Grocery Shopping

[tb001]

I don't understand the 3 month thing. If you can't renew for 70 days or so, what difference does it make. Or is the supply pipeline that sensitive?

OR, does the system depend on zero waste. Say that if you die, and if you have 3 months supply, then you leave 2 months to rot? If they only give our 1 month at a time, when you die, you leave 2 weeks to rot. Is our supply that on the edge?

More likely, you stock up and then switch insurance! That’s the reasoning behind limitations for commercial payers.

 

[jazz4cash]

For anyone that wanted to try Sams Club they have an offer.

I went in the store and signed up for $45, and they gave me a $45 gift card, so basically the membership was free. I immediately shopped and used the gift card along with my Cc to buy some stuff, and bought cheap gas as well.

You do need the coupon, you can get one at: https://specialoffer.samsclub.com/

You do have to do it in the store, I could not find a way to do it online.

......Enjoy

Thanks for the link. Worked like a charm. They gave me a hard sell for premium membership. Not worth it. I was sorta impressed with the efficiency of their checkout setup including the scan and go. They were out of rotisserie chickens, though. It was a 45 min wait for next batch but they were just as big as I recall and priced the same as 15 yrs ago when we let our membership go.

 

[brett]

We live in Canada. Went to Costco again this week. Still skads of paper products piled high to the rafters. No sign of any shortage or even a 'run' on the product.

My daughter lives in a smaller, remote town. She ordered paper products-paper towels, bathroom tissue, etc. from costco.ca yesterday. It gets delivered tomorrow. No problem whatsoever. The only thing that she wanted but could not get was a six pack of those Lysol wipes.

 

[tmm99]

We live in Canada. Went to Costco again this week. Still skads of paper products piled high to the rafters. No sign of any shortage or even a 'run' on the product.

My daughter lives in a smaller, remote town. She ordered paper products-paper towels, bathroom tissue, etc. from costco.ca yesterday. It gets delivered tomorrow. No problem whatsoever. The only thing that she wanted but could not get was a six pack of those Lysol wipes.

I'm envious. Which province do you live in? I live in Ontario (far south) and so far, my FB Costco group is telling me that newly stocked TP and paper towels are gone within one hour. Paper towels wouldn't run out as quickly if they lowered their 2 package limit to 1. When I went there a few days ago to buy a pumpkin pie, there was 0 TP and 0 paper towels. The timing is everything around here.

 

[lucky penny]

Our fridge packed it in two weeks ago. 13 years old, freon leak. Time for a replacement.

Sounds easy? We needed an immediate replacement. Went shopping and to our amazement delivery was not available on many units. Some out as far as Nov. and Dec. Much of the available stock consisted of poorly reviewed models.

We ended up with two final choices based on our preferences and delivery-Whirlpool and LG. Whirlpool was subsequently struck off the list because of their poor quality and maintenance record. We settled for the LG because it could be delivered within two business days.

Two very large wholesale appliance firms told us the issue was parts. Manufacturers are experiencing significant delays in sourcing parts from different countries. Some covid related, some trade related.

My 25-year old Maytag died 2 days ago so I can relate! It's great that you found a new one so quickly - I'm still searching & having major problems. I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll start a new one.

 

[jazz4cash]

Speaking of paper products, I’m shocked that anyplace is still in short supply. Everyplace around here seems to be fully stocked and I noticed that Sam’s club had a sale on our favorite variety of TP.

 

[RonBoyd]

We live in Canada. Went to Costco again this week. Still skads of paper products piled high to the rafters. No sign of any shortage or even a 'run' on the product.

My daughter lives in a smaller, remote town. She ordered paper products-paper towels, bathroom tissue, etc. from costco.ca yesterday. It gets delivered tomorrow. No problem whatsoever. The only thing that she wanted but could not get was a six pack of those Lysol wipes.

The problem I have found with Costco is the 25% price increase for delivered items -- no matter whether it is Instacart or their own service. (Google it.) This is in addition to all the normal delivery fees -- like delivery and tips.

 

[brett]

I'm envious. Which province do you live in? I live in Ontario (far south) and so far, my FB Costco group is telling me that newly stocked TP and paper towels are gone within one hour. Paper towels wouldn't run out as quickly if they lowered their 2 package limit to 1. When I went there a few days ago to buy a pumpkin pie, there was 0 TP and 0 paper towels. The timing is everything around here.

Calgary, Alberta. Went again yesterday. Same story. No shortages. Plenty of paper products on the floor.

Cannot speak to limits. The only limits we have ever had was in May when my spouses 90 day prescription for bog standard generic high blood pressure pills could only be filled for 30 days. Filled last month for 90 days.

 

[anethum]

In the DC area, there are ample supplies of all paper products. When shelves were bare in the spring, the 2 largest supermarket chains both got hold of Mexican brands of TP. I saw at least 3 different Mexican brands of TP. Labeling was entirely in Spanish. About a month ago, one of the chains, Safeway (owned by Albertsons), had a glut of TP because they now had all of their usual US brands. They put individual rolls of one of the Mexican brands, Pétalo (a product of Kimberly-Clark de México) on sale at 5 cents/roll. At that price, I bought a few rolls to try. Though it has about the same number of squares as my favorite American TP (so-called "double" rolls) and the squares are 2-ply, the squares are smaller and each ply is thinner. I weighed a roll and it was only 3 oz, whereas my US brand weighs nearly 7 oz. I have to use more squares of the Mexican TP but it's otherwise OK. I've traveled a fair bit in Mexico so I was already used to the differences in size and texture.

