Grocery Delivery...........Instacart at Aldi

[bluehende]

I wanted to relay my experience with getting groceries delivered today from Aldi using Instacart. I was very pleased. A little background on me. I actually do not mind grocery shopping. I like to root out bargains and and very picky in the produce and meat I pick out. With the obvious challenges in today's world I am reluctant to go out. I am in the higher risk group. Well my kids were uncomfortable with me going out as DE is now very much in the exponential growth stage. With that I started playing around with some delivery services. We are getting somewhat low on fresh vegetables and fruit and were out of milk. So Friday I bit the bullet and ordered from Aldi with instacart as the shopping service. I made up my list and could get it Saturday night. I changed that timing to Sunday morning as I figure stock would be better. With adding a few things here and there it came to 42 different items with multiples of some. All but three were fresh produce, dairy or frozen fish and vegetables. I was worried about stock so overbought figuring some would not come. On the order you can have substitutes if it is out of stock. Some Sunday morning I get a text that the order is being shopped. On the link provided I could actually watch as each item was bought. I had a number and could have even called if I wanted. Of the 42 items only 2 were out of stock. The bag salad was replaced with a bag of spinach. The sad one was my one impulse purchase. I had ordered two tubes of the refrigerated sweet buns as a treat. They were out and I replaced it with 2 tubes of crescent rolls. I will figure out a treat with them. So out of 42 items mostly fresh fruits, fresh vegetables, eggs, milk, and highly sought after frozen goods I got them all. I now have too much but oh well we will eat well. 10 minutes later they are at my door. The produce all looked great except for 1 bag of green beans that was ok but not the cream of the crop. That was the only thing I would have thrown back if it was me shopping. A lot of the items were a few cents more than I can get them in the store. I would say a little under 10% more. The fees for the order were also a little under 10 bucks. I did tip the shopper/delivery guy a lot as this was very much appreciated. The shopper had about 1 hr and 15 minutes all in. I did not order any meat but would not hesitate. The bottom line is that this was a great experience that does cost a bit but certainly not exorbitant as I used up over an hour of labor and got a delivery. Now I will stress over how to organize my meals to use up and not waste way too much produce.

 

[Conan]

My experience with Instacart and my local supermarket was similar. But be aware that Instacart is threatened with a strike today. Workers want access to safety equipment and a better tip program.

 

[geekette]

My experience with Instacart and my local supermarket was similar. But be aware that Instacart is threatened with a strike today. Workers want access to safety equipment and a better tip program.

Yeah, I saw late last night that suddenly hand sanitizer is available for the shoppers! sheesh, talk about too little, too late.... they were also seeking paid time off for illness. They got 14 days if diagnosed with Cov. Ok, but one could be on a ventilator for 2 weeks 2 weeks past dx...
We've seen some employees of grocery stores and gas stations around here get an extra $2/hr. The trend is to post that at the entrance so you feel like the biz is looking after staff.

I am not sure that is permanent, but if it got rolled back, I would contact HQ and say no way. Of course the take away would not be posted. It's something that I plan to pay attention to, though. Someone's got to fight for those on the front lines with low pay.

 

[presley]

I have zero luck with any of the delivery services around here. Instacart shows me earliest delivery date over a week out. Amazon Fresh shows me no delivery times available. Stores that have their own delivery trucks are showing me over a week out. I hate going to the store, but I need fresh food.

 

[wackymother]

We used Instacart for the first time last week. Very good experience, our shopper was texting with me throughout and even sent pics of alternate items and empty shelves. Unfortunately now no available spots at all--I would happily book one for two or four weeks from now.

 

[wackymother]

I have zero luck with any of the delivery services around here. Instacart shows me earliest delivery date over a week out. Amazon Fresh shows me no delivery times available. Stores that have their own delivery trucks are showing me over a week out. I hate going to the store, but I need fresh food.

Are there any stores with curbside pickup? We have a couple of those.

