After much hemming and hawing, I finally decided to actually try Fresh Direct for myself. I'd seen the idling trucks around the city and heard the complaints of excessive packaging. Add to that my own sense that shopping for one's food is a very personal experience, and thus the idea of someone in a warehouse selecting my Granny Smith or my quartered chicken was rather unattractive.
But I tried it anyway because I'm a new mom and it's true, you just feel like you can't do all the things you used to do with a baby in the house.
First, the good news...
I was impressed at their attempts to include local vendors in their inventory, although I wonder what the vetting process is to get one's local product placed in the line-up. I was also pleased to see how many organic and natural products they carry, and some well priced. Don't think I didn't order a case of four 100oz. bottles of Seventh Generation laundry detergent. Their prices are good and the fellow who delivered my goods was mighty friendly.
But, people... the packaging. It's absolutely insane. Have a look at the photos I took above of our order. That box in the middle with one small box of tea bags in it? That's exactly how it came. And the eggs so gingerly packed so as not to be crushed by other items? Four of my twelve eggs were cracked, and I wonder if in fact there were more items surrounding the eggs, the would've survived the obvious abuse they sustained in transport. It seriously took me about as long to break down all the boxes and tie them up in a bundle as my building requires as it would have to just walk up to the market myself.
I emailed Customer Service regarding the eggs and was promptly issued a $1 credit for my loss and a generic apology email. Pretty good. Although I'd rather have an intact dozen eggs than a dollar toward my next purchase.
I will order one more time because they roped me into a nice deal whereby I get 25% off my first two orders, but after that, I think I'll just put the babe in her sling and go back to schlepping around town for my groceries. I like deciding which apple to buy. I like engaging the butcher over my cuts of meat and where they come from. To me, it's part of the cooking process.
Previous Fresh Direct activity at Apartment Therapy:
• Let the Fresh Direct Debates Begin! (July 25, 2005)
• Let the Fresh Direct Debates Begin Again! (January 20, 2006).
Plus babies love grocery shopping, so go Ursula go!
I had a similar experience with online grocery ordering when I began working at home last month. No fighting crowds at the markets! No carrying bags and bags of groceries up the stairs!
But with the second order, which was delivered after the appointed delivery window, every individual item came in its own plastic grocery bag, and five items were "out of stock" when the order was filled (thus prompting a trip to the market anyway), and four more items were accidentally delivered to somebody else (for which you get a credit, but like you I'd rather just have the items I ordered)... Well, suddenly going to the store and picking out my own groceries didn't seem like such a chore.
I've been an enthusiastic user for years now, but lately I'm only relying on them for those staples that are too heavy to carry-- the case of Pellegrino, milk, and staples that I like to have on hand-- canned Muir Glen tomatoes, canned beans, etc.
BUT the way that they package apples makes me CRAZY-- the organic apples that I like come in a plastic 4-apple clamshell. I just can't do it, plus they're expensive compared to the local markets.
Their customer service has always been fantastic, and I order for my elderly in-laws, who rave about the convenience.
The packaging is ridiculous & wasteful! I placed my first order three days ago, ten items = 3 boxes. I had one box with a small Crotin of Chevre and a bag of coffee beans. What gives?
It's bad enough to have the idleing trucks polluting our air & noise, combined with the excess packaging, the whole experience is terribly wasteful.
I totally agree. I've ordered from Fresh Direct 3 or 4 times, but unpacking alone/tearing down boxes is almost as time consuming as actually going to the market, and I also felt that the packaging was wasteful.
I found that the produce was hit or miss, and I found that a lot of the fruits and lettuces I ordered had very little flavor.
I thought at first that I would really get into the service, but I can't bring myself to order from them again. Too many amazing markets within walking distance, which are not much more of an effort.
I am a huge fan. I agree about the packaging, which is troubling, but I live in a neighborhood in Brooklyn without great supermarkets. Grocery shopping takes forever, and the prices at our closest grocery store--Pathmark--are higher than they are at FreshDirect. Those of you like Brigitte who find that tearing down the boxes takes almost as much time as going to the grocery store must live much closer to a good grocery store than I do. There's just no comparison between the time that Fresh Direct takes and the time that a normal grocery store trip would take.
I do have a great farmer's market near me, which I go to for lots of things, including eggs, seasonal produce, and sometimes milk. But for almost everything else--especially meat, bread, canned goods, and their awesome stir-fry ready-to-cook packets, I really love Fresh Direct.
Being in Atlanta, I can't try Fresh Direct, but I saw them featured on The Big Idea recently with Donny Deutsch. As to the packaging dilemma... I wonder if they would accept your old boxes each time they brought you a new delivery? This way, the boxes would get taken back to the warehouse and used over and over again.
~Monica
If I didn't have about 10 grocery stores within a 10 block radius, I would definitely have a more positive outlook on Fresh Direct.
But I can see how it would be useful when there's nothing else nearby, especially without a car.
agreed the packaging is troublesome, but when I am in a pinch...
Even though I live a block from Fairway, Fresh Direct can make so much sense. sometime.
*Shop easily from home. For the elderly, time impaired, infirmed, energy drained.
