Share information about how to get delivery services now
April 7, 2020 7:28 AM   Subscribe

I'm disabled, and I'm reliant on delivery services for groceries and other necessities. I know a lot of people are in the same boat. Delivery services are very overloaded now, and it's hard to get service. I thought we could share our experiences. If you are using delivery services, can you answer the following questions?

Where are you geographically?
What grocery services do you know of in your area?
What other delivery services do you know of in your area?
What has been your recent experience using any delivery service?
What other advice do you have for people in your area who need to use delivery services?

I will put my own answers in the comments.
posted by Surprised By Bees to Shopping (36 answers total) 5 users marked this as a favorite
 
Pacific Northwest.
Grocery stores have their own delivery services, but they’re pretty overloaded. Instacart also exists.
I have had good results with Instacart, but it’s much more expensive - adding 100$-200$ onto my recent grocery bills. I tried using Safeway but there were never any delivery slots.
I continue to use Instacart and just postpone other bills.
posted by corb at 7:31 AM on April 7, 2020


Could you post to MetaFilter jobs?
posted by raccoon409 at 7:33 AM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]


1. I'm in Ottawa, Ontario.
2 -3. Instacart is the primary one, but there are also options from individual stores and suppliers. For example, a catering company recently started delivering grocery orders repackaged from their commercial suppliers. A lot of the CSAs and other providers that were already delivery-based are increasing their deliveries.
4. You simply can't get instacart delivery at this point unless you are very lucky. The timeslots are all full to the point that you can't even select one for weeks from now.
5. There are a lot of community-based solutions springing up for this. For example, someone is advertising on the bulletin board in my apartment building that they will go out and buy groceries for you and deliver them to your door. And there's a huge Facebook group full of people offering to run errands for other people. I have a friend with a car who is dropping groceries off for me. Existing, commercial services are far from the only available option right now.
posted by jacquilynne at 7:35 AM on April 7, 2020


Response by poster: I am in Berkeley, California.
For groceries we have Instacart, Amazon, Safeway (which has its own delivery service, in addition to being available via other delivery services), Postmates, and Shipt. Also a number of CSA's, including Imperfect Foods. I think all of these services are still functioning.
You can get things from OfficeMax through other delivery services, and they also have their own delivery service. There is a laundry service that has delivery called Bay Area Wash Club. Heal.com will send a doctor to your house or see you by telemedicine.
My experiences:
I have been unable to get a delivery scheduled with Amazon's grocery services, despite numerous attempts to check for open windows.
I got an order scheduled to be delivered by Safeway. There was a five day delay. They sent me an email telling me what groceries I was supposed to actually get, and they billed me, but the groceries never showed up. I filled out a form on the website reporting this and have not heard back. I called them and they said the wait time was an hour, so I'm going to wait until things settle down to get my money back.
OfficeMax has some of the things that you can't get at the grocery store. I was able to get tissue paper delivered right to my apartment using their in-house delivery service. It came on time and was as represented.
Bay Area Wash Club picked up my dirty laundry on time and delivered back clean laundry on time. They are using social distancing so I just left my dirty laundry in the hall and they left the clean laundry in the hall – no face-to-face interaction.
I have not tried to use heal.com recently, but in the past I had good experiences with them and I recommend them.

Is there a pharmacy around here that delivers?
posted by Surprised By Bees at 7:47 AM on April 7, 2020


Response by poster: Raccoon409, do you mean that I should make a post to Metafilter jobs looking for someone who can pick up my groceries?
posted by Surprised By Bees at 7:51 AM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]


I'm in Philly. In the city, I've been unable to get Instacart, but my cousin in the suburbs has.

I was successful getting PrimeNow delivery over the weekend by filling up my shopping cart, and then refreshing the checkout page intermittently over the course of ~half hour until a slot opened up, and immediately checked out. (Earlier when I got a slot and didn't immediately check out, the slot was taken and I wasn't able to place my order). I had a higher than usual amount of substitutions needed, but somehow better than usual substitution suggestions.

