Grocery Stores: The Future?

[samclem]

Now that I can go when I want, I don't mind going to the grocery store. I can avoid the busy times when the aisles are clogged.

Delivery or curbside pickup might not work well for me--seeing the stuff helps remind me what I need. I'm not talking about high-profit impulse items--I mean bread, sugar, TP, etc.

 

[Cobra9777]

We use Amazon for bulky items like dog food, laundry detergent, and pool chemicals, but not for groceries. We only eat fresh vegetables and meat, and I'm very picky. There are very few dry or canned goods that we use, so it's just easier to pick them up when needed during a normal grocery run. I've messed around with Amazon Pantry, but I just can't find enough stuff I want to fill a box.

I enjoy grocery shopping. I go about every 4-5 days and avoid the busy times. I also make special trips for fresh seafood a couple times per week. I mainly shop at a small regional chain which has great people and great prices, but the produce quality is a bit inconsistent. We have a Sprouts nearby which is a very nice alternative for produce and meat, but more pricey. I find seafood to be better at the large chains like Kroger and Albertsons.

 

[AutumnElf]

Tastes a bit like okra but more sour. I like is as a side vegetable and occasionally have it served to me at a Mexican restaurant. A friend thinks it goes well with eggs. I've never cooked it at home. It's called nopales. Nopal is the prickly pear plant.

Thanks! I'd definitely be interested in trying. I don't like okra at all but I think its a texture rather than taste thing. I think I've heard of it cooked with eggs too. I would like to try it.

 

[athena53]

Another thought: I read labels. Can you get that info when you buy on-line? In my case I'm interested in sugar, fat and calorie content and if I have a choice of brands, I'll take the one without high-fructose corn syrup.


Although I agree that ordering groceries on-line is a great option as we age and our mobility is limited, but I hope it doesn't mean people will move in the direction of more processed food.

 

[Tom52]

Just yesterday we were out grocery shopping. We needed several gallons of milk. The front row had an expiration date of May 22, while the next row back had an expiration date of June 1. Of course I picked the June 1st expiration date. I wonder what expiration date I would have received if the store had picked it out for us. I don't see grocery stores going away any time soon.

 

[misshathaway]

I've seen a few supermarkets try self-checkout and then back off of it- apparently the theft was too big a cost. The local Wal-Marts and Home Depots still have it, though. Even though I'm computer-friendly I usually slip up on something in self-checkout and it's a real nuisance if you're buying alcohol and someone needs to come over and verify that you're over 21 and input some secret code. I guess some stores still think it's worth it.

Wegmans here in MA has a hybrid approach where they still have the self-serve, which I love now that I'm good at it. But they also have an attendant whose only job is to stand there and assist people. That is mostly fine except when one tried to be super helpful and bag for me. NO! No bagging! Had to handle that tactfully. I guess one person manning 4 self-serves is still less costly that 4 separate cashiers.

 

[Midpack]

I also prefer to be checking expiration dates on short-life items like milk. At best, the person pulling my order will be oblivious to those dates. At worst, the store will instruct them to pull the one with the nearest expiry date.

The move from BnM to online seems inevitable (even welcome for many) for many products and services, but not all? Perishables, refrigerated and frozen items would seem to be the big barrier for groceries. We used to buy everything at the local grocery store, now it's a mix of Costco, Target, the local grocery chain and farmer markets (in season) - so I guess we're evolving.

We still buy a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables, and some refrigerated and frozen items. That makes delivery more difficult though not impossible. Maybe the trend toward online groceries will benefit farmers markets.

I don't pretend to know how it'll play out, but I'm afraid it will lead to even more processed food...I hope not.

 

[audreyh1]

Thanks! I'd definitely be interested in trying. I don't like okra at all but I think its a texture rather than taste thing. I think I've heard of it cooked with eggs too. I would like to try it.

Nopales is a bit slimey like okra, so I suspect you may object to its texture as well.

 

[imoldernu]

Thought you might like to see what ordering online, with home delivery looks like.
HyVee is our local chain. People who live in our Villas, and in the independent apartments have been using these services for more than a year. They also offer employee shopping for your order with a quick pick-up point.

We shop at Aldi, because we like the known quantities and prices and the great employees. We figure the weekly grocery price to be about 20% less than Walmart, and 39% less than HyVee.
Here's the current online ad. with shopping options.

https://www.hy-vee.com/grocery/

 

[scrabbler1]

Just yesterday we were out grocery shopping. We needed several gallons of milk. The front row had an expiration date of May 22, while the next row back had an expiration date of June 1. Of course I picked the June 1st expiration date. I wonder what expiration date I would have received if the store had picked it out for us. I don't see grocery stores going away any time soon.

