Ever since this Pandemic started, I have been kind of scared of leaving my house. I actually didn’t leave my house until recently to go drop something at my aunt’s house a few blocks away. Anyways- we tried to limit our outings so much that only one person would go and do groceries. which also gave me anxiety because my mom would have to stand in line to even get into the store- sometimes she would be in line for like 30 mins just waiting to get it. I know there were a lot of places to order groceries from like Amazon Fresh ( free for Prime members), Shipt, and Instacart. Unfortunately, time slots were always filled up whenever I tried buying from through any of these. Recently, however, there has been a lot more time slots and availability added to Instacart, so I thought I would give it a try.
For those who are not aware what instacart is, it is a grocery delivery service, where you can shop for groceries at your local grocer all through your phone. Your order is then given to a shopper who goes and does the shopping for you and then delivers it to your door step. I wanted to try it out mainly because there was a point in Quarantine that I was actually terrified to go out. I thought I would give you guys a bit of insight as to if it worth it or not.
The app itself is really simple, you sign up and you basically put in your address and it will tell you the local stores that are participating. For me that was ALDI and Shoprite. I then went in and searched for the items I had wanted and added them to my cart and checked out. It was that simple. When you place an order, they do but an authorization on your cart for an amount that is a bit more. That is because they leave that wiggle room in case some of the items you want are out of stock and require replacements. You pick a delivery time slot before you check out so you are aware as to when your order will arrive by- sometimes they can come earlier and sometimes later which you will be notified about.
STOLEN GROCERIES
So I had initially placed an order in the Beginning of June as a lot of time slots had started to become more available as my state had entered phase 1 of reopening. My order was over $35 so I only paid about $3-4 for delivery. I placed the order at about 2 pm and had set the delivery between 3-5. I then got a notifcation that my shopper was running a bit late so it may arrive by 6-8 pm which was fine- it was right before the weekend so It made sense. I was in contact with my shopper the entire time, if something was not available she would reach out via the app and let me know and see whether any replacements worked. After the entire shopping was done and it said she had checked out and was about to deliver, something felt off. It said she checked out but never indicated she is about to deliver. I then contacted her again and she said it was just a glitch and she had never done any of my shopping! She then just stopped responding and I was kind of in a panic because she had contacted me all along the way while she was shopping. She got the groceries but refused to deliver them! I then contacted customer Service and they were more than happy to assist with my issue and had refunded me my money.
2nd Times The Charm
I was really disheartened by my initial experience but really needed to get some groceries and so I decided to try Instacart again the very next day. I went through the same exact process again and bought the same things and placed my order. Again, I was in complete contact with my shopper the entire time and she would occasionally update me if they were out of something to see if I want to get that Item replaced with something else or a full refund for that item. I was able to get most of the items that I had ordered with an exception of a couple which was because they were out of stock. The items were in great condition and everything was packaged correctly.
Final Verdict
My first experience was actually very awful but my second experience was really great. Would I recommend you try instacart? Yes and No. If you are someone who cannot physically go out to do groceries especially during this time, you should definitely try it out. If you are able to go get groceries physically, I would advise you do that. I am not sure why but I feel like it is better to go get groceries in person if you are someone like me who is a bit of a picky shopper. I think the concept of this business is great. They really earned their fair share during this pandemic because this service became a need for some people. It helped some make money while it provided a service to those who were not able to shop in person. I think there will be a new shift in the way we shop for groceries even after this pandemic is over and a lot of it may be a result of services such as Instacart.
Kainaat&CO 