Does Anyone Use Uber Eats, Door Dash or InstaCart?

Yes, I have used Peapod, through Stop & Shop for 10 years? or so...

It is very good for some things, not good for others.

I had some items show up that were not kept cold.

Did some digging and found out that they package the items the night before, around midnight, in dry ice. They do not use refrigerated trucks.

My resolution to this was to only order paper goods, laundry detergent, canned food and etc. through them. I will also order things like potatoes, bananas, apples...but only whole foods, nothing processed like cold cuts or potato salad.

And through that, I have been able to get a lot delivered, including heavy things like drinks (since I have back injuries).

But..expensive? Yes. My quick guess would be costs about 10% - 15% more than you would pay in a store, plus whatever tip you would give.

+++++++++

Just recently, I also started using Door Dash to deliver groceries. They are very good, very quick, very accurate. You get the groceries delivered within an hour.

But..expensive? Yes. My quick guess would be costs about 10% - 15% more than you would pay in a store, plus whatever tip you would give.

Because they deliver quickly, I have no problem ordering butter, milk, cold cuts, etc.
 

as far as working for a company like that?

I did that in the 90's. If you are using your own car and paying for your own gas?

Definitely not worth it. I did the math back then, if you include not only gas but wear and tear on a car? You barely wind up making minimum wage, if that.

If someone else is paying for the car, the gas, etc?

I don't know. I can't see folks making any decent money. Who knows? Maybe $15 per hour, max? Not sure. But if you try it, I would really take a long look at the math and come up with the actual figure that you make after expenses.
 
Pink Biz said:
I order groceries online from my in-town Walmart and all the deliveries are made by Door Dash. Excellent service from both of them!
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I order my groceries from Walmart and use pick up.
I know they have shipping, but didn't know they had a delivery service. Do you order through Door Dash or Walmart?
 
@Becky1951 I order directly from Walmart. That they use Door Dash for their deliveries may be a local thing (I'm in suburban Chicago) and perhaps they contract with various delivery carriers in other locations around the country.
 
Packerjohn said:
Right you are. For the last 2 years I am keeping a record of my expenses in running my car which is a 2018 Ford Focus, 4 cylinder. For 2001 it was $5,500 Canadian. Now, I'm retired and sometimes don't use it sometimes for a week. It's all paid for so there are no payments. I sure would like to know the total yearly bill for one of those 4X4 trucks that people use when they live out in the country and have to commune to the city everyday to work? I have checked my local paper and many of these trucks sell for $60,000 plus 12% sales tax. Wow! That hurts! Yes, Katlupe, you are ahead. For me that would be $105/week which sure amounts to a lot of taxi trips.
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Yeah, but I had to give up a lot to live here. If I could have stayed in the country, I would have kept a vehicle.
 
I've been ordering groceries online from WalMart then going to the store to pick up. It works very well. They have had a lot of items out of stock lately though. I like Aldi's and prefer to shop there but the nearest store is across town so I sometimes order online. I think InstaCart handles their deliveries. Last time I ordered from them the groceries with no substitutions were delivered in about 45 minutes. I was impressed. We have a service here called Waitr that delivers meals from local restaurants. I have used them a time or two. There is quite a markup on the cost of the meal so I don't use it much. I think as long as I am able to drive and do my own in-store shopping I will continue to do that but these services come in really handy if you are restricted from driving or have mobility difficulty.
 
I haven't tried Uber Eats or Door Dash. I sometimes get deliveries from Italian and Chinese restaurants though.

I also get deliveries from Aldi's.

I'm happy with all but the Italian restaurant. Their food isn't always prepared the way it's supposed to--for example, I ordered an Italian Sausage sandwich and they gave me a meatball sandwich. By the time I discovered that it was too late to call them so I didn't bother.

They also made me a pizza and omitted a key ingredient topping. I am going to try another pizza restaurant.
 
Packerjohn said:
Right you are. For the last 2 years I am keeping a record of my expenses in running my car which is a 2018 Ford Focus, 4 cylinder. For 2001 it was $5,500 Canadian. Now, I'm retired and sometimes don't use it sometimes for a week. It's all paid for so there are no payments. I sure would like to know the total yearly bill for one of those 4X4 trucks that people use when they live out in the country and have to commune to the city everyday to work? I have checked my local paper and many of these trucks sell for $60,000 plus 12% sales tax. Wow! That hurts! Yes, Katlupe, you are ahead. For me that would be $105/week which sure amounts to a lot of taxi trips.
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A few years back I read that the average cost for maintaining and using a car was a bit over $6,000 a year. I don't think that counted the 4X vehicles though. I agree with @katlupe about the costs for deliveries vs the cost of owning a vehicle. I use that same logic now to treat myself to Ubers or Lyfts rather than taking public transportation, except when most necessary.
 
JonSR77 said:
as far as working for a company like that?

I did that in the 90's. If you are using your own car and paying for your own gas?

Definitely not worth it. I did the math back then, if you include not only gas but wear and tear on a car? You barely wind up making minimum wage, if that.

If someone else is paying for the car, the gas, etc?