There are also local butchers/wholesale shops around here that normally supply restaurants who are now delivering residentially. A lot of them are posting on Facebook/Instagram, and I found out about a couple from a local FB group. I haven't ordered yet, but plan to before this weekend so I can get a ham. The one I'm ordering from is order-by-email/text, with an $80 delivery minimum, no fee for delivery, and mostly they've been able to deliver next day except yesterday they had to push some deliveries out a day.
posted by DoubleLune at 7:53 AM on April 7, 2020


As I understand it, instacart workers prefer big grocery orders. If you order $13 worth of stuff, they make very little. So no one will bid on that order.
I also understand that going to Costco is a real pain now so they are reluctant to do those.
posted by k8t at 7:57 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I've been able to get Amazon Fresh delivery slots twice now by checking very, very early in the morning. Otherwise they show as booked all the time. With this last order, most things were showing as in stock, including TP and some brands of disinfectant cleaner, which was not the case a week or so ago.

Grocery stores here seem to have adequate slots for arranging curbside pickup (though a few days out) but delivery at all the ones I checked the other day showed as fully booked -- I didn't try checking in the early morning or late night, when I would guess more slots become available.

I have not used Instacart, but people I know have been having success with it, albeit with deliveries several days out. (And in one case, the delivery unexpectedly came two days early, so flexibility is needed.)

The restaurants and other places that are now also selling boxes of groceries all seem to have good availability. Not all deliver themselves but they all say that they work with Doordash etc for delivery. In a lot of cases, though, you need to be following them on Facebook -- that seems to be the only way that many are communicating what they are selling, how to order, and so on.

This is in the US pacific northwest, for what that is worth.
posted by Dip Flash at 8:00 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I have a feeling I'm going to ruin my own chances of getting a slot, but here's my experience with the Kroger family of stores.

First, people who have reserved a slot but not completed their order lose their slot at midnight local time. Therefore, the best time to grab a slot (especially one in the next day or two) is just after midnight.

Second, you can change your order up to the day before it is to be picked up or delivered. So plan ahead. Place an order for a week in the future (the max) to reserve a slot, containing just a candy bar or something, and then change it to your real order as you get closer to the order date. Don't wait until Thursday to try to get an order Saturday.

As you're relying on delivery, you are limited to ordering from your local store, which means you are limited to their delivery capacity. If you can get someone to go pick up groceries, though, you can order from other nearby stores. Last weekend I drove to a store about 30 minutes away to pick up our week's groceries.

Finally, in some areas Kroger owns more than one brand. In Seattle, for example, they own both QFC and Fred Meyer. You have to place orders and schedule pickups/delivery, on different sites but your login and shopping cart is shared among them. This doesn't help particularly, because if you follow my strategy above you will have placed an order well in advance, and you should order a single item as quickly as possible anyway to reserve your slot, but I thought it bore mentioning. It did come in handy when I'd just put together a big QFC order only to discover there were literally no slots, but the local Fred Meyer did have one.

Stores seem pretty well stocked, I was able to get flour, sugar, bread on my last order (these have been out of stock in previous weeks).
posted by kindall at 8:08 AM on April 7, 2020 [5 favorites]


I live on the east coast. In my city, there's been a lot of activity for neighbors to help neighbors, particularly people who can't get to the store independently. Folks reach out to a volunteer coordinator to find someone who might go to a grocery store or pharmacy on your behalf, or maybe connect you to drivers from the food pantry if money is really tight. Obviously I don't know specific resources like this in Berkeley, CA, but maybe you can look for local groups and get what you need another way? Best of luck.
posted by Sublimity at 8:19 AM on April 7, 2020


We are 5 miles from a Whole Foods and when I search Amazon, it offers free delivery from WF for some things. I haven't tried it, so maybe it's a mirage. Some things that are listed are actually out of stock, and some are listed as unavailable for a week or two.
posted by SemiSalt at 8:20 AM on April 7, 2020


"The restaurants and other places that are now also selling boxes of groceries all seem to have good availability."

