Hi Sky,

This was very interesting to read. I don't have a Peapods up here, and I live
in the middle of nowhere, but I didn't know ordering online could be so easy.

That's great info for future reference.

JoEllen

I've started to use Peapod delivery
: service, and since they have
: delivery service in several
: different states and cities, I
: wanted to share my experience with
: you. You may not have a Peapod
: service in your area, but you
: might have a comparable service.

: I don't really like grocery shopping.
: Like many of you I have my
: two-store needs - Whole Foods,

: where I get a lot of
: program-friendly stuff, and the
: local grocery store, where I can
: get a lot of the basics beyond
: that.

: I tend to like Whole Foods more as an
: experience - the lighting is
: better, the place feels better,
: and usually the stuff I'm buying
: are the heavy hitters in my food
: program and therefore it feels
: more fun. But whether it's Whole
: Foods or not, I still have to stop
: and make time and get there and
: sometimes it's crowded and I feel
: drained when I leave.

: Peapod doesn't deliver from Whole
: Foods, just from my local store,
: but that's okay. If I have to only
: go to one store, definitely make
: it WF instead of the other one.

: So I've tried Peapod twice now and
: both times my experience has been
: quite positive. I'm in the comfort
: of my own home, sitting down and
: creating my list on the Peapod
: website. I'll have some recipes in
: front of me, or a general idea of
: what my dinners will be
: (breakfasts are shakes so that's
: my WF list, and lunches are
: usually leftovers from dinner.)

: I can have the contents in my virtual
: "shopping cart" over the
: course of a few hours or a few
: days, however long I need. I
: usually add stuff during the week
: that I know I'll be needing in my
: next order. I check out whenever I
: want, pick a delivery time for the
: next day, and input my payment
: info. If I have coupons they're
: collected during delivery and
: credited to my next order.

: The Peapod interface is really
: friendly, they try to mimic what
: you would do standing in a grocery
: store aisle - any product you can
: click on and it will give you
: nutritional information, including
: ingredients! You can specify
: "no substitutions" on
: your list, or on individual items,
: so that the person getting your
: list will know you only want that
: brand of spaghetti sauce, etc.

: You can search by "aisle",
: you can search by product type or
: brand name. If you search on
: spaghetti sauce you can sort
: through the list that comes up by
: name, by unit price, by price, by
: what's on sale - a whole lot of
: different ways. Some things I
: don't care about name brands, I
: just want the cheapest, like
: laundry soap.

: So, I search on laundry soap, and
: then sort by price. The cheapest
: things comes up and I click to add
: it to my cart.

: The only part I'm unsure about is
: produce since I want to be able to
: see what I'm buying there, and
: people have varying preferences
: for what looks good or what is
: ripe. I haven't gotten any fruit
: or veg yet, sticking with WF for
: that.

: Best of all for what I save in time
: and nervous energy driving around,
: wondering if I remembered the
: right stuff, I pay very little for
: the service. And the first 60 days
: of service there is no service
: charge, anyway - they really want
: you to try it.

: The charge, at least for Fairfax, VA,
: is $7.95 if you have over $100 in
: groceries. It goes up by a dollar
: the less groceries you have, so if
: you have, say, between $69 and
: $100 it's 8.95, so it behooves you
: to get a large amount of
: groceries. Which works well if you
: like to plan.

: Also, speaking of money, one of the
: really great benefits of this
: system is it keeps a running total
: of your purchases so far at all
: times at the top of the screen off
: to the right where your shopping
: list is shown. So you always know
: the total of your groceries before
: you check out, no surprises at the
: check out counter.

: I don't like to plan, but I am always
: glad when I do. I know I have
: fresh food on hand.

: Best of all, the great feeling of
: having someone show up at your
: door and bringing all those items
: right into your kitchen is SO
: GREAT! All I have to do is put the
: stuff away.

: You don't have to tip the driver, but
: you can.

: If you're curious you may want to log
: on and create an account just to
: poke around. It's easy to figure
: out.

: Cheers,
: Sky