Number Three Son, who writes his own blog over there under AW FISH, does my yard work because I can’t handle the hills while my wrist still recovers. He started this last year working out a business agreement and he did such an amazing job I pestered him into doing it this year.
Besides doing a great job (and I mean it, neighbors come over to compliment the yard work) it gives us a chance to hang out— I usually make him breakfast or lunch and we sit and chat it up a bit. We already see each other upwards of 3x a week but he’s genuinely someone we like hanging out with— we are very close. On this past Sunday visit he mentioned to me that he got a Grocery Delivery from Whole Foods and I was interested because as an Amazon Prime member I get discounts there and I’ve also gotten a lot of push from them to try the “new” 2 hour Whole Foods Delivery.
Now I hate shopping but I like Whole Foods. Yes, it’s not the cheapest grocer out there but the staff is trained well, the store is super clean and they have a nice variety of products, so you get what you pay for. Veronica was making a Chicken with Spanish Rice dinner so I jumped on the Amazon app on my iPhone and started scrolling through the Whole Foods section and added stuff to my cart. Now to give you a heads up, I initially did this on my iPad through the Amazon app and got some nonsense AFTER I had filled the cart that you needed to do this on either your iPhone or in a browser so save yourself a step and go right for your phone or browser.
Here’s how it works; You browse through the categories and add items to your cart just like all other online shopping, and if you hit $35 worth of products you get free delivery. You choose your delivery window, if you need it faster you can pay $5 more and get it within an hour, I opted to go the cheaper free route since dinner was already in full prep.
It might be an issue for some but a tip is built in to the app for the driver. I tip the guy who pumps my gas so I’m a-OK with tipping, but not BEFORE you provide me with whatever service you are doing. This time around I took a leap of faith and tipped before but going forward I’m going to see if there is an option for tipping after. If that milk is warm the tip is gonna suffer.
I ordered bananas, an onion, some Turkey Pastrami, french bread, peanut butter, a pound of Tilapia (white fish), some Guacamole and chips and a half gallon of whole milk. I placed my order at 545 and chose 6pm-8pm as my delivery window, then got a text saying my order was being picked. You need to stay near your phone because you will get a text if something is out of stock and they offer a substitute. In my case they were out of French Bread so I OK’d Sourdough bread instead.
Within 15 minutes I got the notice that my order had “shipped” — I had visions of UPS dropping off a beyond warm milk and some fish the following day when I got the usual Amazon map which showed me where my delivery was and how many stops away it was. I looked to be the fourth stop on my driver’s list— hopefully they keep the AC cranked in the car.
At 615pm the driver pulled up to my house, they do “contactless” delivery which just means they are going to place the bags on your front steps please don’t breath on them and then you get another text saying your delivery is here make sure you put the stuff in the fridge.
The order was right although I’d accidentally ordered 2 guacamoles (I don’t know why I make so much) which was a perfect appetizer for the Spanish Chicken we were going to have. The peanut butter was that horrible organic stuff that is so liquidy it’s like baby food, but that’s on me.
The milk and the fish were both cold and everything was nicely picked, although the bananas were very green. Next time I’ll see if you can choose a color option on them, otherwise I’ll probably leave bananas off my list and brave the stores to get my own.
It struck me that if you want to figure out the next big business thing, look to the past— because Grocery Delivery is nothing new, in fact its a throwback to the old General Store days.
I’m a fan, I’ll use the service again.