This. I have had very good luck with local restaurants, bakeries and food distributors (who normally distribute to restaurants) in the Canadian Pacific Northwest, as many are pivoting to home delivery for groceries+meals. They are significantly *less* busy than normal, so arranging delivery has been easy.

It took me a while to find them though, I canvassed friends+coworkers and dug through a local coronavirus support group on Facebook.
posted by ripley_ at 8:21 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


Facebook and Nextdoor in my area have posts from people offering services. You might be able to post on freecycle, too.
posted by theora55 at 8:23 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm in Central New Jersey. We have a lot of services here: Instacart, Amazon Whole Foods, Peapod (which is maybe affiliated with Instacart although it's a different store?), Imperfect Foods, and Fresh Direct. None of them have any available time slots to schedule, even weeks in advance, right now.

I seriously wish there was a way to note I have a disability that prevents me from going to the store, because I think we (and other groups, like healthcare workers) should get some priority for delivery over people who are lower risk, but my wish is unlikely to be granted. I've relied on the kindness of a friend to deliver me groceries once, and paid for their groceries too. This might be a better system than delivery anyhow because the delivery workers are being put in dangerous conditions and tipping them well is not really enough to make that ok. But not using the services puts them out of an income. This is a problem with no really good solutions, I'm afraid.

I've tried saying hi to neighbors from my balcony in the hopes of forging any connection (I see them coming home with groceries sometimes and some of them used to be "hello in the parking lot acquaintances," but they've all ignored me so far. We really are all bowling alone together at this point.
posted by k8lin at 8:54 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


In San Francisco. I've been able to get instacart deliveries a few days out but one showed up a day earlier than originally predicted and the slots are big - like Monday to Sat so you'd need to be able to be home and waiting for that to work out.

I don't know about direct deliveries of prescriptions. Walgreens is doing free shipping on prescriptions now. We had a mishap with the first one that was supposed to come this way. It got filled in store and then shipped via Fedex so there was a few days delay. If that might work for you, you can switch them online on the refill screen to ship.

Here there are definitely offers for grocery help on Nextdoor.
posted by oneear at 9:00 AM on April 7, 2020


PDX mutual aid has no shortage of volunteers available to run errands.
I hear there are mutual aid groups in other cities.
Azure Standard for groceries.
posted by aniola at 9:01 AM on April 7, 2020 [2 favorites]


CVS is doing free mail delivery of prescriptions right now. It’s a bit of a pain to set up but my partner and I have both been able to get refills and one new prescription delivered to our mailbox via USPS.
posted by Alterscape at 9:08 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm down in LA and we're using Imperfect. They've really stepped up -- they're stocking a much wider variety of items than when I last tried them a couple of years ago: meat, fish, dairy, pantry items, etc. Sometimes my delivery doesn't match my order exactly -- sometimes an item is missing, sometimes there's something extra in there I didn't order/pay for. They're prompt at replying to email customer service queries and will quickly credit you for any item not received.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:46 AM on April 7, 2020


I would really suggest asking neighbors/community members for help. My experience on Nextdoor (yes, it has issues) is that there are far more offers of help, than people who need it.

A lot of people are feeling like there is little they can do in this crisis, and helping neighbors is a great way to do that. A lot of medium and large cities have a mutual aid organization, nextdoor, facebook, craigslist, or freecycle might all be possible.

These all rely on trust on one side or another, but could be one option.

Personally, I'm keeping my shopping to a minimum, because it feels wasteful to go out when I don't need to, but I'd happily go out for a reason to help someone in need.
posted by mercredi at 9:52 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I'm in rural Vermont in a town of 4500 people but we have a really active mutual aid network and also a lot of farmers who will deliver things either directly to your house or to somewhere nearby. My experience is unlikely to be typical but I'll include it.

