My personal answer would be that I live in walking distance of a grocery store so the convince offered by online shopping would be negligible. I suppose you could argue that I'd save time anyway...
My personal answer would be that I live in walking distance of a grocery store so the convince offered by online shopping would be negligible. I suppose you could argue that I'd save time anyway having them delivered, but I'm just not really interested in optimizing all of the ten minute walks out of my life. If other goods could be obtained in walking distance I doubt I'd order them online either.
I have the opposite problem, I live biking distance or about a 12 minute walk from both of my closest super markets. There are some smaller markets in between but none of them have both meat and...
I have the opposite problem, I live biking distance or about a 12 minute walk from both of my closest super markets. There are some smaller markets in between but none of them have both meat and vegetables. This means I usually walk home with giant bags on both shoulders plus a backpack, or I hang them off my bike handles and walk the bike home. Ordering online means I can get larger or heavier items to my door for a negligible difference in cost. In reality most of the items I order are non-perishable anyway, so I guess Amazon would carry them as well.
Why not invest in a set of panniers? One of my old colleagues at work owns a Jaguar F-Type (yes, I hate him too) and a fancy mountain bike. He actually prefers to take his bike on grocery runs. He...
I hang them off my bike handles and walk the bike home.
Why not invest in a set of panniers?
One of my old colleagues at work owns a Jaguar F-Type (yes, I hate him too) and a fancy mountain bike. He actually prefers to take his bike on grocery runs. He claims that between his backpack, a basket, and a pair of panniers he can haul more cargo on his bike than he can fit in the trunk of his car.
I also live within walking distance of several grocery stores and specialty food places. That's generally where I prefer to get my produce, meat, cheese, etc. I stick to online shopping for things...
I also live within walking distance of several grocery stores and specialty food places. That's generally where I prefer to get my produce, meat, cheese, etc.
I stick to online shopping for things they don't have, like spices or certain dry goods, and for things that are too bulky or unwieldy to carry home on foot, like a 36 pack of toilet paper rolls.
I take my father grocery shopping every weekend. Recently, Instacart launched in my area and I signed up for their $99 per year, unlimited deliveries. It’s been great. Now, I don’t feel obligated...
I take my father grocery shopping every weekend. Recently, Instacart launched in my area and I signed up for their $99 per year, unlimited deliveries.
It’s been great. Now, I don’t feel obligated to take him shopping every weekend. I don’t have to give up half of one of my two days off per week to go shopping. He can just order whatever he wants and it shows up later that day.
We usually shop at Aldi so the price difference is negligible. I have noticed that some places like Publix charge significantly more for items online than they do in store.
My point is that I wish I’d known about it sooner. It’s fantastic to have groceries delivered.
While it's cool you have found a way to save yourself some time out of your limited time off by using that service, your comment also kind of makes me a bit sad since I am sure your father...
While it's cool you have found a way to save yourself some time out of your limited time off by using that service, your comment also kind of makes me a bit sad since I am sure your father probably looked forward to seeing you every weekend, even if it was just to go get groceries. :( I hope you're at least still making sure to take some time out to visit him.
Doing everything online is a surefire way to lose out on a lot of social interaction. I'm sure online shopping etc is a significant factor in growing social isolation and loneliness. I've built up...
Doing everything online is a surefire way to lose out on a lot of social interaction. I'm sure online shopping etc is a significant factor in growing social isolation and loneliness.
I've built up good relations with the butcher and greengrocer that I do most of my food shopping with, and often end up with special one off deals, or getting something other than what I'd intended because I've been offered a deal on say belly pork instead of the shoulder of lamb I'd intended on. That wouldn't happen if I bought online because there's no way of building a relationship through a mouse and cart process. I also know a bit more about where my food comes from and how it's grown/reared this way, which is something I value above convenience.
I think my comment came across different than it was intended. It’s used more as an alternative so that he isn’t dependent on me for groceries. If my wife and I go out of town for the weekend, I...
I think my comment came across different than it was intended. It’s used more as an alternative so that he isn’t dependent on me for groceries.
If my wife and I go out of town for the weekend, I don’t have to worry about finding someone to take him to the store.
Or if he needs something in the middle of the week, I don’t have to take him after work. He can just order what he wants.
It just makes things more flexible for not just me, but my father as well.
I see him multiple times per week regardless of the groceries and we talk every day on the phone, so he’s not missing out!
Both of the major grocery chains in the Australian grocery duopoly (Coles and Woolworths) do home delivery, and it's pretty popular. I'd say about half the people I know do their weekly shopping...