 

[tmm99]

Calgary, Alberta. Went again yesterday. Same story. No shortages. Plenty of paper products on the floor.

Cannot speak to limits. The only limits we have ever had was in May when my spouses 90 day prescription for bog standard generic high blood pressure pills could only be filled for 30 days. Filled last month for 90 days.

Hey, thanks. I must live among hoarders. We had all the paper products at Costco (no wipes) before our numbers started climbing however.

They're doing the 30 day refill again in Ontario.

 

[Sunset]

The problem I have found with Costco is the 25% price increase for delivered items -- no matter whether it is Instacart or their own service. (Google it.) This is in addition to all the normal delivery fees -- like delivery and tips.

I noticed the same thing, check out Sam's as the price is the same (in what I could check).
I got a sam's membership for free (earlier post).
Some of Sam's items they will even ship free, and the price was 1 cent less than in the Costco store.
With Sam's if you get the plus membership, then shipping is free (and as far as I could tell the price was in-store price).

I do prefer Costco, but won't pay the inflated price as it's just a hidden shipping cost.

 

[Dtail]

The problem I have found with Costco is the 25% price increase for delivered items -- no matter whether it is Instacart or their own service. (Google it.) This is in addition to all the normal delivery fees -- like delivery and tips.

Similar to restaurant deliveries, we now have a service fee, delivery fee and a tip.

 

[cbo111]

Just realized I have not set foot in a Walmart in almost 7 months....and I don't miss it at all!

 

[timo2]

I ran across this competitor to instacart called 'Dumpling'. Has anyone tried it?

Apparently they charge the price the store does, and you have your own repeat shopper, not always new ones.

https://dumpling.us/

here is an article from Forbes from June. "Over the past few months, employees from leading grocery delivery companies have staged strikes, calling for better wages, benefits and protections from the coronavirus. Dumpling executives say their model is far more equitable—empowering shoppers to have more control over their own business.

Earlier this month, Dumpling raised an additional $6.5 million in funding over last year’s initial round. Yet Dumpling is definitely the underdog. Instacart’s most recent funding round brought in much more, $225 million to be exact, boosting its stock valuation and catapulting Instacart CEO Apoorva Mehta into the billionaire’s club. Can Dumpling compete?"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jennys...ry-app-dumpling-rival-instacart/#2bfc69b0612a

 

[RonBoyd]

Similar to restaurant deliveries, we now have a service fee, delivery fee and a tip.

With Costco, however, it is hidden in the price -- the delivery invoice will show ~25% greater price than the instore receipt. The reason I know this is the Instacart shopper left both receipts with my order -- the one at check-out and the one credited to my card. This, again, is in addition to "a service fee, delivery fee and a tip."

A Google search showed me it is in the Costco "rules" that you agree to.

 

[brett]

Things are more expensive in a remote area. Daughter, like us, only cares about the bottom line price and the assortment of goods online vs in her local stores.

 

[Dreamer]

I have a basic Sam's Club membership. I ordered my groceries on 09/28 and ordered Fiber One cereal to be shipped for free. Fedex delivered the 4 boxes of Fiber One today.

 

[travelover]

With Costco, however, it is hidden in the price -- the delivery invoice will show ~25% greater price than the instore receipt. The reason I know this is the Instacart shopper left both receipts with my order -- the one at check-out and the one credited to my card. This, again, is in addition to "a service fee, delivery fee and a tip."

A Google search showed me it is in the Costco "rules" that you agree to.

I had the same experience, which I related here, earlier in the pandemic. Between the fees , markup and tip, I paid $100 extra for $175 worth of groceries.

 

[RobbieB]

Fantastic!

 

[harllee]

Grocery

Things I like about Walmart grocery pickup--the prices are the same as in the store and no fees and no tips allowed.

 

[JoeWras]

Things I like about Walmart grocery pickup--the prices are the same as in the store and no fees and no tips allowed.

Agree! And we haven't stepped foot in the store in 6 months.

And, you can add motor oil and filters to your grocery list too!

 

[jollystomper]

I had not done COFSDASH™ in a while, so decided to go to my local Costco this morning and check things out. Arrived about 8:40 AM, only 5 folks ahead of me in line, by the 9AM opening I estimated a total of 30 people.

They had the 5 pack Clorox wipes in stock, but had 2 employees handing them out to people who wanted them. Limit 1 per member. I observed several members trying to make the case for getting more than one, but the employees stood firm.

I checked the pallet before I left, it seemed about half depleted. However, upon exiting, I noticed a much longer line of "regular" folks waiting for the 10AM opening, so my guess is the remaining wipes would be scarfed up in less than an hour.

All the other "when the Apocalypse comes I do not want to be stuck without it" items were plentiful in stock.

 

[ivinsfan]

Agree! And we haven't stepped foot in the store in 6 months.

And, you can add motor oil and filters to your grocery list too!

I've found that you can buy almost anything in the store with an online grocery order. In fact WalMart has changed the name from grocery to simply pickup and delivery..

 

[harllee]

Agree! And we haven't stepped foot in the store in 6 months.

And, you can add motor oil and filters to your grocery list too!

Me too Joe --I have not been inside a store since March 5--I may never go in side a grocery store again.

 

[brett]

My 25-year old Maytag died 2 days ago so I can relate! It's great that you found a new one so quickly - I'm still searching & having major problems. I don't want to hijack this thread so I'll start a new one.

We tried three appliance stores. As a last resort we decided to try Best Buy. They had the right unit, at the right price, and could deliver within our desired time frame. Knowledgeable salesperson, excellent delivery team.