I am one of the several bloggers who tried New Seasons's through the month of February. I have lots of thoughts and great amounts of wisdom to pass on, but  first would like to say "Thank you" to New Seasons and their personal shopper team. They treated me very well, and my groceries even better. I do intend to keep using the online shopping service from time to time.

I will start with the grueling personal confession: I am a guilt-monger. I know I have strange ideas regarding "waste" that have little to do with a normal person's (blame my stoic, puritanical ancestors who got off the Mayflower and haven't accepted help with anything since). I had a very hard time feeling that it was okay to use the service if I only needed a couple of things. I put off using it for several weeks because I didn't need enough groceries to make it "worth it." Dear Reader, the service was free. I think I felt guilty about wasting the store's time. (?) I wouldn't ask my neighbor to drive to the store to buy me one random item, so I didn't want to ask them. Meanwhile, I kept going to other stores to buy the items I tended to buy there. Once in a while, I had the urge to drive to New Seasons, but wouldn't let myself do that either, since I had this lovely free service!

Eventually, I got over my psychological problem. All I needed was Bob's Red Mill Garbanzo/fava bean flour—and thought this was a good chance to use my Gladrags Chinook Book coupon too. I went online, telling myself I wasn't going to try to buy anything I didn't need just to bulk up my order. I searched for the flour; it wasn’t there. I searched for the Gladrags; they weren’t there either. Then I discovered you can’t use coupons anyway. I went away discouraged, abandoning my imaginary shopping basket in the middle of the virtual aisle.

 

I later thought, “I wouldn’t be a very good reviewer if I didn’t ask any questions.” So I went back to the computer, looked around for an FAQ that might answer my question. I eventually emailed New Seasons, and asked if I was able to order items that were not listed in the online store. They very promptly responded, and were very helpful. They told me I could add to my order whatever I wished that they normally carried; I would just have to call the help desk, who would relay special requests to the personal shoppers. I was quite satisfied with this, but still didn’t order anything, because I didn’t have an order with a confirmation number to call the help desk about—I wanted only two items (and one with a coupon), and neither was listed in the online store.

 

The personal shoppers really do their best to ensure you get what you want. While I would probably be okay with a substitution for something I’m not that hung up on (such as one kind of apples for another or something), I am fairly particular. Some brands I like because I enjoy them more than others. Frequently, I buy things based on cost—for instance, I always buy Bob’s Red Mill rice flour instead of the much-more-expensive other brands. As you shop, you can check a box as you select individual items so that they are not substituted. You can also select a box at checkout indicating that you don’t want any substitutions. I found out, however, that this may stress them out. The first time I shopped with New Seasons’s online service, I indicated I didn’t want any of my gluten-free flours substituted (I believe I ordered cornstarch, tapioca flour and rice flour). By some fluke, they were out of several different items, and I had indicated I didn’t want them substituted. The personal shopper was herself gluten-free, so felt very worried. She ended up substituting the more expensive brand of rice flour anyway, and not charging me. I was very grateful, and then also felt a little guilty.

 

There are other benefits of shopping online, aside from New Seasons’s overall good and helpful attitude. For one thing, I am the mother of a toddler. Selah has finally reached the point where she will at least put the 10,354 items that she grabbed BACK on the shelf. It does take her three hours to do so, however, and there is the occasional ungraceful mid-parking lot meltdown, etc. The online shopping is nice because if she’s misbehaving, I can act like a crazy mess if I want without public disgrace and humiliation. The biodiesel-blend vans are more eco-friendly than driving your own car to the store would be—with evidence backed up by their own carbon emission study. The service would also be a huge blessing to those who are housebound or unwell. Or even just very busy, but at their computers a lot.

 

I do have to concur with LowCarbonMama though—I just enjoy grocery shopping! I would miss walking up and down the aisles and making easy, face-to-face comparisons, should I ever give it up for good. While online, I had a hard time telling what size items were, though they list the weight and information. I just didn’t knew how much different boxes of cereal weigh, or how many ounces of cheese I typically buy—I usually eyeball them. I do appreciate the value of giving up some luxuries for the good of all, however, so perhaps could be persuaded to sometimes order online, and sometimes go to the store myself. Now if New Seasons would just also offer a babysitting service…