[GA inside] What's your opinion on ordering groceries online?

It's unsanitary, but I like checking the eggs from the egg cartons for any cracks or abnormalities, then swapping those defect eggs with non-defect eggs from other egg cartons. And yes, it's unsanitary. Things like this are why I try to reduce germs as much as possible.

We do our shopping for food in town. You know what you're getting and no need for even more delivery vans etc.
If I had mental or physical disabilites then I would probably use somethig like that.
Also, there are services like Eismann in Germany we occasionally use.

bump

I've never ordered online, and never will. I simply don't trust strangers to get my food for me.

As I live now in a small town, we don't have this kind of services.
On the other hand, I often buy from local farmers.

I just really hate going into our local stores for anything more than "a few things" - tiny aisles which are then often blocked by staff unloading boxes, snaking payment queues into the produce section and overall little feel of value for money or more importantly, value for time.
That said, online groceries are hit and miss for quality and taste. I have kind of learned which fruits/veg are worth the risk and which usually aren't, and base my orders on that.
Can't beat online grocery delivery window from 8-10 pm for convenience, though.

I prefer to choose my own vegetables/fruits, so I have to go to a store... And once I'm in a store, there is no more reason to get any groceries online. So, tried online two times, and back to classic

It seems online costs more plus I prefer to pick my own produce. Then there's the rare occasion where I run into a friend or meet somebody new while waiting in line.

where is the anti social option??
i hate waiting in queues and walking in crowded places
also free shipping

Like others already stated, if you order online, high chance they grab you the stuff that expires soon while if I go myself I grab at the back with the longest expire date I can find to not waste anything, besides that, all but 1 grocery store here has a minimum of €50 or so before it's free delivery and else delivery can get pretty expensive which I have no use for when living alone, €50 is at least 2 weeks of food for me, the one that has a minimum of €25 and free delivery has an app only (so no real store) and not a fan of that since I have no smartphone.
Besides that I sometimes just need 1 thing on a day, because I make sure I always have extra stuff so I only buy when I run out of something (like, opened the last bag of rice? write it down so I buy a new one, so I never miss).
Also, grocery shopping is my reason to go outside sometimes, I also like to follow discounts so I buy at different stores and usually, because I do everything by bike, I drive past a few on my way home away so might as well stop there and go inside myself.

We have this marketplace where you can buy fresh groceries every Tuesday and Friday. You can see, touch and smell them and then choose wich ones you want to buy. It's almost like picking them right from a farm. After a while you get to know who sells produce closer to your preferences, learn where their farms are (since it's a relatively small town). Also they are cheaper compared to everywhere else.

Place is quite far though, so it can be tiresome sometimes. But even when I can't buy from the marketplace I wouldn't buy from online shops. I'd rather go to a grocery store and buy something I can see beforehand.

I tried ordering my groceries online, then I gave up because I actually find it slower than just going to the supermarket I have across the street.

I can walk trough the store, look at all isles (so I'm sure I'm not forgetting anything), quickly compare products on the shelves with discount offers, expiration dates, quality all in a few mins.

If I had to take the car to reach a supermarket I'd probably consider ordering online tho.

Well I order my groceries online around 50% of the time. It is far easier for me since I do not have a car and the closest shop that i can reach on foot is around 30 minutes away. Also I work weird hours due to working 24/7 rotating shifts and shops around me usually only open from 8am to 6pm and some few until 8pm. So honestly being able to order online when needed is a life saver.

I never had a problem with expiration dates since usually, if stuff is close to being expired, they try to sell it cheaper for that reason and all other stuff has the same shelf life like the one you'll get from the shop.

It also is not really more expensive since what I have to pay for delivery is far cheaper than what I would have to pay for a taxi (can't lug a weeks or two weeks worth of groceries aorund for 30 minutes) or for bus/train if I want to go to one of the shops further away.

If I need veggies or fruit I mostly get it from a local fruit/veggie trader near my workplace

To each their own, for some reason I kinda find it relaxing to get groceries, no pressure. But I get why I would order them too.