 

[bluehende]

I do know my delivery options from instacart were store specific. BJ's was 5 days. And that seemed more the norm. I luckily have a lot of options here.

 

[wackymother]

I do know my delivery options from instacart were store specific. BJ's was 5 days. And that seemed more the norm. I luckily have a lot of options here.

Around us, lots of stores, but no slots available anywhere.

 

[klpca]

I have zero luck with any of the delivery services around here. Instacart shows me earliest delivery date over a week out. Amazon Fresh shows me no delivery times available. Stores that have their own delivery trucks are showing me over a week out. I hate going to the store, but I need fresh food.

Me too. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to get a delivery for Amazon fresh and it's easier to pick up a Hawaii week in high season than it is to get a delivery time. I've been trying for 10 days now. Same with anything delivered by Instacart. Nada. Zilch. I was able to get a pick up time from Vons - three days out - only to have them cancel two hours before pick up. So we have just had to go out for the things that we need. Not that big of a deal for us, although I am immunosupressed and my husband has some high risk issues as well, but I truly worry about the elderly. What are they supposed to do? One thing is for sure, delivery is not something that we are ever going to be able to rely upon. Once this is over (ever?) I am never even going to consider the delivery services. They have been simply awful here and with the way that they are paying their "shoppers", it's not a business model that I can support.

 

[Luvtoride]

Try Fresh Direct instead of instacart. My daughter was able to nab two slots (one for her and one for us) for next Monday. She went online about midnight last night and started a cart for each of us and grabbed the spots. We can add to the order until pretty close to delivery day/time. They are very complete and are one of the original companies doing at home delivery service. Good luck all.

 

[VacationForever]

Try Fresh Direct instead of instacart. My daughter was able to nab two slots (one for her and one for us) for next Monday. She went online about midnight last night and started a cart for each of us and grabbed the spots. We can add to the order until pretty close to delivery day/time. They are very complete and are one of the original companies doing at home delivery service. Good luck all.

I think they only cover New York area.

 

[VacationForever]

Me too. I've spent quite a bit of time trying to get a delivery for Amazon fresh and it's easier to pick up a Hawaii week in high season than it is to get a delivery time. I've been trying for 10 days now. Same with anything delivered by Instacart. Nada. Zilch. I was able to get a pick up time from Vons - three days out - only to have them cancel two hours before pick up. So we have just had to go out for the things that we need. Not that big of a deal for us, although I am immunosupressed and my husband has some high risk issues as well, but I truly worry about the elderly. What are they supposed to do? One thing is for sure, delivery is not something that we are ever going to be able to rely upon. Once this is over (ever?) I am never even going to consider the delivery services. They have been simply awful here and with the way that they are paying their "shoppers", it's not a business model that I can support.

Instacart does not cover our zip code. Vons's date for us is 2 weeks out, it does not work for us. Kroger uses Instacart, so I tried their curbside pickup. They pick items only an hour before scheduled pickup times. Guess what, no meat, no half the items on my list. I was notified on text what were missing and I called and cancelled the pickup. Thanks to a friend, I now have meat delivery coming this week. I also found a vege/fruits delivery site with limited selection, also to be delivered this week. I am trying another site and the date given to me is 2 weeks out but I scheduled a delivery anyway.

We are not setting foot into a store for the next 3 months.

 

[Luanne]

Dh is going to try grocery delivery, or more likely pick up, the next time we need groceries. Our local Market Street (Albertson's) offers this.

 

[Panina]

The delivery services slots for groceries have been impossible to get and for those who still are able to get delivers they will probably be more difficult to get in the future.

There are still some companies and farms online that can purchase from directly for mail delivery. Many now have waitlists but I found a few that I ordered from the last two days meat/poultry farm, cheese farm, produce farm, direct mailings from pasta an company and my favorite fruit leather company. Just search online and you will find.

