Asking the Readers: Clicklist, Instacart, Peapod, Amazon-Do You Ever Order or Pickup Groceries? Would You Consider It?

Today is the Monday after Sunday football. I am of course a Broncos fan (with occasional nods to DC, after having lived there for over 20 years). My son is a Colts fan and my daughter a die hard Redskins fan. Rare, oh so rare, are the Sundays when they both having winning teams, but this is one of those weeks. Leaving me as the odd gal out.  And what's worse of course, is that the Broncos have to face the Raiders next week. The week after they were upset by those upstart Redskins (who I also love, and someday I'll share with readers my personal thoughts on the name).  Ah, football, you make me happy, you make me miserable! But I did miss you so much. Oh, and the frugal retiree tried out Stitch Fix. More about that later in the week.  Meanwhile......

A little over a week or so ago, my daughter texted me from Dallas. She said "I tried Clicklist for the first time".  I texted back "How did you like it?".  Her answer was "It was glorious. And I even got produce".

For those not in the know, clicklist is a system by which you go online and place an order for groceries with your local store.  You then choose a one hour pick up window, drive up to the store, and have said groceries put into your car. Now, nothing is free of course, and the cost  is $4.95 for this service.  But the first three "pickups" are free. And Kroger/King Soopers (my primary local store) sends out ten dollar coupons off regularly in their monthly mailers, making it a fairly reasonable option. 

I had been considering doing this for awhile.  At first blush, this may not seem like a frugal option. I mean, grocery shopping for a fee?  And what about the coupons?  In my case, coupons are not a huge part of my method of keeping the cost of eating well in check. I rely more on cooking from scratch, buying loss leaders, and not buying junk food.  I also hate, hate, hate, grocery shopping. I don't mind the cooking part so much although I am not necessarily good at it, and I enjoy the eating part. The shopping?  Not so much.  And yes, I'm sure some readers are thinking "But I love looking at and feeling the produce" or something along those lines. I bow to you. But that is not me. And while I am capable of walking into a store, running to the back and getting nothing but milk, I am just as likely to go up and down the aisles getting things I don't need. Especially unhealthy things I don't need, like Sara Lee cheesecake. Which I firmly believe should be eaten while still partially frozen.  

So again, this had been in the back of my mind for awhile. My concerns were, of course, mainly the produce. And to some extent the meat. Even though I know somewhere in my mind that a pack of chicken breasts is a pack of chicken breasts, steak and other items are not so easily dismissed. After hearing the results from my daughter, as well as from another friend, next week I'll be experimenting with this system.  Because after all, aside from the meat and the produce, 90 percent of what I buy each week is pretty much the same thing.  Eggs, milk, cheese, English muffins........the list goes on.

Clicklist, of course, is not the only option. As a member of Amazon Prime, I've been given a free trial of Amazon Fresh to test door to door delivery.  Instacart is similar to Clicklist, only again, it is door to door delivery (for a fee of course). Walmart has grocery pickup (and perhaps delivery, I am not sure). Some of my readers have Peapod, I am sure. And of course regular Amazon users know about Prime Pantry for personal products, pet items and non perishables that can be ordered monthly (we used to do this for large bags of dog food), although it is not instant delivery. And some readers may use Door to Door Organics.  

At first blush these kind of things seem like they would be best suited to younger, working singles, couples or families.  And yes, as my daughter's response above shows, for that group it's a big help. She made her list the evening before I expect, while watching TV, and arranged to pick said order up after work the next day-at a store that was on her way home.

But I'm fairly sure I am not the only retiree or boomer for whom this holds some attraction-especially when it includes the delivery option. At this point in my life, I don't have a lot of "weekly errands" as such, other than the occasional trip to the library. Oh sure, I leave the house for knitting, volunteering, entertainment and day trip purposes and to go out to lunch.  But it's not the "Do the errands, go to the grocery store, hit the pharmacy, pick up the dry cleaning, fill up the car", type stuff I once did.  

And while I I talk occasionally here about the time versus money trade off that happens to many of us in retirement, I really don't want to spend time I could be doing fun stuff by grocery shopping. Last  but not least in this discussion is that I hate carrying groceries, especially heavy things like a gallon of juice and milk and basic canned goods.  It can be a pain-literally. With delivery, especially if I were home, the goods would be inside my door, and my only "chore" would be putting said inventory a way.

Now, I admit that for someone who dubs herself "the frugal retiree", this may seem out of character. And perhaps it is.  In general, I'm a firm believer in doing it yourself when you can, and when it works. But part of the reason for that belief is that I know I (all of us actually) will have times when we want or need to "hire it out". In this case I'm the first to admit that hiring it out may be as much pure laziness as need. But that's okay, as long as everything evens out financially. At  least from where this frugal retiree stands.

So over to you, fair readers. Have you ever had food delivered?  Personal products through Amazon Prime?  Would you think about it?  Do you like to grocery shop? Or is it a chore you'd happily leave behind. Let me know what thinks, and what works for you.