Both of the major grocery chains in the Australian grocery duopoly (Coles and Woolworths) do home delivery, and it's pretty popular. I'd say about half the people I know do their weekly shopping online, but that's mostly tech savvy people who work a lot and earn enough to justify the price difference.
I personally found that the quality is lower. They seem to put their best produce on display in the store, and you get the older/crappier produce in delivery.
I (and others who try not to eat a diet of heavily processed foods) wouldn't be a good target customer for grocery delivery. As far as I'm concerned, many non-ready-to-eat grocery items,...
I (and others who try not to eat a diet of heavily processed foods) wouldn't be a good target customer for grocery delivery.
As far as I'm concerned, many non-ready-to-eat grocery items, especially produce, aren't fungible goods. I think of the act of choosing them carefully, for aroma, consistency, color, ripeness, etc., as part of cooking well. Losing the skills of fresh market shopping and cooking are, to my mind, contributors to the obesity epidemic.
I'm sure there are premium shopping services that might offer to do this, but it's not going to be a simple, broadly available consumer delivery service. I have grave doubts that machine vision and chemosensors on robots will ever be able to select a satisfactory fresh grocery order, or that low-paid warehouse workers will ever pick up an apple that gives both the picker and the recipient much joy.
Absolutely. Picking out things like produce is so dependent on qualia that differ based on individual and even on what is being made with the item that it'll, in my opinion, be the last side of...
Absolutely.
Picking out things like produce is so dependent on qualia that differ based on individual and even on what is being made with the item that it'll, in my opinion, be the last side of grocery to be automated and subject to mass delivery.
I have multiple regulars in my store who get their general merchandise delivered, but explicitly come in to purchase their own produce because the Instacart people don't do a good job of picking. Honestly, that seems to be the problem with most of these services-- being carless, I do a decent amount of ordering groceries online (yeah, I work in a store, but there's a limit to what I desire to schlep on the bus for an hour and a half back home), and all the produce I have gotten from Prime Now, Instacart (that one was the saddest since they did pickup at my store), or stuff like Door to Door Organics has been mediocre at best, half molded at worst.
My mom had a surgery not long ago, since then every now and then she'll go for Walmart's pickup option. You order everything online then go in to pick it up. Since the nearest Walmart is a half...
My mom had a surgery not long ago, since then every now and then she'll go for Walmart's pickup option. You order everything online then go in to pick it up. Since the nearest Walmart is a half hour drive away, while she was recovering she'd look up her shopping list on the site then send in my sisters to pick everything up. Was actually really wonderful, if they were out of stock they'd do their best to find the closest equivalent. Like if they were out of yellow delicious apples, they'd ask if substituting red delicious would be okay. Or if they're out of <generic brand> item, if <brand> item would be okay. That was a lot easier for her to manage than wandering through a store making going down her list.
I think the problem is more of a matter of framing. The question should not be "why aren't more people ordering groceries online" because the answer to that question is fairly obvious. Most people...
I think the problem is more of a matter of framing. The question should not be "why aren't more people ordering groceries online" because the answer to that question is fairly obvious. Most people spend a very large amount of their budget on food, so price is one of the most important considerations when buying groceries. You simply can't get cheaper groceries by delivery.
Grocery delivery has actually existed for a long time, so I think a better framing to this article would be to ask how companies are growing their delivery businesses - which is basically what the article is about anyways.
My personal answer would be that I live in walking distance of a grocery store so the convince offered by online shopping would be negligible. I suppose you could argue that I'd save time anyway having them delivered, but I'm just not really interested in optimizing all of the ten minute walks out of my life. If other goods could be obtained in walking distance I doubt I'd order them online either.
I have the opposite problem, I live biking distance or about a 12 minute walk from both of my closest super markets. There are some smaller markets in between but none of them have both meat and vegetables. This means I usually walk home with giant bags on both shoulders plus a backpack, or I hang them off my bike handles and walk the bike home. Ordering online means I can get larger or heavier items to my door for a negligible difference in cost. In reality most of the items I order are non-perishable anyway, so I guess Amazon would carry them as well.
Why not invest in a set of panniers?
One of my old colleagues at work owns a Jaguar F-Type (yes, I hate him too) and a fancy mountain bike. He actually prefers to take his bike on grocery runs. He claims that between his backpack, a basket, and a pair of panniers he can haul more cargo on his bike than he can fit in the trunk of his car.
Definitely a good idea, I just haven’t gotten around to buying them. For now I settle for the basket, but it really only holds about one bags worth.
I also live within walking distance of several grocery stores and specialty food places. That's generally where I prefer to get my produce, meat, cheese, etc.
