Service that will shop at Trader Joe's for us?
March 22, 2022 6:35 PM Subscribe
We're beyond busy right now, and thinking about grocery shopping is stressing me out. We know exactly what we want from our nearest Trader Joe's (which is in Goleta, California), and I'm trying to figure out if we can pay someone to buy stuff and deliver to our home. Surely this is a thing people do in the "gig economy"? But we've never done that, and I have no idea what service to trust. Do any of you have experiences with shopping and delivery services in Santa Barbara/Goleta?
A number of services can be found in Yelp or simply googling, but short of trying one and hoping to avoid getting unlucky, I don't know how to find one that works. I don't even know how payment works – I mean, do they buy the stuff for you, and you then pay them plus a fee? Or do you somehow pay the store directly? (And how would that work?) And what does the service do about not letting frozen stuff thaw by the time they get back to you? We typically buy 1-2 week's worth of stuff at a time, which takes time to gather and deal with, which leaves time for stuff to thaw if one is not careful to make the frozen aisle be the last one.
This may seem like a stupid question to have to ask, but we're the kind of people who have always done everything ourselves (and tend to overthink everything) and so we have zero experience hiring other people to do stuff for us. I'm trying to change that, but also trying to avoid turning this into another research project, and I'm hoping people here will have experiences and suggestions to share. You don't have to google services for me, but if you have experiences (positive or negative) with such services in Santa Barbara or Goleta, and are willing to share, then that would be most appreciated.
A number of services can be found in Yelp or simply googling, but short of trying one and hoping to avoid getting unlucky, I don't know how to find one that works. I don't even know how payment works – I mean, do they buy the stuff for you, and you then pay them plus a fee? Or do you somehow pay the store directly? (And how would that work?) And what does the service do about not letting frozen stuff thaw by the time they get back to you? We typically buy 1-2 week's worth of stuff at a time, which takes time to gather and deal with, which leaves time for stuff to thaw if one is not careful to make the frozen aisle be the last one.
This may seem like a stupid question to have to ask, but we're the kind of people who have always done everything ourselves (and tend to overthink everything) and so we have zero experience hiring other people to do stuff for us. I'm trying to change that, but also trying to avoid turning this into another research project, and I'm hoping people here will have experiences and suggestions to share. You don't have to google services for me, but if you have experiences (positive or negative) with such services in Santa Barbara or Goleta, and are willing to share, then that would be most appreciated.
Response by poster: Sorry to threadsit. I should have noted that Trader Joe's doesn't deliver or offer curbside pickup (it's a standard thing for all Trader Joe's) and we don't know anyone with kids near us …
posted by StrawberryPie at 6:47 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by StrawberryPie at 6:47 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can't use a standard grocery shopping service like Instacart to shop at Trader Joe's, because services like Instacart require the store to share their product database. But you can use a service like Task Rabbit to shop for you and just give them a list. You could also advertise for someone on Craigslist.
posted by DarlingBri at 6:55 PM on March 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by DarlingBri at 6:55 PM on March 22, 2022 [6 favorites]
Check Dumpling in your area. It's more humane than Instacart, and the shoppers will largely go wherever you want within whatever area they choose to service.
posted by Lyn Never at 7:17 PM on March 22, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by Lyn Never at 7:17 PM on March 22, 2022 [11 favorites]
We used Dumpling for grocery delivery from Trader Joe's! We liked it because we could hire a specific person who would actually go to multiple stores to find things, and he got used to the things we generally wanted. We also liked that the pricing (and how much the shopper actually earned) was more transparent than with apps like Instacart, and we were more confident that we were in fact paying a fair wage. The flip side is that you're actually working with a human, so you can't just decide you want a half-dozen eggs and two apples delivered within 30 minutes on a Tuesday night and have it be an anonymous transaction. That is not an expectation I had of my husband, the designated grocery shopper in our family, anyway, so it was fine - we'd generally just build a list and then set up a day/time for delivery each week.
