! No shopping for three hours! It takes my about 30 minutes to meal plan and make my order. Also, kids know that if we are out of something, they'd better add it to the list or they are out of luck until next week. 1 Quote
historically accurate Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 Someone substituted two huge boxes of freezer taquitos (50 or 60 each) for my 2 bags of tortillas they apparently did not have. We'll have taquitos until we die and no breakfast burritos... We're still working through the dry milk powder because I accidentally bought a HUGE bag by mistake thinking I was buying the small packet. 3 Quote
Junie Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 1 hour ago, historically accurate said: Someone substituted two huge boxes of freezer taquitos (50 or 60 each) for my 2 bags of tortillas they apparently did not have. We'll have taquitos until we die and no breakfast burritos... We're still working through the dry milk powder because I accidentally bought a HUGE bag by mistake thinking I was buying the small packet. My kids could eat all of your taquitos in less than two weeks. That is a weird substitution, though. 1 3 Quote
Serenade Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 15 hours ago, FuzzyCatz said: I can't really work on a cart ahead of time without silently losing stuff with no opportunity to substitute. This is what drives me nuts -- stuff drops out of your cart with no warning. Sometimes I take screen shots of my cart so that I can see what has dropped out. I mean, I can't remember my whole grocery cart! 1 Quote
ksr5377 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Quill said: Hello. My name is Quill and I just did online grocery pickup for the first time yesterday. I like many facets of actually *going* in the store, and talking to people, and selecting things myself, but, due to dh having COVID, I thought now was as good a time as ever to try it. I used the Really Nice grocery store, because I’m confident their staff will do a good job. My sister’s kid is a shopping assistant there, too. They did the job perfectly, I probably saved money overall because of not buying impulse cookies or Lindt chocolates, and...holy moly; so easy, convenient, fast and awesome! There is a really good chance I am doing it this way going forward. I so agree with the bolded! I used to shop with a calculator and then make adjustments in the store. I love tweaking our menu to stay in budget while I'm sitting on the couch watching Netflix instead of standing in the middle of the grocery store. 3 Quote
busymama7 Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 Christmas of 2019 we were having a little music performance at the house for family. We wanted a hot chocolate bar. I ordered two boxes of the mini candy canes. My husband did the pick up and accepted the subs. When he got home we have the same amount of regular cherry candy canes. Either 100 or 200 I can't remember. They were 15 cents a box and not worth the hassle of returning. There were SO MANY candy canes 🙄. Even for our big family. My kids ate some but then we packed them away and hung them on the tree the next Christmas and I didn't buy any new ones. That is the most major mix up but we have had some small ones. Even still I love doing pick up and will continue forever (I was doing it for time reasons long before covid). 1 Quote
Shoeless Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 7 hours ago, JanOH said: We've already decided that unless something drastic happens, we are going to continue grocery pickup forever. Saves us money because of no impulse buys plus I don't forget things as much. Also, my Saturdays are days off again! No shopping for three hours! It takes my about 30 minutes to meal plan and make my order. Also, kids know that if we are out of something, they'd better add it to the list or they are out of luck until next week. I am sticking with curbside pickup, as well. I resisted it for a long time, but I am really happy with the process now. Our local stores seem to have ironed out any wrinkles in their process, so I never have issues at pickup time. It is saving so much time and money for us. I would be so irritated if I had to go back to in person shopping only! 3 Quote
catz Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 (edited) I suspect we'll be ordering groceries forever now too. I can set up an order while I'm looking at and printing recipes. I am using that time to exercise/walk almost daily. I used to go shopping in person several times a week. I am definitely doing less impulse buys Win Win! ETA - I also love Target curbside! I wish they would allow you to order more groceries. You can order some but limited on frozen/refrigerated items. I suspect they just don't have the cooler space. Edited March 29, 2021 by FuzzyCatz 1 Quote
Kassia Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 We have the opposite issue of many of you. Pre-Covid, we used curbside grocery pick up frequently, but it got so popular and understaffed due to Covid that it's become unusable for us. The wait when we go for pickup is at least an hour (I've waited up to an hour and forty minutes) and then there are so many mistakes in the order. It's just become more efficient to shop in the store, but I sure miss when grocery pickup worked for us. It was so easy and convenient. 1 Quote
