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ON DELIVERY Peapod and Webvan promise groceries to your door at competitive prices, but do they live up to the hype?
Of all the mundane tasks involved in modern life, grocery shopping ranks among the worst. It's time consuming: the pop-in -- your basic milk, eggs, bread run -- can take forever as clever schmos try to wrangle twenty items through the fifteen items or less line. Even if you're incredibly meticulous there's always that one forgotten item that will send you back a week later. Or, even worse, go while you're hungry and you'll come home with twice the amount of stuff you intended to buy. Not to mention that if you're trying to live without a car, there's going to be some lugging involved. The last time I popped into my local market it took well on a half-hour to buy three items. And watching the line crawl along -- people still write checks, you know -- I determined not to go back. It's a nice thought to be sure, but not necessarily practical, especially if you don't want to eat out for the rest of your days. But, thanks to folks at Peapod and Webvan, you can order an expansive list of groceries online, have them delivered and save yourself the bother. The question is, do you want to? It all sounds too good to be true -- that one of the most dreaded of life's tasks could be shuffled onto someone else, all without paying significantly more than you would by going out to get it yourself. "I thought that too," says Paula Wheeler of Skokie-based Peapod. "You must be rich -- I can't believe it, it must be such a perk. But it's not. We offer the same products at competitive prices. People are getting busier and busier and this is an easy way of doing a chore we all have to do." There's no denying that it's easy. Log onto the Peapod or Webvan Websites, create an account, and you can start shopping in minutes. The shopping may seem difficult at first, depending on your habits. If you're the kind of person who knows exactly what you want, you can simply search "Yoplait yogurt," or some such variation, and it will pull up the offered selections. You can then choose what you want and add it to your cart. Peapod express shop allows you to import a comma-separated list and it will find the items for you. But, if you're the kind of person who likes to browse "aisles," it can seem frustrating -- especially if you don't know how items are filed. Be prepared to spend some extra time at the beginning, with the knowledge that it gets easier later. Once you've done it, both sites save your previous lists, making it easy to go back and find things you've purchased before. You can make and save lists on both sites, so if you've got some time to kill at work, or want to shop on your lunch hour, all of the information will be waiting for you. Night owls can shop in the wee hours if they like, and it certainly cuts down on the possibility that you might miss something -- if you're not sure, just get up, go into the kitchen and look. When you're done, check out (pay with a credit or debit card), schedule a convenient delivery time and wait for your groceries to be carried up your stairs and right into your kitchen. (If there are no perishables in your order, you can even have it delivered while you're out, to be left in a spot of your choosing.) But what does it cost? In terms of delivery, it's free from Webvan if your order is $75 or more. Under $75 they'll charge $4.95. Peapod is free if you buy $100 or more -- the fee is $4.95 for $75-$100 worth and $9.95 for an order of $50-$75. "We do encourage the big basket orders," Wheeler says. "It's more cost-effective for us and the consumer." As for the groceries themselves, what's "competitive pricing"? Taking a list from both Webvan and Peapod out to local the Dominick's and comparing prices reveals that, on a random set of twenty items from my list -- everything from butter, eggs and a case of Coke to frozen bagels, sugar and a box of Rice Krispies, the prices are all incredibly comparable. (No sale prices or coupons included.) On most items prices were a few cents off, with the maximum spread running around $.60. For a container of soft cream cheese Webvan runs $1.95, Peapod $2.17 and Dominick's $2.29 -- on the other hand, for a box of my brand fettuccine, Peapod and Dominick's both run $1.95, while Webvan runs $2.55. In the final analysis, it depends on how penny-pinching you are, but comparing totals (before tax) based solely on the merchandise, the final amounts are within $2 of each other -- with both Webvan and Peapod coming out slightly cheaper. This of course, assumes no delivery fee, i.e. that you'll keep buying until they bring it to you free. Then there's the matter of coupons. Clippers can save big by using coupons found in the Sunday circulars -- I regularly shave about $5 off the bill with those, not to mention the money saved through having the Jewel "Preferred Card" or the Dominick's "Fresh Values" card. Both Webvan and Peapod offer online coupons that appear next to items being discounted, which is grand in that you can save without clipping. But what about all those paper coupons? Webvan won't take them, but Peapod will. Just give them to the driver, Wheeler says, and you'll get a rebate on your order. It's good to note here that whether you use Peapod or Webvan really only depends on two things -- delivery area and which site you like better. Friends in the Pilsen area use Webvan because Peapod doesn't deliver much south of 12th Street. Friends in Evanston use Peapod because it started there in 1989 and they're familiar with it. In either case the two services are nearly the same, though products, Website organization and the overall business plan differ. Before using either, it's probably best to surf both to see where you're more comfortable, and to make sure you can get delivery to your area. So, online grocery shopping is price comparable -- especially if you use it for stocking up. It saves time, energy and maybe even a few cents. But a major sticking point is the fact that you know what you want -- you know what kind of date you're willing to take on dairy. You know what kind of produce you'll buy and when you'll just skip the item and try to get it later, and what you want your meat to look like. How do the people who are actually going to pick your groceries know what you want? If you're like many people who buy produce, meats and, sometimes, breads at different stores, then Webvan and Peapod can be a great place to stock up on those grocery essentials. If not, you've got to decide how much control you're willing to sacrifice. Having used both services, I've never had a problem with the items I've received, but it's a personal thing, so make sure to give it some thought before shopping. "There is a paradigm shift in allowing someone else to pick your produce," Wheeler says, noting that locally Peapod recently made a change in its supply chain and now procures produce from the South Water Market. "But we put that back in the customer's hands by allowing them to write comments about how they like their produce -- from firm tomatoes to under-ripe bananas. The site saves these so that when the distributors are putting the order together they can see that."
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