Shipt: Grocery Shop Without Leaving Home

By Kelly Hines

I have three kids, which leaves very little time for doing anything other than full on mom-ing. Unfortunately for me, my family insists on eating food – every day! – so one of the things I have to make time for is grocery shopping. More often than not, I find myself in one of these situations:

1. I am in the middle of party prep, I’m missing an ingredient (or five), and I absolutely do NOT have time to run to the store.

2. I’m forced to choose between doing something I need to do – exercise, laundry, write a blog; something I want to do – binge watch every season of Game of Thrones (again); or going to the grocery store.

3. I stop by the store on the way home from the gym, gross and sweaty, and run into the guy who broke up with me in eighth grade because I ‘smelled weird’.

4. I really, really, really don’t want to put on actual pants.

Lucky for me, I discovered Shipt. It’s a grocery delivery service that lets you order groceries online from their iOS or Android app, or from their website. I don’t like to read directions, so I decided to just download the app to my iPhone and see if I could figure it out. The app is super easy to use, allowing me to search by sale items, categories, or by using a simple search bar. It allowed me to be a little more intentional about my food choices, too. No more getting lured in by the junk food aisle! Before I’d finished my morning cup of coffee, I’d put in an order. I went for a run and by the time I was home my order was at my door.

Life changing.

You choose where they shop – my very rural area had the option for Lowes Foods or Harris Teeter, the two nearest stores. I was also able to add my rewards card, which was nice. Delivery is available within about an hour of ordering, or you can delay your delivery until later in the day. I placed my order at 8:40 a.m. and chose the delivery time of between 10:00 and 11:00 a.m. I had the option to leave special instructions, so I could have asked that my groceries be left on the front porch, in case I wanted to go ahead and jump in the shower or didn’t want to deal with the aforementioned pants issue. My groceries were on my doorstep at 10:05!

After I placed my order, I got an email confirmation. I chose to allow my Shipt shopper (the amazing Latricia) to contact me if she had any questions or needed to make substitutions. When Latricia began shopping, I received a text to let me know she was at the store, and I received another to let me know she had finished and was on her way.

I threw a couple of curveballs in my order, just to see how she’d handle them. Did I mean a pound of bananas or one banana? Did I really want two different kinds of milk? When I added a random item that wasn’t listed on the app, would she figure it out? I don’t know if all Shipt shoppers are this good, but Latricia got my order completely right. I even hijacked a couple of minutes of her time to find out what kind of person signs up to be a Shipt shopper. Latricia is a divinity student at Wake Forest, and Shipt allows her to work her own schedule while going to school. She loves working for Shipt and providing a service to busy people in her community. After I checked over my order and Latricia left, I was able to rate her service and even leave her a tip via the Shipt app.

I started thinking about all the ways my friends and I could use Shipt. I can’t help but immediately think of my friends with babies and toddlers, who tend to make grocery shopping (and even getting to the store!) an ordeal. Or all the times I’ve been mid-recipe or knee deep in party prep when I realize I need something desperately from the store. Or coming home late from work or vacation, when the last thing I want to do is go to the store. And it’s not just about how it can make life easier for me! What about my friends who’ve had a new baby, or are sick, or I just want to help out because they need a break? Shipt allows me to order groceries online and have them delivered to friends near and far. What a great gift! How about folks who might work odd schedules? What a convenience to shop online whenever they want, and set up delivery that works for their schedule.

Bottom line – I’m sold. I signed up for the annual membership and can’t wait to utilize the service for some of my larger weekly shopping trips. I’m even considering gifting a membership to a friend who avoids grocery shopping as much as I do! I give Shipt two enthusiastic thumbs up, and encourage you to give it a try for yourself. Check out Shipt at www.shipt.com/triad, or download the app for iOS or Android. For a limited time, new annual members in the Triad can save $50! You can get a full year of grocery delivery for just $49 (regularly $99) when get started at shipt.com/triad.

*Sponsored by Shipt

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