There is no grocery delivery where I am. I am just a moderate-risk person (I have mild asthma) but I am in contact with a very high rick person (96 year old landlady) so I have been trying to be extra careful. Here's my experience.....

- There is a large farmstand/store that does "Call us and make an order and pay via phone and we have contactless pickup" that can/could work with someone else doing pickup and delivery.
- For very basic stuff I have been swapping with friends "Hey can you bring me a half gallon of milk and I'll give you some cheddar cheese?" "Hey I've got that cable you need, can you drop off an onion?"
- Local farmers sometimes deliver and/or have farmstands that are open. I got 20 lbs of potatoes that way.
- I get staples delivered via Amazon, mostly things like crackers, lemonade powder, almonds, apricots. Some of the higher-end stuff is more likely to be in stock. Also ordered coffee direct from the roaster and it was cheaper to buy a lot of it than it would have been to buy a pound at a time.
- I have a lot of really basic foods (English muffins, garden burgers, flour, sugar, etc) that I have stored in case I need some "food pill" stuff if things get dicey

As I said above there are a ton of Mutual Aid groups around here (here's a nationwide list of them) and for a lot of people, driving things (not maybe doing the shopping but picking up curbside and delivering) is not that big an ask. People really want to feel useful and a lot of us are sort of spinning our wheels.
posted by jessamyn at 9:57 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


Oh here's my experience, in Manhattan.

The major grocery delivery services started to get overwhelmed about three weeks ago. I couldn't get a delivery slot with Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods or Target via Shipt, and I was reading reports that people's Instacart orders were coming missing tons of items. I considered signing up for Mercato which delivers for lots of my local shops, but people on Reddit were saying it was overwhelmed too. And I was reading reports that grocery delivery from pharmacies was also overwhelmed, so I didn't try it either.

I've found two types of solutions.

For supplies that don't need refrigeration, I've been ordering stuff that's delivered by mail. Like, rice from Amazon, tortillas and nuts from Target (shipping not delivery), cat food from Chewy, bagels from St-Viateur in Montreal, and other supplies from places like Stonewall Kitchen and Simply Gourmand. My strategy is to order more than I need, before I need it, so I don't have to worry if there are delays.

And for things that need to be refrigerated, I've been ordering from the companies that used to supply restaurants and have converted to direct-to-consumer. This is something I just started doing, and I have orders pending from Piccini Brothers and DineMarket. The downside is those companies can be expensive, and they sometimes have high minimums.

The mutual aid networks are pretty active where I am, and I have delivered groceries a couple of times for people who couldn't figure out any other way to get them. I think the barriers are sometimes financial, but also include ability-to-navigate-stuff-online. Like, the last Amazon Fresh delivery window I got, I got by staying up past midnight and repeatedly refreshing the page until something opened up. And to do that requires a certain level of understanding of how things on the internet typically work, that many people, especially older people, simply do not have.

k8lin, I totally hear you on bowling alone. I've seen reports of things like how Vietnam has set up free automated rice-dispensing machines, and it makes me despair for America. It's super weird how people are just expected to navigate this as individuals, with lives potentially depending on whether their, like, next-door neighbour happens to be a nice guy. WTF.
posted by Susan PG at 9:58 AM on April 7, 2020 [15 favorites]


I have had zero luck with any of the delivery services. I tried three and then this happened: My neighborhood association circulated a flier (I suppose because there are quite a few elderly without computer access) but then I got their permission to post the information on our neighborhood FB page. Two young women shop for whoever needs it. They got me doing Venmo (so convenient!) and i always throw in $10-$20 for their gas and time.

So--maybe you could check with/make a request of your neighborhood association? Or, as some mentioned, Freecycle or Next Door. Good luck! I did hear people were calming down and you can get things more easily then before.
posted by Rumi'sLeftSock at 10:03 AM on April 7, 2020


Echoing others that CVS is doing deliveries.

