5 ms·

I switched to FreshDirect during the pandemic, and I am probably never going to depend on a large grocery store again. FreshDirect is my weekly delivery, and th

I switched to FreshDirect during the pandemic, and I am probably never going to depend on a large grocery store again. FreshDirect is my weekly delivery, and the nearby bodegas have what’s needed when I need a couple things. Every large NY grocery store consistently seems to have either poor-quality or extremely expensive produce, which was drastically exacerbated last April: if you don’t go soon after they stock, people pick over, scratch and generally take all the edible-looking choices. Whole Foods was terrible for delivery: the pickers seemed to just choose what was available, which inevitably tends to be what in store shoppers left over. I’d much rather on average get an average apple or onion, without having to spend time figuring out whether it’s “good”: average is almost always good enough. My total time spent grocery shopping went down, while the quality of the food went up. Their website does a really good job of focusing me on what’s fresh, in season, and otherwise likely to be good this week, and it seems like there’s a lot less waste in this model. I can also order more than I can walk home myself, which is pretty valuable when you don’t own a car.

lotsofpulp 5y ago
The situation is completely reversed outside of a NYC like dense area where everyone has cars. Once you have a car, it makes economic sense to use it and you will likely drive near a grocery store at some point in the week. The grocery stores are also not constrained on space so the quality is much higher and rent or land costs less so prices are lower too. Although, I do have to say grocery stores in London and Toronto were much nicer than NYC in my experience, so it may be a cultural/customer demand thing too.
oddthink 5y ago
+1, I've been very impressed by FreshDirect. I have a Morton Williams across the street (crowded, bad produce, iffy selection) and a Whole Foods around the block (pretty nice, but long lines and I didn't really want to go in before vaccination), but FreshDirect has just worked. Their site and app are glacially slow, though. Not sure what's going on there. And for a while they've had some text-entry glitch that reverses text every now and then. But that's just griping. Also, with kids it's nice having the weekly 3-4 gallons of milk just show up rather than schlepping them home from the bowels of Whole Foods.

lotsofpulp 5y ago

The situation is completely reversed outside of a NYC like dense area where everyone has cars. Once you have a car, it makes economic sense to use it and you will likely drive near a grocery store at some point in the week. The grocery stores are also not constrained on space so the quality is much higher and rent or land costs less so prices are lower too. Although, I do have to say grocery stores in London and Toronto were much nicer than NYC in my experience, so it may be a cultural/customer demand thing too.

oddthink 5y ago

+1, I've been very impressed by FreshDirect. I have a Morton Williams across the street (crowded, bad produce, iffy selection) and a Whole Foods around the block (pretty nice, but long lines and I didn't really want to go in before vaccination), but FreshDirect has just worked. Their site and app are glacially slow, though. Not sure what's going on there. And for a while they've had some text-entry glitch that reverses text every now and then. But that's just griping. Also, with kids it's nice having the weekly 3-4 gallons of milk just show up rather than schlepping them home from the bowels of Whole Foods.