Saturday, Day #63 Phase I of Reopening
We request continued prayers for my husband's mother D. She is recovering, now in a long-term, acute care facility, from COVID-19 and hasn't been home in seven weeks. D. is off the ventilator and sitting up. Next goal: learn how to speak with her temporary tracheotomy. Praise God!
I think it might be a sago palm (which is not a true palm), but identification remains elusive. Do any of my readers want to weigh in?
I have been using Personal Shopping for my weekly groceries for nine years at Harris Teeter. However, during this coronavirus lockdown, I actually had to stop because they were consistently booked out 8+ days instead of just a few hours. I know that eventually Harris Teeter would have hired more personal shoppers to meet the demand, but, for now, they are falling behind.
I kept hearing mentions of Instacart and finally tried it today. It is a similar model to Uber or Lyft: Instacart has designed an app and vetted personal shoppers who are contractors to shop for them. Instacart makes contracts with local stores to allow the personal shoppers to shop in the stores and for payment to go through the Instacart app straight to the grocery store and not through the private person shopping.
I created my account online with Instacart and placed my first order through my computer, although I later downloaded the app and I could shop through there. Instacart is available at about 15 stores in my zip code, from discount grocery stores (Aldi's, Food Lion) to more expense grocery stores (Publix) and big box stores (Costco, Sam's Club) and specialty stores (CVS, PetCo).
Instacart is up front about the fact that some of its expenses to pay the personal shoppers is built into the groceries themselves. For example, Publix has made its individual food items more expensive when purchased through Instacart than if I walked into the store myself. As an experiment, I simultaneously opened my Harris Teeter online shopping and compared about 20 items. Most were exactly the same price and a few were 10 to 50 cents more expensive at Instacart. It made me wonder if all these years, Harris Teeter has also built the expense of paying its in-house personal shoppers into groceries purchased online--which would make sense!
Also, there is a fee for the shopping. It is either $4 per shopping trip or $99 for the whole year, which is exactly what Harris Teeter charges. However, I consider the Instacart price a better value because I get to shop at 15 stores with it, not just one store!
Finally, one does pay a tip through the app to the shopper. The tip would make this shopping experience slightly more expensive than personal shopping through Harris Teeter, but Instacart delivers straight to my door and on the very same day, even within the same hour, which I consider worthwhile.
I shopped my entire groceries for the week and it was exactly comparable to what I spend at Harris Teeter.
Around 1:00, I was notified by text and the app on my phone that my personal shopper had begun shopping my order. I could see her name and her picture. She texted me throughout the shop with questions about substitutions. (While placing the order, I could also make notes about just-in-case substitutions or preferences, like the yellowness of bananas.) The texting protects she and I from knowing each other's phone number, so it's not like some creepy stranger now has my phone number to stalk me. She was able to tell me that there was a coronavirus limitation of 2 milks and 2 egg cartons this week. She substituted various items and credited my money back for some items that were completely out of stock.
Then I got notification that she was done. The app showed me on the map where her car was driving on its way to me. Then I got a notification that she had arrived and about 5 seconds later, my doorbell rang.
She would have unloaded all my bags to the front porch, but I did have my son help her out. All the cold items had been stored in cold-pack zipper bags for the drive. She was very friendly and professional.
After she left, the app notified me, asking about my experience, having me give her a rating, just like with Uber and Lyft. (I bet she gave me a rating as a customer, as well!)
I am absolutely delighted and plan to try InstaCart a few more times before committing to paying the $99 for a year's subscription.
Today I transplanted about a dozen Vinca major plants from my "sea" full of them to a barren, utility corner of the yard behind the newly planted line of mondo grass.
Then John had me trek through the HOA woods to where someone had thrown out a small potted palm a few years ago and it has survived all this time just lying there on top of the ground, the pot shattered, and its fronds turning sideways up to the sun. We can't resist a sad, abandoned plant much more than we could resist an abandoned cute animal! So, I hauled it home and we planted it, hoping it will reorient to the sun over the new few years.
