How come there is no "take-out" ordering for groceries/costco?

[GagHalfrunt]

My supermarket has had a shop at home option for a couple of years now. Order online, someone takes your list and picks the order and you can either drive to the store to pick it up for free or have it shipped to your home for a small fee. Your member card savings automatically apply and you can use coupons too if you do the pick-up. It's pretty neat and I've never used it once.

I've done it with Home Depot though. Pretty convenient, shop and pay online, go to the store and your order is waiting for you.

 

[Rustican]

Pass. My local costco is crowded every single minute it is open. Trying to navigate through the crowd of people makes my blood boil. Especially around the sample stations

They could easily create a limited time special items page on their website for online order/local pickup

Limited time special items are what get's people through the door. Since you're there already, might as well pick up the stack of toilet paper and groceries while you're there. Check out line is long, i'll pick up this book/magazine to page through.

Total win for COSTCO. You complaining that the place is always crowded proves that their strategy is working and they don't need a website.

 

[Eug]

Limited time special items are what get's people through the door. Since you're there already, might as well pick up the stack of toilet paper and groceries while you're there. Check out line is long, i'll pick up this book/magazine to page through.

Total win for COSTCO. You complaining that the place is always crowded proves that their strategy is working and they don't need a website.

Not really. One big reason I shop less than I would otherwise at Costco is because it's too crowded. Waiting in line to get a parking spot and then navigating around all the people in the store is not my idea of fun.

In fact, I've let my membership lapse several times, but every so often I give it another try. The last time it was because Amex gave me a huge discount on the membership.

If it was less crowded, I'd spend way more money there.

 

[Rumpltzer]

For Costco/Sams this would make a ton of sense. Typically you're buying fewer items higher volume, so it's easier to pick from the shelves.

Have you noticed how Costco randomly moves shit around so you need to search for it? I'm under the impression that they want you to browse and impulse buy stuff.

I've heard that some Costco stores have self check-out. I generally buy less than 10 items when I go in, and I would love it if my stores had self check-out... but I'd want them to have a pre-test.

You're presented with two colored push buttons. A screen instructs you to press one of the colors. If you do not press the correct button within 4 seconds, you're not qualified for self check-out.

 

[nageov3t]

Probably a troll post from you, but I'll bite.

So you save time, but it costs them money? .....yeah, why would they do that?

my store charges a fee for the service... I'm sure they're making far more from the fees than it costs them in man-hours and if enough people use the service, it also means they need less cashier booths open inside the store (they do lose the impulse buys, but they're also gaining -- or at least keeping -- customers who might otherwise go to a different store or utilize FreshDirect because they don't want to deal with the hassle/time of grocery shopping. my sister is a big user of the service as well, since it means not having to grocery shop with 2 toddlers in tow)

 

[Imported]

Costco around here usually has a ton of Google Express trucks around.. but not pick up.

 

[OutHouse]

what if it takes me like 20 minutes to get out of the car and walking through the store is exhausting because my leg is in a cast?

your gimp status is excluded from my tirade.

 

[OutHouse]

Have you noticed how Costco randomly moves shit around so you need to search for it? I'm under the impression that they want you to browse and impulse buy stuff.

I've heard that some Costco stores have self check-out. I generally buy less than 10 items when I go in, and I would love it if my stores had self check-out... but I'd want them to have a pre-test.

You're presented with two colored push buttons. A screen instructs you to press one of the colors. If you do not press the correct button within 4 seconds, you're not qualified for self check-out.

All Grocery stores do this.

 

[Ns1]

There might be soon if this company gets it's way.

 

[Rustican]

Not really. One big reason I shop less than I would otherwise at Costco is because it's too crowded. Waiting in line to get a parking spot and then navigating around all the people in the store is not my idea of fun.

In fact, I've let my membership lapse several times, but every so often I give it another try. The last time it was because Amex gave me a huge discount on the membership.

If it was less crowded, I'd spend way more money there.

Still a win for COSTCO. They made out on your membership even if you didn't use it. You basically gave them free money. Also since they are still crowded they aren't going to miss you.

 

[alien42]

in several US cities you can have Costco delivered via Instacart.

 

[who?]

https://www.facebook.com/walmart2685

 

[JEDIYoda]

If it was less crowded, I'd spend way more money there.

