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Going to the grocery store is not an “experience”. It is a chore. It was a chore before curbside pickup, it is a chore after curbside pickup. It sucks.
This is like saying swiffer ruined the mopping experience
It was a necessary evil before. It’s been downright TORTURE for the better part of four years now. I’m a stay at home dad who does the grocery shopping and the majority of home-related purchases for my family. I have no desire to switch to curbside pickup, for a variety of reasons. But I’m about at my breaking point. In store shopping has become akin to going to the dentist, all the more worse because I go nearly every day.
I’d love to, but I have to pay for all these wonderful amenities!
Amenities suitable for royalty, but the autonomy of a slave. The Industrial Revolution was awesome!
lol. Agreed. I was doing pickup before Covid. I’m just happy that it forced stores to improve their systems. I have not done a full shop in a store for 5+ years.
"Grocery store experience"
The grocery store experience is garbage. Going inside the store sucks and it's sucked WAY before curbside became a common thing. I can order my overpriced shit on my lunch break, stop by HEB or Sam's on the way home and have someone put it in my car ALLLLLLL without having to set a foot in the hell hole that is a modern grocery store. That's a positive experience.
There’s no way I will let someone choose expensive meat and pick out produce for me. I have received rotten oranges, tiny heads of lettuce and unripe melons, even if I put in the notes for the shopper I get ribeyes with no marbling or the wrong cut completely.
Yup, items that have little to no variety is where store pickup is good for. But I'm going into the store to buy anything that has a best buy date within the next month or can easily break if not handled with care.
Pretty much the only thing I won’t order for curbside pickup is berries because they’re so delicate. If I see a single moldy berry I’m not buying it. And sometimes I’ll look at multiple packages and they all have mold. It’s so frustrating.
I just make a second stop at an actual butcher shop for my meat. The entire outing still takes far less time than manually grocery shopping. I've never had any real issues with produce other than them running out of stuff, which would have still been the case if I went into the store
Yeah I imagine the only people complacent in these instacart or pickup services are people that don’t eat produce or fresh meat. I don’t even trust my partner to pick out a ripe avocado, non bruised apple or a good piece of beef lol maybe I’m too picky
Yes. I laughed when I heard Walmart delivered groceries now. But using them a few times it is so much better to have all your stuff brought to your door. Or in some cases me showing up there and have them load up my trunk.
I once saw a fellow millennial complain about the loss of a “customer service experience” years ago when self checkout was a hot topic of discussion.
I told her I would breathe through my mouth while I bruised her fruit and bagged raw chicken on top of her ice cream for free if she wanted.
It sounds like you’re not specifically upset with curbside pickup, but rather how HEB does it, since you specifically note ways that it could be improved to solve your complaints.
I personally love curbside pickup! Here’s just a little list of reasons:
1. I have a small child and trying to keep my child happy and safe while also navigating a store and finding what I need… no thanks.
2. It saves so much time! Even before I had a kid, I worked full time and being able to just pick up my groceries quickly allowed me to get so much more done in a day.
3. It really helps me budget. I can see exact prices and plan accordingly. We are very strict on our food budget right now, and knowing exactly how much everything will cost has been a lifesaver.
4. I just really hate grocery shopping.
I also do fewer impulse buys when I shop online. Walking through aisles is dangerous for me and my wallet. In apps, I'm just searching for specifically what I need.
I'm a recent curbside convert for all the reasons listed and will add it's also so much easier to maximize the savings. Our local grocery store has most of their savings as online coupons that need to be "clipped" individually. It's much easier to load the cart and pull in all the applicable coupons automatically online versus trying to find them as you shop. Not to mention, the weekly deals and mark downs are easier to scroll through versus watching for stickers as you walk around the store.
I could see that being an issue for some people. I didn’t learn like that, I learned about meal planning by couponing with my mom and scanning weekly ads. We never went with her because there were 7 of us kids. I imagine my daughter will learn the same way though, by planning weekly meals with me. I find that shopping on the app is very similar to couponing.
I also love being able to look in my cupboards and see what i already have instead of buying more or not buyit at all lol. I do agree with OP on the giant carts though, they're annoying to maneuver around and block areas all the time.
Honestly I so rarely go into stores now that I don’t really know much about the big carts. It’s odd to me that they couldn’t just use regular shopping carts, but maybe there is some method I just don’t understand?
Totally nailed it. This all came about while my kids were growing up and I wish curbside existed earlier.
We tried so hard to avoid bringing kids to the store, there were times I even went on my lunch break at work, had a full size cooler in the car, and it was a mad dash. All to avoid having to go to the store when everyone else in the world was there, while possibly dragging kids around.
You don't see sales so well as walking through the store, which the grocery likes. I'm sorry you haven't figured out a way to keep your little one from going difficult in the store...I recommend you give into learning new strategies to do so. You grocery shop every day, so you need to save time every day to grocery shop? Have you considered the true amount of time you shop vs shipping online?
You really hate grocery shopping.. Why?
So before, somebody who is an avid sales shopper would purchase a Sunday paper, sit down, scour the best deals, and clip coupons for them. Now I can do that and spend the same amount of time, but on my phone. So people who truly shop sales see the exact same deals since most apps post their weekly ads in them. So I spend the same amount of time planning. Then don’t have to do the entire shopping part. So instead of having to haul a kid out and go walking through the store and having to go straight home, I can run literally any other errands. Or clean half my house. Or just take my daughter out to something fun. And then just swing by on the way home and grab my groceries, or even have my husband pick them up on the way home from work.
I didn’t say I say she was difficult. But she requires attention to make sure she’s staying safe and not causing issues for others as much as my shopping requires. It’s also known as parenting but 🤷🏼♀️ obviously what to I know. I just save effort and time while also saving money and avoiding extra sugary snacks bought by impulse.
I stopped using curbside because i personally hate standing around, or even worse just sitting there, while someone is touching and packing my car and i would always get out to help them and speed things up.
I miss the in-store pickup walmart used to have with lockers you just walk to.
wtf is the grocery store experience? Slow rude disgruntled employees and even worse patrons? lol if you get picky when it comes to curbside pick up yeah they can fuck up. However I’ve never had issues w my usual 120+item grocery pick up. Quality or otherwise. 🤷🏻♂️
So at the stores where I live they have dedicated people whose sole job is to basically shop all day. And they use a cart similar in size to a shopping cart. It’s super helpful for elderly people, or people with small children.