I also check those dates when I buy milk, especially the gallons which take longer to drink than the half-gallons. At large supermarkets I can always find a container of either size which has a long enough date out without worry. But at some smaller stores I have often found shorter lags which were often unacceptable risks to buying milk.

That's a pretty big difference in dates in the incident you described, Tom.

As Athena wrote, I, too, check the nutrition labels carefully when I buy something, especially if I haven't bought it before. This habit began 2 years ago after I was diagnosed with diabetes and became acutely aware of the carb count. I also look out for the sodium count for other health reasons leading to my hospital stay 2 years ago.

 

[Chuckanut]

I've found I can eat well at a reasonable cost with Trader Joe's and Costco as my main suppliers of food.

There are some things I must get at the traditional grocery store, but even that is becoming rarer because the traditional store does not carry them - try buying a box of currants at a grocery store near me. None to be found. Another example, I needed a box of pistachio pudding. Well my local mega-market has zillions of choices of pre-made pudding cups in about five flavors, but a box of pistachio pudding - no way. I may have to order the pudding and currents from Amazon! I am sure some bean counter at their headquarters is figuring that the profit on a pudding cup is far greater than on a box of pistachio pudding. But, if I stop shopping at the store because they don't carry what I want........

I have bought pre-bagged produce from time to time and invariably one or two pieces are not so good. So, that makes delivery a problem for me as I can't help but think the people who pack the delivery box will have the same attitude as the people who bag the produce.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

If I worked more we would probably make more use of online delivery. But usually I can find better bargains poking around the stores than the online prices, plus I like to pick out my own produce. It is kind of a game to me to go to 99 Cents Only or Grocery Outlet and see what's marked down and make interesting menus from the sale and clearance items. Sometimes I can get a large watermelon for 99 cents that would cost $6 at the local grocer. It may have a blemish on the outside but the inside is fine and often fresher than the produce at the local retail stores. Or sometimes there will be a bunch of asparagus for 99 cents. G.O. often has gourmet items marked way down that are about to expire like exotic cheeses so I buy them for $1 or so a package instead of $7 and just put them in the freezer for future picnics.

I have a collection of cooking without recipe kinds of books so I can make meals from whatever interesting is at the stores this week plus my stockpile at home.

 

[audreyh1]

Here is the HEB program for curbside pickup.
https://www.heb.com/static-page/heb-curbside

I may try it out for for those little things I forget now and then.

The online product list look super extensive.

 

[Tailgate]

Here is the HEB program for curbside pickup.
https://www.heb.com/static-page/heb-curbside

I may try it out for for those little things I forget now and then.

The online product list look super extensive.

I've used the HEB service (shipt.com) twice. Joined for $100, like Amazon Prime, and delivery over $35 is free. Prices on goods are a tad higher, but for occasional use, well worth it. I shopped online for my 87 year old DM and had the groceries delivered to her at her apartment....saved me a ton of time and saved her from having to walk the store.

 

[ShortInSeattle]

I suspect that Grocery stores will be massively disrupted over the next 5-10 years. Amazon has a test-store here in Seattle where you can walk in, put stuff in your bags, and walk out and sensors auto-deduct the cost from your credit card when you leave. Even our local Whole Foods is doing a brisk business with Instacart, people walk in and pick up a pre-packed bag of groceries, or have them delivered.

DH and I are experimenting with two delivery services - one that delivers grass fed and organic meat monthly, and a second that delivers produce weekly. The quality of the food is higher than what we can get at the grocery store, and it leaves us to pick up a few small items (milk, a specific vegetable we want...) when we're out running errands. We don't have a car, and not lugging heavy bags home is a fairly big perk.

Tech heavy and relatively wealthy Seattle is probably on the early side of adoption, but I can see these things becoming more ubiquitous over time.

SIS

 

[samclem]

The online product list look super extensive.

Yep, and now when I go to Kroger the aisles are clogged with not just the normal shoppers (do you really need to park your cart in the middle of the aisle while you read the label on the oatmeal??) but also the Kroger employees pushing their special carts around and picking things for the drive-through shoppers.
Thoughts:
1) I guess having one Kroger employee doing the picking for 6 orders simultaneously causes less congestion than having the six customers in there pushing individual buggies, so maybe I'm better off after all.
2) Grocery picker: That would be my definition of a not-very-fun job.
3) It's a good example of the market at work. Somebody gets a job, Kroger makes a bit of money, and the customer is happy to pay a little more to avoid going to the store.
4) I'm worried that the supermarket is now incentivized to make my in-person shopping experience worse if it helps drive me to use the higher-markup drive-through service. The check on this is Walmart: If Kroger gets longer checkout lines, etc, I'm off to Walmart. If I'm gonna wait in line, I'd like to save money for it.