I prefer to shop in store because the rare times I ordered online:
1) once they messed up the order (missing product, compensated with... a freaking voucher with a short expiration date, seriously :x)
2) all the time, the products had a ridiculous expiration date and were obviously mistreated during transport

Also yeah it's not very eco-friendly. I'm not "eco-extremist", as I believe our main ecological problem is overpopulation and there's no point in ruining your own life for the sake of saving some CO2 if at the same time 6 billion people don't give a damn at all. But still, I like not to be super wasteful, and ordering online rather than walking 5 minutes to my local shop seems overboard. And anyway, you need to wait home for the delivery, generally during work hours, so it's actually more convenient to go to the shop...

Edit: that's from my personal situation, in particular since I live near shops. For people who live super far from them, it might actually by more ecological to order online (the shop can do 1 trip to deliver multiple orders in their area, instead of each resident doing 1 trip to the shop)

Both, it depends on what I need:

I live next to a supermarket, and 3-4 others are within 15 min walking away.

The store I also order online from has this service where you can order those mealboxes. If you order 3 mealboxes there are no shipping costs, so once in a while I order those + a bunch of heavy stuff (4 boxes of cat litter, a lot of drinks, etc.)

congrats on the subs

Who new grocery shopping was such a popular discussion point.

Bump!
I personaly buy them at the store everytime, I think I never once ordered groceries online. Probably because I have to walk to the supermarket and I enjoy the stroll I take there, and it's always different being there in person to pick what you want to buy. The only disadvantage is having to carry everything back to the house (and the queues to pay, god I hate the queues).

I had too serious issues - namely, if we should pay attention to psychiatrists, psychologists and all the guys who worked in hospitals and clinics in the months I've been hospitalized, agoraphobia, social phobia, panic attacks, major depressive disorder, self-harm addiction and another thing I forgot, plus emetophobia which was the main thing that prevented me to go outside for many years - but thanks to great doctors (luckily Northern Italy is quite good in healthcare) and appropriate medicines I managed to get rid of almost everything, although all this went on for at least 10-12 consecutive years with ups and downs.
Well, this meant that I often relied on food I found in my house or in the hospitals and so on, but luckily thanks to some medicines (I won't name them here of course) I managed to go to supermarket, shops and such.
Anyways it's all passed. I don't like buying online for two main reasons - I want to see personally all the food that's being bought, especially to touch it, seeing if it's ok, I don't know who picks it up and puts it on the trucks/vans so I would be concerned, plus, I want to be sure I'm choosing between everything available and I'm choosing the right products, not those which expire within 2 days..
All in all I never used these online services and I never ordered anything food-related online, I'd be concerned even about my own health. I know lots of people who do this and I'm perfectly ok - it gives lots of work here in Northern Italy where we don't have virtually unemployment, and my friends work all day (some of them work by night too) so it's great for them to use these services. Personally, when I go and eat pizza (it took me 12 years I think to re-start going to restaurants) and I want to eat it at home, I personally go at the pizzeria, wait, and bring it home myself.
Yeah, I didn't mention CO2 and pollution ç_ç I know, plus I'm in a small hill town so I have to drive 15-20 minutes to shop every single time, I'm starting to work on my ecologyst and environment-friendly soul too anyways =P (btw here there's little public transport given the little population and the mountainous roads, in winter you can only dream about public transportation with snow, ice and cold xD)..
Please if you're struggling with anxiety problems related to shops and agoraphobia/social phobia seek help and don't be afraid to take the proper drugs, you'll get out of this shit as I did after so many years, <3

I don't like ordering groceries specifically because of all of the reasons people already mentioned, but I love buying cleaning supplies, laundry detergent, toothpaste etc. in bulk over the internet. It saves a lot of time.

I don't order them because free shipping starts only from 50 euro and I don't buy that much most of the time.

If I order food online it is from my local supermarket. I give then a pick up time and they have it baged up waiting for me near the door. It dose save some time. However I don't order anything but prepackaged goods that way I like to inspect my fresh produce.

I prefer online to normal shopping. When I lived in my old place it would've cost more to actually get to a store so it was cheaper to just order online. Now I live closer to shops its annoying. Sure I got 2 shops I can get different items in but all the time and effort behind it just isn't worth it. Spending time outside for like an hour with my anxiety gradually rising more and more is a huge pain. That doesn't even count for the heavy bags causing strain on my neck and back.

So yeah I prefer online shopping but I do get the benefits of just going. Heck if I didn't do it normally I would've never found out about the fruit puddings they sell or the panda biscuits that I enjoy collecting the stickers from.

I go out for groceries, but a key option in the poll could have included those with disability. I have friends who get their groceries online for this reason.