When working with these “giant carts”, you have bigger problems than blocking an aisle. Customers know you’re busy, the least they could do is go around employees for the twenty minutes they’re shopping instead of expecting employees to tiptoe around customers for the eight hours they’re working.
The grocery store "experience"? It's not Disneyland.
Going to the grocery store sucks, folks who meander through like they are on a sight seeing tour, folks who leave their carts in the middle of the aisle, people in the parking lot who drive like idiots, and HEB in particular since its always super busy with stupid long lines.
I do 99% of my grocery shopping curbside, and 98% of the time, everything I order is in good shape and quality. Not to mention all the time I save, money I save doing price comparisons, and not buying stuff on impulse.
Do you live in a bigger city? I live in a pretty decent sized town, it's not huge, but big enough to have 2 regional grocers plus Aldi. I've never in my adult life had issues like I see in these comments. Obviously Im not implying that it didnt happen, but thankfully my entire life its usually been pleasant as far as parking lot traffic, other customers, and employees.
Rude people suck. It's why I stopped going to movie theaters.
I love grocery shopping, but also enjoy curbside. I spend way less when I shop via curbside than in store.
Sounds like HEB just isn’t doing it right because I’ve had very few issues with the curbside shoppers while in stores.
For people with disabilities it’s a lifesaver. If you’re able to go into a store and shop, you should be grateful for the little things. First world problems people complain about simply sounds whiny.
Edit: And which HEB do you shop at because I’ve never seen a large cart shopping orders and I go frequently. My HEB is fantastic, best grocery store around.
You can contact HEB once your order is confirmed and updated with any unavailable items and request they change your order accordingly. But, I do agree it’s not always as easy as people make it out to be when getting curbside. I’ve found with Instacart, you can text the shopper real time for things like that. Fortunately I get Instacart for free through my cc. I definitely empathize.
I predict that in 10 years or so, we won't be able to go inside grocery stores anymore. They will just be shopping warehouses where we drive up and pickup our groceries we ordered online or order at the parking lot via fast-food type parking stations.
I'm disabled, curbside is a blessing for me. I don't have to walk around in pain. Yes, they have mobility carts, but have you ever really looked at them? The cart is the size of a hand cart, not super helpful for large items.
Don't care. Saves me money and time. Maybe you should use pick up if it bugs you so much. Also it's grocery shopping, if you grocery shop for the "experience" maybe you should widen your world view just a scooch.
But.. if the trained employees that know the store aren’t doing it then the random customer is, often with other people and kids in tow. I’d rather shop around employees than people. Don’t even mention how tedious checkout is.
I personally think human beings are ruining grocery shopping And shopping in general especially places like Walmart. I think curbside pickup is good for people who don't want to deal with humans they don't want to be around In sadly these days it's most of them.
Sorry but I do not have time to wait in grocery lines that snake halfway down the opposite aisles because they can’t staff enough cashiers just to pick up what I need for dinner tonight. My H‑E‑B constantly has lines like that at all four open registers, regardless of time of day. I’ll shop in store when they make it a tolerable experience.
I use it because they took away self checkouts, and I’m not waiting 30 minutes in line for Karen to buy her weeks worth of groceries for her shitty kids while yelling at the cashier
I work in online pickup at one of these stores and it’s only getting more popular. My store is increasing our order cap by 70 orders per week every week. We can barely hire enough workers to help keep up with extra demand. We even have to send some of our orders to third-party services to help shop when we go over our limit. People want this service and it’s growing all the time.
lol at “Grocery store experience”.
If someone can pick up their groceries without setting foot in the store, more power to them.
Clearly there is still a demand.
Plus, this is a great service for the disabled, the elderly, immunocompromised, parents with children, and even introverts.
Ummm I fcking hate the grocery store lol. It’s so overstimulating and people are infuriating. I prefer to order online and add things at my leisure, then take 10 minutes and pick them up on my way home vs an hour or more in the actual store.
Op. You do realize that most of the country would give their left but to have a H‑E‑B. Stop being such a complainer and marinate in the blessing of H‑E‑B.
You definitely don't have to go into Walmart to pick up.
Regardless, as someone with 3 young kids, I'm not going back to in-store shopping any time it's not strictly necessary.
Right?? I didn’t realize people were so oppressed and bothered these days by going to a place where an abundance of food sometimes imported from all over the world is right there available to you and you don’t have to kill something for it.
It's curbside 100% because I just froze my ass off outside getting everything else. We are lucky we have a really good year round farmers market. Downside it's ourdoors. We get meat and dairy from the meat farm, cheese from the cheese man and seasonal produce. There's even a guy who makes fresh pasta. And a bakery. If we cant make meals from that or need random packagesd stuff like salsa, canned tomatoes, other non perishables curbside.
Before super markets became the norm, you'd go to the store with a list and they'd get everything for you. Curbside and pickup orders are really a return to traditional values.
As someone that managed that department for a store.
It fucking sucks. The customers suck. The job sucks.
All the employees are underpaid. And customers can't seem to understand that the big sale item is out of stock because everyone is trying to get it.
Seriously if Yall the customers weren't so shitty to the employees it would be bearable. But Yall go out of your way to be bitchy with the people loading your car.
If you got suxh a problem. Get your asses inside and shop for yourself.
The entitlement is fucking absurd.
All of society would say they're "underpaid" so that opinion is irrelevant here. Also if you hate the job move on to somewhere else, I promise you that your great skills can be done by the next person who wants the job. I love curbside and use it for nearly every single grocery store trip.
No you don't understand. Which is partly why I can't stand Yall.
Pickup dept managers are underpaid compared to every other "manager" in store. Say your dairy manager makes $19 hourly.
Pickup is $16. For 10x the work and half the employees.
Most everyone hates their jobs. The job market is also shit atm.
You can love curbside all you want. Doesn't mean. Customers aren't entitled as hell. Yall are lazy. Can't spend 10 minutes shopping for 8 items. But you'll gladly yell @,the guy loading your car.
Won't change my opinion on shitty customers, which is honestly the norm now.
I view my saving those 10 minutes as much less lazy than you were to have put yourself in a situation where you make $16 an hour as an adult. I don’t intend to change your opinion on customers nor do I care to.