Our local NextDoor and Facebook both have people eager to help with shopping and such. Often they are people who are laid off, and have time, and are looking for some way to help. On NextDoor, look for the "Help map" section.
posted by gudrun at 10:11 AM on April 7, 2020


^^^Raccoon409, do you mean that I should make a post to Metafilter jobs looking for someone who can pick up my groceries?

I'm not Raccoon409, but I believe that is what they meant.

To answer your questions:

I am in Portland, Maine.

Grocery delivery services include Amazon Whole Foods, Instacart, and MaineGroceryDelivery.com. (Warning about the latter: When I tried to click on the home page, I got a warning that

The Portland Food Co-Op does not offer delivery, but it has launched a Substitute Shopper program, which matches people who need someone to pick up their groceries with volunteers who are able to offer shopping services.

Rosemont Market (which is no longer allowing in-store shopping) offers delivery.

Except for Rosemont, whose calendar is publicly visible and currently shows next-day availability of delivery slots, I don't know the availability of delivery services because I haven't tried to have groceries delivered. I am at low risk of COVID infection and am still doing my own grocery shopping (once a week; trying to get it down to once every 10 days or two weeks). I don't want to take up a slot that could be used by somebody who has a disability or who is at higher risk of infection than I am.

I have done some informal mutual aid for an infected friend in which I dropped off acetaminophen on her doorstep in a paper bag, and she waved from her window. She gave me plenty of rides to the grocery store when I had a chronic illness last winter that affected my vision, so our pact is thriving.

I do use CVS' free USPS prescription delivery service; my experience has been similar to that of alterscape and his partner. (Note: I still have to go to the pharmacy to pick up my ADD medication, because CVS does not deliver medications that are classified as controlled substances. It also doesn't deliver medications that need refrigeration.)

My advice for anyone using CVS' pharmacy delivery is to sign up for text notification of refills and download the CVS mobile app. You'll be prompted to say whether you want pickup or delivery of refills and you'll be walked through the process. It's pretty nearly seamless (except for the aforementioned ADD meds).
posted by virago at 10:32 AM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


I am in the Bay Area, tri-valley side. I have been unsuccessful at all with any of the big grocery deliveries - Safeway, Sprouts, etc. There's just no delivery windows available. I've taken to ordering regular mail delivery from Target for boxed/canned goods. You can get crackers/snacks etc delivered.

Walgreens is offering free prescription delivery as well.

Farmers on Wheels sells fresh produce, including organic and has lots of Asian vegetables and fruits. They do home deliveries and also have various pickup sites with a $5 fee.
posted by toastyk at 10:42 AM on April 7, 2020


^^^I didn't notice that I hadn't finished this sentence, and then the edit window closed:
Grocery delivery services include Amazon Whole Foods, Instacart, and MaineGroceryDelivery.com: "Southern Maine’s only full service online grocery store with delivery service."

Warning about the latter: When I tried to click on the home page, I got a warning that Maine Grocery Delivery's SSL certificate was invalid and that things like passwords, messages or credit cards were not secure.

I informed the company of the warning message in an email sent to their contact address from my own account. Apparently, it's a one-person operation, so I'm sure they're slammed right now.

I hope they get it fixed because I'd love for them to be able to stay on track and even grow -- their founder's mission is to expand her operation to cover the whole state, "providing critical services for the elderly and disabled as well as to create jobs for displaced workers."
posted by virago at 10:54 AM on April 7, 2020


I'm in Atlanta. Our main grocery stores are Publix and Kroger. Kroger seems to be working as described above by kindall. It's challenging to get a pick up or delivery order and if you do get a slot, there's a good chance they will be out of many of the things you want, but it's not impossible. I've heard that Publix is doing better on this--I have it on good authority from by students that Publix treats their workers well, and that seems to be paying off for them. The pay delivery services are all slammed and expensive.

