Grocery Shopping

[Amethyst]

Here in FL, masks have basically vanished. I have seen only a small number of frail-looking Old people wearing them. Maybe they cannot take a vaccine, or vaccines won't work for them.

Traffic is at least as bad as before the pandemic.

A

In other news, it seems our supermarket has essentially returned to its pre-COVID state. No masks required, and zero people were choosing to wear them (not even employees). This despite Louisiana having the [-]second[/-] fourth lowest percentage fully vaccinated in the US AFAIK. There were no markings on the floor any more, no more one way aisles, and no more signs about social distancing. I think the plexiglass barriers between customer and cashier were still there, but that was about it. .

 

[W2R]

Here in FL, masks have basically vanished. I have seen only a small number of frail-looking Old people wearing them. Maybe they cannot take a vaccine, or vaccines won't work for them.

Traffic is at least as bad as before the pandemic.

Traffic is insane, absolutely bat-s*** crazy here! Probably the worst we have ever seen. We are mystified since nothing is really going on.

 

[braumeister]

Here in FL, masks have basically vanished. I have seen only a small number of frail-looking Old people wearing them. Maybe they cannot take a vaccine, or vaccines won't work for them.

Here in the midwest, I still see about 10-15% of people still wearing masks. But they are of all ages, ranging from teenagers to middle-aged. Hardly any older people.

 

[Aerides]

Here in FL, masks have basically vanished. I have seen only a small number of frail-looking Old people wearing them. Maybe they cannot take a vaccine, or vaccines won't work for them.

As you know, Florida is basically 5 different states in one. Two counties south of you, I'd say masks are still about 60% in use. Including a lot of mask-around-the chin and mask-in-hand stuff.

I did notice though Publix seems to be mask optional for employees. My PT place lets us go mask-free after showing our vaccine cards too.

 

[harllee]

I have been going into a local grocery store for some items (although I still prefer the Walmart pick up for most items). Our state has done away with mandatory mask requirements although local businesses can still require them. The Harris Teeter has a sign that says masks are no long required but encouraged. Today all the Harris Teeter employees had on masks and I would guess that 90% of the customers did. I was wearing my mask and since I have an immune compromised husband (he has had the vaccine but his doctor is concerned it was not effective) I plan to continue to wear my mask indoors in crowded places. I was pleased to see so many people wearing masks at the grocery store.

 

[RonBoyd]

I got hooked on online/drive up shopping in the pandemic and expect to keep doing it indefinitely.

+1

 

[steady saver]

I am one of those odd ducks that loves grocery shopping (at a good grocery store). Here in Texas, mask wearing is all over the place but in the city I'd say that roughly 70% of shoppers (myself included) still wear masks.
My local Trader Joe's has dropped mandatory mask wearing but I'm guessing about 85% of the shoppers and 95% of the employees still were wearing masks when I went last week. At Central Market, a Texas-based grocery store, it was more like 70% of the shoppers wearing masks.

I can totally understand the efficiency and other benefits of online grocery shopping but, as someone who LOVES a good grocery store, the thought of doing it myself is depressing. There were times during the worst of the pandemic that shopping itself was depressing and I felt like I was taking my life into my own hands, but as things improve it's feeling more like old times. It will be a thrill when I finally feel like I can stop wearing my mask, but for now I do it as much for others (those immunocompromised folks who can't take the vaccine for medical reasons) as anything. And, heck, I never had a cold this past year so there's that too.

 

[pacergal]

I got hooked on online/drive up shopping in the pandemic and expect to keep doing it indefinitely.

++
I have started going into a few stores occasionally, majority still masked up as I am, even though vaccinated. I Trust the science, just have enjoyed no colds for over a year!
DS recently stopped mask wearing except when required. Sick as a dog this week with respiratory symptoms. He has severe allergies, though. But has not had any issues at all over the past year.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We're doing a mix of pickup and in store shopping these days. We're still using pickup for some of the basics we get from retail stores. Whole Foods has the best local prices on some organic / healthy items, especially their 365 brand. We used Safeway for pick up for $5 Friday specials. They had cheese for $3 a pound and paleo pancake mix for less than half the regular price recently.