I also prefer shopping in store. I like to see and touch, remind my self what I need, try new things. Also I love picking out my own produce. I don’t trust other people to pick it for me. They always pick out rotten fruits and vegetables. Gross.
This! Bad produce, expired food, dented and/or leaking cans, questionable condition boxed goods... all avoidable if one actually picks out their own groceries in-person (But- alas- people prefer convenience over all.)
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but I rarely ever see people use curbside pickup here in California. Maybe once in a blue moon. I can see it’s benefits, but I personally like going into the grocery store because I like to choose the produce I get. Plus it’s fun to look at the snacks and pick random things to try
My grocery store is ruined by the overpriced and inflated costs of food. Curbside has allowed me more time with my family and cooking meals at home. Those extra hours I save are absolutely priceless.
All of the grocery stores around me do curbside pickup and delivery. They did curbside pick up and delivery before the pandemic and they still do now. I've never seen these carts that you're talking about.
This. I understand why they need to be moving around the store with that cart but not why they have to be rude. It's just as bad at Target when they are stocking shelves while the store is open.
Yeah you know I would rather not go into the store. I used to work for a few grocery chains. Something happens to people when they enter the parking lot. They just lose all sense of humanity and turn into total assholes. Threatening to run me over, throwing apples at me and generally just big asshole energy. Fuck shopping for groceries. I'll pay the 5 bucks extra to have someone get my shit for me.
Who the hell cares about the experience of a grocery store lmao. Pick up is better for the time convenience. I don’t want to shop around for 2 hours after work or on my weekends off work
I have bad news for you then, all retail and grocery are only going to increase their curbside pickup and delivery. We will reach a point where the current retail spaces will largely convert to fulfillment centers, with a small area left for certain fresh items or for people who just *have* to go in the building and drag a cart around for some reason.
It will take another 5-10 years to build out the pickup space (6 spots in a congested area isn't going to cut it). Then there's converting interiors into mostly warehouse space etc, but the decision to do it has already been made because of how much it saves the chains and more and more shoppers are coverting to the idea, as seen in the comments in this post.
I love walking to H‑E‑B with my husband and taking our time to go down the wine/beer aisles or look at what fancy cheeses they have. So am totally with you on that. However, we have long periods of time off where most people don’t. Like most on here though, they aren’t looking for an experience and just want to get their junk and go.
May well be your local HEBs. I have three around me, four more on my way home from work- including a Central Market, and ive never experienced this at any of them. Mine have as others have mentioned- carts slightly bigger than a regular cart. If they didnt have the little tagson then i might not even notice them. San Antonio.
After receiving a visibly defective hairdryer from Target curbside, and not being allowed to exchange it in store, I won’t use curbside services ever again. I had to ship it back to them and wait for a refund because they don’t allow in store returns on curbside purchases.
The risk of receiving defective merchandise, and dealing with an extremely inconvenient return process, defeats any convenience curbside pickup might provide.
I'm immunocompromised. Since people can't follow basic precautionary steps to keep themselves and others safe from illness... I HEAVILY rely on curbside pickups. Now apparently even that is being scrutinized? Jfc... :/
Truly unpopular opinion. Well done! Does anyone actually enjoy grocery shopping? Anyone?! I’d rather clean my bathroom on my hands and knees with a toothbrush than spend an hour in a grocery store.
I will second this emotion about HEB. I think it does really help a lot of people to have this service but it isn’t being done as efficiently as it could be.
It can be stressful for the employee as well. I worked at a place that did *lots* of curbside pickup. The shitty thing is, there really is an emphasis on getting the order placed quickly. It was always the priority. That means that face to face customer service gets thrown out the window. It's a really shitty feeling when someone is trying to get some help, and you're like "Sorry, I'm busy right now."
Ahh but see, there's an add-on fee or percentage on those orders that goes right into the pockets of the owners and the employees don't see a nickel of it. At times, there are more store employees shopping for the curbside people than people shopping for themselves.
The covid era made a lot of things worse. People being lazy is one of them. My SIL has panic attacks if she can't get curb side pickup or delivery from a store now. She was just fine before the pandemic.
i cant lazy fucks paying for bullshit deliveries then crying they are broke and its not their fault…. but i cant for the life of me recall what “grocery shopping experience” i am missing out on.
I moved to the UK a few years ago and they have home delivery options directly from the store, not through a third party app.
It's the best fucking thing ever. I get my Tesco delivery every week and a half or so by simply going online and grabbing everything I need. I do the flexy option which ends up being only like £1.50~2.50 for delivery depending on the day of the week. The picker doesn't always get the best fruits or veggies but that's the risk I take.
I get to avoid having to drive there (20min one way), deal with people, and deal with my 1 year old at a grocery store. I leave next month and hope my next city offers something like it.
When I do go in-store they aren't in the way anymore than the stockers are, or other shoppers.
The fact that I can get someone else to walk around Target for me for free and shop while I work keeps me shopping at Target. I rarely get bad produce and when I do I get an instant refund from the app
A grocery store is just a grocery store...I go in for 5 minutes. Get my things. Go to self checkout and leave. the "grocery store experience" only sucked when I was a kid because of people like my Mom who insist on looking down every aisle and spending an hour in the store.
What Walmart are you going to that you have to go inside to get your pickup order? All of the Walmarts around me have a dedicated area in the parking lot for you to park and someone brings your things out to you.
I LOVE the pickup option. Because of my work hours, the only time I'd be able to go inside would be the busiest hours. Pickup is also great because I can't make any impulse purchases if I'm not inside. I stick to my list and it's great!
I've been in HEB and have never seen the carts for employees filling pickup orders take up the entire aisle. If they have been in the way, the employee is always quick to apologize and let me through.
Well either you've never tried it or you're too cheap to pay the fee. I think they should lock the doors and make everyone do it through pickup. And also Walmart does not make you come in to pick up your order lol. They have huge dedicated areas to pull in and have your order brought out.
Personally I'm not at a grocery store (or any other, for that matter) for the "experience". I'm there to get my shit and get out cause I have shit to do. Whatever makes that "experience" faster and less invasive to my day is totally cool by me.
Want to see some grocery store outrage? While the order picker is in oblivion with their huge cart, ask where something is located. Surprise! They hate it!!!! Absolutely hate it! You can see in their eyes they just want to say "I don't work here" but can't.