 

[Texas Proud]

My sister just sent this to me.... with some other items of interest....

Looks like it might be changing in a different way....



The world's first virtual shopping center opened in Korea .

All the products are just LCD screens that allows you to order the items by touching the screen.​

When you get to the counter, your items are already bagged and ready to go.​

 

[Nightcap]

Most all of my grocery stores use self-checkout, and I almost always use it because most of the baggers don't know how to bag. They'll mix things they shouldn't, or try to jam everything in 2 bags when I've brought 5 and told them to use them all.

My favorite supermarket (Shaw's, an Albertsons company) ended its experiment with self check out, and I couldn't be happier. Very little is as annoying as a balky machine. "Please place the item on the belt." I did, it's right there. "Please place the item on the belt." I'll lift it and set it down again, now can we continue? "Please wait for assistance." Grrrrrr...

 

[Amethyst]

Could never have fresh food delivered to our house unless we knew exactly when it would be delivered (and I don't mean "estimated time of delivery). If we weren't right there to fetch the box inside, the food would either melt or freeze.

 

[FUEGO]

I tried the delivery from the local grocery store. They ran a $15 off $35 purchase deal so there was little risk to me. I loaded up the cart with a bunch of stuff I was curious about, to see if they could actually get me high quality produce and all the other items I wanted.

Results were horribly disappointing. The 2x "kale" I ordered turned into curled mustard greens (x2) and a third of it was rotten. Something I never would have picked off the shelf. And, well, it wasn't what I wanted though it worked out okay since I wanted to eat it raw in a salad, and I cooked a bit. And it does look similar to kale.

Apples were HUGE, not the normal size i regularly see. Not the fault of the grocery picker, but if those were the only apples on offer, I would have skipped them or bought a different variety that was smaller. I wanted 2-3 lb of apples and ended up with 6-7 lb (the apples were each close to a pound!!). Quality of apples was okay but a lot more bruises than if I picked them myself.

I requested a particular kind of whole milk mozzarella, the store brand version. It's $3.59 and mind-blowingly good, think better than the normal premium stuff you get from the deli side of the store. Picker didn't know they had whole milk mozzarella in the regular cheese section I guess, because "they didn't have it in stock" so he picked an 8 oz package of name brand whole milk mozz that was okay but not nearly as good (texture was too squishy and not much flavor). The worst thing was the price - $4.29 for the 8 oz, in other words more than 2x the price for inferior cheese. I was actually planning on using the full 16 oz block in lasagna that day, so it kind of screwed up my plans since I only had half the quantity requested (I used the lower quality grated mozz I had on hand already to make up the deficit).

Then comes the broccoli - picker couldn't find the size bag of frozen florets I requested that were on sale through the service, so he picked a different cut of broccoli that wasn't as good but half the size (for the same price ).

I can't recall but I think there were 1-2 more items that were "out of stock" which is hard to believe.

When he showed up, he stunk really bad of stale cigarette smoke and it lingered on the food for a while - not particularly appetizing but doubtful it actually impacted quality of the food.

To be fair, he did text me while picking, but I didn't see it till later. Didn't realize you have to sit by your phone or their online app all day waiting to approve suggested substitutions or provide comments on what you want.

I complained about the mistaken produce and the poor substitutions and got a refund for all those items plus they said "keep the items for free".

I realize after the process was over that I could have put very specific comments in the slot for each item, like "please pick small apples or don't buy them at all if only large available" or "only buy kale if it looks like good quality and fresh". I get the feeling the picker might not buy a lot of fresh fruits and veggies :/

Overall, I think it's good to have access to grocery delivery. I think the whole thing comes with an explicit 15-25% extra cost (10% for the service plus 5-15% tip for the picker), with free shipping on orders $35+. If I was elderly, disabled, or otherwise mobility impaired this could keep me living independently for a longer. Also, if I had no car this could save me the cost of a bus ticket or Uber (assuming I couldn't walk/bike to the store which is false in my situation since store is 5 min walk away). Might be a nice service for mom+dad one day if they need help.

