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In my area , Kroger and Wal Mart have both started a new service. I can shop online for groceries, and go pick them up at a designated time. They will be waiting to just load them into my trunk. SInce today we need groceries desperately but I am dealing with severe leg cramps, I plan to utilize this service for the first time. But what do you think? Is it just one more step down the road to being unable to do the simplest things ourselves? Or is it the way of the future due to automation?
There are lots of things we used to do for ourselves that we may never have to do again, such as kill our own chickens and meat, grow our own veggies or make our own jam and quilts.
I tend to like to do things myself, and having someone else picking out my produce doesn't seem like a great idea to me most of the time. But today it seems like a godsend.

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More than one grocery chain here has had this service for at least 2-3 years. My observation is that very few people appear to be using it. I suspect that most who do have specific limitations that would make shopping quite difficult otherwise. Most of us still want to select our own produce, find the right size package of stew meat, etc. Also, grocery shopping at a store where you are recognized as a regular is a social experience. (Even here in a high population density area).

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Yes, your observations are exactly what I thought when they first rolled it out. But on facebook all my cousins and a few of my friends were all gaga over it saying they would never grocery shop again. I haven't heard if that is indeed the case, but since produce is the main component of my diet I plan to always shop myself unless (like today) I can't for some reason. Interestingly, I haven't seen a reduction of people in the store who may be having a hard time shopping for themselves. There are still a lot of seniors and people driving carts around.

Once your cousins have experience of not being able to select items by touch, feel, smell, weight, they will likely change their minds, IMHO. I am at my local grocery store 2-3 times per week and take a non-driver friend each time. I always finish first and then bring my vehicle to the "pick-up" lane to await her, since she likes to laod her purchases "just so" For every 1 pick-up being delivered to a vehicle from the refrigerated vault by store staff, I must see more than 100 in a week that are collecting groceries at curbside from a cart that they, or a rider have used in the store. And, I may go a month without seeing any "vault" grocery pick-ups.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.

Ralph's here have had the service for over a year, but the store is still mobbed...thinking it is for those single workers that don't really grocery shop much (like my daughter)., never has time....even restaurants like Panera Bread encourage phone in/pickup as well as SB. Seems to be the "new thing". I get 2.00 off lunch/dinner at Panera Bread if I call in ahead and pickup. Since I'm home with my dental stuff, maybe I will.

Live consciously....

I see it as very convenient when buying packaged goods. Do I really need to personally pick out the right 40oz bottle of Heinz ketchup? Or compare the quality and freshness of the 12-pack Charmin Ultra-Soft? For produce, meat and baked items, yeah, I want to select those myself. But it means I spend less time in the store going up and down isles. Regardless of how much time I may have, the less time trying to navigate a shopping cart around a store is good.

I am neither so busy nor so wealthy that my life requires this system or a house helper to fetch my groceries.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

UPDATE...I just ordered online (Panera Bread) which emailed me with a 2.00 discount on anything to be picked up at 12:25 and I'm loving it...so easy. I think you actually spend less ordering this way, in a grocery store, for me, I buy the whole store, this way, I make a list or see what I want on computer with calories and health info., and in a minute it's done...yes, this is for me for small orders.
No waiting in line is a good thing....and it is a good thing for invalids , seniors or recovering from surgery folks.

Live consciously....

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/30/2018 07:40PM by Irene_L.A..

I am actually doing shops for this service and have been for the past several months. It's a regional grocery chain that just started this service. They have regular grocery shops for this chain too, but the funny thing is they reimburse exactly the same amount ($28) without having to go from department to department. Really have been enjoying it, since it takes me 10 minutes to order, less than 30 (including drive time to a few of these stores), and 30 minutes or less to write up the report. And the instore shops require photos and a phone call, while the pickup shops do not!

It might be time to re-read the Ray Bradbury story about the humans who got everything they wanted at the push of a button... for awhile.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

I dunno, it's a job for me, but I would rather do the job that pays more for less work.

Coffee, we as humans have seen this evolution. We went from walking everywhere to riding horses, to using cars. We no longer have to remember phone numbers. We simply hit "redial" or some other button. We don't have to use our upper bodies to open doors anymore. The doors move for us. We take elevators instead of stairs.

