Today was the day we tried Fresh Direct. I was sick of everyone telling me to do it. We placed a gargantuan order yesterday — one that would have been a hassle to carry home even if we did use our Queens Old Lady Cart — and, just like the website claims, it showed up on time.
Pros: Very easy to use, they really do bring it to your door, the prices are the same as the local C-Town, the fee is only $4.50, they came when they said they did.
Cons: Fresh Direct has no generic brands. I don’t spend 99 cents on a bottle of seltzer when I can get 5 for 2 dollars at Key Food. I just don’t. Also — after you’ve placed the order, and once they’ve boxed it for you, you will get a note alerting you if one of the items you purchased isn’t available. They don’t charge you for it, but a) it sucks and b) when the order is a package of butter (as it was with us) ya kinda wish they would just pick another brand for ya. Or at least allow you to tick a box saying that you endow Fresh Direct with the right to choose another brand. (Ann had picked Hotel Bar — which they musta been out of, but I’m pretty sure we woulda been cool with Land O’ Lakes.) Lastly, the eggs were cracked. Kerry tells me the eggs always crack. So don’t buy eggs. (I’m told we’ll be credited the $1.39 for cracked eggs. 8 of ’em survived actually, 4 were lost.)
Is Fresh Direct worth it? I would say, overall, it kicks a whole lot of ass. I am excited, though, of the growing PeaPod.com, which is run by Stop & Shop, the greatest non-specialty market ever, which has fantastic generic seltzer known as zazz.
I hope you got the $50 off. Did you? I did when I first tried it. Problem was, I wanted to cheat the system by using a different mailing address the second time to get another $50 off. But they’re smart. They said your credit card address has to match the delivery address. So I was going to get Whit to buy me my food then I’d pay him back. It never worked out because I do not want to carry all that food from UWS to LES.
But FD does in general rock. But I really only use it when I am having guests over because I don’t need to buy $40 worth of food at a time and I want to stretch the delivery fee as far as it will go by ordering as much as possible. And when is that, really? True, FD doesn’t exactly have bargains but I must say, they are very service oriented. I once called to complain because I ordered an estimated $6 worth of fluke. They gave me a much bigger piece and charged me close to $20! I told them that while I understand the price won’t be determined until the fish is cut and weighed, $20 is way off from $6. They apologized and credited me the difference! And I had all that wonderful fluke! I’ve heard complaints about produce not being fresh but I’ve never found that to be the case. In fact, I think because FD has something to prove given that people are skeptical if they can’t pick and choose themselves, they make sure they are extra fresh. And I’ve never had a single broken egg. They pack it in extra cushion to prevent that from happening and they are so fresh that the shells are harder to crack than the ones I get from Swine Fare – excuse me, Fine Fare.
Oh, I forgot to mention xpressgrocer.com. Ever heard of them? I think they’re operated by Gristedes. You get something like $25 off the first AND second orders. Not quite as slick as FD, but they do have more pedestrian brands you keep around as staples. Down side is again, because their online supermarket isn’t as often updated, if you order something and they don’t have it, you find out when you get your stuff. Not good if you’re counting on an ingredient to arrive you really need to make a dish for a party that day. Still, their prices are a little better than FD.
We did not get any 50 coupon. We suck.