I don't know. I can't see folks making any decent money. Who knows? Maybe $15 per hour, max? Not sure. But if you try it, I would really take a long look at the math and come up with the actual figure that you make after expenses.
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Out of necessity my Honorary Son was doing Uber and Uber Eats for awhile. He said the same thing...it became not worth it due to the wear and tear on his car. Then thankfully, his mortgage lending business picked back up. But recently he's been supplementing doing Uber again, hopefully not for long though.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Or any other meal/grocery delivery services? I have yet to use Uber Eats (UE) or Door Dash but my granddaughter uses UE too often IMO. My son has used DD. I recently got a coupon for $10 off my first DD offer. Started not to use it because I've been leery about those services given some of the disgusting things that delivery people have done with people's food. But I told my son to come over after work one day and we'll use it to order two spinach parmesan dinners, which he raved about from a pizza place close to where he lives (next town over). I'm curious to try that.

There are other meal delivery services, some of which deliver the ingredients which must be cooked. I see no sense in that, for my purposes anyway. With one I would have tried, the meals are $11.99 but are for two people. It necessitates signing up for regular deliveries. I'd never be able to eat all that food.
InstaCart is a service that is affiliated with several supermarkets and grocery stores. They will deliver your grocery order to your front door. My DIL used to use the service but I've never needed to use it since I can walk to the supermarket for most of my needs and we make a Costco run at least every couple of months. Also, my grandson loves going to Walmart like I do, so we shop there a couple of times a year. I also use Walmart.com.

Have you ever used any of these or similar services?
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I have used instacart until I realized just how much more I was paying for the food..I never got the sales…also,I am not a patient person,so, to follow the person doing my groceries on my cell phone could drive me nuts…some were quick enough, others were very very slow…am doing pick up now with the help of my daughter.
 
Snow74 said:
I have used instacart until I realized just how much more I was paying for the food..I never got the sales…also,I am not a patient person,so, to follow the person doing my groceries on my cell phone could drive me nuts…some were quick enough, others were very very slow…am doing pick up now with the help of my daughter.
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I always get the sales from Tops because I have a rewards card and put that number in my Instacart account so it comes up automatically. Now, not sure what will happen with Tops since Grand Union bought them.

Yesterday I used Instacart to get my groceries from Aldi's. First time doing that even though that is one of the stores I shop at regularly in person. I got my groceries in less than a half hour. I should add that I am not in a large city. So usually anything I order from anywhere, even Pizza Hut is here pretty quick.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
A few years back I read that the average cost for maintaining and using a car was a bit over $6,000 a year. I don't think that counted the 4X vehicles though. I agree with @katlupe about the costs for deliveries vs the cost of owning a vehicle. I use that same logic now to treat myself to Ubers or Lyfts rather than taking public transportation, except when most necessary.
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One of the biggest reasons I love shopping this way is that grocery shopping is really hard when you can't walk very far and it hurts every step you take. So regardless of whether I have to pay more, it is worth it for me. Using one of the scooters in Walmart is not a good way to shop. Takes twice the amount of time to get around all the people and I still have to get up to get my stuff off the shelves. And you can't buy very much, especially if you are buying 10 gallons of water.
 
OneEyedDiva said:
Out of necessity my Honorary Son was doing Uber and Uber Eats for awhile. He said the same thing...it became not worth it due to the wear and tear on his car. Then thankfully, his mortgage lending business picked back up. But recently he's been supplementing doing Uber again, hopefully not for long though.
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Even though I am pretty close and they do not have to drive far to deliver to me, I always tip at least $10.00 or more if I have a large amount. Yesterday I got two bags and they were fairly light. It was snowing and she still delivered and quickly. I figure it in my budget every month.
 
katlupe said:
Even though I am pretty close and they do not have to drive far to deliver to me, I always tip at least $10.00 or more if I have a large amount. Yesterday I got two bags and they were fairly light. It was snowing and she still delivered and quickly. I figure it in my budget every month.
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Just curious. How much do you tip? @terry123 I have no idea what is expected with these types of deliveries.

I haven't heard about a Grand Union supermarket in a long time.
 
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Does using an online service help to reduce the number of impulse purchases?

I'm beginning to think that it might be a healthier and ultimately cheaper way to shop.
 
Just want to write a quick note to everyone here, struggling through all these difficulties we face. Not easy getting older, eh? So sorry for all we have to go through.

And wishing everyone well.

Take care...
 
Uber Eats, Door Dash, InstaCart, Tractor Supply? What is this strange foreign tongue that thou speaketh of? Use of anything other than cash at the till will result in your personal shopping being known to those with a vested interest. For my part, although my home is somewhat off the beaten track, there's a supermarket within easy distance, what's more, I can spend my portrait of the queen, she's on every bank note, and no one will no who I am, what I have bought, how much I spent, how often I buy, am I a regular spender/shopper, what the total spend of my money is.
In other words, I am anonymous, Wonderful!
 
Aunt Bea said:
Does using an online service help to reduce the number of impulse purchases?

I'm beginning to think that it might be a healthier and ultimately cheaper way to shop.
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From an impulsive Amazon shopper..reducing impulse purchases? Not the way I rummage through the Amazon warehouse..could be different for others though..
 
One time back in 2019, was buying an auto from a dealer. Right around lunch time. He offered to pay since he just sold me an auto & we were waiting for the paperwork to be completed. Felt kinda funny eating at his desk, but I managed.
 
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True that one is likely being tracked online via credit card purchases.

Well, they could find out that I shop at Amazon a lot, mainly buying movie DVDs. Valuable info! They could try to sell me movie DVD's. (LOL)

I'm just kind of kidding. I don't like the loss of privacy, but what are you gonna do?
 
Uber Eats has offered a $25 coupon for first time users. Hummmmmm, I could get a free meal delivered to my front door. Tempting.
 

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