Delivery services such as Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats and curbside pickup were starting to gain in popularity before the COVID-19 pandemic hit last spring — but they took off in the last year, thanks in part to people trying to minimize contact with others and limit any potential exposure to the coronavirus.
Many families now have found other reasons to stick with delivery options.
One of those people is Carol Cureton, who is considered high risk for contracting severe COVID-19. She said that grocery pickup and delivery have “been a great help this past year.”
“In my household, we are 74 and 75 years old, right in there for high risk with respect to COVID-19,” Cureton said. “We did not go in a grocery store for over a year and kept the pantry stocked as needed. In addition, we didn’t worry about COVID transmission.”
Meanwhile, Brittany Garner uses Instacart to get her groceries from Aldi. She began shopping at the store about 10 years ago and first heard of Instacart’s delivery service in 2017.
“Once I heard about Instacart, I never looked back,” Garner said. “I am a busy teacher who works in Doniphan but lives in Poplar Bluff, so delivery made it very convenient for me to have groceries when I arrived home at my doorstep.”
Using Instacart became an even bigger plus for Garner two years ago, when she was expecting her first child.
“This service was a blessing for me to not have to carry, bag and unload the groceries the farther along I became,” Garner said. “Then, COVID hit when I was eight months along. We were all terrified of the unknown (but) during my entire pregnancy, I didn’t have to step foot inside a store one single time. I used Kroger for baby items, Aldi for our groceries and Dollar General pickup for our household supplies. My mother has had cancer twice, so we ordered all of her items as well without having to step foot inside a store.”
In addition to Instacart delivery with Aldi, Garner uses Dollar General pickup for household items and Walmart pickup for items she and her family can’t get delivered.
“What stands out to me is the ease of access through an app, the way you can chat with your shopper as they shop,” Garner said. “If you forget an item or an item is out of stock, they will message you with replacement options.”
Because of delivery services and curbside pickup, Garner has not had to go in a store to shop since the fall of 2019.
“During the last 17 months, I have not stepped foot in a single store,” Garner said. “I have not bagged a single grocery and I have not had to be around anyone during my entire pregnancy, nor have I had to have my baby out around people to risk him getting sick. We have been vaccinated and still use these services.”
Garner said that delivery and curbside pickup also have saved her a lot of time.
“During my ‘end of the year’ summary that Instacart sent me, it stated that I have saved over 149 hours of shopping this year alone,” Garner said. “(That) is a lot more time with my family, my job and being at home.”
Like Garner, Houston Blue started utilizing curbside pickup because of its convenience — and started utilizing delivery services when her children were sick because it made it easy to get over-the-counter medicines and other basics.
“I am a single mother of two smaller children and taking them into the store can be a chore,” Blue said. “Pickup makes getting groceries so much easier because I don’t have to worry about getting them in and out of carseats or worry about their behavior while in the store.”
Blue said she loves the convenience of using curbside pickup and that she uses DoorDash to have meals delivered at the last minute and not have to worry about dealing with traffic or children.
“With Walmart, there is no fee currently for curbside, which makes it worthwhile,” Blue said. “There are small fees with Aldi and Kroger — but again, the convenience and ease make the fee worth it. I can start a cart on the app and add groceries throughout the week, then do a pickup on Friday or Saturday.”
How much does Blue like delivery and curbside pickup services? She is also an Instacart shopper and does deliveries for DoorDash and UberEats.
“I started working with Instacart in 2019 after becoming a single mom,” Blue said. “It was extra income that helped out a lot. I absolutely love it.”
Blue said she receives orders on her phone and chooses if she wants to shop. If she does, she goes to the store the customer ordered from and handpicks every item the customer has ordered. She then checks out and delivers the items to the customer’s door.
“I take pride in what I do and try to make the customers happy,” Blue said. “With the pandemic, many customers choose what is called ‘leave at door’ delivery, so I make little to no physical contact with the customer. There are a lot more people who use Instacart now than when I first started, which is understandable.”
Blue also does deliveries for DoorDash and Uber Eats, which enables customers to order delivery from many local restaurants.
“I started working with DoorDash two years ago and enjoy it as well,” Blue said. “It is fairly new to the Poplar Bluff area ... so the amount of people using this increases every week it seems.”