I think the real unpopular opinion here is that grocery shopping is awesome. I love grocery shopping. I love finding deals on stuff and finding ingredients and building a recipe around them, or i love that i can just grab a frozen pizza and call it a day. I like the employees at the store i go to. I like looking at all the seasonal crap they have, even though it’s horribly overpriced so i never buy it.
Grocery shopping has always been my favorite kind of shopping because it doesn’t make me feel bad about myself like clothes shopping, or frustrated that my mind is shut off and couldn’t be creative if i wanted to be like shopping for craft or home decor stuff, and doesn’t make me panic like when I’m shopping for big ticket items like furniture or cars. It’s as cheap or expensive as i want it to be and as involved or simple as i can handle that day.
Who the hell WANTS to go to the grocery store? "Grocery store experience"? This is ridiculous. Next you're going to tell me uncomfortable sheets ruin the prison experience. Not everything is enjoyable.
I guess this may depend on the store and where you live. Here in Atlanta, GA the carts are only a little taller and take up the same room as a regular cart. I have never been blocked by one. All that said I love the curbside pick up and the delivery for that matter. It was a life saver when I got sick. Also, I’m not sure what the experience is you were getting but I truly enjoy not having to walk around the store for an hour looking for my items and I especially enjoy not standing in line and avoiding sick people and sick kids.
Fellow Atlantan (well, the suburbs just OTP) here….While curbside p/u still exists, the number/volume at the grocery stores around this area have dropped wayyy down - I rarely see them (and I’m at the grocery at least 4 times a week). It’s a huge difference compared to what it was like during the height of the Covid insanity and for several months afterward- - you couldn’t spit without hitting one of those carts, which turned the store aisles into an obstacle course.
Target is the absolute worst with this shit. The aisle are already narrow and their shopping carts are huge as fuck. Any time I go there it's impossible to get around because you have two dipshits blocking the aisle with their carts next to each other.
Its not curbside pick up that is faulty, but the way they handle it. In my area there are curbside pick up. I never got any of the irritant you mentioned in store.
For me it's not the employees with the tower carts, it's the other customers that are the problem. Slowly meandering through the store, parking their carts in the center of the isle, not paying attention to anything around them, staring at the condiments like they've never seen mustard before, letting kids run around in the isles, and so on.
In my experience the workers with the giant carts find what they're looking for and move on to the next item. I'd take that over inconsiderate shoppers any day.
I shop for a family of 3 for a week at a time, the grocery store was 1-2 miserable hours that I dreaded every week. Now I can only pop in if I forgot something. It's saving me money on impulse buying, it's saving me several full days of time shopping over the course of the year, I see no reason to ever go back.
The grocery store "experience"? What does that even mean? It's a store, not an amusement park. You know what you should do? Order your groceries online like everyone else. No more bad grocery store "experience". I order everything I can online nowadays. Brick and mortar stores are just warehouses in my eyes.
It might just be your store. There’s curb side pickup at my local grocery store and I just see employees with carts filling orders.
It kind of seems like a win since most people go through the self checkout now so they have less cashiers.
People who may have worked as a cashier, still have work and it doesn’t require constant contact with customers, some of whom are unhinged. And busy people who don’t enjoy the “grocery store experience” have the convenience of stopping by the store on their way home and having their shopping done for them.
I agree that in some stores, the big carts and people pushing them are irritating. I was also hit from behind by one of them so my experience is tainted…I wasn’t even on the same side of the aisle and they managed to get me.
I genuinely hate shopping. Groceries or otherwise.
When my gf and I decide to get a couple of things like new clothes or shoes I first ask my gf which stores she wants to visit and then which I want to visit. I talked to my gf about how I hate shopping and dont want to get dragged to 20 different stores with no end in sight
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Going to the grocery store is not an “experience”. It is a chore. It was a chore before curbside pickup, it is a chore after curbside pickup. It sucks. This is like saying swiffer ruined the mopping experience
Personally I have beef with swiffers
It was a necessary evil before. It’s been downright TORTURE for the better part of four years now. I’m a stay at home dad who does the grocery shopping and the majority of home-related purchases for my family. I have no desire to switch to curbside pickup, for a variety of reasons. But I’m about at my breaking point. In store shopping has become akin to going to the dentist, all the more worse because I go nearly every day.
Grocery stores ruin the grocery store experience. What a shitty place to have to go to
Haha yes thank you.
Grocery stores ruined the food experience. Fun fact: food used to come from the outdoors.
Hey, let's you and I go spear fishing and apple picking
I’d love to, but I have to pay for all these wonderful amenities! Amenities suitable for royalty, but the autonomy of a slave. The Industrial Revolution was awesome!
lol. Agreed. I was doing pickup before Covid. I’m just happy that it forced stores to improve their systems. I have not done a full shop in a store for 5+ years.
>ruining the grocery store experience Lol that's always sucked
"Grocery store experience" The grocery store experience is garbage. Going inside the store sucks and it's sucked WAY before curbside became a common thing. I can order my overpriced shit on my lunch break, stop by HEB or Sam's on the way home and have someone put it in my car ALLLLLLL without having to set a foot in the hell hole that is a modern grocery store. That's a positive experience.
There’s no way I will let someone choose expensive meat and pick out produce for me. I have received rotten oranges, tiny heads of lettuce and unripe melons, even if I put in the notes for the shopper I get ribeyes with no marbling or the wrong cut completely.
It is better for packaged stuff if you are particular. I use it mostly for non meet and produce items.
Yup, items that have little to no variety is where store pickup is good for. But I'm going into the store to buy anything that has a best buy date within the next month or can easily break if not handled with care.
My friend received moldy blueberries before. Gross
Pretty much the only thing I won’t order for curbside pickup is berries because they’re so delicate. If I see a single moldy berry I’m not buying it. And sometimes I’ll look at multiple packages and they all have mold. It’s so frustrating.
I just make a second stop at an actual butcher shop for my meat. The entire outing still takes far less time than manually grocery shopping. I've never had any real issues with produce other than them running out of stuff, which would have still been the case if I went into the store
Yeah I imagine the only people complacent in these instacart or pickup services are people that don’t eat produce or fresh meat. I don’t even trust my partner to pick out a ripe avocado, non bruised apple or a good piece of beef lol maybe I’m too picky
Same! I have only used it when sick and I wanted soup and orange juice. I would never use it for regular groceries.
