SERVICES WE LOVE: KROGER PICKUP

Hey friends!

I hope you and yours are staying safe during the COVID crisis. Until this week, we've actually been grocery shopping ourselves, but thought it would be a good idea to give our go-to grocery store's pickup services a test run in case it's absolutely necessary soon.  Luckily, our intern Sarah had some experience with Kroger's Pickup before the stay-at-home orders so here's what we've learned about the grocery service before AND during COVID-19. 

What is Kroger Pickup? 

Kroger Pickup used to be called "Kroger Clicklist" and allows you to simply shop online (or in their app) and schedule a time to pickup your groceries outside the store. Currently, this service is FREE (~$5 value)!

How do you order groceries for Kroger Pickup?

Adding items to your shopping cart is super simple online or in the Kroger mobile app. You can easily search for items using their search bar (you'll notice that items you typically buy do seem to pull up in the search results first) or even via digital coupons! 

PRO TIP: You can give associates additional instructions about items in your shopping cart where you see "Substitutions & Instructions" for each item. This is where you would share personal preferences like "green bananas" or "under $10" for your pack of chicken breasts. 

How do you schedule your Pickup order?

Once you're ready to schedule your order for pickup, you'll begin the checkout process where you can then select a day & time (in 1 hour increments on the hour) for pickup that best suites you. Since the end of April, I've noticed no major delays in getting groceries same day if desired!  (During the thick of Nashville's #SaferAtHome order, you had to schedule 3-4 days out.) 
**NOTE: You will be charged once you place your order. 

Sarah also shares that she, "opted-in for text reminders so [she] would get a text notification when [her] order was ready the next morning. [She] didn’t have to do this, but also noticed that you could easily edit your order on the app after it was placed. No stress!" 

Those text notifications are super helpful as it's one way Kroger can let you know if there are any issues with your order, such as items being unavailable. In this scenario, they provide suggested item substitutions for you to review and you can accept or deny their suggestion. (In some cases, you might get an item "upgrade" -- organic bananas vs. conventional, brand name dressing vs. private label, etc. -- without any additional charge!) 

How does Pickup at the store work?

There is typically a designated parking area for Kroger Pickup customers.  Here are the exact instructions from our Kroger:

• Look for pickup signs in the parking lot and pull into a parking spot
• Call the number on the sign to let our associates know you're here
• We'll bring your order out and load it into your car, then you can be on your way!

Once you call an associate to let them know you have arrived during your reserved time slot, they'll ask you which number parking spot you've pulled into and if you have any additional coupons. (I wish I would have known this ahead of time as I didn't think this was possible via their Pickup service!) 

Their associates will load everything into your car and you can be on your merry way.  We're typically pretty speedy shoppers when we go grocery shopping on our own (maybe takes ~30 minutes), but this Pickup process cut things down to just 10-15 minutes!! 

Are there any cons to Kroger Pickup? 

Overall, this is a great service for those who don't have the time to grocery shop on their own, are avoiding going into the stores, or possible unable to grocery shop themselves, but there is one big sticking point for Sarah and I when it comes to Kroger's Pickup service -- the use of plastic bags.  It's pretty excessive with items sometimes bagged with only 1 item in the whole bag!  Sarah expresses, "There was not an option to bring reusable bags and I wish there was." Agreed! 

Are you opting for grocery pickup and/or delivery services right now? We'd love to hear how you're handling food differently these days! 

lindsey