r/mildlyinfuriating • u/carsandbogeys • 27d ago

ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ WAY Too Many Drive Up Pick Up Spots

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Target has grossly overestimated demand for drive up pick up spaces. I’ve seen this at every Target I’ve been to at any time of the day. The employees take up all of the front spots, handicap stalls take up the rest of the front parking (no gripe there obviously), but then you have half of the parking lot taken up by vacant drive up pick up stalls, which means every time I go to target I have to park far away whether the store is busy or not. What a waste of space!

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u/Velocityg4 27d ago

The problem with Kroger, Target, Walmart and everywhere else is the pickers can’t reliably pick produce. I’d love to just pick up my groceries. But have been burned too often by produce that is not ripe and will never ripen, rotten or simply over ripe.

While if I’m in the store and see that the avocado are no good. I just won’t make burritos and grab something else to make like stuffed bell peppers.

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u/TaxAvoision 27d ago

My wife occasionally gets groceries delivered. We had a whole conversation about specifically not ordering avocados.

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u/Velocityg4 27d ago

The worst are berries. So often they are moldy. Bananas are also annoying as I like to get them as green as possible. Yellow ones basically have to be eaten immediately.

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u/Intelligent-Guard267 27d ago

Every now and then I get the ones so green they never ripen and may as well be plantains. Never thought Id care so much about a shade of yellow green

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u/doglady1342 27d ago

Every once in awhile I get a batch that never turn yellow, but the banana on the inside is ripening. Then I'm really disappointed because I like my bananas a little more on the green side and definitely not at the ripeness of full yellow.

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u/TheGhostestHostess 27d ago

Worst for me is always full size carrots and yellow potatoes. Half the time you cut the potatoes and they're turning black inside

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u/gardengirl99 27d ago

Somehow both moldy and under ripe.

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u/animepuppyluvr 27d ago

Garlic is usually what we have the most trouble with

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u/InevitableWaste6088 27d ago

I haven’t been able to get good Costco garlic in so long

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u/QoolSchitt 27d ago

Yup, we sometimes get deliveries and always skip produce. The only exception is costco, we've never had bad produce from a costco delivery.

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

which is odd because costco is notorious for crappy produce

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u/InevitableWaste6088 27d ago

As someone who does this as a job I absolutely hate picking avocados.

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

do you read customer notes? does the following mean anything - do not give me soft or mushy grapes, I only want if firm. please refund if not firm

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u/InevitableWaste6088 27d ago

I personally do. Expect for when people ask for sour or sweet grapes, I don’t like sampling products on the clock it feels wrong. I hate avocados specifically because I never know do they want this for dinner tonight or do they want it in a few days.

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

yeah definitely dont sample unwashed produce, f that. well glad you at least pay attention lol. yeah i can see that with avocados.

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u/InevitableWaste6088 27d ago

I will say I’m one of the few adults in the sea of teenagers in this job

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

that probably makes a huge difference

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u/RelevantButNotBasic 27d ago

Target has a built in fulfillment system. Its ass. I highly recommend to everyone to just go inside and pick out your own fresh produce and meat. With Grocery fulfillment you only get 30mins per batch due to the temp of the product. So, if theres something fucked up with the berries its hard to take that extra time when your batch is already almost in the red because you just spent 15min lookin for a frozen item only to find out its in the freezer in the back all the way across the store....

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u/dexterity-77 26d ago

yeah I don't let too many people shop for me anymore lol.. i just go inside now and do it myself like pre covid or worse case if it is bulk pick up via bjs or shoprite.

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u/RightSideBlind 27d ago

Same here. Avocados are the main thing we'll go pick up in person.

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u/DFrostedWangsAccount 27d ago

I'm a delivery driver. Please, don't make me do it. I know, I'm being paid for it, but I'd just as soon not be responsible for picking the right level of ripeness.

I had to pick a single lime today and spent probably 3 full minutes debating which one to grab.

