Curbside convenience: Testing local value-added time-saving services

Value-added time-saving services are all the rage these days and it turns out you can pay someone to do just about anything you don’t feel like doing–like push a cart through a grocery store or walk into a coffee shop. I am not really down with this so I decided to test out two Charlotte convenience services and see what all the fuss is about.

Harris Teeter Express Lane

Express Lane is Harris Teeter’s response to a growing interest in online grocery shopping with monster retailers like AmazonFresh and Instacart. You get the convenience of the online buying experience but pick up your goods at your local store rather than have them delivered to your house. They call it “click and collect.”

To order groceries you just log in to Express Lane, select your local store, fill your virtual cart and schedule a pick-up time. (You pay when you pick up, which is kind of weird I think. It’s in case they don’t have something you wanted in stock.) When it’s time to collect, roll into the Express Lane parking spot, hit the call button and wait for your groceries to arrive.

There was a minor hiccup in my order since the kombucha I wanted was out of stock (#hippieproblems). And since I had indicated on my order that they weren’t allowed to select a reasonable facsimile as a replacement without checking with me (Type A), they had to call and ask me what to do. My “personal shopper” was super nice and listed off all the other available flavors and I picked a new order. No big deal.

The second minor setback in my Express Lane experience was that the credit card machine was broken (I assume they have a portable one?) so she had to take my card inside to run it and returned with an 8.5×11-in handwritten credit card form, which did not feel very futuristic to me.

Verdict: I am not the target market for this service. I do appreciate that I could order a giant box of kitty litter and that someone else had to drag it around the store, but the rest I could handle on my own. I think it makes a lot of sense for busy parents who perhaps have children in tow and don’t want to go through the hassle of carting them through the entire store while they scream. This is what movies tell me kids are like. For me, my life just does not necessitate this level of convenience.

Kenilworth Espresso Curbside Coffee Delivery

Kenilworth Espresso on East Blvd. offers curbside coffee delivery from 7-9am Monday-Friday. I think this is kind of cool. To participate you fill out a form indicating your “usual” drink of choice (with specific prep instructions), make and model of your car, and payment/tip preferences. You can choose to pay on arrival or leave a pre-paid gift card on file at the shop instead to speed things up. I went with the gift card option.

Once you’re in the system, you get a card with instructions on how to submit your order. This feels very insider-y and elite and I like it.

I texted in my “Usual” at 8:25am and then rolled into my designated spot right at 8:30. Perfectly timed.

I sat there for about five minutes before realizing something had gone wrong. I debated walking in to ask versus calling in to ask and opted for the call since I am after all testing out the convenience factor and thus am refusing to walk. They were super apologetic, didn’t receive my order and brought it out (free of charge) no more than 45 seconds later. She told me they had rebooted their internet a few minutes before–likely the exact time I texted in.

Verdict: Again, I’m just not the target market for this service. I talked to them about it when I was signing up and they said it was really popular for busy parents who don’t want to bring kids inside. I get that. For me, I’d much rather go inside and have the whole experience.

Bottom line for both: I guess I see the allure, but I’m sticking with my inconvenient life for now.