The Question: Just How 'Fresh' is Amazon's Grocery Delivery Service...Really?

Unlike most of you out there, I adore grocery shopping!  I mean seriously, the whole preparation of seeking out weekly deals, coupons, planning the meals for the week to produce the list, and the art of deciding from which of the 3-4 stores I will arrive at first on Saturdays to retrieve the best deals for my selections sends tingles down my spine!  Hell, I even started my own grocery concierge- ‘A Cart Of Food’ (see the play on the name, lol!), where I would grocery shop for clients.  I had a few clients that were extremely happy, however, time became an issue, and well, let’s face it- when  the big box Instacart, Clicklist, and AmazonFresh businesses came on the scene, it was laughable for just me to compete on the larger scale.  And in this case the old saying rings true, if you can’t beat them, have them do your shopping too!

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This past Monday I found myself stranded without a vehicle since my hubby took one to work and my oldest used the other to get to school.  I had just gotten back in town and had not yet had the opportunity to grocery shop for the family before the week got started. This is when I decided I would try the Amazon Fresh service.  Already a proud and loyal Prime member, on top of having several close friends to positively speak of their personal experiences, I decided to give it a go!  I was thoroughly impressed by the easy online process from beginning to end along with the selection of fresh, organic, and familiar trusted brands.  Unfortunately after selecting my items, I realized that they did not deliver same day, and decided to cancel my cart.  Customer service with Amazon Fresh is no different from that of Prime where courteous and pleasant reps are always speaking with a smile and ready to accommodate however they can.  

Although unable to receive the service on Monday, I thought it a great idea to still utilize the service along with my regular Saturday shopping excursion just for the experience and to see if and how I could maybe incorporate this convenience going forward.  So just like earlier in the week, on Friday before I walked out the office, I made my selection of approximately 20 items to be delivered between the hours of 7-9am for the following day, approved the tip amount for the driver, and pondered if this grocery shopping method was cost-friendlier than my normal Saturday pavement-pounding only ritual. 

​Later that evening around 11pm, my family tells me things they would like added to the list….really….at 11pm!?!  No worries, I pull up the app and the banner let’s me know that I am STILL able to add items to my list for the same delivery window time!  So I add my son’s bananas and  my hubby’s cereal, and turn in for the evening.

Bright and early around 7am, my phone rings and it’s the Amazon Fresh delivery guy letting me know he’s at my door with my groceries.  Super excited, I jump out of bed, throw on the robe (y’all it’s cold out now!) and completely ignore the fact that my hair is standing up on its own on top of my head.  It doesn’t even matter because I am literally feeling like a kid on Christmas morning!  The driver is SUPER nice and friendly for it to be that early in the morning.  He insists on handing me each bag and for me not to have to bend and reach to grab them on my own.  He does not enter the house, but stands where he can safely hand each bag to me to where I can securely bring them in.  Once all the bags are in he wishes me a great day and thanks me for my business.  Awesome experience!  I hurriedly transport each bag to my kitchen island and immediately break into each literally like it’s the morning of December 25th!  My eyes are all starried as I reach in checking off each item on my list I pull it out of the bag.  However, my eyes become a little less excited as I see that I am almost done opening my packages, but there are way more items on my list still to be checked off.  Dang it!  I realize they have forgotten at least 8 items from my list.  And the missing items aren’t even the last minute ones I added just several hours prior.  My heart sank as I contacted Amazon to tell them what happened.  The rep, as usual, was very nice in listening to my ordeal, but simply offered the choice of a refund or delivery of the missing items.  Unfortunately, the earliest my incognito items could be delivered was 9pm.  I expressed that a refund would be fine and I would just have to make a trip out to get the forgotten items since it would be so late for them to re-deliver to me.  And that was it.  She did apologize for the inconvenience, which is great, but that doesn’t help the fact that now I have to leave my home to pick up grocery items, COMPLETELY defeating the purpose of the service.  Unsettled by this resolution, I reached back out to Amazon Fresh and spoke with Jinell, who after hearing what happened did not hesitate to extend a credit for the mishap.  

Now, will I use this service again?  Absolutely!  I completely understand that things happen and have every bit of confidence that they will get it right, and that when issues arise they will handle it promptly and accordingly to my satisfaction- as they have always through Amazon Prime.

SOME INFO: 

• Amazon Fresh is $14.95 monthly for Amazon Prime members.  Personally I felt that with the annual fee, not to mention the recent increase in the monthly Prime membership, that this would have been an included service for members.  However, I was told by the representative that the amount of sales and coupons provided by Amazon Fresh online will in most cases eat up this fee.  
• This is not a same day service so plan accordingly at least a day prior.  There is the option to have your items left outside your door and an ‘Attended’ option to be notified if you are home to personally receive your groceries.  

THE GOOD: 

• Ease and convenience.
• Easy user-friendly interface.
• Quality selection of products, organic, and trusted brands (Whole Foods products). 
• Comparable prices to what you’d find in the stores and in some cases even less expensive.
• EXCELLENT delivery experience
• Effective issue resolution
• Proper storage for cold and frozen items (some of my bags had partially frozen water bottles in the bags to keep the refrigerated items cool and ice packs/bags to keep frozen items frozen!)

THE BAD: 

• Not having an accurate out-the-door checkpoint to ensure all items are correctly selected for orders.

THE OPPORTUNITY: 

• For a more effective issue resolution, train customer service reps to automatically provide an 'inconvenience credit' for missing items when a refund is requested.​

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​So for more information about this service head over to www.amazon.com/fresh 
​to get started!

As a child I never liked cabbage.  I mean I didn't even start eating cole slaw until I was in my 30s, and even then the cole slaw HAD to be accompanied with a nicely golden, freshly fried pieced of fish!  But once I fell in love with roasted brussels sprouts with parmesan shavings and balsamic reduction, I figured they're much larger counterpart couldn't be all that bad....right?  RIGHT!  Simple says it best, and this simple recipe will make you love cabbage too!

Preheat oven to broil at 500 degrees

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage, cored and sliced .5-1 inch thick
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tbsp AbstractSpice

Process:

1. Rinse cabbage 'steaks' clean and pat dry.
2. On a greased sheet pan, place cabbage steaks flat.
3. Drizzle oil on cabbage steaks evenly.
4. Sprinkle AbstractSpice evenly. 
5. Broil in oven for approximately 10 minutes, until lightly charred.
6. Take out of the oven, toss, and serve!

Enjoy!

​After months of keeping late night hours trying to get it just right, AC Art of Food has launched its website featuring 'A Cart of Food, Grocery Concierge'!  
The site is a wonderful resource for foodie tips and ideas, in addition to promoting its personal grocery delivery service and meal planning. There's a link included on the site that leads you to an interactive newsletter allowing you to check out what's on sale at your favorite major grocers along with a link to digital coupons so that everything is right at your fingertips all on one site!  
Enough talking, go check it out for yourself! 
www.acartoffood.com 
Enjoy, and make it a great tasting day!