By: Sharon Aron Baron
As I make my way through the grocery aisle throwing the same old items into my cart from the same store that I always shop in, I find that the mundane chore of grocery shopping has left me with nothing to get excited about. I dislike grocery shopping so much that I’ll even barter with my husband to do other jobs around the house if he will run to Publix for me.
But now my problem has been solved, an Alabama based company called Shipt, which is kind of like the Uber of grocery shopping, started their delivery service in South Florida in August. They aren’t affiliated with Publix, but the app features Publix products and their independent shoppers bring the items straight to your door.
The home delivery service from Shipt costs $14 a month, or you can purchase it for $99 per year. In return, you will get unlimited deliveries on orders over $35. Orders under $35 are subject to a $7 delivery fee. However, there is a catch: Their prices are slightly marked up from in-store prices.
“Our members can expect to pay about $5 more on an order that normally cost $35 in the store to help cover the costs of picking and packing,” the website says.
I signed up for the service immediately and received a special deal for $49 for the year. However, I never got around to using it. But in September, I hurt the rotator cuff in my right shoulder and was in agony finding it difficult to lift anything. I figured it was a good time to try the app to see if it worked. So while watching TV in bed, I opened the Shipt app and picked the items I wanted for my first delivery. It was fairly easy to use and every item had a photo next to it. If the item wasn’t listed, I could do a “special request” and write which item I wanted, so the shopper could find it. What was nice was sitting shopping in a relaxed atmosphere while asking my husband what he wanted for dinner the next few nights. No frantic texting while I was at the store.
After I was done, I was able to pick out a time I wanted my items delivered, with options from morning until late at night.
The next day, I started receiving text messages from my Shipt shopper named Stacey.
“The store does not have the requested product Publix Beefsteak Tomato available. Any other tomato u would like?”
I answered back that any other big tomato would be fine.
She wrote back about several other items, and I said it was okay to replace those. It seemed as though products on the Shipt menu differed than what was available at our local stores. Stacey made sure she cleared each and everyone with me.
And she wasn’t the only shopper to do this.
The next shopper I had named Frank texted me about about various products like apples, flour tortillas, and Publix brand muffins that were slightly different before he would buy them.
So far I’ve had groceries delivered two times from Stacey and once by Frank and Shana. Shana is even a Publix employee working for Shipt part-time. I never know who I’m going to have delivering my groceries, but the app lets me rate them anonymously as well as tip them online. All three of my shoppers have been great and extraordinarily friendly and all three of them carried the groceries inside right to my kitchen counter which really saved me the time and trouble – not to mention pain due to my shoulder.
Shipt also makes it easy to shop again because they have a tab for recently purchased items since most people tend to buy the same things over and over. I look at those items first and buy some of them again, then I go to the section to see what’s on sale – like BOGO’s.
I just placed another order tonight. I even passed the phone around for the kids to purchase the snacks they wanted to add. Once I checked out, I noticed Stacey picked up my order and will be delivering tomorrow. Shopping is certainly a pleasure.
Coupon here for Tamarac and Lauderhill residents: Get $10 off your first Order using this link with Shipt