Whatcha Doin?

I'm waiting for my groceries to be delivered. One of the good things for me that came out of the pandemic was using the grocery store's delivery service. You see, I hate shopping, especially grocery shopping. Take me to an an art supply or bookstore, and I'm happy as a clam to browse and putter, but walking up and down the aisles of a grocery store especially before a big storm. Nope. Himself used to do the grocery shopping. He enjoyed it so I was happy to let him do it. Besides, he's a better shopper than I am. He'd know whether an item was a good price if it was on sale. Me? I shop The Little Princess Method. If The Little Princess wants something, she buys it, whether or not it is on sale.

At the start of the pandemic, grocery stores  had special hours for Senior Citizens. The stores opened at the Crack of Stupid in the dead of night and cold for the old people to do their shopping. You'd get to the store and there'd be a long line of folks waiting to get into the store. Ridiculously stupid. The special hours were so that those must vulnerable could do their shopping while the stores weren't so crowded. Maybe good in theory, but not practice.

We used to do the grocery shopping for my parents when Dad could no longer drive. I used to beg my mother to do her shopping through Peapod, one of the areas large chain grocery service. Nope. We had to go to the store where it took her three hours. I kid you not! Peapod!

If I begged my mother to shop that way, why not shop that way myself. I first started shopping through my local grocery store using Instacart.. You point and click your way through the order. You'd be assigned a personal shopper and then they would deliver the items to you. Perfect. Until it wasn't. 

In the beginning, there were so many shortages, toilet paper, yeast, flour. The poor shoppers would constantly be texting. They don't have King Arthur Flour do you want another brand? And they would send pictures of the shelves. I spent more time texting back and forth that it would have been faster if I went to the store myself.

Peapod, idiot, use Peapod. You pointed and clicked your way through the order. At the end when  you submitted your order, could go over it and check or uncheck items that would be substituted  if an item you wanted wasn't available. No more texting back and forth. Select the items you want, select an available delivery time, usually the next day or a day or two away. Your choice. Pick a range of time and you can save a couple of bucks on the $6.95 delivery fee. Perfect.

You don't even have to help the driver unload the groceries. I made a note on my order to leave the groceries in the front porch. I just leave the doors open so the driver doesn't have to fight with opening and closing the storm door.

So while I waited for the order to be delivered today, I took a shower, had a cup of tea and typed this blog post.

I get a text when the order is about to be delivered. I can even track the order if I want. I had scheduled the order to be delivered sometime between 6:30 AM and 1 PM. I saved $2.00 off the delivery fee. The order was delivered at 7:13 AM. The driver even closed the doors.

I didn't get my whole order. I had ordered a few cans of kitty food just to have a few extra. There's a can shortage of cat food so it wasn't a big surprise. A few items were substituted, no big deal for me. I happily tip the driver (that's optional) for saving me the aggravation of doing a task I hate.

Time to put the groceries away. Whatcha doin?