I made a pick up order Monday at Krogers. I had ordered 10 items. It was NOT A SHOP it was a personal shopping trip. When I got the order, there were only 6 of the 11 items I ordered. Not sure if a sloppy picker or if the store was out of things- Everything else was marked as OUT OF STOCK. The price I paid was significantly less than what I had expected. I began to think about this- what would have happened if this was a shop with the 8 item requirement with the $30 in reimbursement?

There have been more than a few pickup shops I have completed where because of out of stock items that they couldn't substitute, my order consisted of less than 8 items and/or less than $25. I think the MSC realizes that this can happen, so I've never had any issues at all. I do write a short note at the end of the report stating that I ordered X number of items and how many items were cancelled.

@SueW70 wrote:

I made a pick up order Monday at Krogers. I had ordered 10 items. It was NOT A SHOP it was a personal shopping trip. When I got the order, there were only 6 of the 11 items I ordered. Not sure if a sloppy picker or if the store was out of things- Everything else was marked as OUT OF STOCK. The price I paid was significantly less than what I had expected. I began to think about this- what would have happened if this was a shop with the 8 item requirement with the $30 in reimbursement?

It believe it is addressed in the guidelines. I'm always so irked when this happens and wish they would just pay a flat $30 so that you're not short changed when items are out of stock. I'm always loathe to order any high ticket items because I've been burnt from this before.

That's happened to me a few times at Krogers and Targets. Sometimes the out of stock items lead me to have less than $20 in reimbursement. Really annoying.

At Kroger, if you pick a more expensive substitute for your choice, they will update your order with the more expensive item, but you pay the original price. So you might want to keep that in mind when placing orders and choosing subs.

There are two reasons, this situation is one, why I am not a proponent of Kroger pick-up shops. A few months ago, I was conversing with a gal who is now retired; I originally met her when she was an 18 yr. old bagger. Her job entailed filling pick-up orders, so I inquired as to the success rate and learned she is rarely able to complete as ordered. I do not desire substitutes and I want the ability to shop the Kroger affordable produce table/cart.

I also am reluctant to order high ticket items. Even when I l try not to order "low stock" items, it does happen. Often it's dairy. Recently on a Sunday morning they were also out of my preferred substitute and the shopper gave me another (higher priced) item and asked if it was okay. It showed up as $0 on my final receipt. Maybe the out of stocks are more frequent on Sundays and Mondays. The shopper mentioned that their store restocks at 11 am.

Just to keep it real, it's supposed to be a $25 reimbursement, and they are letting us go up to $30 because... I guess because of the pickup fee, but it hasn't seemed to matter if you get up to $30 reimbursement and no fee.

I try to go over a little bit so I get the full $30. It's more often the weighed produce items that throws it off.

My experience recently is that the success rate is pretty good during the week, if I order the night before or that morning. Because I take so many of these, I can always fill in anything critical doing one of the required in-stores (our region has the one/one rule). There are a few items that I will no longer order for pickup due to past out of stocks.

There seem to more restrictions on what is allowed as a substitute listed in the original order, even when some other items make sense.

As far as wanting to shop the markdowns, our region has the one to one rule, we have to do the instore shops. I've noticed recently that the markdowns are not as good as they used to be. Maybe corporate has gone to a no more than 50% off policy?

Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 04/17/2024 05:27PM by melg.

I try not to order big ticket items either because I have been burned in the past in that the big ticket item is the one item that usually gets cancelled. But last week I decided to break my rule and order a rack of ribs for $14 from a store that has always had them in stock when I did the in store. And of course, it was out of stock and not substituted. My total cost of the order was about $16. Lesson learned (again)

@shopperbob wrote:

There are two reasons, this situation is one, why I am not a proponent of Kroger pick-up shops. A few months ago, I was conversing with a gal who is now retired; I originally met her when she was an 18 yr. old bagger. Her job entailed filling pick-up orders, so I inquired as to the success rate and learned she is rarely able to complete as ordered. I do not desire substitutes and I want the ability to shop the Kroger affordable produce table/cart.

I know there is no arguing with shopperbob, but this still boggles my mind. If you are doing, say, 4 shops (that you're passing on your way for your regular work so you can write off your mileage, etc.) I don't know why you wouldn't want to add 4 pick up shops for how little effort they are and increase your reimbursements by $120 ($30x4). Again, I know you have your criteria, your plans, your store, etc. but these shops are really so little effort.

Sorry, I just couldn't keep it in!

Despite my occasional gripe about an out of stock item, the vast majority of my orders are without issue.

Olympia,

As I mentioned, there are two reasons, but the second, to my manner of thinking, was not germane to the thread; it is now.

When I complete a Kroger, it rarely fits category #1: Money. It never fits #2: Leisure. That leaves #3: The defrayment of business or personal travel expenses. As such, those wholesalers from whom I purchase product conduct their affairs in a manner by which my flexibility is paramount. As an example, one chap is 88 and I never know if I will depart his store in 15 mins. or two hrs. The Kroger in-store visit window of eight hrs. works well for both parties.

