Am I Surprised! Paying for Grocery Delivery

As I drive around my community, as I run errands, or drop my kids off and pick them up at their various activities, I often see grocery delivery trucks.  And when I see them, I always have the same thought: "Wow, it would be nice to have someone not only do my grocery shopping for me, but then bring it all into my house for me!  Too bad that probably costs an arm or a leg to get."  Honestly, even if it just cost more than my gas money costs to have it done, my cheap self can't handle the thought of paying for it.

But two days ago, when I brought in my mail, there was a nice big colorful card from the grocery delivery company.  Offering me free delivery and $15 off my first order.  Now, we all know that "off your first order" is the first step down a tricky and slippery slope toward irresponsible spending.  But I decided to look into it.

Remember this photo? Grocery shopping isn't usually this fun.

Maybe it was the fact that it is beyond freezing outside and I hate taking my littlest out in the frigid air.  Maybe it was that we had no fruit or vegetables, or bread or tortillas, or milk, or really anything that wasn't in a can, a box, or the freezer.  At any rate, I decided that it was a great time to at least look into this intriguing concept of not having to shop, but getting to have groceries in your house anyway.

So I went on their website, wary and looking for all the ways they were trying to gouge me.  First I checked out the delivery - free for me this time, but I wanted to see what happened to the regular customer.  Hmm, $6.95.  More than it would cost for gas.  Darn.

Oh, but wait!  Look at this: if you schedule your delivery for a Wednesday, aka "Value Day", you get either $5 or $6 off your delivery fee, depending on what time you choose.  So that would bring the fee down to either 95 cents or $1.95.  That's definitely less than gas.  Nice.  Opens up the possibility, but still more investigation must be done before we can get behind this as a real life option.

Ok, next: I'll bet that they charge more for each item than it costs in the store.  After browsing through almost every category of food, I discovered that while some items do cost more, most are the same as a regular non-sale price, and there are even some items on sale.

So just like any other shopping experience, if you watch the prices, and if you know what you normally pay (remember your Shopping Notebook?), then it is possible to put together a grocery order on this website and not get taken advantage of.  That being said, I did find that I had to forgo ordering some things that I wanted because there just wasn't an inexpensive option online.  Tortillas were a notable example of this: there were around 12 different tortilla options, but each of them cost more than twice what I am used to paying.  So no tortillas this time.

One funny thing I noticed was that once in awhile I would find a food item with an amazing price, and a little red flag next to it.  I assume that the red flag signifies the great deal?  However, I looked and looked, but I couldn't find any way to search for the great sales.  I just had to look through the entire website, page by page, to find them.  It actually makes sense, since a shopper who filled up their virtual "cart" with nothing but steals, would really not be the kind of shopper the store would want to encourage.  You know, shoppers like us. :)

So I took my time, looked through the whole site, and put together my order.  It was missing a few things I'd wanted, but had a few more that I decided to buy when I saw that they were on super sale.  As I added items to my list, it would update in a column on the side of the screen, keeping a running total of how much I was spending.  That was a nice addition to my shopping experience; it made it really simple not to spend more than I wanted to.

When I had bought everything I wanted, or at least everything I wanted that was for a good price, I checked out.  Here I got to put in the codes that took $15 off my order for being a first-time customer, and for free delivery.  I chose to have it delivered on Wednesday, to see if they would take $6 off even after I already had free delivery: Yes!  Success!

I put in my bank card information, chose my specific delivery time, and exited the website.  Really?  Could it be that easy?  It turns out that the answer is Yes.

Today is Wednesday, my chosen delivery day.  This morning just after 8 am, there was a knock at my door: a nice man with his arms full of groceries (MY groceries!) was standing on my front porch.  He gave me a receipt to sign, and went back out to his truck in the freezing cold air for another load.  Another load that I didn't have to struggle to balance with a baby carseat in the other arm.

So will I do this again?  I think I will.  Not always, because I do like to be able to get everything on my list, not just the things that are on the website.  But I looked around, and found more coupon codes for $ off, or free delivery.  If I can have someone else bring me my groceries, and not pay more for it, that is a wonderful thing.

Note: If in the end, I would be paying more for the same food, I would have to sadly conclude that this is not a service I can take advantage of.  But hooray for coupon codes and careful shopping that makes this at least an occasional possibility!

If you have a grocery store in your area that offers delivery, check it out!  But be ready to exit the website if it turns out to be too good to be true.

Kate