We are very fortunate to have already had a subscription to Fresh Harvest. They are a local group that buys produces and other locally produced goods and delivers them. So we have at least been getting great produce, eggs, and milk and sometimes other stuff, too, like cheese and bread. They filled up on subscribers for the first time ever, and a lot of their non-produce folks haven't been able to keep up with the increased demand.
posted by hydropsyche at 11:24 AM on April 7, 2020


The pharmicist at our CVS said they would bring a prescription to the curb with prior arrangement. This is in addition to the other serivces mentioned above.
posted by SemiSalt at 12:05 PM on April 7, 2020


Bay Area. Safeway pharmacy in the Bay Area is delivering prescriptions to your door, not by mail, by a real person so you get it same day or next day. Walmart has next day delivery and two-day delivery, both of which work in the Bay Area, with some delays at the start of the pandemic but now on time. Costco Instacart same-day delivery used to be great, now can't get a slot. Costco delivery of other products is great, if there will be a delay Costco will tell you at the time of ordering. Many Costco grocery items are out of stock. Amazon delivery was bizarrely always unreliable in my location, so I no longer try for Amazon deliveries. Safeway grocery delivery interface is impossible to use, gave up on it long ago. Raley's Nob Hill was a great grocery delivery service, now cannot get a slot for delivery or pickup.

Individual manufacturers are still delivering to the Bay Area in a timely fashion if you order directly on their web site.
posted by KayQuestions at 12:52 PM on April 7, 2020


CCEDLA is maintaining a list of LA Chinatown restaurants that are doing delivery/pickup.
posted by toastyk at 12:57 PM on April 7, 2020


Portage, MI.

Shipt for Meijer. It is hard to get a delivery slot and there are a lot of substitutions or just nothing.
Walmart curbside pickup. It is hard to get a pickup slot and there are a lot of substitutions or just nothing.

Other services are not really available here afaik.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 1:48 PM on April 7, 2020


I realise this will not be useful to you because I'm in Melbourne, Australia, but you might be interested in what it's like here, just as I am to know what it's like in other places.

We have two main supermarket chains that do deliveries, Coles and Woolworths. (There are other supermarkets like Aldi and independent stores but they largely do not deliver.) Both chains stopped delivering groceries about a month ago, and also stopped Click & Collect where you order online and then pick it up from the store.

Woolies started delivering again about a week and a half ago, but only if you have a government-issued card like a pensioner card, health care card (for those with no/low income), disability card etc. Coles started a bit later and seem to have based theirs on whether you are 70 or over. Both also offer pre-selected boxes of supplies for delivery; you get no choice about what's in them and again you have to have a government-issued card that qualifies you as a disadvantaged or vulnerable person (their language, not mine).

Most stores now have dedicated hours set aside for health care workers and the disadvantaged to shop apart from the general populace. They are confusingly called community hours. Again, you have to have a suitable ID to access them, though they are at least allowing able-bodied people to shop on behalf of someone if they bring that person's qualifying ID to prove they're not just doing it for themselves.

This leaves many of us shit out of luck. I, like many, am in the not quite disabled enough category. I work full time and do not rely on any support from the government to live my life. I do have a disabled parking permit, but that's it.

I'm in at least 4 high risk categories, and if I get COVID my chances are not good. And to do a grocery shop for more than a couple of items, I need a walker. Can't use it and push a trolley at the same time. Last Sat I got a friend to help me by pushing the trolley while I used my walker. That was arduous, but I managed to get enough to last me a good 2-3 weeks, and there are rumours that deliveries may expand after Easter.

I am pretty sure there would be local offers of help on local Facebook groups, but I quit Facebook for mental health reasons and I can only think rejoining in a time of pandemic would be a mistake. I have looked at Airtasker, where you can post jobs for people to do and pay them. If I can no longer rely on my friend to help me shop in person I will look at doing that.

