Online Grocery Shopping

[Ducay]

Given every market player seems to be getting in on the act lately, figured it would be good to discuss people's thoughts & experiences. Between delivery and click & pickup options, seems like this will be the future for a decent market share of purchases.

Tried Spud.ca yesterday for the first time. Good local produce, but steep prices on many items. Not sure I will do this regularly, especially out of season when Alberta/BC can really only supply hothouse produce.

I generally do Walmart.ca online for my pantry items. Shipping is slower than Amazon's, but usually comes within a week, and prices can't be beat. Have tried their grocery pickup service and it was pretty good, on par with Superstore's Click & Collect system, but with drive time and pickup/wait time, getting an order still takes over an hour.

Interested to hear if anyone has experience with Save-on-Foods's delivery service, as prices look competitive and delivery is appealing over Click/Pickup from Walmart/Superstore. As those services get more popular, they seem to be harder to get optimal times and wait times are longer.

[snootchiebootchies]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Given every market player seems to be getting in on the act lately, figured it would be good to discuss people's thoughts & experiences. Between delivery and click & pickup options, seems like this will be the future for a decent market share of purchases.

Tried Spud.ca yesterday for the first time. Good local produce, but steep prices on many items. Not sure I will do this regularly, especially out of season when Alberta/BC can really only supply hothouse produce.

I generally do Walmart.ca online for my pantry items. Shipping is slower than Amazon's, but usually comes within a week, and prices can't be beat. Have tried their grocery pickup service and it was pretty good, on par with Superstore's Click & Collect system, but with drive time and pickup/wait time, getting an order still takes over an hour.

Interested to hear if anyone has experience with Save-on-Foods's delivery service, as prices look competitive and delivery is appealing over Click/Pickup from Walmart/Superstore. As those services get more popular, they seem to be harder to get optimal times and wait times are longer.

We tried spud.ca but found it too expensive.

We tried the Superstore Click & Collect system when it first came online. The system was extremely glitchy though and made for a frustrating experience. I cannot convince my wife to try it again.

My wife said she might try the Walmart pick-up service a few weeks ago. The draw for her was there were no pick-up fees. But as of today, she still hasn't tried it.

[BigNumbers]

I use Save-On's Delivery - we used to use Superstore Click and Collect, but the delivery aspect of Save-On is nice. Produce is a step up from Superstore, but costs are about 10% above a comparable Superstore shop on average.

So it costs ~$10 for Save-On Delivery, and our usual weekly bill is $250 for the main grocery shop, so it's another $20-30 in extra cost due to Save'On's higher cost (not worth our time to flyer shop, etc - we know what we like and buy it).

So factoring all that, in I am not sure if the delivery is worth the effective $30-40 I am paying for Save On Delivery vs. Superstore pickup. We may revert back to Superstore, if their produce picking skills haven't gotten worse (they were borderline okay before).

[JFK]

Use Save-On and it's bloody brilliant. It's fantastic going through the weekly flyer and one-clicking items to your cart, then being able to monitor your dollars spent as you add items. All sales are listed clearly and discounted as you add them to cart.

The delivery gives you a two hour window but so far they've never gotten past the 40 minute park in that window. The drivers brings everything to your front door, items separated smartly (frozen etc) and bagged. You have the option to let them substitute have items if need be and each time they've done that the subs have been appropriate.

First delivery is free so well worth it to give it a try.

[Vena]

I've been getting my groceries delivered by Save-On since they started offering it. I love it. Like JFK, one-clicking items in the flyer makes it really easy. It's easy to search for any items that you are looking for. You do have the option of allowing substitution if the item you ordered is out of stock.

The quality of the produce is always great and you can leave a note as to your preferences. That was my biggest concern prior to ordering.

Delivery has always been great. Prices are based on the delivery window you choose. There have been a few times that I have had delivery on Friday or Saturday night and it was only $4.95, though the window was from 8-10pm.

[Ducay]

Sounds like experiences with Save-On are consistent with some anecdote's I've heard, although that delivery fee is a lot higher than I would have expected.

Although I find their website super easy to use, Superstore seems to have become bad for stockouts and slow getting the car, might be worth the saved time and headache, especially since the alternative is shopping at the close by Sobeys where prices are well above Save-On and Superstore.

[CrazyCaper]

Have used Click and Collect for a couple of months now. Challenge is when they're out of what you ordered and don't have a substitute item. Frustrating. As well, on my last order, we ordered a block of Armstrong cheese. When we got it home, it was covered in mold. Brought it back and didn't even receive an apology. Will likely try out Save On for my next one.

[Ducay]

Superstore online CS has been good when I've complained on wait times (usually get a $10 credit), but hardly worth my time when some times it has taken 30 minutes of waiting to get my order when they're busy.

[Jacks]

Okay I have to ask, how much do you tip the delivery guy?
I'm being serious, not trying to start one of those tip war threads.

[Canehdianman]

I use click and collect fairly often. It's a bit annoying to use the ####ty interface but it saves me from going into that zoo so I like it.

[JFK]

Originally Posted by Jacks

Okay I have to ask, how much do you tip the delivery guy?
I'm being serious, not trying to start one of those tip war threads.

For Save-On, nothing. Zero. There is already a decent delivery fee, 10 to 12 bucks on average and the delivery guys and gals don't use their own vehicles either, so don't really feel it's warranted. Seems to be the normal train of thought.

Consider myself a healthy tipper as well, but this is a no guilt zero.

[Northendzone]

^ what if they brought YOU two DIFFERENT kinds of RANCH sauce, and THEN filled your POP?

We use superstore, it is nice because you can add things to the list as you think of it, but the wait in the lot is sometimes longer that I think it should be.

[powderjunkie]

It's explicitly stated on Save On's website that you don't have to tip the drivers.

[MoneyGuy]

But does the Save-On delivery fee go to the driver?

[JFK]

Originally Posted by MoneyGuy

But does the Save-On delivery fee go to the driver?

Highly doubt it.
Was told from a friend they tried to tip once and the driver refused, said it's against policy. Was pretty adamant about it.

[snootchiebootchies]

I used to deliver groceries when I was a kid and rarely ever got tipped -- like maybe 2 times in a 100. I don't think they expect tips.

[calf]

Originally Posted by CrazyCaper

Have used Click and Collect for a couple of months now. Challenge is when they're out of what you ordered and don't have a substitute item. Frustrating. As well, on my last order, we ordered a block of Armstrong cheese. When we got it home, it was covered in mold. Brought it back and didn't even receive an apology. Will likely try out Save On for my next one.

I found it frustrating when they said they were out of something, and had no substitutes, but they definitely had the items in stock. We did an order and I had to go in to get something I forgot to order online...went right past the aisle of one of the out of stock items and found it with several suitable substitutes. I went on a bit of a browse and found quite a few items in stock and with substitutes (things like cleaners, sunscreen, paper towels).

[Ducay]

Superstore's system is odd. I believe it won't let you add items out of stock or not carried at your selected store, yet the number of stockouts (Id say 5% or so) must be due to sheer laziness or inability to find something.