Of Instacart and Wal-Mart
Of Instacart and Wal-Mart
Q: So how was your most recent shopping experience?
A: So Aldi’s Instacart was awesome — quick, and they texted me about what items they couldn’t find, what they wanted to replace it with. So you could approve or deny that.
Q: From their inventory , and that was delivered to your home within 90 minutes?
A: Yes for $8 extra.
Q: OK..and how was that $8 broken up?
$4 for the driver and $4 to get it delivered any time between 2, 3,4,5 hours or the next day
Q: So if it’s all the same-?
A: Yeah; just do two hours. Well people just do it at the time they can get it like when they get home from work, kids, scheduling, and such.
Q: Sounds good. What happened when you used Safeway’s Peapod, which is their Instacart-like service?
A: I feel like Safeway and Giant both charge more for the groceries online. Fruit was impossible to order — I mean this was years ago so they might have improved it since then but fruit, you like had to buying a big huge box. And I was like: I don’t need that much fruit?
Q: Like a box of strawberries instead of one plastic container of them?
A: Right. They didn’t sell it in smaller amounts.
Q: And at Safeway, you cant’ get items from their deli delivered?
A: Right and I, I always get their whole wheat pizza dough — form their deli. Safeway always, like ,more often than other places gave you a smaller amount of what you wanted to order — ya know, I have a big family and we don’t need a tiny one-serving container of Goldfish. We need the big container of Goldfish crackers.
Q: Do you get a discount when you order those delivered?
A: No
Q: No even if you order it in bulk?
A: Safeway has like 20 items and if you order one of those you get free delivery.
Q: OK and Peapod and Giant’s similar service — do they text you when they don’t have the item you ordered or bring you something they think you might like?
A: No, they don’t give you another option. I mean, the last time I did this was like 2 or 3 years ago at Giant. And at Safeway, I ordered this way online, delivered to me about a year ago. I just ended up having to go again a day or two later, for some of the items I couldn’t get delivered.
Q: OK but as a homemaker, on some days you have some flexibility in your schedule to go pick up groceries, so why would yo unto do that today?
A: Cause I was tired
Q: OK. Why were you really tired?
A: I was woken up by my 4 year old at 2 AM and drove my 14 year old to an early morning class at 5:30 AM. And then you got your two kids in between those ages ready for school, then walked to exercise class — for an hour — pulling a wagon with 40 lbs of weights in it while my 4 year old walked as slowly as she could, since her bike doesn’t have pedals. So she’s learning how to cruise on it…very, very slowly. 30 minutes per block!
Q: What do you do for laundry detergent and dish soap and detergent?
A: Well I use dot buy those in liquid form cause per ounce it seemed cheaper but what I found was when I bought the pods, I ended up not having to buy them as often. So even though they were more expensive, I bought them so much less often, I was actually saving money.
Q: I don’t understand
A: The pods are tiny and you think, per ounce but you put a lot more ounces of liquid than are in the pods and the pods clean better than the liquid.
Q: Do you use Aldi’s Instacart, Safeway’s Peapod?
A: It’s annoying — Aldi’s is often out of their laundry pods and dishwasher pods when I need them so then I have to get them at Safeway. but usually at Aldi’s I get them because they’re cheaper their. This last time I actually got the more expensive Tide pods at Aldi’s but there’s a lot more so it kind of balances out a little bit.
Q: What about this article titled: Don’t Buy Tide Pods at Aldi + Where to Buy Instead | My BJs Wholesale Club?
A: That article is 18 months old and it says, “ BJ’s Wholesale club is only 20¢ a pod and Aldi price is 25¢ a pod. Not a huge difference.” Also, BJ’s wholesale requires a $25 membership. So I have to ask: do I really need another membership? After I drive 25 miles? No — I let my CostCo membership expire; same with Sam’s Club, so I’m not sure BJ’s is what I’m looking for right now. I mean sure when I was invested in a vending machine business and had to restock each of them — yeah, bulk buying costs plus membership still resulted in sufficient mark up and net profit but I’m not in that situation now, and I haven't been for over ten years.
Q: How are they more expensive? I mean if you’re buying in bulk it costs more but seems cheaper because you get more.
