Whole Foods adds a $10 delivery surcharge

SuperMatt

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Yes, Amazon advertises their low, low prices. But if you thought they would lower Whole Foods’ prices when they acquired the chain, you made a big mistake.

Their latest plan: charge $10 for every grocery delivery order. Now, you might think “they need to pay the drivers” but here’s what Amazon had to say about that:

Drivers will not receive any of the new fees, according to Amazon.

As long as you’re screwing your customers, you may as well screw your delivery drivers at the same time and pocket all the money.

Amazon Prime membership will not protect you from the $10 surcharge either.

 
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Eric

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I buy everything at the store. The last thing I ordered online was the iPhone 12 Pro a year ago because Apple stores were closed due to the pandemic.
Love going there for the salad bar but far too expensive for us to do normal shopping there, can't imagine them adding a fee will be helping that image much.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Love going there for the salad bar but far too expensive for us to do normal shopping there, can't imagine them adding a fee will be helping that image much.

I originally was going to post that Whole Foods regular shoppers are already fans of being gouged. I don't see how this fee is going to change their mind.
 

shadow puppet

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I originally was going to post that Whole Foods regular shoppers are already fans of being gouged. I don't see how this fee is going to change their mind.
It's called Whole Paycheck for a reason. I've learned to shop their weekly specials whenever I go. But I'm only shopping for one so it makes it easier for me to make it work.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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It's called Whole Paycheck for a reason. I've learned to shop their weekly specials whenever I go. But I'm only shopping for one so it makes it easier for me to make it work.

It's interesting that the bulk buying power of Amazon hasn't touched Whole Foods. It's as if they are saying people who shop there are suckers who don't care about a good value.
 

shadow puppet

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It's interesting that the bulk buying power of Amazon hasn't touched Whole Foods. It's as if they are saying people who shop there are suckers who don't care about a good value.
Well gee, thanks. Never thought of my shopping there as being a sucker, lol. I have found their produce specials and quality to be on par, if not better, than I find at my local Trader Joe's. But I definitely don't buy everything on my grocery list at WF.
 

lizkat

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I originally was going to post that Whole Foods regular shoppers are already fans of being gouged. I don't see how this fee is going to change their mind.

Probably they figure a bump in cost of delivery is preferable to raising prices on stuff for those who shop in-store anyway.

Prices are rising on food items, so retailers are between rock and hard place with suppliers doing stuff like either raising prices or changing what's in the box or package (ingredient-wise or as to weight, count or size of items in the box or bag depending on how the unit pricing works.

Some of the Americans on this board might be too young to remember when most in the USA bought ground coffee in a can, and when a one-pound can of ground coffee contained 16oz net weight. Then during a period of inflation, the "pound can" went to 13oz, and at least briefly down to 11oz. Same price, new and more convenient weight to schlep out to the car? Yeah...

But then came the era of gourmet coffees for the masses, and so the return of buying beans in bulk or in pre-measured bags of beans. Suddenly the industry was also free to package beans for retail sale however it wanted, and up to supermarkets to go with the flow or else to rebel and try to find what it thought its customers wanted, and in the end certainly up to us customers as to whether we noticed.

So now for prebagged coffee beans there are 42oz bags and 33 oz bags and 24oz bags... and some stores still provide empty bags with bulk dispensers so one can pile in however many beans are wanted. But the upshot is that the suppliers hope having enough choices like that will keep their brand on a given store's shelves, at some price that supermarket figures its own traffic will bear.

It works out okay for stuff like coffee, I guess. Where it gets weird is when distributors start putting fewer crackers in a packet, or making the unit item noticeably smaller, or selling what used to be a six-pack of boxes as "Five box bundle!" for the price one had paid for six.

At least Whole Foods is making a price hike for a service pretty clear. Beats getting home with a bag of coffee beans and realizing that what used to fit in some container you store it in at home now fits in there with plenty room to spare.
 

thekev

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I originally was going to post that Whole Foods regular shoppers are already fans of being gouged. I don't see how this fee is going to change their mind.

A number of years ago, they used to sell better chicken than I could find at typical grocery stores in the area. I'm not sure what's it's like today.
 

Herdfan

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It works out okay for stuff like coffee, I guess. Where it gets weird is when distributors start putting fewer crackers in a packet, or making the unit item noticeably smaller, or selling what used to be a six-pack of boxes as "Five box bundle!" for the price one had paid for six.

Yeah I remember when Ice Cream came in 1/2 gallon boxes. Now it is in 1.5Q tubs. Price didn't go down.

And some brands narrowed the rolls of TP from 4 1/2" down closer to 4".

I am waiting to see what happens when 2 liter bottles of Coke drop down to 1.75L. :oops:
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Well gee, thanks. Never thought of my shopping there as being a sucker, lol. I have found their produce specials and quality to be on par, if not better, than I find at my local Trader Joe's. But I definitely don't buy everything on my grocery list at WF.

I’m just saying you’d think they could use their purchasing and logistics power to lower costs. Or they did lower the costs and increased their profit margins because their shoppers were already used to paying high prices. You have to wonder though if they could increase their profits by lowering prices because, as has been showcased here, many don’t shop there regularly because of the high prices. They’re losing out on potential customers.
 

ronntaylor

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I never cared for WF, but I occasionally assisted an elderly couple in Chelsea place deliveries online. Their local grocer was gouging them early into the pandemic and half the food was shitty to put it mildly. They got a friend to assist with shopping earlier this year so I didn't have to worry about them for a while. Then I saw the notice and immediately let them know as their friend will be away for a bit. Unfortunately for them, they have no other option. They'll pay the $10 charge. I've been trying to get them to use Instacart or similar delivery services that can be used at several different grocers/markets. They're set in their ways and just trust the WF name even though they hate Amazon and I have to constantly remind them that Bezos owns them now.
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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Yeah I remember when Ice Cream came in 1/2 gallon boxes. Now it is in 1.5Q tubs. Price didn't go down.

And some brands narrowed the rolls of TP from 4 1/2" down closer to 4".

I am waiting to see what happens when 2 liter bottles of Coke drop down to 1.75L. :oops:

This list would be incomplete without mentioning label makers. Back in the day you’d print a label and there’d be about a 1/4 inch on each side of the cut. Now it’s like a solid inch. It’s like they’re competing with the printer ink cartridge industry for least bang for the buck supremacy.
 

lizkat

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Yeah I remember when Ice Cream came in 1/2 gallon boxes. Now it is in 1.5Q tubs. Price didn't go down.

And some brands narrowed the rolls of TP from 4 1/2" down closer to 4".

I am waiting to see what happens when 2 liter bottles of Coke drop down to 1.75L. :oops:

The cynic in me says that will happen just in time for commercial fridge makers to reduce max shelf clearance options in the coolers.
 

Joe

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It’s too expensive for me. There’s a Whole Foods near my house. I walked in there once and walked right back out lol
 

Chew Toy McCoy

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I don't shop there. Not because of their prices. But because they're so uppity about their fancy food. I do most of my shopping at 7-11. Unless I need something exotic like Cool-Aid or frosting.

I grow all my own produce. I then sell it to myself at a premium and then use the profits to launch model rockets into space. In my free time I drop firecrackers in ant farms when they threaten to unionize. I buy all my ant farms at garage sales so I don’t have to pay sales tax.
 
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