Did they say why? Was “your employee” crushed by the weight of what you ordered, or was he/she so taken with your taste that he/she absconded with your stuff?
Amazon Fresh emailed me today that they were now willing to accept me. I’m allowed to order from them once a week. Now that I’m social climbing in the world of delivery services, I don’t know if I can hang out with you riffraff any more.
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Riffraff. That’s one of the nicest things anyone has said about me all week. 
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Well, I’ve been waiting a couple of weeks, so maybe I’m not up to the standards of the elite. (Sob!)
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I was only getting like 15 things! I forgot to complain about this, but our basket was locked and we were unable to add anything to it after we put the initial order in two weeks ago. A 45 minute chat with Instacart failed to solve the problem, the person trying to help us was totally unable to resolve the issue.
It’s clear that I am cursed when it comes to this stuff! Though I did at least get pretty much everything I ordered this time after my initial shopper bailed out for whatever reason.
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This whole thread has depressed me like hell even more than the quarantine/virus itself. I‘m checking outta GBA board. It’s been real.
Really? Why? There are all kinds of success stories here. What is life if not success after adversity?
And, having said that, really, what is the real adversity of what is being discussed here, compared to what is happening elsewhere? The “quarantine/virus” is killing people elsewhere. How incredibly, incredibly… (to infinity) fortunate are we that our major concern is groceries?
What’s your objection?
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Not to mention that the demographics here seem to be skewed toward middle-class or upper class people who are financially secure. We are fortunate. The people who produce, prepare, and transport our groceries and restaurant orders are less secure. They and their children are, in significant numbers, hungry and having trouble obtaining groceries and prepared meals.
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@digga, I’ll miss seeing you around this joint. When the time is right for you, I hope you return.
Myself, I have learned that I need to take breaks from various information and interactions these days or it all becomes too heavy. Which is to say that I give myself a lot of time outs.
Take good care!
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oh no! I hope you just take a break, it’s great having you around.
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I was being needlessly over-dramatic and didn’t want to offend my dear HO friends… Not checking out of GBA board but maybe just this one thread. I really need to ignore it for my own peace of mind for many reasons that I don’t want to elaborate.
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Well, that’s great news and of course there’s no reason to elaborate. I’m very happy to hear that you’re not going anywhere, this year has been bad enough already!
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Prime Now has a new policy: “We are temporarily limiting orders received to once every 4 days. Thank you for helping us serve more customers while we support health and safety measures.”
I will be interested to hear of your experiences if you order from Fresh. I have access to Fresh, but have not used it. I was comparing my Prime Now cart to Fresh over the weekend. I found the prices to be pretty much the same. However, Fresh did not have several items available that were in my Prime cart, though this could work both ways. It looks like you can keep grocery lists in Fresh which is a functionality Prime does not have.
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Today, I placed a small order of nonperishables from Costco, via Instacart. Although I specified that they were not to substitute, they did. Fortunately, I was watching the app and was able to jump in and refuse the substitution. The order arrived an hour later, so on the whole, I’m pleased. Fairly hefty delivery charges but I haven’t renewed my Costco membership, so it’s a wash.
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Sorry for the delayed response. Not only did e-dogs eat the final assignments of many of my students (“the Internet went down just as I was submitting the assignment”), my daughter’s cat had a stroke. (Genuinely. But, thanks to the fine neurologists at Angell, she is now slowly recovering – with help from our new knowledge of how to “express her bladder”.)
I’ve had two Fresh deliveries so far. Both times I got everything I wanted. Stuff comes in weird, grey, sealed plastic bags, though, and you need to open all the produce right away before it suffocates.
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Sorry to hear about the cat. When it rains…you know. Glad she is doing well. Angell is quite an asset to the area.
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Yes, we have a number of assets in the area, and this whole Covid-19 thing has had me reassess my options. As I’ve mentioned, under normal circumstances I divide my time between Manhattan and Cambridge and there’s been a running discussion between my wife and me on where we should end up if we ever decided to enter our golden years. My wife, born and bred in Queens, pushed for Cambridge. I argued Manhattan. In this crisis, though, there was no question where we were better off. And apart from the lower density of Cambridge, there’s the easy availability of superb medical care in the GBA, for animals and humans.
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For what it’s worth, I’m getting occasional pleading emails from Instacart asking me to return, offering $10 off, saying they can now offer same-day delivery, etc.
After some weeks of scrambling for this, that, or the other, I have my supplies down to a reasonably reliable chain. Bread, veggies, herbs, dairy, eggs, fresh mozarella, ice cream, the occasional chocolate croissant from Forge; meat from Savenor’s – plus further veg and herbs – and this week from M.F.Dulock; fish from Cape Ann (although I might also try some of Tim Maslow’s offerings this week); the occasional specialty item – ramps, for example – from BPM, plus herbs; cheese directly from Cato Corner and Jasper Hill; wine from Ball Square; and whatever else I need from a weekly Amazon Fresh dropoff. I still have significant stocks of rice (basmati, jasmine, bomba, wild – although not a rice), lentils, beans, pasta, tunafish, canned tomatoes, etc., from March.
It feels good not to need Instacart.
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Just an update to report that same and next day delivery availability has returned to Whole Foods/Amazon Prime, and Peapod has more openings as well. Where previously I had to schedule two weeks out, last week’s delivery was just a one-week wait.
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This is definitely a good sign from both you and @fooddabbler. I’ve also noticed the last two weeks (I usually try to make a quick trip for fresh vegetables) that it’s been reasonably sane at the stores themselves. Aside from general confusion over the 1-way aisles (I’ve given up on those), people know where to go, where to pay, and generally trying to keep reasonable distance.
I guess the hoarding of foods at least can finally stop. Still waiting for my dairy supply to be consistent though. Less of a problem with milk, since there are multiple brands and suppliers, but I find buying light cream or heavy cream hit or miss.
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