A: Right but to get a liquid container of soap it says something like: 30 washes for $3. You get the pods and maybe its 50 washes for $10 but then when you’re actually using it in practicality, the liquid you end up — you don’t end up measuring it every time, right?
A: Right
A: So you end up using a little more, extra than you should some times and sometimes you use a little less, and so it ends up — you stil end up saving money doing the pods over hte liquid but also yo ucant compare them ounce to ounce becaus eyou use like half a cup of laundry detergent but like the pods are less than a tablespoon, right? That you’re using. More concentrated, less water.
Q: OK. Thank you. Is there anything else you’d like to add?
A: The problem w/ CostCo is you go there, see good deals on expensive things — things you’d never consider buying if you hadn’t gone to CostCo — and then you end up buying them anyway since they are so competitively priced.
A: Oh, also — Wal-Mart.com has great holiday and sales prices. If you pick up your purchased items at the Wal-Mart location you ordered them from, you can also save time and get them ready for Christmas, Channuakh, or the holiday of your choice for that time of year and for the New Year.
Q: OK and when you used InstaCart, did you have a feeling of satisfaction, getting the groceries you needed without having to leave your house?
A: I was a glad that it was easier than prior experiences had been, like when I tried to use Peapod and order from Safeway — where you cant order items from the deli because they are inventoried differently or less frequently or they expire more quickly or something — It was more functional.
And…I ended up ordering $80 of stuff but I only really needed the graham crackers or my baby would have had a temper tantrum the next morning. It used to be Rice Krispies and before that it was Strawberry Rice Krispies that did not have artificial red dye as an ingredient. I found those the other day but they were $4. I found a box of blueberry cheerios for $1.
Q: Why do you think it’s not worth it to pay more for cereal that is lower on sugar, has no artificial colors or dyes — still has a few preservatives but isn’t your health and your kids’ health worth spending more?
A: Well, I’ll pay more but I usually just wait until things go to a certain price point. If they’re above that price point, I don’t usually get them. Unless I can’t’ find anything that’s at that price point for a while. And if I can’t find anything in my price point, I’ll increase my price point a little bit but my price point for cereal is usually $2,50 per box. For a family box I’ll pay $4.
Q: Ok. Thanks. So all the advertisers, retailers, manufacturers and all their efforts to get you into a habit of purchasing certain brands — pay tens, hundreds of millions of dollars each year and you ignore all of that because it’s price. It’s price…and sugar, artificial colors. Why not just get like oatmeal or something that doesn’t have sugar and preservatives and use that?
A: We have oatmeal but we don’t’ go through it because…there’s all kinds of reasons.
Q: Right. When you buy it form the store there’s a lot of salt, sugar, preservatives in it but if you make it form home, it won’t have those things?
A: If you make it, right. That just takes extra time. I know there’s people that do it. You have to get up before everyone else does, then make it. Then let it cool before they eat it. Sometimes when it cools it becomes pasty.
Q: Why not just make a week’s worth for the kids on the weekend?
A: The texture’s weird. I don’t’ like it. Some people can handle that texture. For me, the texture of oatmeal is only good when it’s pretty hot but cold enough to eat. I don’t like it when it congeals and gets pasty.
THE BOTTOM LINE
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If you’re friends rented the cheapest economy car or the cheapest car they could find off of Craigslist, or the Rocky Road that’s on sale at 2 for 1 prices at the local grocery store, you’d still earn a commission off that. If they bought the item that was in your picture, video, or voice-automated update (like a rental car, Airbnb lodging, hotel stay, Lyft, Uber, Via trip) — they can purchase that (even as a e-giftcard) and ship that to a family member, relative, or friend. And after that purchase, yes, YOU will also earn a commission from that purchase.
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If you’re friends rented the cheapest economy car or the cheapest car they could find off of Craigslist, or the Rocky Road that’s on sale at 2 for 1 prices at the local grocery store, you’d still earn a commission off that. If they bought the item that was in your picture, video, or voice-automated update (like a rental car, Airbnb lodging, hotel stay, Lyft, Uber, Via trip) — they can purchase that (even as a e-giftcard) and ship that to a family member, relative, or friend. And after that purchase, yes, YOU will also earn a commission from that purchase.