The grocery wars

A couple of big grocery chains here have offered grocery pick up.
Basically you order all your stuff online, set a time and it is ready for you to pick up.
It is very easy and i've used it a few times. It was actually quite the time saver.

Then, it got really popular and everyone started using it here and the pickup times got crazy. Normally when you order groceries you want them sooner rather than later. Well they started only having time slots for a day or two later.
Then, Piggly Wiggly announced that they were offering same hour grocery delivery.
Now all the other grocery stores miraculously have same day time slots open. Funny how that happened!

It's interesting to see grocery stores cannibalize each other, but we all know it won't end well for the consumer. I can see at some point the large stores will not exist. There will be smaller stores, but everything else will be online/phone order pickup or delivery. The "free" pickup part will go away too, just watch.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I don't trust some 16 year old store worker to pick my produce and meat.

I actually don't mind walking around the grocery store, seeing what's new, and what's on sale.

It rarely feels like a chore to me, I don't know why, but I kind of enjoy it.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Kroger has been doing this here for a while now and about a month ago our walmart started the service.
Walmart is doing some construction and looks to be adding a small looking warehouse on the grocery side of the store.
My wife is speculating that this room is specifically for the drive up service.

originally posted by: CriticalStinker
a reply to: JAGStorm

I don't trust some 16 year old store worker to pick my produce and meat.

I actually don't mind walking around the grocery store, seeing what's new, and what's on sale.

It rarely feels like a chore to me, I don't know why, but I kind of enjoy it.

I've been really happy with the store pickers. I was pleasantly surprised how much better much of the produce looked compared to inside the store, my guess is that they are either getting first dibs on it or getting it from the back before it ever hits the displays.

I don't mind shopping in store, but love the convenience of order pickup. Also I seem to be a total weirdo magnet when I go shopping, avoiding that is priceless. examples: a guy chased me around the store with a Valentines card, another guy poked the tofu I was buying and asked what it was, another time a guy questioned every item I was buying and how I was going to prepare it, another time a woman shoved a bra in her bra while looking at me with her dead eyes...

They’ve got that around here too. It’s a great idea for most people .

But I can’t use it.

Besides the main items I have no idea what I want until I get to the grocery store. Lol

I too am a weirdo magnet at the supermarket, but hey, I look at it as free entertainment.

But seriously, I never used this service because of that very same reason (someone else choosing my groceries for me - loss of control) and I rather enjoy comparing ingredients between brands, socializing with the town folk and reading the community bulletin board.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Also I seem to be a total weirdo magnet when I go shopping, avoiding that is priceless.

I used to have that problem.

Now I wear my underwear outside of my pants and put socks on my hands, no one talks to me.

a reply to: InTheLight

I never used this service because of that very same reason (someone else choosing my groceries for me - loss of control)

The major retailers / grocery are actively working on robots that pick items. Seriously it's in the works.
I think we all need to get ready, it's coming.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: InTheLight

I never used this service because of that very same reason (someone else choosing my groceries for me - loss of control)

The major retailers / grocery are actively working on robots that pick items. Seriously it's in the works.
I think we all need to get ready, it's coming.

Until then, I will continue to do my own grocery shopping and listen to the gossip at the checkout lines.

Screw this.

I'm ready for the Star Trek food replicator.

That way I will never have to leave the house.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Now I wear my underwear outside of my pants

You really want people to leave you alone, do what I do...wear it on your head.

I like it mostly, as well. My wife doesn't drive so it is nice to go together and pick things and talk randomly while shopping.

Now they have these little hand scanners for people that are too lazy for even the self checkout, where you can scan the goods as you shop and then pay via a card on it, but we think they are stupid.

Just like clothing stores, I think grocery stores will always be around because some people prefer to pick their own stuff, because of quality and size.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

a reply to: chris_stibrany

Now they have these little hand scanners for people that are too lazy for even the self checkout, where you can scan the goods as you shop and then pay via a card on it, but we think they are stupid.

I like th uscan too. I bag it all based on where I'm going to put it at home... Two birds with one stone, it's a breeze once I get home.