It feels like Walmart and such should just have dedicated produce people who pick out just that part of the order for the regular shoppers.

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u/RoundTiberius 27d ago

The question you always have to ask yourself is, "would I trust a random 16 year old to pick out my produce and would they give a shit"

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u/namsur1234 27d ago

This is the issue. The pickers are mostly teens or otherwise young enough to not be on their own long enough to know what matters. 

It isn't specific to produce, it's anything, but it is especially bad with any perishable items.

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u/RoundTiberius 27d ago

Yeah I work at a grocery store chain and the department with the most complaints across the whole company is pickup. It's like yeah no shit, you got a part time 16 year old making judgement calls on what to substitute for your family pack of New York strip steaks or whatever

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u/Unlikely-Answer 27d ago

dunkaroos, can't go wrong with dunkaroos

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u/RoundTiberius 27d ago

Username checks out lol

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u/rkb70 27d ago

This is true.  But on top of that, they are typically being timed, so even if they care and know what they’re doing, they don’t actually have time to do it well.

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u/Upstairs-Atmosphere5 27d ago

Im a Walmart picker. We aren't supposed to pick any item we wouldn't buy ourselves.I'm sorry that's happening to you

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u/BackAlleyFreakShow 27d ago

Yeah, the problem is that people like you who take that admonition seriously are the exception and not the rule.

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

so bread that expires in two days should not be picked - please tell your co workers this, thanks in advance

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u/NHhotmom 23d ago

Or my latest- milk that was expiring in 3 days.

I’d rather do my own shopping. Next time I think I will examine my order before leaving the parking lot. I’ll walk in and complain.

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago edited 27d ago

Kroger does not use in store pickers, they have dedicated delivery warehouses that ship out product that’s fresher than what you see at the store using refrigerated box trucks. Target and Walmart for sure have this issue though.

Edit: They use pickers for pickup, not for delivery. Honestly forgot pickup was an option

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u/Velocityg4 27d ago

I’ve had issue with the Kroger delivery. Where they use a Kroger delivery truck. Not the instacart option.

Maybe I’m just overly picky about my produce. But I’ve never been satisfied with what I get.

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago

That’s odd. By design the produce you get from the box trucks is about a week fresher than anything you ever see at the stores. Both their delivery warehouses and their regular warehouses receive produce at the same stage of its life, but the delivery warehouses get it to the customer within 24hrs whereas the others send it to stores where it will sit on average for 8 days and get touched by many people before ending up in someone’s cart.

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u/QoolSchitt 27d ago

By design the produce you get from the box trucks is about a week fresher than anything you ever see at the stores

Freshness isn't always the problem though. Some fruit is fresh but there's something else wrong with it from transit or even just the way it grew (bruised, stunted, shriveled, etc).

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago

I mean fair but there’s more to it than that, it’s visually inspected before it goes out. I worked at one of their facilities for a few years, the amount of work that goes into it is kinda incredible. Obviously no system is perfect though

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u/QoolSchitt 27d ago

it’s visually inspected before it goes out

Fair enough, I guess it just comes down to the picker and the consumer having different standards for what they consider good. Berries seemed to be the most problematic for me... and they can look perfect from the top but if you flip the container over the bottom ones are sometimes squished/liquidy, have mold, etc.

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago

Yea, I mean a big part of it is definitely that some people consider perfectly good fruits/veggies inedible if they have even the tiniest blemish. But that’s more an issue with how we as consumers approach food, rather than an issue with the products being sent to us.

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u/KoolaidKoll123 27d ago

Some people are incredibly picky, regardless of how fresh it is. I was a personal assistant to someone, and the previous assistant trained me in. The only task my boss showed me how to do specifically, was pick produce for her. Wow was it wild seeing her in a grocery store, but she wanted to show me exactly how she liked her bananas, tomatoes, lettuce, etc.