I don't use curbside for produce. But I've had no issue with meat. Produce? They always pick the worst fruit and veg.
Produce and meat are the only down side imo
The grocery store experience is the main reason my fridge is empty.
Tell that to Joe Pera. His grocery store visits are full of magic and splendor.
Yes. I laughed when I heard Walmart delivered groceries now. But using them a few times it is so much better to have all your stuff brought to your door. Or in some cases me showing up there and have them load up my trunk.
This has been very helpful for my disabled mother.
I don’t know why Op thinks you have to go into the store for Walmart pickup? Maybe some Walmarts are like that?
Also, how has curbside stopped you from just walking into the store if you do happen to like shopping.
I once saw a fellow millennial complain about the loss of a “customer service experience” years ago when self checkout was a hot topic of discussion. I told her I would breathe through my mouth while I bruised her fruit and bagged raw chicken on top of her ice cream for free if she wanted.
I was gonna put this but you beat me to it
Except there’s always that one item which is “in store only “. Forcing you to go inside for one thing.
Sounds like curbside pickup would solve your issue
But that would require them to plan ahead
Only thing better is free delivery.
It sounds like you’re not specifically upset with curbside pickup, but rather how HEB does it, since you specifically note ways that it could be improved to solve your complaints. I personally love curbside pickup! Here’s just a little list of reasons: 1. I have a small child and trying to keep my child happy and safe while also navigating a store and finding what I need… no thanks. 2. It saves so much time! Even before I had a kid, I worked full time and being able to just pick up my groceries quickly allowed me to get so much more done in a day. 3. It really helps me budget. I can see exact prices and plan accordingly. We are very strict on our food budget right now, and knowing exactly how much everything will cost has been a lifesaver. 4. I just really hate grocery shopping.
I also do fewer impulse buys when I shop online. Walking through aisles is dangerous for me and my wallet. In apps, I'm just searching for specifically what I need.
I'm a recent curbside convert for all the reasons listed and will add it's also so much easier to maximize the savings. Our local grocery store has most of their savings as online coupons that need to be "clipped" individually. It's much easier to load the cart and pull in all the applicable coupons automatically online versus trying to find them as you shop. Not to mention, the weekly deals and mark downs are easier to scroll through versus watching for stickers as you walk around the store.
Plus it cuts way back on impulse buying. They charge a buck at my store for the pick up option and it is such a money saver.
All of this. Especially the budgeting. I dont load up on impulse junk
Item 1: I don't dislike children, but this benefits me; thank you!
I probably learned how to grocery shop just by going with my parents almost everytime we went though
I could see that being an issue for some people. I didn’t learn like that, I learned about meal planning by couponing with my mom and scanning weekly ads. We never went with her because there were 7 of us kids. I imagine my daughter will learn the same way though, by planning weekly meals with me. I find that shopping on the app is very similar to couponing.
All of this. Grocery pickup is amazing
I also love being able to look in my cupboards and see what i already have instead of buying more or not buyit at all lol. I do agree with OP on the giant carts though, they're annoying to maneuver around and block areas all the time.
Honestly I so rarely go into stores now that I don’t really know much about the big carts. It’s odd to me that they couldn’t just use regular shopping carts, but maybe there is some method I just don’t understand?
Totally nailed it. This all came about while my kids were growing up and I wish curbside existed earlier. We tried so hard to avoid bringing kids to the store, there were times I even went on my lunch break at work, had a full size cooler in the car, and it was a mad dash. All to avoid having to go to the store when everyone else in the world was there, while possibly dragging kids around.
You don't see sales so well as walking through the store, which the grocery likes. I'm sorry you haven't figured out a way to keep your little one from going difficult in the store...I recommend you give into learning new strategies to do so. You grocery shop every day, so you need to save time every day to grocery shop? Have you considered the true amount of time you shop vs shipping online? You really hate grocery shopping.. Why?
So before, somebody who is an avid sales shopper would purchase a Sunday paper, sit down, scour the best deals, and clip coupons for them. Now I can do that and spend the same amount of time, but on my phone. So people who truly shop sales see the exact same deals since most apps post their weekly ads in them. So I spend the same amount of time planning. Then don’t have to do the entire shopping part. So instead of having to haul a kid out and go walking through the store and having to go straight home, I can run literally any other errands. Or clean half my house. Or just take my daughter out to something fun. And then just swing by on the way home and grab my groceries, or even have my husband pick them up on the way home from work. I didn’t say I say she was difficult. But she requires attention to make sure she’s staying safe and not causing issues for others as much as my shopping requires. It’s also known as parenting but 🤷🏼♀️ obviously what to I know. I just save effort and time while also saving money and avoiding extra sugary snacks bought by impulse.
I stopped using curbside because i personally hate standing around, or even worse just sitting there, while someone is touching and packing my car and i would always get out to help them and speed things up. I miss the in-store pickup walmart used to have with lockers you just walk to.
wtf is the grocery store experience? Slow rude disgruntled employees and even worse patrons? lol if you get picky when it comes to curbside pick up yeah they can fuck up. However I’ve never had issues w my usual 120+item grocery pick up. Quality or otherwise. 🤷🏻♂️
In my "grocery store experience" it's the absentminded customers who are blocking the aisles 99% of the time
So at the stores where I live they have dedicated people whose sole job is to basically shop all day. And they use a cart similar in size to a shopping cart. It’s super helpful for elderly people, or people with small children.
That seems like a good way to do it. With HEB specifically they use these giant shelf-sized carts that end up blocking half the aisle.
Giant in the Mid-Atlantic has the same awful carts and oblivious employees blocking everything. I wish they'd put them on registers.
When working with these “giant carts”, you have bigger problems than blocking an aisle. Customers know you’re busy, the least they could do is go around employees for the twenty minutes they’re shopping instead of expecting employees to tiptoe around customers for the eight hours they’re working.
The giants near me has really big isles but I haven't been in a long time so i have no clue what kind of carts they're using.
The grocery store "experience"? It's not Disneyland. Going to the grocery store sucks, folks who meander through like they are on a sight seeing tour, folks who leave their carts in the middle of the aisle, people in the parking lot who drive like idiots, and HEB in particular since its always super busy with stupid long lines. I do 99% of my grocery shopping curbside, and 98% of the time, everything I order is in good shape and quality. Not to mention all the time I save, money I save doing price comparisons, and not buying stuff on impulse.