I stick to online shopping for things they don't have, like spices or certain dry goods, and for things that are too bulky or unwieldy to carry home on foot, like a 36 pack of toilet paper rolls.
I take my father grocery shopping every weekend. Recently, Instacart launched in my area and I signed up for their $99 per year, unlimited deliveries.
It’s been great. Now, I don’t feel obligated to take him shopping every weekend. I don’t have to give up half of one of my two days off per week to go shopping. He can just order whatever he wants and it shows up later that day.
We usually shop at Aldi so the price difference is negligible. I have noticed that some places like Publix charge significantly more for items online than they do in store.
My point is that I wish I’d known about it sooner. It’s fantastic to have groceries delivered.
While it's cool you have found a way to save yourself some time out of your limited time off by using that service, your comment also kind of makes me a bit sad since I am sure your father probably looked forward to seeing you every weekend, even if it was just to go get groceries. :( I hope you're at least still making sure to take some time out to visit him.
Doing everything online is a surefire way to lose out on a lot of social interaction. I'm sure online shopping etc is a significant factor in growing social isolation and loneliness.
I've built up good relations with the butcher and greengrocer that I do most of my food shopping with, and often end up with special one off deals, or getting something other than what I'd intended because I've been offered a deal on say belly pork instead of the shoulder of lamb I'd intended on. That wouldn't happen if I bought online because there's no way of building a relationship through a mouse and cart process. I also know a bit more about where my food comes from and how it's grown/reared this way, which is something I value above convenience.
I think my comment came across different than it was intended. It’s used more as an alternative so that he isn’t dependent on me for groceries.
If my wife and I go out of town for the weekend, I don’t have to worry about finding someone to take him to the store.
Or if he needs something in the middle of the week, I don’t have to take him after work. He can just order what he wants.
It just makes things more flexible for not just me, but my father as well.
I see him multiple times per week regardless of the groceries and we talk every day on the phone, so he’s not missing out!
Both of the major grocery chains in the Australian grocery duopoly (Coles and Woolworths) do home delivery, and it's pretty popular. I'd say about half the people I know do their weekly shopping online, but that's mostly tech savvy people who work a lot and earn enough to justify the price difference.
I personally found that the quality is lower. They seem to put their best produce on display in the store, and you get the older/crappier produce in delivery.
I (and others who try not to eat a diet of heavily processed foods) wouldn't be a good target customer for grocery delivery.
As far as I'm concerned, many non-ready-to-eat grocery items, especially produce, aren't fungible goods. I think of the act of choosing them carefully, for aroma, consistency, color, ripeness, etc., as part of cooking well. Losing the skills of fresh market shopping and cooking are, to my mind, contributors to the obesity epidemic.
I'm sure there are premium shopping services that might offer to do this, but it's not going to be a simple, broadly available consumer delivery service. I have grave doubts that machine vision and chemosensors on robots will ever be able to select a satisfactory fresh grocery order, or that low-paid warehouse workers will ever pick up an apple that gives both the picker and the recipient much joy.
Absolutely.
Picking out things like produce is so dependent on qualia that differ based on individual and even on what is being made with the item that it'll, in my opinion, be the last side of grocery to be automated and subject to mass delivery.
I have multiple regulars in my store who get their general merchandise delivered, but explicitly come in to purchase their own produce because the Instacart people don't do a good job of picking. Honestly, that seems to be the problem with most of these services-- being carless, I do a decent amount of ordering groceries online (yeah, I work in a store, but there's a limit to what I desire to schlep on the bus for an hour and a half back home), and all the produce I have gotten from Prime Now, Instacart (that one was the saddest since they did pickup at my store), or stuff like Door to Door Organics has been mediocre at best, half molded at worst.
My mom had a surgery not long ago, since then every now and then she'll go for Walmart's pickup option. You order everything online then go in to pick it up. Since the nearest Walmart is a half hour drive away, while she was recovering she'd look up her shopping list on the site then send in my sisters to pick everything up. Was actually really wonderful, if they were out of stock they'd do their best to find the closest equivalent. Like if they were out of yellow delicious apples, they'd ask if substituting red delicious would be okay. Or if they're out of <generic brand> item, if <brand> item would be okay. That was a lot easier for her to manage than wandering through a store making going down her list.
I think the problem is more of a matter of framing. The question should not be "why aren't more people ordering groceries online" because the answer to that question is fairly obvious. Most people spend a very large amount of their budget on food, so price is one of the most important considerations when buying groceries. You simply can't get cheaper groceries by delivery.
Grocery delivery has actually existed for a long time, so I think a better framing to this article would be to ask how companies are growing their delivery businesses - which is basically what the article is about anyways.