No you wouldn`t!! Because they would close the store if it was less crowded!

 

[BoomerD]

Costco doesn't care about YOUR time. They WANT you to browse in the store...and spend more money on impulse purchases.
This model might work well for a grocery store...but IMO, not so well with Costco.

 

[eng2d2]

I buy their 4.99 rotisserie but it gives me a bad stomach ache. Anyone know their ingredient?

 

[CoPhotoGuy]

Say I phone it in or order my list online. I then drive up to the store and the grocery guy loads my stuff into the trunk.

Would save quite a bit of time I think, right?

There isn't any because there is.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Friend of mine at work uses Peapod, he has a list that he does like weekly or biweekly, and he stops at their depot after work and picks up his food. Essentially does 1 hour worth of grocery store time compressed down to under 5 minutes at a place on the way home from work. (grocery stores are all out of the way, involve roads with more slowwer traffic, so it saves extra travel time for him as well)

 

[John Connor]

there are a lot of these in France.

When I took two years of French my French teachers said that when you go to the supermarket, if you want bread you go to the bakery. If you want meat you go to the butcher, etc. That doesn't exist anymore or what?

 

[1sikbITCH]

Say I phone it in or order my list online. I then drive up to the store and the grocery guy loads my stuff into the trunk.

Would save quite a bit of time I think, right?

If I was the store owner this is where I would dispose of all the rotting fruits and meats and stuff. NO RETURNS. In other words if you are too lazy to pick out your own meal you deserve to get what you get.

 

[nageov3t]

If I was the store owner this is where I would dispose of all the rotting fruits and meats and stuff. NO RETURNS. In other words if you are too lazy to pick out your own meal you deserve to get what you get.

why be a deliberate asshole about it? :\ it's not necessarily laziness.

I've been using this since my injury, and I'd imagine it's a great service for more tech-savvy senior citizens as well who may not have the stamina to push a cart and make the full circuit of the grocery store without getting wiped out.

 

[Ns1]

If I was the store owner this is where I would dispose of all the rotting fruits and meats and stuff. NO RETURNS. In other words if you are too lazy to pick out your own meal you deserve to get what you get.

and this is why you won't have repeat customers.

 

[QueBert]

The Costoco here's twice as crowded as the Walmart across the street, and half the people have those huge ass flat dollys and leave them right in the middle of the isles all the dame time. It's easily the worst store I've ever been to to navigate around. And the check out lines are Disneyland ride long. I'd consider shopping there if they offered a curb side pick up option where I didn't have to set foot into that hellhole.

All Grocery stores do this.

Um, no they don't. The main grocery store I've been shopping at since I started shopping. I could almost go in there blind folded and get everything I need. It's been the same forever. At worst they move an item or 2 further down an isle to make room for something new.

 

[quikah]

Amazon is building one in Sunnyvale:
http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/...-amazon-planning-drive-up-grocery-stores.html

 

[sandorski]

Grocery Gateway? How's the service? Been thinking of setting up an account for my Gran. She's worried though they'll deliver crap produce.

No. Local BC Chain, Thrifty Foods. A competitor(although they recently bought Thrifty), Save-On-Foods has also begun their own.

The experience has been great for me. The Shoppers do a good job, although at times Produce can be iffy. I don't think that's necessarily the Shoppers fault, sometimes Produce available at the moment just isn't that great. Over the 3/4 years I have been doing it, a couple times I thought to myself that if I had been in the store, I would have changed my mind and got something else. Overall it's been fine for Produce.

A couple other times I have ordered something not fully knowing what I was ordering. Just yesterday I received an order like that, ordered Hot Dogs and Buns. The buns I knew were a count of 6, the wieners I thought were going to be 6 or 8, but turned out to be 12. The description didn't mention Count and the little pic of the Product wasn't large enough to see the Count on the package. I was willing to have a couple extra wieners, but really the type of wiener I was expecting is what is the meh part. I got Sausage Buns and the rinky dink Wieners, bleh. I'll survive though.

So it's not flawless and I'm sure it could vary greatly from Store or even Shopper involved.

 

[WaTaGuMp]

Part of their business model is moving things around to keep you in the store longer.