I think it might be a sago palm (which is not a true palm), but identification remains elusive. Do any of my readers want to weigh in?
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| The palm will reorient someday! |
We opened our pool today!
Review of Instacart
Today I tried using Instacart for the first time! Maybe I am the last person living under a rock who doesn't know all about how it works or hasn't tried it, but I will offer my review in case you're a fellow rock-dweller who keeps hearing the buzz and is wondering what on earth people are talking about.
I have been using Personal Shopping for my weekly groceries for nine years at Harris Teeter. However, during this coronavirus lockdown, I actually had to stop because they were consistently booked out 8+ days instead of just a few hours. I know that eventually Harris Teeter would have hired more personal shoppers to meet the demand, but, for now, they are falling behind.
I kept hearing mentions of Instacart and finally tried it today. It is a similar model to Uber or Lyft: Instacart has designed an app and vetted personal shoppers who are contractors to shop for them. Instacart makes contracts with local stores to allow the personal shoppers to shop in the stores and for payment to go through the Instacart app straight to the grocery store and not through the private person shopping.
I created my account online with Instacart and placed my first order through my computer, although I later downloaded the app and I could shop through there. Instacart is available at about 15 stores in my zip code, from discount grocery stores (Aldi's, Food Lion) to more expense grocery stores (Publix) and big box stores (Costco, Sam's Club) and specialty stores (CVS, PetCo).
Instacart is up front about the fact that some of its expenses to pay the personal shoppers is built into the groceries themselves. For example, Publix has made its individual food items more expensive when purchased through Instacart than if I walked into the store myself. As an experiment, I simultaneously opened my Harris Teeter online shopping and compared about 20 items. Most were exactly the same price and a few were 10 to 50 cents more expensive at Instacart. It made me wonder if all these years, Harris Teeter has also built the expense of paying its in-house personal shoppers into groceries purchased online--which would make sense!
Also, there is a fee for the shopping. It is either $4 per shopping trip or $99 for the whole year, which is exactly what Harris Teeter charges. However, I consider the Instacart price a better value because I get to shop at 15 stores with it, not just one store!
Finally, one does pay a tip through the app to the shopper. The tip would make this shopping experience slightly more expensive than personal shopping through Harris Teeter, but Instacart delivers straight to my door and on the very same day, even within the same hour, which I consider worthwhile.
I shopped my entire groceries for the week and it was exactly comparable to what I spend at Harris Teeter.
Around 1:00, I was notified by text and the app on my phone that my personal shopper had begun shopping my order. I could see her name and her picture. She texted me throughout the shop with questions about substitutions. (While placing the order, I could also make notes about just-in-case substitutions or preferences, like the yellowness of bananas.) The texting protects she and I from knowing each other's phone number, so it's not like some creepy stranger now has my phone number to stalk me. She was able to tell me that there was a coronavirus limitation of 2 milks and 2 egg cartons this week. She substituted various items and credited my money back for some items that were completely out of stock.
Then I got notification that she was done. The app showed me on the map where her car was driving on its way to me. Then I got a notification that she had arrived and about 5 seconds later, my doorbell rang.
She would have unloaded all my bags to the front porch, but I did have my son help her out. All the cold items had been stored in cold-pack zipper bags for the drive. She was very friendly and professional.
After she left, the app notified me, asking about my experience, having me give her a rating, just like with Uber and Lyft. (I bet she gave me a rating as a customer, as well!)
I am absolutely delighted and plan to try InstaCart a few more times before committing to paying the $99 for a year's subscription.
Bonus Reading for Posterity:
- Breaking news for my state in just the last several hours: churches may meet and gather to worship! And with no restrictions on numbers! (Judge Blocks Governor Cooper's Coronavirus-Related Orders on Indoor Church Services.)
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