Costco Same Day Delivery

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Costco just improved their online ordering with same day delivery through Instacart.  In large cities it’s one hour delivery.  It seems to work for a Keaau zip code, they also asked me for a specific address, but I didn’t load up the cart to see whether the order was accepted and what delivery charges were.  

Prices online seem to be higher than in the store, maybe 20% higher?  But it looks like a $100+ order doesn’t have additional shipping charges.  

There is a surprisingly good selection available.  I don’t need anything at the moment as I just shopped there a week ago, but if anyone tries this out let us know the details I haven’t included so far.  Like, are any extra charges less than driving to Kona and back?

https://sameday.costco.com

https://www.yahoo.com/news/costco-just-u...59164.html


Their fresh fruit and veggie section is more extensive than I expected, the beans and corn are grown in Hawaii.  Not surprisingly, the frozen food items are quite limited.

When I entered a Keaau, HPP address it was accepted, but as mentioned above I didn’t push the final enter/submit button.  With $100+ in the cart it only added tax and Instacart tip, which is flexible.

[leilanidude]

With address entered, no delivery to Leilani Estates...

[Obie]

Doesn't work off of Makuu 96749.

[HiloJulie]

This sounds like a good thing, but I can't see this being economically feasible in the long run without either having a per item surcharge or separate add on fee.

And the delivery is thru Instacart which is individuals physically doing the shopping and using their own vehicles to deliver the goods to your door. 

Considering it is between a 160 to 200 mile plus round trip from Kona to Hilo and back, so with fuel costs plus the driver's labor costs - I just don't see this as being sustainable on an individual order by order basis without a significant surcharge or separate add on fee. Plus, a tip if so inclined to give?

Then again, any surcharge or add on fee may be cheaper for some customers depending on their situation.

To be clear, I am basing my opinion for here in Hilo, when the goods are in Kona.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I just don't see this as being sustainable on an individual order

Costco is big. They have a lot of members in East Hawaii.
I would guess the long term goal is to deliver multiple orders each trip, which would reduce the dollar cost and time factor per order per trip substantially.

[terracore]

The Costco Instacart thing isn't new. They've never delivered outside Kona and I doubt they ever will. The 1 hour or whatever thing is new, but irrelevant to us.

You can however get free same-day delivery from Walmart, usually within a few hours. I think the order minimum is $35 unless you want to sign up for their membership. Walmart has their own instacart type service called Spark.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

Costco Instacart thing isn't new. They've never delivered outside Kona and I doubt they ever will.

A month or so ago I placed a $200+ order with Costco-Instacart.  For delivery to Puna.  They accepted the order, and for three days just stated there was a delay.  Apparently the website will accept an order, but a driver has to also accept the order.  I tried raising the tip. No luck.

As far as I can tell, unless multiple people in Puna place large orders on the same day, and perhaps a driver in Kona also wants to visit his Unko Kimo in Puna anyway, it’s not worth the pay for the drive.  That’s understandable.

Last week on another local social media site I started to read how someone in Puna placed a $450 Costco-Instacart order which was quickly accepted by a driver.  Great! I thought.  That seems to be the magic number.

Then… I went on to read how the delivery person was a scammer.  Fake receipt, fake delivery photos.  Others commented how that had happened to them too.  They all seemed to get their money back, but the entire experience was more of a hassle than it was worth.

Buyer beware.

[HiloJulie]

I went on to read how the delivery person was a scammer.

Not at all surprising. 

Now, with all the ills, blames and faults of the world put on the "boomer" generation, had the boomer generation had today's technologies and abilities and faced with finding a quick and economical way of helping people in Hilo get their commodities' from Costco in Kona to them in Hilo, they would have scrimped and saved, taken 2 or 3 jobs, maybe even a 2nd and 3rd mortgage on the house and invested in and started a real business, buying delivery trucks from local vendors and hiring local residents to be the drivers and created a win win situation for everybody concerned, whereas we see with most of the younger generations, especially the "know it all and shut up boomer" Gen X'ers, more than less still sitting in Mom's basement on the computer at 48ish years old, creating internet scams to earn their living.

[ironyak]

had the boomer generation had today's technologies and abilities and faced with finding a quick and economical way of helping people in Hilo get their commodities' from Costco in Kona to them in Hilo, they would have scrimped and saved, taken 2 or 3 jobs, maybe even a 2nd and 3rd mortgage on the house and invested in and started a real business, buying delivery trucks from local vendors and hiring local residents to be the drivers and created a win win situation for everybody concerned

So what's stopping you? You have access to today's technologies, same as everyone, plenty of time and money and assets for loan collateral, unlike most younger people who need two full time workers just to live paycheck to paycheck, and few to no obligations, unlike those working while raising kids and caring for elderly relatives. What's your excuse again for not setting up your Win Win Costco delivery service?

The self-serving mythologies never cease to amuse though - over the last 60 years and adjusted for inflation, the boomers had access to the cheapest housing (In 1965, average house was <3x average annual salary, versus 5.3x today), cheapest college education ("1965 Ohio University tuition was probably about $3,000 or even less in today’s dollars. Today [2018], the in-state tuition is $12,192 [2026 - $14,582], about quadruple [or quintuple] the 1965 rate"), cheap medical care (out of pocket cost have doubled), etc, etc...

In some ways, many of you are like the indoor cats of macroeconomic financial challenges, lots of strutting around with little actual experience scrapping in the streets, having arrived after your parents' challenges with the Great Depression and WWII, and made your bank and pulled up the ladder behind you as GenX ran into 80s and 90s off-shoring and globalization, and the 2008 Financial Crisis that Millennials graduated into with 5 figure or higher student loan debt. That's why boomers hold 50+% of the total wealth, GenX at 26%, and Millennials and GenZ at just 10% (even though there are more of them than both Boomers or GenX at this point).

However, as Edge noted, money can't solve everything and you're going to grow increasingly reliant on, and at the mercy of, those youth you like to deride so much. Probably best to make sure you have some relationships that aren't based on money alone because as those pre-boomer hippie rockers liked to say back in their prime "Money Can't Buy You Love" and "No one here... gets out alive".

[TomK]

Now, with all the ills, blames and faults of the world put on the "boomer" generation, had the boomer generation had today's technologies and abilities and faced with finding a quick and economical way of helping people in Hilo get their commodities' from Costco in Kona to them in Hilo, they would have scrimped and saved, taken 2 or 3 jobs, maybe even a 2nd and 3rd mortgage on the house and invested in and started a real business, buying delivery trucks from local vendors and hiring local residents to be the drivers and created a win win situation for everybody concerned, whereas we see with most of the younger generations, especially the "know it all and shut up boomer" Gen X'ers, more than less still sitting in Mom's basement on the computer at 48ish years old, creating internet scams to earn their living.

That's one hell of a sentence!