It seems the only way we keep our bodies strong is by making a conscious effort to go to the gym.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I'm very aware of this. I park way out in left field when I go to any store. I try to walk fast but it's hard with all the seniors stopping in front of me to inspect the hot dog buns and discuss them at length. I take the stairs unless they are dark and creepy. We have all the calories we could ever want available. Way too many, in fact. I feel like this is a great time to be alive but we have challenges we need to face and stop looking backwards. Automation is the future whether we like it or not.
Interestingly, when I went to pick up my order all the other customers there were soccer moms with teens in the cars.

@HonnyBrown wrote:

Coffee, we as humans have seen this evolution. We went from walking everywhere to riding horses, to using cars. We no longer have to remember phone numbers. We simply hit "redial" or some other button. We don't have to use our upper bodies to open doors anymore. The doors move for us. We take elevators instead of stairs.

It seems the only way we keep our bodies strong is by making a conscious effort to go to the gym.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I dunno, it's a job for me, but I would rather do the job that pays more for less work.

Yes, in my area a Shop Metrics MSC has "order online and pickup at store" shops....they reimburse $40 and pay $10, and their report is about 80% easier than the "in store" grocery shop report!! So I do the two in my area when I can .... rotation is 60 days. The guidelines require you to order something from Produce, Dairy and Meat .... so far they have all been fresh. There's an area to type in specifics. For instance, I'll type in "Please make sure my bananas have a small amount of green on the peels and are no longer than 7", and they're supposed to make sure that your items are as specified. I've had one or 2 SNAFU's, but not with the cold stuff. One time I order a 2-ply toilet tissue, and a 1-ply was substituted without my OK ... that had to go in the report. But all in all, for a JOB, I like it. Would I use it all the time???? NO....but perhaps if I really needed something and was temporarily limited in my mobility I might.

What MSC is this? I'd like to check it out and see if they have any of this type in my area. Just to clarify, I don't mean the one that does Kroger, I already do those. I mean the one that I can order on-line and pick-up all while doing a shop.

What's done is done. An egg cracked cannot be cured.
There are 3 kinds of lies. Lies, Damn lies, and statistics.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/31/2018 02:55AM by sassymmmm.

Walmart has had this service for a while. It's great! Even my DH can do it! He has some health issues and has never shopped for groceries, well not in 35 years. You select items from their online list and can authorize a substitute or not, then schedule a time, an hour window, for pickup. It doesn't allow coupons or for looking thru clearance items. I've noticed some Walmarts you have to go inside the store and get your order. We are lucky, at ours you pull up around back in a designated area and they bring it out. No need to even get out of the car. Almost all of our regular grocery stores have order online pick up. It was a godsend when I was gone for 4 months out of state caring for my Mom at the end of her life. DH could manage groceries on his own.

Safeway, even 10 years ago, had order online and delivery. That was way helpful when DH took my sons band on the road. I could order groceries, for 5 teens!, to their locations.

@sassymmmm wrote:

What MSC is this? I'd like to check it out and see if they have any of this type in my area. Just to clarify, I don't mean the one that does Kroger, I already do those. I mean the one that I can order on-line and pick-up all while doing a shop.

Sassy, I don't think I can name the MSC, since various stores have been named. But it's one of the MSCs on the Shop Metrics platform, so sign up with all of those. Also, the one I mentioned pays faithfully by paper check, but the payment can take between 8-10 weeks, depending on when you do the shop. I shopped them the very beginning of July. They cut the check the middle of the month AFTER THE MONTH that you shopped. So I shopped early July, they cut the check mid-Sept, and I receive it around the 3rd week of Sept. Something to keep in mind if you can't wait that long to get your $40 reimb and $10 fee. Now, if you did the shop the END of July, you'd still have to wait till mid-Sept, but it would be a few weeks less in waiting.

I don't view this as being better one way or another, but a choice when one is too busy, pertaining to working Mothers.
Plenty of time here and enjoy my shopping, pop into different stores every couple of days beside a big shopping, but nice to know it's available if one needs it...options are a good thing.

Live consciously....