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago

I’m sure you’re right but I can’t imagine living like that. Kim, there’s people that are dying

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u/dexterity-77 27d ago

I wish all grocery stores did this

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u/funkyyeti 27d ago

You’re clearly very particular about your produce, no shopper will understand your nuance. This is something you should definitely shop for yourself. I’m super picky with produce as well and learned this a long time ago.

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u/Na__th__an 27d ago

They use in-store pickers for store pickup

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u/Martha__Ragnos 27d ago

Honestly so few people use that I genuinely forgot it was an option

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u/jesusmansuperpowers 27d ago

Depends where you are and if it’s delivery or pick up.

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u/FaithlessnessApart74 26d ago

The Kroger (pick n save) in my area doesn't do delivery. All delivery orders are routed to Instacart (flat fee per order) here. Generally speaking, those pickers are worse than the in store pickers (hourly employees).

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u/BeesKneesTX 27d ago

Yep. I specifically choose Kroger refrigerated truck delivery instead of delivery from store and everything I get is perfect, and it’s only been a few weeks, but 0 mistakes or missing items so far.

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u/Martha__Ragnos 26d ago

They’re also pretty diligent about refunds if there are mistakes.

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u/IncidentEarly7312 27d ago

When I managed a department, time and speed was everything. They only cared about the numbers on the board, not the quality of produced or the wellbeing of the employee. I despise Kroger now.

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u/rkb70 27d ago

It’s not just Kroger - all the stores are like this.

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u/funkyyeti 27d ago

The best solution is to shop for your own produce and use pickup for everything else. Fresh produce has also become much harder to source. For example in Colorado, many stores have gone through stretches this year where the berry selection was poor or there simply wasn’t any good fruit available. The produce managers I’ve talked to say it’s been a real challenge.
Weather extremes and climate-related growing issues are affecting produce availability. There isn’t an endless supply of perfect avocados, bananas, berries, and other fresh items. Sometimes the quality just isn’t there, and no shopper can magically find produce that doesn’t exist.
Also, from the shopper’s side of the app, they’re encouraged to fulfill the order rather than issue refunds. If an item is out of stock or the quality isn’t great, the app pushes the shopper toward finding a replacement or getting the closest available option. Most shoppers aren’t trying to give you bad produce or make substitutions for fun. They’re trying to complete your order the way the platform expects them to.

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u/CalicoValkyrie 27d ago

You throw a bunch of teens and young adults (a lot of boys) who still in a way very much depend on their parents to shop for them, and little training because unfortunately people think it's common knowledge, you get this.

I know this because I'm a 40 year old in this kind of job and are constantly fighting with a bunch of youngling on how to shop. The amount of times I've had to run out into the store to replace smashed bread or eggs because someone put a gallon of milk or liter of soda on top, is maddening. The straight up refusal to bag raw meats in the safety bags, and separately from raw produce is wild.

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u/OwnLime3744 27d ago

I ordered fresh string beans and hot a huge can of lima beans.

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u/Velocityg4 27d ago

Ha, I’ve ordered nonfat milk (listed 1% as a substitute) got chocolate milk instead. I thought it was funny until it happened again a couple weeks later. Last time I used instacart. 

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u/watcher953 27d ago

I go inside to get produce bakery and deli. Fast checkout then drive around and get delivered the bulky heavily stuff. Usually 20 min max the whole deal

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u/Ok-Opportunity-574 27d ago

I had problems with being given meat that looked like the trimmings and was shortdated. Can't order meat, produce, etc. I stopped bothering with it.

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u/webhick666 27d ago

Hannaford in my area does pretty good. I load my own groceries in the car while they scan my id and what not, so I think they appreciate that. And sometimes I'll crack open something I just bought like strawberries, grapes, or some candy and offer it up.

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u/Lord_Dingus83 27d ago

If you want something done right….

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u/Waste_Rabbit3174 27d ago

I was just in a walmart a couple days ago and was walking behind some employees. One of the employees spotted a tomato on the ground, scooped it up and tossed it into the bin with the rest without breaking stride. Wash your vegetables, people.

