Internet shopping
One of the perks of having a newborn is that you can get two free deliveries of groceries when you order them on the internet. So, Saturday morning's mission was to try out internet grocery shopping.
I don't mind grocery shopping as a rule. While not being something I would do for recreation, it's not one of those chores that I dread. The main difficulty is finding a suitable time, and child management. If the children are happy and co-operative, shopping is easy. If not.....
As expected, it took a while - about an hour. This isn't too bad though, considering that supermarket shopping would usually take us that long. You get used to your own supermarket, so you expect things to take just that little bit longer when you try any new shop.
Like magic, our groceries arrived at the door on time and in good order this morning. Meat and dairy were chilled and well packed. The fresh produce looked to be of good quality. So here's my take on it so far.
Pros: No issues with child management, no petrol used, do it on the internet whenever it suits, groceries carried down our steps and inside the house by someone else! It's easy to budget and see exactly how what you are buying affects the total cost (very easy to just not even click on the "biscuits and cakes" section!). It would be great for people who like to buy more or less the same thing every week, as your shopping list is saved. This would also make shopping extra fast.
Cons: I like to read labels - almost impossible on-line. I chose "no substitutions", on the grounds that with some items, I care very deeply about getting the exact right thing. Consequently, there were about 4 products that I ordered that were missing due to not being in stock. There also seems to be less choice on-line (or maybe I just couldn't find what I was after). Two examples - I will not buy battery eggs, but I'm happy with non-free range, so long as they are SPCA approved. Of course, on-line you can't see the SPCA stickers, so I went with the more expensive free range eggs (greater cost in this case being the lesser evil!). Strawberry milk was apparently available only in 2 litre lots, and only one brand was showing, so no strawberry milk this week.
I find too that at the supermarket, I can scan a row of products and take in a lot of information very quickly - you can see what's in season, compare prices per kilo, or narrow a large number of choices of products to one or two. You just can't do this in the same way on-line.
Although specials were available, I suspect that some items could be cheaper in-store. And no fuel dockets either. We couldn't use our reusable bags, so now we have an explosion of plastic bags in our bag tidy.
I think the standard delivery charge for our area is $10, which seems reasonable, but which is another con.
So, the verdict so far is that I like internet grocery shopping, but I can't see me relying on it every week. Certainly it is handy with a new baby in the house, or if you were unable to get out for some reason. I still like to touch, feel, compare and do all those things you do in a real shop.
I don't mind grocery shopping as a rule. While not being something I would do for recreation, it's not one of those chores that I dread. The main difficulty is finding a suitable time, and child management. If the children are happy and co-operative, shopping is easy. If not.....
As expected, it took a while - about an hour. This isn't too bad though, considering that supermarket shopping would usually take us that long. You get used to your own supermarket, so you expect things to take just that little bit longer when you try any new shop.
Like magic, our groceries arrived at the door on time and in good order this morning. Meat and dairy were chilled and well packed. The fresh produce looked to be of good quality. So here's my take on it so far.
Pros: No issues with child management, no petrol used, do it on the internet whenever it suits, groceries carried down our steps and inside the house by someone else! It's easy to budget and see exactly how what you are buying affects the total cost (very easy to just not even click on the "biscuits and cakes" section!). It would be great for people who like to buy more or less the same thing every week, as your shopping list is saved. This would also make shopping extra fast.
Cons: I like to read labels - almost impossible on-line. I chose "no substitutions", on the grounds that with some items, I care very deeply about getting the exact right thing. Consequently, there were about 4 products that I ordered that were missing due to not being in stock. There also seems to be less choice on-line (or maybe I just couldn't find what I was after). Two examples - I will not buy battery eggs, but I'm happy with non-free range, so long as they are SPCA approved. Of course, on-line you can't see the SPCA stickers, so I went with the more expensive free range eggs (greater cost in this case being the lesser evil!). Strawberry milk was apparently available only in 2 litre lots, and only one brand was showing, so no strawberry milk this week.
I find too that at the supermarket, I can scan a row of products and take in a lot of information very quickly - you can see what's in season, compare prices per kilo, or narrow a large number of choices of products to one or two. You just can't do this in the same way on-line.
Although specials were available, I suspect that some items could be cheaper in-store. And no fuel dockets either. We couldn't use our reusable bags, so now we have an explosion of plastic bags in our bag tidy.
I think the standard delivery charge for our area is $10, which seems reasonable, but which is another con.
So, the verdict so far is that I like internet grocery shopping, but I can't see me relying on it every week. Certainly it is handy with a new baby in the house, or if you were unable to get out for some reason. I still like to touch, feel, compare and do all those things you do in a real shop.
posted by Mary at 1:41 pm
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