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/03/2018 03:13PM by Irene_L.A..

I lived in Los Angeles until 2009. The chain grocery stores were rolling out their delivery service. I tried it with Ralph's when they were offering $x in free groceries with the first order. The earliest that I could schedule it was two weeks away. That didn't work for me. I haven't tried it since, but I enjoy going grocery shopping.

"I told myself to quit you; but I don't listen to drunks." -Chris Stapleton

I wouldn't really classify this as 'automation' but rather a 'convenience' situation. The only part of the process that is technology driven is the online ordering part. Everything else is still done by a human-being. The main convenience of this type of shopping is that the work is being done by another human-being rather than us. Not really any different than when we drop the car off at the mechanic, or pay the neighbor boy to mow the grass, or pay the city to deliver water to our home instead of collecting it ourselves. Each of us has only so much time in the day and a slew of things to get done. Some we do ourselves and others we pay someone else for the convenience or knowledge they provide.

CoffeeQueen, I recently saw a $10 off your first three online orders ($50 min I believe) with Walmart. If you plan on using this service more often, hit me up and I'll see if I still have the email...

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

@msimon-2000 wrote:

CoffeeQueen, I recently saw a $10 off your first three online orders ($50 min I believe) with Walmart. If you plan on using this service more often, hit me up and I'll see if I still have the email...

Oh that would be great. I'm busier than a one armed paper hanger. Pm me and I"ll give you my email address. Thanks!

So here are a few things that I wonder about... I will limit this to Wally Worlds. If more and more customers use the point and click system and come to the store just to pick up their orders, will they stop visiting the departments within stores and the vendors at the periphery of the stores? If so,l what will become of the store space? Will the vendors (banks, salons, restaurants, etc.) within Wally Worlds lose business? If the vendors' business drops too much, will those businesses leave the Wally World host sites? Will employees of the vendors lose their jobs? Without vendors and customers, will various Wally Worlds become grocery distributors which have no additional functions or services? Some people will go to other service providers for banking, beauty, etc. Will they also go to other grocery providers in order to achieve whatever efficiency is then possible? And, will any loss of revenue from loss of vendors/rent/foot traffic be offset by reduction of expenses associated with altered job titles/roles and a possible reduction in the number of employees at each Wal-Mart location?

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

That's some pretty deep thinking there shop-et-al.

The business world is evolving very quickly these days. A company like Walmart drastically altered the small mom and pop businesses. Then, along came ebay and early ecommerce which started to change the way people thought about shopping. Amazon saw the potential and really changed the online shopping world. Add online banking in the mix and it's a wonder there are any physical stores left...lol!

Many of the online and personal shopper programs are attempts to compete with the Amazon juggernaut. Just as Walmart pushed out the little guys and Amazon is pushing out the bigger guys...someone will come along and push Amazon out. Of course, that is going to take something evolutionary to accomplish.

"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl -- year after year..."

This is a good point. And in my local Kroger I have seen new employees doing that shopping for the clicklist customers. They are everywhere. So it seems to be creating jobs.

@msimon-2000 wrote:

I wouldn't really classify this as 'automation' but rather a 'convenience' situation. The only part of the process that is technology driven is the online ordering part. Everything else is still done by a human-being. The main convenience of this type of shopping is that the work is being done by another human-being rather than us. Not really any different than when we drop the car off at the mechanic, or pay the neighbor boy to mow the grass, or pay the city to deliver water to our home instead of collecting it ourselves. Each of us has only so much time in the day and a slew of things to get done. Some we do ourselves and others we pay someone else for the convenience or knowledge they provide.

Many vendors will either survive online or in revitalized downtown areas. I know in my small town the downtown restaurants, boutiques, and farmers market are all wildly popular. So is Wally World but our world was fine before it and I wouldn't be teary eyed if it went away, unlike the small businesses that populate Main Street. Perhaps the locally owned hardware store would actually have a chance. I take my business local wherever possible. We can only speculate about loss of revenue, but Wally World jobs are not good jobs. If it becomes a grocery warehouse with people driving up and getting groceries loaded and then driving away, I don't actually think we will have lost much, if anything.