 

[Miss Marty]

How does instacart work. I know you order online and someone goes into the store and shops and then delivers your items to you. But how do they handle refrig & frozen food. Do shoppers have special containers to place items in to keep them cold, while they fill other orders. I wanted to place an order thru BJs with free delivery, but wonder how long my order will sit around before it is delivered. Do shoppers use their own vehicles?

 

[bluehende]

With all the complaints on delivery time I just set up an order for giggles. I can have it in 2 hrs. Man this stuff is so local.

 

[VacationForever]

With all the complaints on delivery time I just set up an order for giggles. I can have it in 2 hrs. Man this stuff is so local.

Yep. We live in the outskirts but certainly not rural and we have a large community. No Instacart.

 

[bluehende]

How does instacart work. I know you order online and someone goes into the store and shops and then delivers your items to you. But how do they handle refrig & frozen food. Do shoppers have special containers to place items in to keep them cold, while they fill other orders. I wanted to place an order thru BJs with free delivery, but wonder how long my order will sit around before it is delivered. Do shoppers use their own vehicles?

They say they do keep them at appropriate temps. We are a little over a mile from the store so it was delivered immediately. I do know they shopped the frozen stuff last. I would say I was less than 10 minutes from freezer to door. In our case the shopper was the same person that delivered. I could not see the inside of the car to know if they have some capability in transit.

 

[TravelTime]

This is a tangent but related topic. We have been ordering from Hello Fresh. They deliver the ingredients for meals on their menu. We started with them before Covid-19 but it is certainly helpful right now. We also were using Blue Apron with we prefer the menus with Hello Fresh. Just another idea for getting food delivered during this crisis.

 

[Panina]

Right now shocked. Had reserved myself to go 6am to grocery on Thursday as I could not get any delivery slots. all were taken for the two weeks listed. So I then opted for curbside pickup, even looking one hour away, no slots. Then I went back to Instacart and I see a delivery can happen in 2 hours. Now if it happens it will be a pleasant surprise. Told them to leave at front door and just ring bell. Plus I gave a very generous tip online.

 

[pakwoman]

I just used Instacart for the first time to order groceries for my mother who lives in Ohio ( I live in South Carolina). We were both very pleased. I had placed the order Friday evening, and it said that it would be delivered Wednesday. However, Saturday afternoon, I was pleasantly surprised to get a notification that the shopper had started shopping. Through the app, I was able to see as she added the items, and through the app’s chat feature she let me know when things weren’t available and suggested possible substitutes. She was able to get just about everything my mom wanted, including milk, eggs, meat and cheese from the deli, and bread from the bakery. The shopper delivered it soon after. In the app I could see on a map where she was driving, so I was able to tell my mom when she got close. I will definitely use the service again for my mom and perhaps even for myself.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I wish they would put Aldi near me. I loved going there on our vacation back east. Great store.

Trader Joe's is in Colorado, but it's 18 miles from here for the Denver store, 30 miles to the Boulder store. Too far.

 

[Sea Six]

We used Instacart from Publix a few weeks ago. I liked the way they texted me when they started, and whenever they had to make a substitution. We ordered around 40 items, and had maybe 6 substitutions and 1 not available, no alternative. I was so excited to see my bags delivered right to my front door. After everything was unpacked, we agreed if we were in the store ourselves, we would have made the same substitutions. Delivery times were available all day with a 2 hour window. Will use again, but only if we need at least $250 worth of stuff. This order was around $250, and cost a $3.99 delivery fee plus a $12.36 service fee, plus tip. The fees are high if you don't get much stuff, as a percentage. I'm at that age where I appreciate the bags being brought up the driveway to my front door, let alone not having to go to the store! Worth it!

I should add that the process of building my shopping list was a bit of a pain. You search each and every item, then go thru the list of all the matches to pick the exact package you want. Some items have PAGES to pick from! So, one by one you work your way down your list until you have everything you want. It is much easier to walk down the aisle and just grab what catches your eye!