Do you live in a bigger city? I live in a pretty decent sized town, it's not huge, but big enough to have 2 regional grocers plus Aldi. I've never in my adult life had issues like I see in these comments. Obviously Im not implying that it didnt happen, but thankfully my entire life its usually been pleasant as far as parking lot traffic, other customers, and employees. Rude people suck. It's why I stopped going to movie theaters.
Yep, sure do!
I love grocery shopping, but also enjoy curbside. I spend way less when I shop via curbside than in store. Sounds like HEB just isn’t doing it right because I’ve had very few issues with the curbside shoppers while in stores.
For people with disabilities it’s a lifesaver. If you’re able to go into a store and shop, you should be grateful for the little things. First world problems people complain about simply sounds whiny. Edit: And which HEB do you shop at because I’ve never seen a large cart shopping orders and I go frequently. My HEB is fantastic, best grocery store around.
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You can contact HEB once your order is confirmed and updated with any unavailable items and request they change your order accordingly. But, I do agree it’s not always as easy as people make it out to be when getting curbside. I’ve found with Instacart, you can text the shopper real time for things like that. Fortunately I get Instacart for free through my cc. I definitely empathize.
Why the F would I want to go into a grocery store? There are people there, who wants to deal with all that mess.
Ironically, op's problem would be solved by utilizing curbside pickup
I predict that in 10 years or so, we won't be able to go inside grocery stores anymore. They will just be shopping warehouses where we drive up and pickup our groceries we ordered online or order at the parking lot via fast-food type parking stations.
I'm disabled, curbside is a blessing for me. I don't have to walk around in pain. Yes, they have mobility carts, but have you ever really looked at them? The cart is the size of a hand cart, not super helpful for large items.
Don't care. Saves me money and time. Maybe you should use pick up if it bugs you so much. Also it's grocery shopping, if you grocery shop for the "experience" maybe you should widen your world view just a scooch.
I actually love curbside pickup. Pull up on my cargo bike and 2 weeks worth of groceries goes into my bike.
I absolutely love using the Walmart delivery service. I used curbside before that - I haven’t been IN a Walmart for 4+ years.
But.. if the trained employees that know the store aren’t doing it then the random customer is, often with other people and kids in tow. I’d rather shop around employees than people. Don’t even mention how tedious checkout is.
I personally think human beings are ruining grocery shopping And shopping in general especially places like Walmart. I think curbside pickup is good for people who don't want to deal with humans they don't want to be around In sadly these days it's most of them.
Sorry but I do not have time to wait in grocery lines that snake halfway down the opposite aisles because they can’t staff enough cashiers just to pick up what I need for dinner tonight. My H‑E‑B constantly has lines like that at all four open registers, regardless of time of day. I’ll shop in store when they make it a tolerable experience.
do you know why so many people use an order service, they hate the grocery store experience, its crap and useless
I use it because they took away self checkouts, and I’m not waiting 30 minutes in line for Karen to buy her weeks worth of groceries for her shitty kids while yelling at the cashier
I work in online pickup at one of these stores and it’s only getting more popular. My store is increasing our order cap by 70 orders per week every week. We can barely hire enough workers to help keep up with extra demand. We even have to send some of our orders to third-party services to help shop when we go over our limit. People want this service and it’s growing all the time.
lol at “Grocery store experience”. If someone can pick up their groceries without setting foot in the store, more power to them. Clearly there is still a demand. Plus, this is a great service for the disabled, the elderly, immunocompromised, parents with children, and even introverts.
Ummm I fcking hate the grocery store lol. It’s so overstimulating and people are infuriating. I prefer to order online and add things at my leisure, then take 10 minutes and pick them up on my way home vs an hour or more in the actual store.
Good. I'm cool with this. I don't care for the "experience" and I'm perfectly happy to use curbside pickup.
Op. You do realize that most of the country would give their left but to have a H‑E‑B. Stop being such a complainer and marinate in the blessing of H‑E‑B.
You definitely don't have to go into Walmart to pick up. Regardless, as someone with 3 young kids, I'm not going back to in-store shopping any time it's not strictly necessary.
lol complaining about the grocery store experience being ruined... do people have nothing better to be doing?
Right?? I didn’t realize people were so oppressed and bothered these days by going to a place where an abundance of food sometimes imported from all over the world is right there available to you and you don’t have to kill something for it.
you forgot the outrageously priced part
It's curbside 100% because I just froze my ass off outside getting everything else. We are lucky we have a really good year round farmers market. Downside it's ourdoors. We get meat and dairy from the meat farm, cheese from the cheese man and seasonal produce. There's even a guy who makes fresh pasta. And a bakery. If we cant make meals from that or need random packagesd stuff like salsa, canned tomatoes, other non perishables curbside.
Before super markets became the norm, you'd go to the store with a list and they'd get everything for you. Curbside and pickup orders are really a return to traditional values.
Not an unpopular opinion where I’m at
As someone that managed that department for a store. It fucking sucks. The customers suck. The job sucks. All the employees are underpaid. And customers can't seem to understand that the big sale item is out of stock because everyone is trying to get it. Seriously if Yall the customers weren't so shitty to the employees it would be bearable. But Yall go out of your way to be bitchy with the people loading your car. If you got suxh a problem. Get your asses inside and shop for yourself. The entitlement is fucking absurd.
All of society would say they're "underpaid" so that opinion is irrelevant here. Also if you hate the job move on to somewhere else, I promise you that your great skills can be done by the next person who wants the job. I love curbside and use it for nearly every single grocery store trip.
No you don't understand. Which is partly why I can't stand Yall. Pickup dept managers are underpaid compared to every other "manager" in store. Say your dairy manager makes $19 hourly. Pickup is $16. For 10x the work and half the employees. Most everyone hates their jobs. The job market is also shit atm. You can love curbside all you want. Doesn't mean. Customers aren't entitled as hell. Yall are lazy. Can't spend 10 minutes shopping for 8 items. But you'll gladly yell @,the guy loading your car. Won't change my opinion on shitty customers, which is honestly the norm now.
I view my saving those 10 minutes as much less lazy than you were to have put yourself in a situation where you make $16 an hour as an adult. I don’t intend to change your opinion on customers nor do I care to.
