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As the coronavirus pandemic worsens, more and more people are turning online to do their grocery shopping, using services such as Shipt and Instacart.
Although people aren’t banned from going to the grocery store under most state’s stay-home order, there’s little doubt more shoppers will rely on such services.
Just this week, Instacart announced it is looking to hire 300,000 shoppers nationwide to keep up with demand for its services. Shipt, owned by Target, is also seeking thousands of shoppers
And so, as a work assignment, I hopped on board and did something I’ve never done before: Ordered groceries online.
I like to shop, and consider myself an expert at it. But the coronavirus crisis changed that.
When I go to stores now, I am extremely careful, practice social distancing and try not to touch anything unless I am sure I am buying it.
Curbside pick up
For my first online order, I used Kroger’s Pick Up service. If you don’t already have an account, you create one online and just start shopping. You need to put a credit card on file and choose a store to shop. There’s no fee for the first three pick up orders and $4.95 each after.
Choosing items was the easy part. I was looking for flour because most stores were out. I chose a variety of other items including two different brands of high-in-demand disinfectant wipes: Arm and Hammer and Lysol. I also threw in a bottle of Jose Cuervo Lime Margarita. I ordered 10 items total.
More:Kroger, Sam’s Club, Walmart adding sneeze guard at checkout lines to prevent coronavirus spread
More:7 ways to get groceries delivered to your door during coronavirus pandemic
When you are ready to check out, you can view what’s in your cart and make any changes. You can also add instructions, including allowing substitutes. For example, though I didn’t buy any avocados, I would have put something like: Choose unripe, bright green, rock hard avocados.
Once you check out, you choose a pick up time and date. I ordered around 6 p.m. on a Thursday and the first available time slot was between 11 a.m. and noon Sunday.
I got an email confirming my order. The whole process was seamless.
On Sunday, I headed to the store and parked in the designated spot. Once parked, you call the phone number on the sign. They ask your name, what parking place number you’re in and whether you want your groceries in the trunk or back seat.
I told the person the trunk is fine. They said to make sure it’s opened.
When the person came out, I learned only three out of the 10 items I ordered were available: A 12-pack of watermelon/lime sparkling water and two bags of flour. No wipes and no margarita cocktails.
More:Don’t panic, food supply chain is healthy, officials say
I got out of the car to get ready to close the trunk. At a reaching distance as much as possible, the worker handed me a piece of paper with the items not fulfilled and my receipt stapled to.
Shipt
On my second go at it, I signed up at shipt.com and opted for the $14 monthly membership instead of a $99 recurring annual membership, which works out to $8.25 a month. That was before a colleague shared a link with a $49 recurring membership offer.
Meijer and Target stores in my area were available to shop at through Shipt. I chose Meijer, this was on Friday, and starting shopping on shipt.com.
Again, I chose a variety of items including the high-in-demand items. You can also give directions, say, for bananas that you want more yellow than green.
But what was different and what I liked, was it showed which high-in-demand items were out-of-stock. Other items, bagels, canned tuna and the Meijer brand of hot dog and hamburgers were also out of stock.
I completed my order and, much to my surprise, a deliver time of 11 a.m.-noon was available for the next day.
Around 8 a.m. that Saturday morning, I got a text message from Jennifer, my Shipt shopper, telling me the store was out of skin-on chicken thighs, but they had some with no skin. I told her those were fine.
During the next few hours, I received several messages from my personal shopper, Jennifer, about products they were out of and possible substitutions. I also had the option of adding onto my order through the app — which I hadn’t downloaded yet. But I could text her, too, to add on. I did, asking her to pick up any disinfecting spray. But the store was out.
Jennifer texted me that Meijer was out of flour. But she offered to swing by another nearby Meijer to see if they had some. I told her only if it was on her way.
She texted that the other store did have the 5-pound bag of Meijer flour, completed my order and was on the way.
When she arrived, and keeping with social distance practices, I stood just outside my door. She walked up with her own grocery totes and started unloading.
She told me she got everything.
Did they have any wipes? I asked.
Nobody has those, she said.
We chatted a few, keeping our distance. Jennifer said the stores were busy. She had four orders to shop for that day. I was her fourth order that day. That was the first Saturday of Meijer’s new hours, opening at 8 a.m.
“People were lined-up outside like it was Black Friday,” she said.
I didn’t know how tipping works. And so, stretched as far as I could and gave her a $10 tip on my $45 order.
I was extra cautious and put on gloves to bring my groceries in. I wiped nearly all the packaging down with sanitizing wipes. With the bananas and asparagus I ordered, I washed those under water and placed on paper towels to dry.
When you log back in, a survey pops up to rate how your experience with a picture of your shopper. It turns out it also gives you a tip option. The tip option is also on your completed order summary, which I found buried in my email.
Would I do this again? Probably. While I like shopping, hunting for bargains and using coupons, this was easy.
And, as someone with a chronic condition, it’s also a great service.
Contact Detroit Free Press food writer Susan Selasky at [email protected]
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