Grocery delivery services, what are your experiences?

Living on the edge of the San Francisco Bay Area, there are a number of delivery services available, and I've tried a couple lately. How about you, any services you tried, whether you like them or not?

Amazon Fresh has been a big disappointment. You'd think that with Amazon's formidable logistics engine they would have no trouble getting groceries to your door within 24 hours, but so far that hasn't been consistently true. They only deliver 7 a.m.-1 p.m. and the first time I tried to order there were no slots for the next day. The first delivery got handled roughly, so a jar of tomato sauce broke all over the padded bag, leaving a stain on my porch. Getting a refund was trivially easy, at least. Produce quality was decent, some good, some bad. A couple gallons of milk and maybe a bag of groceries came in three huge totes; even folded down they take up a lot of space and there's no provision for pickup unless you place another order. Selection is an issue; there are literally 5 varieties of fresh fish for next day delivery: salmon, cod, catfish, tuna, and tilapia. There's more variety if you're willing to wait until Friday, but that's a long time to get some fish! Prices are reasonable, if not cheap, though the $15/mo fee on top of Amazon prime is pricey if you're not using it for all your grocery shopping. Orders of $40 or more get "free" delivery (outside the $15/mo). If I could use it from time to time when getting to the store was difficult, I would, but by the time you pick everything out and wait a day or two, it's not that convenient for everyday use.

Farmigo was great, excellent quality at reasonable prices for weekly deliveries at a nearby house, but they stopped servicing my area. I still miss the Strauss "barista" milk which is less pasteurized for better foaming. Yum.

Farm Fresh to You isn't bad, they are all-organic but I don't need Washington apples in California, thank you. Also the handling and packaging leaves something to be desired, such as unbagged broccoli that gets strewn all over.

My latest one is Imperfect Produce. They buy the produce that is slightly mishapen or spotted, and it's quite inexpensive, especially if you get one of the large boxes. Quality is execellent, going to the farmer's market I'm used to seeing produce with minor aesthetic flaws that is nonetheless top quality on the inside. The weekly or bi-weekly boxes have an excellent assortment, too, but you can customize a few days before from a huge variety. Highly recommended: http://imperfectproduce.com/

[Jenise]

I tried the delivery services a few times just for yuks when I lived in Los Angeles. My experience was fairly similar to your "by the time you pick everything out and wait a day or two, it's not that convenient for everyday use." Plus, I'm an impulse buyer. That is I like seeing particularly fresh and exciting things, and being inspired by them. I won't buy cucumbers, for instance, unless they're especially firm and slender. I wouldn't order fish I hadn't laid eyes on or asked when it came in. Someone else less discerning picking stuff out for me would only lead to unhappiness on my end.

I can sure understand why the opposite would be true for dual-income families, though, and for people with infirmities.

Here? I'm aware of none currently though I'm aware that Fred Meyer/Kroger has plans, and it's likely moot in that I'd bet on being too far out of their range anyway. As it is, it's 7 miles to the closest grocer and 16 and 21 to the ones I prefer.

As it is, it's 7 miles to the closest grocer and 16+ to the ones I prefer.

The better one is always further away. (It wouldn't be worth going to, otherwise!)

Got my delivery yesterday and it was missing a gallon of milk! Amazon delivers over 100 items a year to our house, with maybe 1 incorrect item per year. With 8 items, especially one as large as a gallon of milk, how could you miss that?

It looks like you're asking for recommendations for delivery services that cover San Francisico. I can't comment on that.

The UK supermarket chains all offer home delivery plus we've got a stand alone grocery home delivery service (i.e. they have no stores) and Amazon sell a lot of non-fresh food items and have recently introduced a fresh food delivery service in the greater London area.

We used a weekly supermarket home delivery for my MIL for several years when she was home-bound, it was a real life saver. J ordred online for delivery to MIL, choosing an hour slot convenient to MIL. Some problems, e.g. she liked a daily yoghurt but sometimes they delivered 7 yoghurts all with an expiry date of the day following delivery.

Several people in our road get home deliveries because they can no longer drive themselves. You hear stories such as ordering 1 bag of brussel sprouts and getting one sprout, or getting 20 boxes when they wanted one box of 20, but not clear if fault is the website or the user.

Ourselves, we prefer to go to the supermarket and choose our own produce.

But I ordered some wine (unvailable elsewhere) from the no-store service and chose a 1-hour slot the following day, they texted me the ETA. colour of van and name of driver. And I've also ordered wine through Amazon (though it was an agent that actually sold the wine).

As population increasingly ages and gets infirm home delivery will get more prevalent, and there is fierce competition, but market analyst says home delivery is not cost effective for the stores when, instead of gaining new customers, they are delivering to those who would otherwise come into their stores.

Hi Peter,

I'm quite interested in what you related as well. When we had an infant in the house it was a struggle to get out for 40 minutes to go on a shopping trip, so I would have welcomed it back then. We live in a suburban area, so there's not the density of shopping (or delivery) options that you'd find in a city.

The wine thing is quite difficult in the US, as you may know. There's a service around here that will deliver fresh, unpasteurized beer to your door, but you have to be there to receive it. It's pricey, about US$30 for 2 liters, and if you miss two consecutive delivery attempts, they keep the beer and your money.