We have started in person shopping again at the local closeout type stores since we've both been vaccinated. They have the best deals but don't have pickup since the merchandise changes daily. I'm glad to have our grocery bill going back down again. It really went up when we were just doing order pickup. We go and buy what is on sale / close out. Then I make up meals with my cooking without recipe book from the weekly specials and whatever we've stockpiled. Like one of the stores had turkey sausage that was normally $6 a pound for 97 cents because it was near the sell by date, so I bought what was left and put it in the chest freezer.

 

[stepford]

In the last month we've completely returned to our pre-pandemic habits of shopping at the local grocery store every couple of days. One holdover from COVID that I think we'll keep, though, is getting non-perishables shipped from Walmart. For bulky dry goods it's just easier (and usually cheaper).

 

[ksr]

Just about all the local grocery (and other) stores now have a policy that masks are optional for those who are fully vaccinated. I find it interesting, though, that despite something like a 70% vaccination rate, at least 90% of customers are still wearing masks. It seems like nobody wants to be the first to take theirs off!

 

[Koolau]

Just about all the local grocery (and other) stores now have a policy that masks are optional for those who are fully vaccinated. I find it interesting, though, that despite something like a 70% vaccination rate, at least 90% of customers are still wearing masks. It seems like nobody wants to be the first to take theirs off!

Maybe it's not wanting to be "stared at" by fellow shoppers.

Now that we've finally been released to take masks off OUTSIDE, most people still wear them outside. YMMV

 

[Another Reader]

We're doing a mix of pickup and in store shopping these days. We're still using pickup for some of the basics we get from retail stores. Whole Foods has the best local prices on some organic / healthy items, especially their 365 brand. We used Safeway for pick up for $5 Friday specials. They had cheese for $3 a pound and paleo pancake mix for less than half the regular price recently.

We have started in person shopping again at the local closeout type stores since we've both been vaccinated. They have the best deals but don't have pickup since the merchandise changes daily. I'm glad to have our grocery bill going back down again. It really went up when we were just doing order pickup. We go and buy what is on sale / close out. Then I make up meals with my cooking without recipe book from the weekly specials and whatever we've stockpiled. Like one of the stores had turkey sausage that was normally $6 a pound for 97 cents because it was near the sell by date, so I bought what was left and put it in the chest freezer.

How does Safeway pick up work? Is there a fee? I load up on $5 Friday specials, often combined with Just 4 U coupons. Can you do that with pick up?

 

[Sunset]

Just about all the local grocery (and other) stores now have a policy that masks are optional for those who are fully vaccinated. I find it interesting, though, that despite something like a 70% vaccination rate, at least 90% of customers are still wearing masks. It seems like nobody wants to be the first to take theirs off!

Here the vaccination rate is about 55%

I just spent some time grocery shopping in the store, it sucked up an hour of my time.
I'll probably do a mix of grocery store and Walmart pickup, as I did miss some of the grocery store meat counter selections.

However, Walmart saves me at least 1/2 hour each trip. How much is my life worth

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

They bring my groceries (and lots of other things walmart sells) right to my front doorstep. That and 5 cents off a gallon at the walmart station? Please. Groceries meet me when I come in from out of town, or arrive before I need cream in my morning coffee. They arrive at my rental airbnb's. Going to the store is so precovid.

 

[harllee]

They bring my groceries (and lots of other things walmart sells) right to my front doorstep. That and 5 cents off a gallon at the walmart station? Please. Groceries meet me when I come in from out of town, or arrive before I need cream in my morning coffee. They arrive at my rental airbnb's. Going to the store is so precovid.

So you must have had good success with Walmart grocery delivery? I have successfully been doing WM curbside pick up (even before Covid). I signed up for Walmart plus and I tried WM grocery home several times and it was unsatisfactory. I did not get many things I ordered but I was charged anyway and then I had a hard time getting a refund. One time over half my order was missing. Any suggestions how to get WM grocery delivery to work?

 

[daylatedollarshort]

How does Safeway pick up work? Is there a fee? I load up on $5 Friday specials, often combined with Just 4 U coupons. Can you do that with pick up?

There is no fee is with a minimum order of $30. But their minimum order calculations are often on the original amounts, not the sale prices, so you can often get free pickup for only a $20 or so bill on a $5 Friday.

Yes, you can get $5 Friday prices, weekly ad prices and just for you coupons with order pickup. What you can't use are AARP's 20% off gift cards, or any other gift card. If you want to stack those, too, you have to go in store and can't use the self check out.

