Delivery cons:
- Paying higher everyday prices and missing out on in-store sales.
- Inability to use coupons.
- Decreased selection.
- Having to be home in the specific timeframe when the groceries are scheduled for delivery.
- The security risks involved in letting a stranger into your home to deliver the groceries.
- Grocery delivery services charge delivery fees. On top of that, you are also often expected to tip, which can easily add a premium of $10 or more to even a modest purchase.
- Online inventories are not always accurate, which means that you sometimes unexpectedly won’t receive an item you’ve ordered, whereas if you were at the store, you could have substituted it. Smaller grocery delivery services often don’t have the resources to offer any substitutions. Larger services may offer to substitute items for you according to your preferences (same size, different brand or same brand, different size). However, automatic substitutions can’t take into account things like if they’re out of brownies, you’d prefer cupcakes. Incorrect online inventory is probably the most frequent problem I encounter when having groceries delivered.
Overall, I think I would have saved about $20 by actually going to the store for my last purchase instead of having it delivered. However, I might have used some of that money to make impulse purchases, which would have reduced my savings (but would have given me more food for the same amount of money).