Meanwhile Australia Post is working with pharmacies to make sure people can get their prescriptions delivered, so there's that at least. I just wish there was recognition that delivered groceries are not always a time-saving luxury, and that not all who are disabled have a card to prove it.
posted by Athanassiel at 2:16 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


Raymond Cheung, 49, a pharmacist at New Oakland Pharmacy on April 1, 2020. His business has started a delivery system to encourage customers to stay home and keep the number of people in the store to a minimum. He said the store has enough PPE for his employees to use, but currently has no extra stock to sell to customers. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)
posted by aniola at 3:27 PM on April 7, 2020 [1 favorite]


Portland, OR area.

Available: Amazon stuff, Walmart, Safeway, Fred Meyer, 7-11, Instacart, Shipt, multiple things like UberEats and Grubhub
Also, there are local groups on Facebook and Neighborhood with offers to help with picking up stuff.

Things I've used, since this mess started:
- Amazon, just the regular, not Whole Foods or Pantry or Prime now. It's running a little behind for most stuff, I'm appreciating the whole "send it even slower and give me digital dollars" thing as a bonus when it's offered, and not ordering anything time-critital.
- Walmart, but I've only used pick-up, not delivery - slots come open in the early morning hours, and are only available for the next day, in general. This is the case for both pickup and delivery. I generally have my cart filled up and ready, or at least over the $30 minimum, so I can check out within the time limit. (I think it's an hour.) Then I have until late that night to update my order, add, edit, and remove things. Many food items are max of two, so I tend to order 2 of each, say, of the canned food items we're keeping on hand, even if we haven't quite used all of them, just to keep us well-stocked. Once we got past the initial rush, things like milk and eggs have mostly been available, but some of the items they tend to run out of will not even show as available. (Example: toilet paper, frozen chicken breast, flour, and yeast.) Pasta, soups, rice have mostly stabilized. On 20-30 item orders, it's not unusual for a substitution or three, but they've all been appropriate, and I can individually decline subbing either before or at the time of pickup.
- Safeway and Fred Meyer appear to be doing orders a week out still, but I've yet to catch the available slots. I haven't checked the after-midnight or early morning hours, because it hasn't been high priority for me.

In summary, we're trying to stay far ahead on food items, but for a few items, I've resorted to going in the store about once a week. I truly wish there was some sort of delivery or pickup option for Winco - I braved it last week, and they're back to being well stocked on almost everything except paper products and cleaning supplies, and in the morning hours, even had reasonably-priced toilet paper.

Also, check with your local food banks. Many here are offering some sort of delivery option of boxed food for those stuck at home.
posted by stormyteal at 3:43 PM on April 7, 2020


Richmond, VA. I've been getting my perishables delivered through Seasonal Roots. I believe Fall Line Foods just added a delivery option as well.

I just got a big order of pantry goods from Vitacost, and packages are on their way from a few other specialty online retailers. Coop Market has a lot in stock; maybe no one knows they sell to the public?

Last I checked, the wait here for traditional grocery delivery was only a few days, but that may have changed.
posted by toastedcheese at 4:18 PM on April 7, 2020


Response by poster: These have been very interesting and helpful, thank you. I think I'll contact Berkeley Mutual Aid. I was given this advice by a Safeway employee:
If you're ordering DELIVERY the chances of your order going out get worse the later your order is. Stores that do DELIVERY also do DRIVE-UP-AND-GO, meaning they have a massive load of orders to deal with every day.

If you have an order for 1st SHIFT (delivery window before 12pm) you have a pretty high chance that it will be delivered. If you have an order for 2nd SHIFT (12pm-5pm) you have a decent chance, though it depends on the store. If you have an order for 3rd SHIFT (5pm-10pm) then the chances your delivery will happen go down dramatically.

The only advice I can offer is order as early as humanly possible.

And to k8lin and Athanassiel, sorry to hear about your difficult situations and hope things get better for you.
posted by Surprised By Bees at 10:04 PM on April 8, 2020 [2 favorites]


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