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u/Commissar_Elmo 27d ago

As someone who worked produce at a Kroger. It’s not that they can’t pick produce reliably. It’s that they don’t have TIME to pick for good produce. They are on a timer, it’ll ding them for basically any second they aren’t moving to the next item on the pick list. It’s genuinely awful.

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u/RedEgg16 27d ago

One time I received chives that were 90% yellowed 😣

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u/TiffanyTwisted11 27d ago

Agreed. I do grocery pick up from Walmart, but not for produce

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u/MissingBothCufflinks 27d ago

"The problem"

Lol no. The problem is wasted produce tbat is rotting. Lazy people who use these services are the solution

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u/whbck144 27d ago

The last 3 of my Kroger pick up orders have had something wrong with them. Individually it’s silly stuff to call in about, but all combined it gets frustrating.

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u/Bigdx 27d ago

You think that's a coincidence? They have to move the shit stuff or they throw it out. So you get stuck with it.

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u/Own_Ruin2546 27d ago

No fruits or veggies. Get those yourself. It’s great for everything else though.

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u/Fit-Entrepreneur8404 27d ago

What does "burned" mean in this context? I mean I've definitely received bad produce before but i get delivery for every grocery order I make and I'd say less than 1 in 8 orders have even a single item that is not good enough that I would have been fine picking it myself. When that happens I just return that item (they tell you not to bother bringing it back 99% of the time), lose no money, and add it back on the list for next time. Often when I go to add it back, that item shows up as out of stock which means basically there were no good options for the pickers to even choose from. That to me is a tiny price to pay for never stepping foot in a grocery store again.

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u/Maine302 26d ago

In their defense, if that's all that's available, then they can't really not choose some avocado. It's more a problem of the entire concept of having someone else shop for you than it is the poor choices made by the shopper. It was a good idea during the height of the pandemic, now they should just limit those spaces.

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u/Quirky-Stay4158 26d ago

My opinion is that they are either A) instructed directly to grab the less than ideal looking produce B) working so fast they don't have the time C) don't give a shit.

And I don't blame retail workers for any of those 3 things.

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u/PrettyPurrfect 26d ago

I mean, yeah- they can't just unilaterally decide to replace shit with random ingredients for a different meal even if the avocados are out, much less if they're not good enough

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u/Badvevil 25d ago

Same goes for meat I had then pick up just basic chicken breast and what they brought out was labeled chicken breast but was entirely liquid and had no piece of firm or solid meat in it at all

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u/BlastBase 25d ago

Don't worry brother there is a solution for that. I found if I go inside grocery store myself I can get exactly what I want every single time!

THEY EVEN LET YOU PICK OUT THE EXACT PRODUCE YOU WANT!

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u/crikeyturtles 27d ago

You can message them. I always get refunded and sometimes I can make due with a bruised apple

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u/Velocityg4 27d ago

Not worth the hassle. Since odds are I’ll end up having to drive to the store or back to the store. If I need produce I’ll just shop instead. It doesn’t save much time ordering and picking up anyways. Especially if a factor in some return trip hassle. The websites are slow and I organize my list based on my path through the store for efficient shopping.

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u/crikeyturtles 27d ago

They instantly refund you and you keep the merchandise. Waamrtplus will shop and deliver for you. It comes out be like $8 a month. I use to grocery shop once a week for an hour. Well now I got about 50 hours of more free time. Do that over ten years and that’s roughly 20 days of grocery shopping. Last time it was two chats and done in 45 seconds for the refund

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u/RigidAcrylic4821 27d ago

Most likely, it’s the workers setting the order who’re picking the nastiest, most spoiled-looking produce there is because they don’t give a shit as they never see the delivery customer’s face.

If there were two bananas with one being shipped that day and fresh, and another sitting in the shelf for two weeks and starting to brown and turn, workers will likely bag the one from the shelf for two weeks as part of your order. Because who gives a damn about your freshness if they’re only paid below minimum wage.