@Shop-et-al wrote:

So here are a few things that I wonder about... I will limit this to Wally Worlds. If more and more customers use the point and click system and come to the store just to pick up their orders, will they stop visiting the departments within stores and the vendors at the periphery of the stores? If so,l what will become of the store space? Will the vendors (banks, salons, restaurants, etc.) within Wally Worlds lose business? If the vendors' business drops too much, will those businesses leave the Wally World host sites? Will employees of the vendors lose their jobs? Without vendors and customers, will various Wally Worlds become grocery distributors which have no additional functions or services? Some people will go to other service providers for banking, beauty, etc. Will they also go to other grocery providers in order to achieve whatever efficiency is then possible? And, will any loss of revenue from loss of vendors/rent/foot traffic be offset by reduction of expenses associated with altered job titles/roles and a possible reduction in the number of employees at each Wal-Mart location?

Recently, a Wal-mart employee expressed their views of this switch. They foresaw that some employees would not be able to change jobs within Wal-mart or find suitable work at other locations. The person who shared this concern can do just about anything, so they will be fine if they continue with Wal-Mart or find something else to do. It is odd and possibly tragic that some former employees who have no personal need for such assistance will now get their groceries from persons who replaced them in the workplace. This will diminish some people's activity levels and possibly dishearten them. I hope that at some point the mass of the humanity will take a step back and demand to know: why are we doing this? I believe that 'we' are doing this for two reasons. 1. We do this by default if we have no power or influence. 2. We churn the tech changes because we are bored and want the next and ever the next tech thing.

Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished. - Lao-Tzu

Tech is the result of human advancement. Why are we here if not to advance? Keeping things last century is not the answer. Caring for the least of our society is the answer. Helping them get jobs and education and not allowing big business to take advantage of them the way Walmart does. Walmart is free to keep them at 39 hours a week so that they don't get full time. If they get full time then they get benefits. Most Walmart employees have to supplement their income with govermental assistance, ie. SNAP. Sign me up as not concerned about Walmart's well being until they start treating employees better.

Do you actually know anyone who works in WM? I do, and they're not taking money from the taxpayers. Walmart pays for their school, offers benefits to part-time as well as full-time employees, and hires people that other businesses wouldn't even look at. Before you spout a party line, do a little research: [corporate.walmart.com]

Keeping this on topic, I don't see the clicklist taking over regular shopping. In my area, you can't use coupons except for the store's, and you don't get to pick your own produce. Only a few people are using it; I have noticed fewer mobility carts in the store, so maybe that's it. I can see how that would be a great benefit for people who can't walk around well.

"Let me offer you my definition of social justice: I keep what I earn and you keep what you earn. Do you disagree? Well then tell me how much of what I earn belongs to you - and why?” ~Walter Williams

I ordered Panera online one night last week when I didn't feel well. When my food was ready I jumped in the car with messy hair and clothes, grabbed my bag off the shelf, and went right back out to the car. It was perfect!

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

UPDATE...I just ordered online (Panera Bread) which emailed me with a 2.00 discount on anything to be picked up at 12:25 and I'm loving it...so easy. I think you actually spend less ordering this way, in a grocery store, for me, I buy the whole store, this way, I make a list or see what I want on computer with calories and health info., and in a minute it's done...yes, this is for me for small orders.
No waiting in line is a good thing....and it is a good thing for invalids , seniors or recovering from surgery folks.

Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product. Eleanor Roosevelt

Lucky. I don't have a Panera where I live.

@KathyG wrote:

I ordered Panera online one night last week when I didn't feel well. When my food was ready I jumped in the car with messy hair and clothes, grabbed my bag off the shelf, and went right back out to the car. It was perfect!

@Irene_L.A. wrote:

UPDATE...I just ordered online (Panera Bread) which emailed me with a 2.00 discount on anything to be picked up at 12:25 and I'm loving it...so easy. I think you actually spend less ordering this way, in a grocery store, for me, I buy the whole store, this way, I make a list or see what I want on computer with calories and health info., and in a minute it's done...yes, this is for me for small orders.
No waiting in line is a good thing....and it is a good thing for invalids , seniors or recovering from surgery folks.

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