The shopping service is supposed to be coming sometime to our Walmart, but I hope not. We don't have the staff to even do this and apparently it's my team that's supposed to fill those orders. Good luck with that when there is one of us scheduled to cover the entire store.

I wouldn't use the delivery service myself as I like to look for bargains and browse around. I really wish our store had the hand scanners though. I'd be all over that and it would be an absolute help as they don't bother to schedule enough cashiers and there are always long lines at self-check.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
A couple of big grocery chains here have offered grocery pick up.
Basically you order all your stuff online, set a time and it is ready for you to pick up.
It is very easy and i've used it a few times. It was actually quite the time saver.

Then, it got really popular and everyone started using it here and the pickup times got crazy. Normally when you order groceries you want them sooner rather than later. Well they started only having time slots for a day or two later.
Then, Piggly Wiggly announced that they were offering same hour grocery delivery.
Now all the other grocery stores miraculously have same day time slots open. Funny how that happened!

It's interesting to see grocery stores cannibalize each other, but we all know it won't end well for the consumer. I can see at some point the large stores will not exist. There will be smaller stores, but everything else will be online/phone order pickup or delivery. The "free" pickup part will go away too, just watch.

Grocery Pickup? Get with the program. We've been using Peapod for home grocery delivery for above seven years now. We get an order literally every Saturday evening. They drop off our stuff and even will bring it in.

We never go to the grocery store unless we forget one or two items.

Our local Target offers pickup and we've started using it. Order online and then pull up in parking lot and they will bring your order out to you. Nice to avoid the lines for relatively small orders.

I can't see ordering then going through a drive through to pick the stuff up. I examine food very thoroughly in the store, I look for the well beaded bacon that does not get hard as a rock, the pears need to be picked some riper, some less ripe so you can have them ripen just in time for consuming them without all going at the same time. Same with apples, I like to check out all the fruit I buy, so does the wife. What about pineapples, or even the date on milk or eggs, what about the roast, I am fussy with meats. I would never let someone else pick out the fish.

I think it is bad when people cannot even go into the grocery store anymore, sometimes we find many people we know in there and strike up conversations. It can be a social event sometimes. When I was young, the store was a place I went to meet girls, there was no dating services you had to pay for those days. On top of that, you could actually see if the food in her cart was food you would eat....I avoided talking to girls who had only vegan items in their carts, you could often just look at them and tell they were vegans.

I know quite a few people who are using the dating services, what happened to just going out to places to meet new people. I learned how to start conversations with introverts long ago, once you got them going they did not shut up, they had lots of stuff to get off their chest. It made them happy to break free from their ways even if it was just for a little while.

Shopping is good exercise too. Especially if your list is not in order to match the store, you can put on an extra mile if you follow the order you write it in if it is not layed out right. Saves walking on the treadmill when you get home.

originally posted by: Edumakated

originally posted by: JAGStorm
A couple of big grocery chains here have offered grocery pick up.
Basically you order all your stuff online, set a time and it is ready for you to pick up.
It is very easy and i've used it a few times. It was actually quite the time saver.

Then, it got really popular and everyone started using it here and the pickup times got crazy. Normally when you order groceries you want them sooner rather than later. Well they started only having time slots for a day or two later.
Then, Piggly Wiggly announced that they were offering same hour grocery delivery.
Now all the other grocery stores miraculously have same day time slots open. Funny how that happened!

It's interesting to see grocery stores cannibalize each other, but we all know it won't end well for the consumer. I can see at some point the large stores will not exist. There will be smaller stores, but everything else will be online/phone order pickup or delivery. The "free" pickup part will go away too, just watch.

Grocery Pickup? Get with the program. We've been using Peapod for home grocery delivery for above seven years now. We get an order literally every Saturday evening. They drop off our stuff and even will bring it in.

We never go to the grocery store unless we forget one or two items.

Our local Target offers pickup and we've started using it. Order online and then pull up in parking lot and they will bring your order out to you. Nice to avoid the lines for relatively small orders.

I had Peapod for years in Illinois and totally loved it. I tried it in Wisconsin and they just couldn't get it right. One of my orders was missing half of the items, yes half! I think this area is slow to grow on those kinds of things.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Been doing it for years here, called 'Click and Collect'.