 

[MrsHaloFIRE]

Harllee,
No great suggestions other than trying again if you did it during peak covid as ALL grocery availability was messed up then and they were ramping up their delivery service. It could be that you just have a weak WM delivery program at the store servicing your area. My only complaint of late is they dropped off my delivery one street over to the same house number. Delivery driver called to say he left it and I told him he had not as I was on my porch looking. He immediately reloaded all the groceries and brought them to the correct house. Ive had a couple fruits bruised beyond repair that they quickly refunded me via chat when I sent a chat message to complain. Last week I had to unexpectedly go to the dr and I want DH with me and we realized we would miss our delivery. I chatted with them on the drive to the dr, they could not change my time to later but they COULD cancel the order, duplicate it, and have it brought at my new desired time which was incredibly helpful to me. It came with no issues that afternoon.

 

[daylatedollarshort]

We don't have Walmart delivery yet, but I did try out Amazon Fresh recently. They had some items priced as low as Walmart, though most were more. Like the soup DH likes is less than half the price of the local supermarkets on Amazon fresh with free delivery and close to the Walmart price. Even with a 15% tip it is still a nice savings in both money and time. With Whole Foods and now Amazon Fresh, we've rarely had any errors on our orders.

 

[flyingaway]

If you are retired, is shopping in stores a part of fun?

 

[Markola]

We will keep on until they start charging for it.

So far, I typically pay $1.99 through the Instacart app that our local big box grocery store uses for their drive up service (Cub Foods, much like Kroger). The prices aren’t quite as good as the Super Target we used to use but it’s just so darn convenient to shop on a pretty good app while drinking coffee at home and checking our supplies of this and that, then simply pulling up for them.

Super Target has a version of this but, when I tried their drive up a year ago, the selection was far more limited than walking in, for some reason, the app was confusing and I couldn’t use my Red Card (5% off everything.). If they fix the kinks, I’ll go back to them.

 

[Amethyst]

Not if it wasn't fun before! I don't enjoy grocery shopping. Since I cook from scratch, it's pretty much the same ingredients on rotation, so an efficient pick-up service is perfect for us.

I'm at least as busy, retired, as I was before.

If you are retired, is shopping in stores a part of fun?

 

[harllee]

Harllee,
No great suggestions other than trying again if you did it during peak covid as ALL grocery availability was messed up then and they were ramping up their delivery service. It could be that you just have a weak WM delivery program at the store servicing your area. My only complaint of late is they dropped off my delivery one street over to the same house number. Delivery driver called to say he left it and I told him he had not as I was on my porch looking. He immediately reloaded all the groceries and brought them to the correct house. Ive had a couple fruits bruised beyond repair that they quickly refunded me via chat when I sent a chat message to complain. Last week I had to unexpectedly go to the dr and I want DH with me and we realized we would miss our delivery. I chatted with them on the drive to the dr, they could not change my time to later but they COULD cancel the order, duplicate it, and have it brought at my new desired time which was incredibly helpful to me. It came with no issues that afternoon.

Thanks Mrs Halo, I have recently tried WM delivery again and it was still awful so it is not just a pandemic problem. I think it is that my local WM store is terrible. I never use it for pick up i drive to a much better WM store a few miles further. It appears that when you do delivery WM uses the closest store and I have not figured out anyway to request a different store for delivery.

 

[Another Reader]

Thanks Mrs Halo, I have recently tried WM delivery again and it was still awful so it is not just a pandemic problem. I think it is that my local WM store is terrible. I never use it for pick up i drive to a much better WM store a few miles further. It appears that when you do delivery WM uses the closest store and I have not figured out anyway to request a different store for delivery.

I can't do Walmart delivery for the same reason. The closest full size store is poorly managed and in a bad neighborhood. That's the delivery source. Pick up is not available at the "neighborhood market." My only option is pick up at a Walmart 20 minutes away. Walmart meat and poultry is of poor quality anyway, so I don't bother.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Traffic is insane, absolutely bat-s*** crazy here! Probably the worst we have ever seen. We are mystified since nothing is really going on.

I would guess you have A LOT of visitors. Damn near EVERYONE wants to get out and about and well, you live in NOLA.

Went to Wal Mart Sunday evening about 7 to pick up a few odds and ends. It was very quiet and the shelves were stocked pretty well which surprised me a bit being the end of the weekend when shelves seem to be at the lowest stocked levels.