I also like that they offer approximately the same price as grocery store prices including lower cost store brands. Not able to find those at Amazon grocery delivery. However they don't offer the store promotions and some sales deals you can get at the physical store, so the cost is higher than 15-25% extra. Same with clearance items - we routinely get stuff at half off or more, like meat, cheese, dairy, etc with short sale by dates. Can't buy a bunch of those and stick them in the freezer if you're buying through a delivery service.

For the bottom half of the income scale that is probably more cost conscious for grocery purchases than most of us on this forum, I don't see them spending all the extra money on delivery. So the brick and mortar stores will probably be there for a while if the cost savings are available.

 

[Fedup]

It sounds like I would have real problem with these online order because I eat a lot of unusual vegetables that the cashier at these supermarket don't even know what they are. Vegetables like celeriac root, fennel bulb, watercress, Belgian endive, radiochi, endive, frisée, cardoon and corn salad(well I have to grow them).
I buy lots of fresh fish and I don't know if the store clerk can pick the freshest or know what's the best fish either. I have to see them in real life to be able to tell how fresh they are.

 

[FUEGO]

It sounds like I would have real problem with these online order because I eat a lot of unusual vegetables that the cashier at these supermarket don't even know what they are. Vegetables like celeriac root, fennel bulb, watercress, Belgian endive, radiochi, endive, frisée, cardoon and corn salad(well I have to grow them).
I buy lots of fresh fish and I don't know if the store clerk can pick the freshest or know what's the best either.

You should give it a try sometime for entertainment purposes. When you get virtually nothing you actually ordered, complain and get the whole order free.

 

[meierlde]

I suspect that Grocery stores will be massively disrupted over the next 5-10 years. Amazon has a test-store here in Seattle where you can walk in, put stuff in your bags, and walk out and sensors auto-deduct the cost from your credit card when you leave. Even our local Whole Foods is doing a brisk business with Instacart, people walk in and pick up a pre-packed bag of groceries, or have them delivered.

DH and I are experimenting with two delivery services - one that delivers grass fed and organic meat monthly, and a second that delivers produce weekly. The quality of the food is higher than what we can get at the grocery store, and it leaves us to pick up a few small items (milk, a specific vegetable we want...) when we're out running errands. We don't have a car, and not lugging heavy bags home is a fairly big perk.

Tech heavy and relatively wealthy Seattle is probably on the early side of adoption, but I can see these things becoming more ubiquitous over time.

SIS

This is back to the future in spades. In the 1950s you still had milk home delivery and bread (and bakery) home delivery, and I understand some meat markets still delivered in big cities. Just like you had dry cleaning home delivery. As to frozen food it is not a problem you just put it on dry ice and it keeps a while (actually this is how some frozen stuff is shipped today) If for example the UPS store offered to rent lockers for food it would be another example of the old locker plant attached to a meat cutting outfit where you could order 1/2 a beef for example and watch it be cut (this was before big freezers just 1-2 cu ft size).

 

[meierlde]

It sounds like I would have real problem with these online order because I eat a lot of unusual vegetables that the cashier at these supermarket don't even know what they are. Vegetables like celeriac root, fennel bulb, watercress, Belgian endive, radiochi, endive, frisée, cardoon and corn salad(well I have to grow them).
I buy lots of fresh fish and I don't know if the store clerk can pick the freshest or know what's the best fish either. I have to see them in real life to be able to tell how fresh they are.

Once you go to delivery by Uber for example you could order fresh from a green grocer, fish from a fish market etc.(back to the future...) Now in my case its almost all frozen, and although not as many vegatables get frozen I believe it has shown to almost be as good as fresh. Partly it is because I live alone, try to cook but then I have to eat it and get more calories that way.

 

[Elbata]

Wife and I went to Sam's Club today. They have an app called "Scan and Go". All you do is scan the code of the item you're purchasing (works very well and quickly). When all done, simply complete the transaction (pay) on the app. Then when exiting the store, show phone to the employee and they do something with their gizmo and you're free to leave. Very simple.
My only question: When we were leaving the store and the employee used his thingamajigger, how did the store know we didn't put any extra items in our cart? If that gizmo somehow knows exactly what we bought is all that is in the cart, it's a huge time saver for the company. Also, I will guarantee in a short time, fewer checkers. It really is super convenient.
http://corporate.samsclub.com/…/5-reasons-to-check-out-scan…
I just now got off the phone talking to Sam's Club we went to today and asked her the above question. She said it scans our most expensive item down to the lowest cost item, with the # of items bought. She also said people would be able to put in extra items without store knowing, so it does take vigilance on the part of Sam's Club.
She also said even employees love it. They can just get a salad, on just one item, pay through their phone and they're on their way.