With Those Prices?
As reported at the Star Tribune - Online grocer SimonDelivers to shut down ”the local grocery delivery company, said Tuesday that it plans to shut down in two weeks”
”Today’s economic conditions, including the spike in food and fuel costs, have forced us to make this very difficult decision,” read a letter to customers from Liwanag Ojala, company president. ”
I started using Simon Delivers as soon as it was available in my neighborhood, but made the switch to Byerlys delivery a few years ago due mainly to better pricing. With the high cost of groceries at Simon Delivers I’m suprised that their margins can’t withstand the current economy. I guess they must have also lost a lot of customers.
Do you currently use Simon Delivers or the Lunds delivery service? How do you think they compare? I find the small delivery fee for online grocery shopping to be well worth the time savings.
Related posts:
I have always needed (i.e., liked) the inspiration of being at the grocery store to be an effective food shopper.
We used Simon Delivers when we lived in downtown St. Paul, sold our car and walked to work every day. We shopped at the Farmer’s Market every weekend and used Simon Delivers to round out the rest of the essentials. We learned standard items like milk, cheese, bread and soda were all about the same as standard grocery store prices. But (at the time at least) certain food items were crazy expensive — like Velveeta Mac ‘n Cheese. Not that we bought a lot of it, but it’s something I remember years later.
Even though we don’t use the service now, I’m bummed to see it go without Peapod or another service ready to step in. It kind of feels like we’re moving backward.
I used Simon Delivers for about two months, jumped over to Lunds as soon as they began offering delivery, and never looked back. Simon Delivers messed something up in every order. Sometimes it was in my favor (including 2 pounds of cheese instead of NONE, for example), but I expect orders to be filled correctly. I was never pleased with Simon Delivers’ selection - there was often one brand or size available, and the sizes were often much larger than we needed (giant dishwashing soap or grape jelly).
Lunds has its downsides (you need to be around for delivery, the items you want are not always available at the store that’s filling the order), but overall it’s wonderful. The produce is a lot nicer, too. It was a lifesaver when my daughter was first born and it was difficult to get out of the house to get groceries. I must note that if they do not have the item you requested and you allow them to put in a substitution, they often will not charge you for that item at all.
I’m not surprised that they’re shutting down, frankly.
Ordering groceries requires me to think ahead, and I am terrible about that when it comes to food.
But I also hate grocery shopping, so if it were up to me, I’d probably try the Lunds/Byerly’s service, since I’ve heard a few good reviews of it.
Art - I like to occasional trip to the grocery store too, but mainly because there are certain fruits and veggies I want to hand pick.
Greg - I think it is a step backwards.
Tipper - We’ve had mistakes with both services, but found Byerly’s to be more cost effective. Although, S.D. was nice for ordering the occasional gift or bottle of wine as well.
Erica - I find that one really nice thing about ordering online is the ability to set up a template so 80% of the order is ready to go. One thing to take notice of when you set up your account is something Tipper mentioned; the substitutions option. It’s cool if you don’t mind, but the wife and I are not a fan and would rather not get the item we requested than have them substitute something.