We ended up actually just following our shopper off the app and paying him directly to save a bit of money, but we were happy enough with Dumpling itself. I think when we were using the app we'd get charged by Dumpling for the grocery bill + agreed-upon fees at the time of delivery, and the shopper would include a receipt. (Dumpling itself advances the estimated bill to a business credit card for the shopper before they pay at the store.)
posted by cogitron at 7:28 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
We ended up actually just following our shopper off the app and paying him directly to save a bit of money, but we were happy enough with Dumpling itself. I think when we were using the app we'd get charged by Dumpling for the grocery bill + agreed-upon fees at the time of delivery, and the shopper would include a receipt. (Dumpling itself advances the estimated bill to a business credit card for the shopper before they pay at the store.)
posted by cogitron at 7:28 PM on March 22, 2022 [5 favorites]
Apologies - upon checking, it looks like Dumpling isn't available in Goleta / Santa Barbara! I will leave it to actual locals to suggest good options.
posted by cogitron at 7:35 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by cogitron at 7:35 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Goleta? I would absolutely get in touch with the UCSB career center and see if they have a job board. This would be a perfect gig for a responsible college student, or multiple students. (Friends of mine hired a babysitter via their local college job board, and they ended up hiring 3 students who were friends -- between the 3 of them, there was always someone who could cover a shift.)
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:40 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 7:40 PM on March 22, 2022 [7 favorites]
Perhaps Taskrabbit? I am not in the area, but my mom has used Taskrabbit for all kinds of things and has had primarily good experiences.
posted by sacrifix at 9:02 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by sacrifix at 9:02 PM on March 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Came here to suggest task rabbit or thumbtack.
posted by manageyourexpectations at 4:39 AM on March 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by manageyourexpectations at 4:39 AM on March 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
I've heard that if you go into the store and chat with the crew there's a chance that somebody who works there would shop for you, or at least know somebody who does.
You can usually identify crew by how they're dressed. Crew usually wear t-shirts, while management wear the Hawaiian shirts.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:42 AM on March 23, 2022
You can usually identify crew by how they're dressed. Crew usually wear t-shirts, while management wear the Hawaiian shirts.
posted by SteveInMaine at 8:42 AM on March 23, 2022
I found someone via Dumpling who I now pay directly (I know the Dumpling part doesn't help here, but some of my other logistics might for finding someone else -TaskRabbit, NextDoor, local email lists/Facebook are all places I've seen this.) The benefit of Dumpling was the intermediary until we were both familiar with each other, (and it meant they weren't out money for the groceries if something weird happened) but I've seen finding someone via other options work well too.
I swapped to Dumpling (and now just going direct) rather than Instacart a) to get stuff from Trader Joe's, b) after some really weird substitutions, and c) because having the same person consistently turns out to be awesome. (and d), I feel a lot more cheerful about paying someone directly).
These days, I pay via Venmo after she's delivered the groceries: people who do this may have a preferred thing to note ("reimbursement for groceries" as the description for example.)
The sequence for me:
- a couple of days before I'm likely to want a trip, I check when she's free (I grocery shop 3x a month right now, and I'm doing 2 of those myself and still using my awesome shopper for the third one)
Usually I say something like "Wednesday or Thursday" or "I've got meetings all afternoon on Thursday but morning would be fine" or whatever applies. Time flexibility is good, and I avoid asking her to do a trip in horrible weather. She lets me know (usually something like "Wednesday morning").
If you need a lot of precision around time, make that clear up front. Since a lot of people do this kind of thing part time, they may be working around other jobs, school, etc. If it's a weekly shop, maybe look for someone who'd have the same slot every week.
- I send my shopping list by text (sorted by category, which she really appreciates but I gather is uncommon)
- She lets me know when she heads out to shop.
- Once she's there, I usually get a couple of texts (with photos as relevant) re: substitutions. I also note stuff in my list if I know what I'd want instead. (For example, I usually get a bunch of individual yogurt, and do a list of "X flavour, Y, Z, A, and Q are fine too.)
Because we've been doing this for a while, she's really great at "They're out of this thing, want this one instead?" and being right about it. (And sometimes "Want this seasonal thing?" because I've gotten similar things.)