*auto memory. click off of a past order list.
*two hour delivery window. and they stick to it.
*best fruit that I've had in years. sometimes. with the president's picks I've been able to hit melons, berries, plums, nectarines and peaches with prime succulent timing.
Combinations of full-or-more-time-jobs, laundry, three-kids, laundry, the-nanny-schedule, laundry, flus-and-colds, laundry, two different schools, laundry, apartment cleaning etc etc. A five-ten minute time savings, can give me a few minutes to breathe so I can catch a glimpse at apartmenttherapy.com . Which if you are not imersed in that kind of juggling situation, it's hard to fanthom. But from where I'm sitting, Fresh Direct can be a life saver. Sometime.
I've been a fan of FreshDirect for the past three years. Each week my order comes without issue. On the rare occasion that it does, I am issued a credit and walk to the store and buy the item (still saves me 60 minutes a week).
Best part of all, if you are a good shopper, you can find items for .10-.25 cents less on FreshDirect than in your local store. That savings ultimately pays a part of the delivery fee (which is great, compared to spending an hour shopping in a store).
Tip: I purchase all my heavy items from FreshDirect: Canned foods, milk, water, meats, etc.... and go to my local produce stand for the stuff you just need to look at an feel before buying. It all works for me.
Freshdirect is alright but strange things seem to be happening on some orders.
Another option (if you live in downtown Manhattan) is MaxDelivery.com. They deliver in under an hour and everything is done by bicycle so less overall environmental impact.
In terms of packaging, MaxDelivery uses plastic bags which we tend to just re-use around the apartment.
It's nice to order "now" instead of having to choose a time slot for next-day.
It's actually cool to order from both sometimes. Freshdirect has the seafood & meats and MaxDelivery has DVDs, gifts & drugstore products.
The packaging problem does irritate me too -- but I try to remember that Fresh Direct cuts out the distributor. The regular grocery stores generate a ton of waste when they receive their bulk shipments. And then products sit on the shelf. Also, the boxes seem fuller when I order more stuff.
While I do like to stop at the market on the way home from work and buy on impulse, Fresh Direct is great when I'm planning meals. The search feature is great (I tend to wander confusedly all over grocery stores), and like others, its nice not to have to carry heavy items up the stairs.
Question: how does Fresh Direct cut out the distributor? How do we know that they aren't still receiving their goods in heavy packaging?
I used fresh direct religiously for a few years. I loved it! But then Fairway opened. I have a car, so getting down there wasn't a problem. I still use FD once in a while if I'm pressed for time though.
I believe that the packaging issues stem from a fulfillment chain. Likely each department packs boxes (or something close to that). When I was regularly ordering a week's worth of food I'd rarely get the "mostly air" boxes.
I suffered years of Pathmark and their crappy produce, high prices (oh, far higher than FD!), about-to-spoil meat and zombie like staff. FD was a vast improvement.
I'm a December-February FD user. When it gets snowy, or icy or I'm too wimpy to go out in the cold, I'll get the non-perishable items from FD (detergent, toilet paper, paper towels, coffee, crackers, etc).
Then I'll go to Fairway to get the one bag of perishables.
Here's my summation of my FreshDirect experience:
I puzzled over the box-with-one-item phenomenon as well. FD packs things from three different zones (which are kept at different temperatures), so if you've only ordered one item from that zone, then yes, you're going to end up with one item in that box.
I have yet to get eggs from FD without any of them being broken. (To wit: last week, I ordered two dozen eggs... with a total of seven broken eggs.) My bananas come lovingly swaddled in layers of protective wrap, but the eggs... not so much.
I live in Washington Heights and the grocery stores are... not that great, and often overpriced besides. (http://gezellig-girl.com/blog/2006/10/10/my-first-time-freshdirect) I agree that the fruit and veg -- while being better than I can get at Key Food -- is still not as good as what you get at the Greenmarket.
In all, having used them for about 4-5 months, except for that one time they gave me spoiled milk (http://gezellig-girl.com/blog/2006/11/21/thats-it-freshdirect-we-are-broken-up-for-the-rest-of-the-day), I've actually been realy quite happy with FD.
We've use FD every two weeks or so to get all of our heavy items - seltzer water, milk, etc - up the four flights of our walkup building. I also order a lot of their organic meats etc. that I can freeze, which is nice, but I agree the packaging is not worth it for fresh items. I doubt I'd use them so much otherwise. Maybe they should be called 'heavy & packaged' direct.
;)
What's ridiculous is people ordering Fresh Direct in my neighborhood when those who are perfectly capable decide to spend their money instead on a gas guzzling truck and cardboard boxes. In my particular neighborhood (Astoria, NY), where it took a long time for Fresh Direct to deliver (even though the warehouse is here) there are plenty, I mean PLENTY, of excellent and reasonably priced grocers carrying local fruit and vegetables, not to mention supermarkets, Union Square, farmer's markets, etc.... that often have the same. And people are complaining about the cardboard boxes? Seriously? How 'bout getting off your behind and walking to get your food home in a canvas bag? Wasteful? Yeh, exactly.
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