Online Grocery Delivery Is Overbooked. Here's What Companies Are Doing About It.

LOADING ERROR LOADING In the coronavirus era, buying your groceries via an online delivery service feels a lot like the lottery meets “The Hunger Games” meets utter stress. Here’s the longer answer: Amazon Fresh The brand told HuffPost that it has seen an increase in people shopping online and is “working with suppliers and distributors to ensure we’re getting products customers need.” “We are also hiring over 100,000 positions across the US, including for grocery delivery, enabling us to add delivery windows and get grocery orders to customers quickly,” an Amazon Fresh spokesperson said via email. Instacart The largest grocery delivery network in North America announced earlier this week that it would be bringing on “an additional 300,000 full-service shoppers across North America over the next 3 months to meet the increasing customer demand for online grocery delivery and pickup in the U.S. and Canada.” A spokesperson said that in the last few weeks, Instacart has “seen the highest customer demand in company history” and is focusing on states with the most customer demand, including California, New York, Texas, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, New Jersey, Georgia, and Ohio. The company acknowledged that while it has had to “cancel a number of orders due to item availability,” it’s “offering time slots to customers for as soon as the same day and up to one day in advance, rather than time frames further out.” “This is a shorter window than we typically offer, but it will allow us to better serve our customers during this busy time,” said Charles Crowson, senior manager of corporate communications, who added that the company plans to hire 150,000 new associates in stores, clubs, distribution centers and fulfillment centers. Postmates Delivering both food and non-food items, Postmates says it has recently launched non-contact deliveries and is “offering reduced delivery fees—often during peak lunch hours—making on-demand delivery more accessible during this challenging time.”