- She lets me know when she's paying (so I have an idea on transit time)
- She lets me know when she's arrived, I come open the door, etc. I let her know when the next likely time is going to be, she lets me know if she knows she won't be available, we make brief but cheerful small talk.
- She texts me the total. I pay via Venmo. (I don't tip, because that's already built into her fee structure, which is based on a percentage of the total cost of groceries plus some pre-set fees for the delivery and related fixed expenses. It's not cheap, compared to Instacart, but it's going directly to her, and I feel absolutely fine about that.)
It's about a 20 minute drive from either of the places she might shop for me, she doesn't take unusual precautions re: freezer stuff (it comes in the paper bags from the store and I wouldn't have either) but I've never had anything arrive unduly thawed. If you had concerns about distance, I bet most people who do this regularly would be glad to talk about options/insulated bags/whatever.
The other benefit is that while I don't use her for stuff like pharmacy pickups, etc. part of why I've kept using her service when I'm doing some of my own shopping is that as a single person who lives alone, feeling like I have a pre-existing option if I do get sick/etc. has felt really reassuring. (I have some local friends too, but they've all got either transit complications or small kids.)
posted by jenettsilver at 9:45 AM on March 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
I swapped to Dumpling (and now just going direct) rather than Instacart a) to get stuff from Trader Joe's, b) after some really weird substitutions, and c) because having the same person consistently turns out to be awesome. (and d), I feel a lot more cheerful about paying someone directly).
These days, I pay via Venmo after she's delivered the groceries: people who do this may have a preferred thing to note ("reimbursement for groceries" as the description for example.)
The sequence for me:
- a couple of days before I'm likely to want a trip, I check when she's free (I grocery shop 3x a month right now, and I'm doing 2 of those myself and still using my awesome shopper for the third one)
Usually I say something like "Wednesday or Thursday" or "I've got meetings all afternoon on Thursday but morning would be fine" or whatever applies. Time flexibility is good, and I avoid asking her to do a trip in horrible weather. She lets me know (usually something like "Wednesday morning").
If you need a lot of precision around time, make that clear up front. Since a lot of people do this kind of thing part time, they may be working around other jobs, school, etc. If it's a weekly shop, maybe look for someone who'd have the same slot every week.
- I send my shopping list by text (sorted by category, which she really appreciates but I gather is uncommon)
- She lets me know when she heads out to shop.
- Once she's there, I usually get a couple of texts (with photos as relevant) re: substitutions. I also note stuff in my list if I know what I'd want instead. (For example, I usually get a bunch of individual yogurt, and do a list of "X flavour, Y, Z, A, and Q are fine too.)
Because we've been doing this for a while, she's really great at "They're out of this thing, want this one instead?" and being right about it. (And sometimes "Want this seasonal thing?" because I've gotten similar things.)
- She lets me know when she's paying (so I have an idea on transit time)
- She lets me know when she's arrived, I come open the door, etc. I let her know when the next likely time is going to be, she lets me know if she knows she won't be available, we make brief but cheerful small talk.
- She texts me the total. I pay via Venmo. (I don't tip, because that's already built into her fee structure, which is based on a percentage of the total cost of groceries plus some pre-set fees for the delivery and related fixed expenses. It's not cheap, compared to Instacart, but it's going directly to her, and I feel absolutely fine about that.)
It's about a 20 minute drive from either of the places she might shop for me, she doesn't take unusual precautions re: freezer stuff (it comes in the paper bags from the store and I wouldn't have either) but I've never had anything arrive unduly thawed. If you had concerns about distance, I bet most people who do this regularly would be glad to talk about options/insulated bags/whatever.
The other benefit is that while I don't use her for stuff like pharmacy pickups, etc. part of why I've kept using her service when I'm doing some of my own shopping is that as a single person who lives alone, feeling like I have a pre-existing option if I do get sick/etc. has felt really reassuring. (I have some local friends too, but they've all got either transit complications or small kids.)
posted by jenettsilver at 9:45 AM on March 23, 2022 [2 favorites]
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posted by vrakatar at 6:39 PM on March 22, 2022