Last cycle, I was able to add a few fuel stops with zero interference into either shopping or personal business. I do not foresee the pick-ups, though, ever being a positive experience for me.

If the store doesn't substitute the out of stock item, or you refuse what they choose as a replacement, you will be paid. The shop won't be rejected. In addition to answering the questions about my order, I also send a screen shot of my original order, that also shows all of my chosen substitutes.

This round I ended up with 2 shops that went below reimbursement. One of them the picker completely ignored my choice of substitute and and just picked something else out entirely. The second had to be a lazy picker, who couldn't read the substitute choices. There was no substitute offered and the poor guy that came out to my car couldn't answer my questions about why I didn't get my chosen substitution item. For this one I sent my son into the store to find the item, not only was it there in abundant supply, the item I requested for the substitution was also available.

Like others, I have gotten lower reimbursement before for out of stock items. However, this doesn't seem to be an issue lately.

To mitigate this from happening, I review my cart before checking out a pickup order, and consider the impact of the 1-2 highest priced items being OOS. Since these are grocery staples, I may spend more than $25 minimum to get full reimbursement.

I would never order a $25 box of diapers with 7 other low cost items.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

I rack it up to, the age old saying "young people today". I honestly believe that there are pickers who don't look for items that they don't know what or where they are. That has indeed happened to me. Either they werw rushing to finish the order or didn't want to look for it. Either way i needed the item so i parked went in and bought it AND complained to the manager, not that it did any good whatsoever. One case was at Walmart. I had mostly grocery items and ONE hygiene item. I'm pretty sure that they were just to lazy to walk all the way across the store to get it
Since I'm low income and only get $140 a month in food stamps it hurts me more significantly to not receive the free item.

F&L, I suspect you are right, and I think others would agree.

Back in the old days when we were allowed to complete in store and pickup the same day, I would always check to see if the item that was substituted or cancelled was actually on the shelf. I found that more than half the time, the item that was cancelled was right there on the shelf. I've noticed that what gets cancelled often but was there when I checked were bakery items located in the bakery area. I don't think the pickers wanted to spend the time looking over all the tables trying to find the item I ordered. It's probably easier when it's on an aisle that they can look up the number rather than search through the bakery tables. I dunno, just my guess, but there seems to be a pattern of what often gets cancelled.

I wish there was a place on the form to talk about issues with ordering- I often get a price including a $4.95 pick up fee which is not correct. I sometimes have to go and add everything up to be sure it is not going to result in a fee. I also have had issues with things being said to be OUT OF STOCK and then when I go into the store I find the item. Once I had 3 cleaning products marked as OUT OF STOCK. I lost a lot on the reimbursement and was so annoyed. Went into the store right after pick up and lo and behold all 3 were there next to each other in the shelf- as plain as day. Once it was paper towels- marked OUT STOCK and no replacements- went in and PLESNTY of paper towels! Once it was cat food marked as OUT OF STOCK- went in and there were about 30 cans in stock. So annoying! I wish there was a place on the report to report such things- noting the color of the hair of the person who comes to the car and if they have glasses or jewelry is not relevant to me- what I care about is order accuracy and being provided with what was ordered rather than a rash of OUT OF STOCK false notes! I think Krogers would benefit more from hearing about the accuracy of their pickers than the color of the hair of the person who delivers the items to the car.

I agree, Sue. Customers care more about half their order being out of stock rather than the pick up person stating they have finished loading the car. I know Pickup gets measured on how long it takes them to arrive at the customer's car. I'm wondering if there is a measure on how long it takes sales associates to grocery shop. I wouldn't think it can be done since some orders are larger than others. It doesn't make sense to mark something out of stock when it's clearly there unless they are in a big rush to beat a time.

I agree. The client employees that pick the pickup and delivery orders should measure the store on fulfillment rate and accuracy. A team lead should review lost sales (out of stocks) and substitutions that cost the store over "x" amount.

My friend stopped ordering pick up from Kroger's and started doing all her shopping elsewhere due to the poor quality of pick up order accuracy! This is a real issue! Too bad Krogers does not want to address such issues but rather wastes money on what I think are rather useless shops..

My friend stopped ordering pick up from Kroger's and started doing all her shopping elsewhere due to the poor quality of pick up order accuracy! This is a real issue! Too bad Krogers does not want to address such issues but rather wastes money on what I think are rather useless shops..

Not all Kroger pick up orders are fulfilled from the pick-up location. I found out they sometimes use a warehouse and deliver the order to the store. That's why they ask about bag color.

Yes I was told if I order for same day pick up the store picks the order but if I order a day before or more ahead a center picks it and ships it to the store. In any case Kroger should be aware of orders with out of stock items as whoever picks it, customers want what they ordered or will go elsewhere.

I'm pretty sure that the report includes questions about order fulfillment, i.e. were items missing, did you get the substitute you asked for, etc...

There is no question related to totally not delivered items.