I had my first grocery shopping To Go experience this month - almost a full year into the pandemic, our local Hannaford began offering this feature. It was easy and efficient, but not quick. Since it was the first time I used the online App, I explored all sorts of possibilities, and after spending ages scrolling through innumerable products in all sorts of categories, I had to keep reminding myself to blink so I could regulate my eyes' tear response, and not just frozenly stare at my screen.
Who knew that my local Maine store offers a choice of 1,036 different products in the category coffee/tea/cocoa?
And that there are 445 candy products to choose from?
Seriously, do we really need this level of choice and differentiation to live a good life? There are people who don't even have basic clean water - my toilet water is cleaner than the water they have to drink!
Anyway, back to online shopping (ahhh, that in itself is an extreme luxury, I'm embarrassed to say). At last, when scrolling started becoming tedious, I discovered the 'SEARCH' button! Okay, stop laughing - some of us are slow learners 😀 - and I wanted to have the FULL experience.
I decided to check the "no substitutions" box, since the products I buy are carefully selected to not include soy. I also added many repeatable items to a grocery list that will hopefully make my next shopping experience simpler. Furthermore, I have learned that I need to plan ahead with my online grocery shopping, since the earliest slots for pickup were 2 days out, but I also found how easily I could add, edit and tweak my order when it was still a few days out.
All this for a fee of $5 - are you kidding me? Even after COVID, why would I go back ... ? Grocery store shopping has never been anything but a major, unpleasant chore for me. And this way, I won't be adding things to the cart that are designed to attract my attention as I wheel past them, and buy something on 'impulse.'
Way to go, To Go!
Disclaimer: I hadn't yet picked up my order when I wrote this.
4 comments:
My daughter had been using a local shopping service before COVID and she said the same thing...it's so nice to have it just delivered and spend that time doing other things. Really, I remember that it took me quite a few hours to accomplish the whole process of shopping....thank God right now, my husband is doing that chore....feeling blessed. I do miss, however, just jumping in the car and going down to the local little store to grab a few things and see the same people in the store and locals hanging around the deli. Miss that.
Yes, the most challenging part of Hannaford To Go was navigating the website. I made some of those mistakes also. But when I got accustomed to it and figured out the role of the "list" things went a lot better. Ahh... the learning curve. :)
Yes, Wendy, an actual going to the store grocery visit for me usually took quite a few hours of my time, but mostly because I'd been curating my perfect, lengthy and all-encompassing list on my refrigerator for some time, so there was always a lot to buy. This part is the same, but the time it took to fulfill my list at the store myself made it even more unpleasant and time-consuming.
Thank goodness for Hannaford 'to go'!
Oh, Georgette, I'm glad to hear it wasn't just me being inept and inefficient! Thanks for that! It's a great feeling to know that I can still learn new things, though - challenge is good!
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