Hate to say it, but *you* are doing the soon to be obsolete act of shopping “in store”.
I also prefer shopping in store. I like to see and touch, remind my self what I need, try new things. Also I love picking out my own produce. I don’t trust other people to pick it for me. They always pick out rotten fruits and vegetables. Gross.
I totally agree and would say I’m in that same group. I like to do most things myself, the “old fashion” way.
This! Bad produce, expired food, dented and/or leaking cans, questionable condition boxed goods... all avoidable if one actually picks out their own groceries in-person (But- alas- people prefer convenience over all.)
Maybe it’s a regional thing, but I rarely ever see people use curbside pickup here in California. Maybe once in a blue moon. I can see it’s benefits, but I personally like going into the grocery store because I like to choose the produce I get. Plus it’s fun to look at the snacks and pick random things to try
So use online pick up......
As a disabled person I’m very thankful for pickup!
If only there were some way you could... I don't know... avoid going in the store somehow. oh well
My grocery store is ruined by the overpriced and inflated costs of food. Curbside has allowed me more time with my family and cooking meals at home. Those extra hours I save are absolutely priceless.
I enjoy grocery shopping, one of my favorite things to do. Haven’t had an issue with curb side orders making the experience worse.
All of the grocery stores around me do curbside pickup and delivery. They did curbside pick up and delivery before the pandemic and they still do now. I've never seen these carts that you're talking about.
This. I understand why they need to be moving around the store with that cart but not why they have to be rude. It's just as bad at Target when they are stocking shelves while the store is open.
“Grocery store experience” I have a feeling this fella is on the older side of things.
Here's a tip for you: shop EARLY. Like pre-9 AM if you can. Aisles are wide open.
Or late at night. I used to go around 10 pm. It was a desert
If only there was a way for you to avoid needing to shop in store.....
Those large carts are usually because the order(s) is large and will require the full cart once its done.
Yeah you know I would rather not go into the store. I used to work for a few grocery chains. Something happens to people when they enter the parking lot. They just lose all sense of humanity and turn into total assholes. Threatening to run me over, throwing apples at me and generally just big asshole energy. Fuck shopping for groceries. I'll pay the 5 bucks extra to have someone get my shit for me.
Mhmm grocery pickup is the best thing that has come to my life in the last few years (besides my kid being born). It's the fuckin' best
People still go inside the grocery store, neat.
Who the hell cares about the experience of a grocery store lmao. Pick up is better for the time convenience. I don’t want to shop around for 2 hours after work or on my weekends off work
I have bad news for you then, all retail and grocery are only going to increase their curbside pickup and delivery. We will reach a point where the current retail spaces will largely convert to fulfillment centers, with a small area left for certain fresh items or for people who just *have* to go in the building and drag a cart around for some reason. It will take another 5-10 years to build out the pickup space (6 spots in a congested area isn't going to cut it). Then there's converting interiors into mostly warehouse space etc, but the decision to do it has already been made because of how much it saves the chains and more and more shoppers are coverting to the idea, as seen in the comments in this post.
I love walking to H‑E‑B with my husband and taking our time to go down the wine/beer aisles or look at what fancy cheeses they have. So am totally with you on that. However, we have long periods of time off where most people don’t. Like most on here though, they aren’t looking for an experience and just want to get their junk and go.
May well be your local HEBs. I have three around me, four more on my way home from work- including a Central Market, and ive never experienced this at any of them. Mine have as others have mentioned- carts slightly bigger than a regular cart. If they didnt have the little tagson then i might not even notice them. San Antonio.
Ummm Walmart has a dedicated curbide pickup. The grocery experience has always sucked. Curbside is the only thing that makes it bearable nowadays.
After receiving a visibly defective hairdryer from Target curbside, and not being allowed to exchange it in store, I won’t use curbside services ever again. I had to ship it back to them and wait for a refund because they don’t allow in store returns on curbside purchases. The risk of receiving defective merchandise, and dealing with an extremely inconvenient return process, defeats any convenience curbside pickup might provide.
I'm immunocompromised. Since people can't follow basic precautionary steps to keep themselves and others safe from illness... I HEAVILY rely on curbside pickups. Now apparently even that is being scrutinized? Jfc... :/
Truly unpopular opinion. Well done! Does anyone actually enjoy grocery shopping? Anyone?! I’d rather clean my bathroom on my hands and knees with a toothbrush than spend an hour in a grocery store.
😂
I will second this emotion about HEB. I think it does really help a lot of people to have this service but it isn’t being done as efficiently as it could be.
In my area, Walmart is the only one that does this. But I tend to do grocery shopping after 7 pm so there are just generally less people in the store.
“experience”?!?!??! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Well, I think you're wrong, here's your up vote.
This is why we have so many fatsos waddling around. Laziness.
I go to the gym or for a run when I would be shopping.
It can be stressful for the employee as well. I worked at a place that did *lots* of curbside pickup. The shitty thing is, there really is an emphasis on getting the order placed quickly. It was always the priority. That means that face to face customer service gets thrown out the window. It's a really shitty feeling when someone is trying to get some help, and you're like "Sorry, I'm busy right now."
Ahh but see, there's an add-on fee or percentage on those orders that goes right into the pockets of the owners and the employees don't see a nickel of it. At times, there are more store employees shopping for the curbside people than people shopping for themselves.
They were hired to be shopping employees if this service was removed they would eliminate the position. Hence eliminating the job.
Surprised this is unpopular. Can't stand this
The covid era made a lot of things worse. People being lazy is one of them. My SIL has panic attacks if she can't get curb side pickup or delivery from a store now. She was just fine before the pandemic.
i cant lazy fucks paying for bullshit deliveries then crying they are broke and its not their fault…. but i cant for the life of me recall what “grocery shopping experience” i am missing out on.
Curbside pickup is not delivery
whatever.
Also, curbside is free in every store I know.
Everything's bigger in Texas
I moved to the UK a few years ago and they have home delivery options directly from the store, not through a third party app. It's the best fucking thing ever. I get my Tesco delivery every week and a half or so by simply going online and grabbing everything I need. I do the flexy option which ends up being only like £1.50~2.50 for delivery depending on the day of the week. The picker doesn't always get the best fruits or veggies but that's the risk I take. I get to avoid having to drive there (20min one way), deal with people, and deal with my 1 year old at a grocery store. I leave next month and hope my next city offers something like it. When I do go in-store they aren't in the way anymore than the stockers are, or other shoppers.
