What’s the most ethical way to get groceries delivered right now?
March 31, 2020 12:11 PM   Subscribe

We are due for more groceries and I hate putting others at risk or supporting awful companies like Instacart right now. Help me weigh my options and make sure I am treating the shoppers as well as I can? My partner was told to assume she has COVID19 and it’s likely I gave it to her in the first place, so we have been strictly self-quarantined for going on 3 weeks now and will be for the foreseeable future, so I think delivery is our only option.

These are things I have been doing, and will continue to do:
• tip $30–50 each delivery, which stretches my finances but I am open to arguments that I need to tip more
• make sure to respond immediately to out of stock/replacement notifications and let them know not to stress so they can get in/out quickly
• tell them they do not have to ring our doorbell and let them know our household is sick so that we won’t go outside until they are gone
• give them the highest rating

Is there anything else I’m not thinking to do?

And of these grocery delivery options available to me, is there one that is doing anything better for their workers?
• Instacart (I am aware of the Instacart strike and their bullshit response to it)
• Safeway Delivery
• Shipt (I have a trial period for two more weeks, wasn’t going to keep it because they mark up both groceries and charge $99/year but if they pay workers better because of it, I am in.)
• Postmates (not sure if we can get a normal sized grocery order through them, they don’t seem setup for that.)
• Amazon PrimeNow (I am not currently a member of Prime, I assume they are the worst of the bunch?)
• Imperfect Foods (probably not practical for a lot of our grocery needs)

I could also do something like put in an order for pickup from Target, Fred Meyer, or Safeway and ask my partner’s mom to pick it up and drop it off outside our door. She’s offered but she’s in a higher risk group so we haven’t taken her up on it. I’m not sure how risky it would be for her to do the pickup (where they bring groceries to the car).

I’m in Vancouver, WA, and I think those are the extent of the services available to me.

We are probably going to order non-perishables for delivery from Costco at some point, which will hopefully reduce the number of grocery deliveries we’ll need. I am also open to ordering non-perishables from other places online. (We don’t have freezer space for something like ButcherBox right now, so has to be dry goods.)
posted by the thorn bushes have roses to Home & Garden (11 answers total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
It looks like there's an active mutual aid group in your region that you might try reaching out to -- they are organizing folks to help with exactly the kind of challenge you're facing. That link goes to a support request form that you can fill out to request help -- someone may be able to shop or deliver groceries for you. There may be a group specifically in Vancouver, WA -- you might search Facebook for "Mutual Aid" and see if it turns up anything.
posted by ourobouros at 12:20 PM on March 31, 2020 [7 favorites]


Best answer: What about Azure Standard? They do perishables and they deliver through UPS/USPS (or you can pick up at dropoff sites which is N/A but).
posted by aniola at 12:38 PM on March 31, 2020 [3 favorites]


Maybe this is too obvious but what about asking a healthy, responsible friend to pick groceries up for you? ie, someone who is not in the high-risk category but whom you trust to take precautions to protect other people. A friend of mine had COVID and was strictly quarantined for two weeks and several friends including myself did grocery runs for him. It may feel like too much of an imposition, but a lot of people are looking for concrete, active ways to help right now.
posted by lunasol at 1:04 PM on March 31, 2020 [5 favorites]


At some of my stores, you can order through Instacart and mark it for pickup instead of delivery. Someone in the store picks the order and you claim it in the parking lot already sorted out and bagged up.

Shipt might do the same thing, I'm not sure. Walmart groceries also does this in my area and their system is very sophisticated and organized.

I can't speak to the relative "good-employer" status of those companies, but if you're asking a friend to fetch groceries for you, this would be one way to minimize your friend's exposure. Asking them to roll up to the outside of Safeway and load in some bags is not as much as asking them to go inside the store and walk around.
posted by mccxxiii at 1:24 PM on March 31, 2020


Response by poster: Thanks so far everyone, I am really excited to check out Azure Standard to see if we can get stuff in a reasonable time frame! And if not, definitely think it will be what I need for the future.

lunasol, I should have noted, we live too far from friends (all in Portland) to really want to ask and one of the many downsides of living in this stupid suburb is that we’re the only ones in our friends group who has and uses a car. I wish I could be helping them right now. :( My mother-in-law (the one who has a higher risk factor) is the only person who it would make sense to ask and she keeps offering but I’m not sure if we should have her do a pick-up order.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 1:25 PM on March 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


Instacart was somewhat responsive to the strike demands; Amazon just fired someone who helped organize a walkout at a warehouse in Staten Island. So of the two--Instacart seems better.

My friend who does in-store shopping for Instacart recently shared some glowing praise that a customer left about how she was very communicative and made things easy. Friend said she knows what she's doing isn't rocket science but she takes pride in doing a good job, and the glowing review was really nice to get.
posted by needs more cowbell at 1:44 PM on March 31, 2020 [6 favorites]


Milkrun just opened more zip codes for delivery in the Portland area in case that helps. I learned about them from a CSA farmer as an ethical way to get lower volume farm products than a full subscription.
posted by janell at 3:16 PM on March 31, 2020 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Are you on the east or west side of 205? I'm making a FM and Trader Joe's run early tomorrow morning. I would be happy to grab some things and deliver if you're on the east side of town! I just need to be home by 11 for one of those ever-present Zoom meetings!
posted by Cloudberry Sky at 3:19 PM on March 31, 2020 [5 favorites]


Response by poster: Aww, Cloudberry Sky that is super awesome of you to offer! (It’s so nice remembering there are local mefites since it feels like we live on the moon right now.) I do miss Trader Joe’s, but my mother-in-law is going to drop a few things at our door that she already has on hand and treat us to takeout too, so our immediate need is met. Then we’re going to figure out a bigger list of food we need on hand and try out Azure and see how long it takes. I am pretty sure is going to be perfect. I’ll mark this resolved!

Side note: janell, I am kicking myself for not using Milk Run when I lived in Portland, alas, they still don’t deliver in Vancouver. But since you mentioned it...if anyone uses Milk Run in Portland and would be open to the slim possibility we’d be in a situation where they are the fastest and least evil way to get some essentials — I assume it would be safe for me to Venmo a payment and then grab something you run out to the curb and safely retreat before I pick it up. Not a likely scenario but I would happily order a treat of your choosing if I do use someone’s house as a delivery point!
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 7:36 PM on March 31, 2020


You might consider loaning your car to a friend who will do your errands for you. If you are the friend with a car and out of circulation so your car is just sitting there, your car could still be very useful to your friend circle. Of course it would need serious disinfecting first if you were using it in the week or two before you developed symptoms.
posted by Jane the Brown at 7:43 AM on April 1, 2020


Instacart and grocery store pick up all require someone to go inside a store and you can't count on them having sense enough to wear a mask and wash their hands (for their own safety). So I feel like the best thing (for others) is to go with Azure, Amazon etc. Because, I would hope, they are using protection plus they don't have to come in close contact with anyone. And your delivery driver doesn't have to have contact with other people.

But you would need to follow through and whichever system you pick you become active in that person having access to PPE AND a living wage, health care, paid sick leave. As well as delivery drivers getting all that.

And then once all this get's straightened out - and Instacart ppl are given safety training, free PPE, sick leave, healthcare, then we can all go back to them if we want.
posted by cda at 9:09 AM on April 1, 2020


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