Instacart: An Important Tool for Disabled Parents?

Modern conveniences exist everywhere you turn in today’s world.  Grocery shopping is now no longer any different.  Instacart is the service where you can order groceries and other items from a selection of stores online.  Once you’ve submitted your order the items are delivered right to your door the same day.  It’s been a while since I posted about the service, however I hadn’t used it at the time.  Recently, I decided to use the service to see what it was all about.  I’m very pleased to say that my experience was very good.  Although I still plan to go out to purchase my groceries, I wanted to talk about my overall experience.  Not only can a person with a disability use this service but, it’s also extremely handy for people in a pinch to shop for their groceries.  Let’s be honest, who hasn’t had the occasional unexpected visitor suddenly appear at their front door? Instacart is a way your food problems can be solved with a click of your computer’s mouse.

Upon signing up for the service, there’s a two-week trial period to try it out to see if it’s going to work for you.  After signing up one of the tricks no one tells you about is to follow the specific sales that are posted at the online store and not necessarily the ones in your local supermarket circular, even if you’re shopping at that supermarket’s online presence through Instacart.  The idea is that Instacart is its own company.  Although your items do come from the store you choose, some of the prices are different.  There’s also a service fee that’s charged when you pay for the items in your shopping cart that can be waived.

It’s just like shopping online but has its perks. Once I’ve chosen my items, I pay for my purchase and can then choose the time I want my groceries to be delivered to me.  The cool thing is once a shopper has been assigned your order, you get a text message to let you know they have started to shop.  Also, if there’s an item you’ve picked that’s out of stock, you’ll get a text message telling you what’s going on and letting you know if there’s a substitution for the item.  My Instacart shopper has also texted me to make sure the substitution is acceptable.  When the shopper is at the checkout, you’ll also receive text message to give you a status on your order.  Finally, you’ll get an estimated time of arrival for your groceries.  The shopper arrives within the window of time stated and has been friendly and helpful with my items.

At the end of the day, this service has many benefits for many people, including people with disabilities.  Although there’s a membership fee for the service charged after the trial period, the overall benefits and cost savings that might come from its use for your situation might sway you to find a way to include it in your budget.

It’s no secret that technology and its advances have changed the way we interact with different aspects of society.  Being able to buy groceries online and have them brought to your door the same day is just another example of this.  It solves a problem and enhances people’s independence. Not only is this now another convenience we can all experience in everyday life but, more importantly and I believe unknowingly to its creators, addresses a population’s needs that had previously not been thought of in the past for various reasons.  Yet another layer of empowerment has been made available that everyone can experience just by sitting in front of their computers.

This blog originally appeared at Mamas Munchkin.