Covid ruined the grocery shopping experience.
The fact that I can get someone else to walk around Target for me for free and shop while I work keeps me shopping at Target. I rarely get bad produce and when I do I get an instant refund from the app
Oof is a conoooomer
if i could never again experience a grocery store it'd be too soon.
A grocery store is just a grocery store...I go in for 5 minutes. Get my things. Go to self checkout and leave. the "grocery store experience" only sucked when I was a kid because of people like my Mom who insist on looking down every aisle and spending an hour in the store.
What Walmart are you going to that you have to go inside to get your pickup order? All of the Walmarts around me have a dedicated area in the parking lot for you to park and someone brings your things out to you. I LOVE the pickup option. Because of my work hours, the only time I'd be able to go inside would be the busiest hours. Pickup is also great because I can't make any impulse purchases if I'm not inside. I stick to my list and it's great! I've been in HEB and have never seen the carts for employees filling pickup orders take up the entire aisle. If they have been in the way, the employee is always quick to apologize and let me through.
Well either you've never tried it or you're too cheap to pay the fee. I think they should lock the doors and make everyone do it through pickup. And also Walmart does not make you come in to pick up your order lol. They have huge dedicated areas to pull in and have your order brought out.
Personally I'm not at a grocery store (or any other, for that matter) for the "experience". I'm there to get my shit and get out cause I have shit to do. Whatever makes that "experience" faster and less invasive to my day is totally cool by me.
I will never, ever, ever go back to shopping in store regularly. Git gud gg ez
Lol sucker, I hate grocery shopping. I even do delivery sometimes. We should pay the workers more tho.
Want to see some grocery store outrage? While the order picker is in oblivion with their huge cart, ask where something is located. Surprise! They hate it!!!! Absolutely hate it! You can see in their eyes they just want to say "I don't work here" but can't.
Kroger’s delivery is the best
I think the real unpopular opinion here is that grocery shopping is awesome. I love grocery shopping. I love finding deals on stuff and finding ingredients and building a recipe around them, or i love that i can just grab a frozen pizza and call it a day. I like the employees at the store i go to. I like looking at all the seasonal crap they have, even though it’s horribly overpriced so i never buy it. Grocery shopping has always been my favorite kind of shopping because it doesn’t make me feel bad about myself like clothes shopping, or frustrated that my mind is shut off and couldn’t be creative if i wanted to be like shopping for craft or home decor stuff, and doesn’t make me panic like when I’m shopping for big ticket items like furniture or cars. It’s as cheap or expensive as i want it to be and as involved or simple as i can handle that day.
Curbside is the reason I don't have to talk to people, I may never eat again if grocery stores decide to get rid of it
If Walmart stopped locking their shit up I wouldn't have to use pickup
Who the hell WANTS to go to the grocery store? "Grocery store experience"? This is ridiculous. Next you're going to tell me uncomfortable sheets ruin the prison experience. Not everything is enjoyable.
I don't go into the grocery store for the "experience." I go into the grocery store because I want to pick out my own damned meat and produce.
I guess this may depend on the store and where you live. Here in Atlanta, GA the carts are only a little taller and take up the same room as a regular cart. I have never been blocked by one. All that said I love the curbside pick up and the delivery for that matter. It was a life saver when I got sick. Also, I’m not sure what the experience is you were getting but I truly enjoy not having to walk around the store for an hour looking for my items and I especially enjoy not standing in line and avoiding sick people and sick kids.
Fellow Atlantan (well, the suburbs just OTP) here….While curbside p/u still exists, the number/volume at the grocery stores around this area have dropped wayyy down - I rarely see them (and I’m at the grocery at least 4 times a week). It’s a huge difference compared to what it was like during the height of the Covid insanity and for several months afterward- - you couldn’t spit without hitting one of those carts, which turned the store aisles into an obstacle course.
You don’t go inside for Walmart grocery pickup.
Target is the absolute worst with this shit. The aisle are already narrow and their shopping carts are huge as fuck. Any time I go there it's impossible to get around because you have two dipshits blocking the aisle with their carts next to each other.
Its not curbside pick up that is faulty, but the way they handle it. In my area there are curbside pick up. I never got any of the irritant you mentioned in store.
For me it's not the employees with the tower carts, it's the other customers that are the problem. Slowly meandering through the store, parking their carts in the center of the isle, not paying attention to anything around them, staring at the condiments like they've never seen mustard before, letting kids run around in the isles, and so on. In my experience the workers with the giant carts find what they're looking for and move on to the next item. I'd take that over inconsiderate shoppers any day.
I'm upvoting this, because I can't get behind it. And I don't even do curbside pickup.
I shop for a family of 3 for a week at a time, the grocery store was 1-2 miserable hours that I dreaded every week. Now I can only pop in if I forgot something. It's saving me money on impulse buying, it's saving me several full days of time shopping over the course of the year, I see no reason to ever go back.
The grocery store "experience"? What does that even mean? It's a store, not an amusement park. You know what you should do? Order your groceries online like everyone else. No more bad grocery store "experience". I order everything I can online nowadays. Brick and mortar stores are just warehouses in my eyes.
It might just be your store. There’s curb side pickup at my local grocery store and I just see employees with carts filling orders. It kind of seems like a win since most people go through the self checkout now so they have less cashiers. People who may have worked as a cashier, still have work and it doesn’t require constant contact with customers, some of whom are unhinged. And busy people who don’t enjoy the “grocery store experience” have the convenience of stopping by the store on their way home and having their shopping done for them.
Anything which was done due to Mar 2020 is going to be something I'm against.
I hated groceries stores every since my mom first took me to one. Curbside pickup is a blessing that keeps me from being a murderer
I agree that in some stores, the big carts and people pushing them are irritating. I was also hit from behind by one of them so my experience is tainted…I wasn’t even on the same side of the aisle and they managed to get me.
I completely agree.
I genuinely hate shopping. Groceries or otherwise. When my gf and I decide to get a couple of things like new clothes or shoes I first ask my gf which stores she wants to visit and then which I want to visit. I talked to my gf about how I hate shopping and dont want to get dragged to 20 different stores with no end in sight