<strong>Dear Jill:</strong> I have been ordering groceries online, and every store seems to do things differently. One store has a box you can check for “allow substitutions,” so if you buy one brand of cheese, and it is sold out, they will substitute the same item from a different brand. But if you allow substitutions, they can substitute anything.
Another store has the ability to choose substitutions for each item so you can tell it a substitution of cheese would be OK, but a substitution for my favorite coffee would not be.
Some stores have an app where the shopper will chat with you about what is in stock and what is not, but you have to be available. This is a good option for people who have the time to sit by the phone, but I don’t. How can I ensure I get what I want most of the time? <strong>— Morgan D.</strong>
Ordering groceries online isn’t always as simple as adding items to your online cart, checking out and then seeing the groceries arrive at your vehicle or your front door. As many of us learned during the height of the pandemic, stores’ online inventories often don’t match what’s actually in stock when an order is fulfilled.
After shopping online at multiple retailers, I developed strategies for different stores. One of my area retailers has an all-or-nothing substitution policy. No matter how many items you order, you have one single option to allow or prevent substitutions for all of the items on the list.
My sister learned the dangers of this blanket substitution policy when she placed an order that included a ham selling for .59 per pound. The brand of ham she had selected was sold out, and her shopper substituted one that sold for $3.99/lb., turning her 9-pound ham from a bargain $5.31 to a surprising $35.91.
Another store in my area allows shoppers to select the substitution option for every item in the order. This is a great option if any brand of flour would be fine, but a different brand of cola might not. I prefer this option, but this store has a long lead time to schedule curbside pickups, making it prohibitive to schedule unless I don’t mind waiting a few days.
When I place an order at the all-or-nothing substitution store, I either only include items I am fine with substitutions on, or I create a no-substitutions list of exactly the brands and sizes I want, knowing I might not get some of the items I’ve ordered. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it does prevent me from unexpectedly receiving (and paying for) an expensive ham.
<strong>Dear Jill:</strong> I have been trying to utilize curbside grocery pickup more this season. I’m frustrated because I don’t understand the pricing. Curb pickup is free, but the items online do not follow the store’s sale ad at all. For example, a $13.99 cheesecake is $18.99 if you buy it for curbside pickup. Fridge packs are $3.66 in-store, but online, they are $5.49. Why does the store do this? — <strong>Corey W.</strong>
Some stores do have an online-only set of prices that differ from the store’s weekly circular. Typically, they have built the costs of having your order hand-picked and assembled “free” of charge. In my experience, these stores do still offer promotional pricing on some items, and you also might be able to use online coupons with the items you’ve selected, too. It does take a different strategy to save, though, over simply looking at the weekly ad.
It might be worth exploring how other area stores handle their online orders. Despite having three different supermarkets within a 5-mile radius of my home, my favorite place for curbside grocery pickup is a store that’s 20 minutes away. Why am I willing to make the trip? This store honors all advertised sale pricing for its online orders, and shoppers can use both paper and electronic coupons on orders, too.