dsmith Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 I think the worst we've received was a cabbage instead of iceberg lettuce, but the absolute worst was our own fault. In the middle of the pandemic our grocery store was having issues with online ordering, and adding to an order that was already placed was tricky. We had placed an order that included caffeine free diet coke, which was impossible to get for a while and the few family members that drink it were starting to become intolerable, lol. We had to edit the order, and somehow we ended up ordering 20 12-packs without realizing it.. And suddenly it was back in stock and we received all 20. Needless to say a few people in our house were overjoyed, but dh and I were really annoyed with ourselves. We've decided to continue with online ordering post-pandemic. It's been helping us with meal planning, staying in budget, avoiding garbage impulse buys, etc. We did it occasionally pre-pandemic, but never for meat. We've been pleasantly surprised at the quality of the meats our shoppers have picked out for us. We have also switched from delivery to curbside pickup. It's a chance for dh and I to be alone and to talk without interruption. I especially like BJ's and Target's curbside as well as two of the larger stores in our area. Delivery is just Whole Foods now, which is generally only for my food. One problem with them with substitutions - I have to specify a substitution or write a note to the shopper to make sure replacements are gluten free and/or vegan. Twice now I've had gluten-containing replacements. Quote
alisoncooks Posted March 29, 2021 Author Posted March 29, 2021 2 hours ago, Kassia said: We have the opposite issue of many of you. Pre-Covid, we used curbside grocery pick up frequently, but it got so popular and understaffed due to Covid that it's become unusable for us. The wait when we go for pickup is at least an hour (I've waited up to an hour and forty minutes) and then there are so many mistakes in the order. It's just become more efficient to shop in the store, but I sure miss when grocery pickup worked for us. It was so easy and convenient. This is my experience. I started online grocery pickup when I had knee surgery a few years back and just never quit. Then Covid happened and (even though I'd prepaid an annual subscription for pickup) I could never get a pickup time! They filled up a week in advance (and that's the max they'd post). That went on for MONTHS, so that for the first 6 months of the pandemic I had to shop in person. I hadn't grocery shopped in person in years, lol. Things seem to have stabilized a bit. I can get grocery time slots pretty easily now. 1 Quote
Annie G Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 Do you get the sale prices when you order curbside pickup? I thought not but maybe I’m thinking about instacart orders. If I don’t get sale prices there’s no way it’s a money saver for me. Quote
Kassia Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 11 minutes ago, Annie G said: Do you get the sale prices when you order curbside pickup? I thought not but maybe I’m thinking about instacart orders. If I don’t get sale prices there’s no way it’s a money saver for me. We get sale prices but only some stores will accept coupons. 1 Quote
Jaybee Posted March 29, 2021 Posted March 29, 2021 4 hours ago, Kassia said: We have the opposite issue of many of you. Pre-Covid, we used curbside grocery pick up frequently, but it got so popular and understaffed due to Covid that it's become unusable for us. The wait when we go for pickup is at least an hour (I've waited up to an hour and forty minutes) and then there are so many mistakes in the order. It's just become more efficient to shop in the store, but I sure miss when grocery pickup worked for us. It was so easy and convenient. Similar here. I started using it about six months or so before Covid. It was so great. A time or two, I had some weird subs, but mostly it was a wonderful experience, because I don't really like to grocery shop. But even now, many months later, our Wal-Mart (I don't think the other stores have it) is missing random things from the shelves, and I have trouble finding things to sub myself sometimes. I don't want to get the groceries, and then still have to go in. So at least for now, I am going in the store for shopping. 1 Quote
mom2scouts Posted March 30, 2021 Posted March 30, 2021 We've never used grocery pickup. It's a family joke that dh loves to go to the grocery store, so he probably wouldn't want to do pickup unless we were injured or ill and couldn't do it. During the pandemic he's gone to his second favorite store because it's less busy. He sometimes only sees 3-4 employees and nobody else, 2 Quote
marbel Posted March 30, 2021 Posted March 30, 2021 I found it impossible to meal plan using grocery pickup because of all the things that are out of stock (even recently), and the unreliability of fresh produce. Between that and the delivery fees and tips, I haven't found it to be sustainable for us. Quote
Ali in OR Posted March 30, 2021 Posted March 30, 2021 I'm too much of a control freak to even try it (though I would have to if anyone was sick). This would drive me crazy to have them not able to find stuff I'm pretty sure is really there, or have them problem solve an out-of-stock situation differently than I would. I'll change up produce decisions based on what looks good, shop the specials on the first aisle even if they're not on the list, remember that dd likes some particular thing when I see it on the shelf, etc. 3 Quote
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