Instacart, a delivery service that brings groceries to your door from Whole Foods, Shaw’s, and Russo’s in as little as an hour and for $3.99 for orders over $35 (your first delivery is free), is expanding to Wellesley. The company is unaffiliated with any of the stores and operates by linking customers with personal shoppers.
If you’ve ever used Stop & Shop’s Peapod or Roche Bros.’ home delivery services, it operates in a similar manner. You log on, shop online, and your order is processed and fulfilled. With those services, your order is put together in a warehouse, loaded on a truck, and a driver delivers in your area within a time window.
Instacart says that it has eliminated the need and associated costs for such infrastructure. Instead of your order getting put together in the store’s warehouse or storage area, your assigned personal shopper, armed with his or her own smartphone and vehicle, goes to the store, shops for your items, and delivers them to your door in under three hours, and often within an hour.
Another interesting twist is that Instacart prices are their own and vary from the store’s prices. If you believe that an item is priced incorrectly or unfairly, you can email their customer service department in an effort to resolve your grievance.
Wellesley residents can get $10 off your first order and a free delivery here.
Also of interest:
Wellesley farmer’s market not sprouting this spring
