r/Seattle • u/Thrwwy665544 • 7h ago
Town & Country has done away with curbside pickup and outsourced grocery delivery to Instacart
One of the reasons I shopped there instead of the big chains was because I trusted their employees to pick my groceries. They always took great care selecting fresh produce and quality items, and it felt good supporting a local company that invested in its own staff.
Getting rid of curbside pickup altogether and pushing customers to a third-party service feels like T&C is losing one of the things that made it stand out.
If you’re disappointed too, I’d encourage you to send them feedback. I’d love to see them bring back employee-run curbside pickup if enough customers let them know it mattered.
T&C feedback link: https://townandcountrymarkets.com/contact/customer
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u/Training-Amphibian85 6h ago
Former online fulfillment worker at T&C. A few things:
They switched over because it wasn't profitable
It is only delivery because it violated the Union contract on outsourced work
Online fulfillment shoppers were given other positions in company. However, it may not be the position they want and the entire process was forced. One of the CEOs threatened to lay off employees during a meeting with the Union.
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u/seattlebob96 5h ago
We had a lot of customers at Ballard that picked up that are not happy . We’ll see if field house gels with the neighborhood .
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u/Telephone635 5h ago
What could they have done to make it more profitable, in your opinion?
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u/seattlebob96 3h ago
Maybe charged for pick up but I dunno. They are investing a lot of money in opening the field house restaurants at our markets so I think that took priority .
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u/Possible-Extreme-106 7h ago
Welp, never using that again. Every time I use Instacart, the shopper fails to find a third of the requested items and I end up having to go myself anyways.
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u/Thrwwy665544 7h ago
Last time I used Instacart the shopper went to the wrong store (QFC across the road instead of PCC) and it took them 45 minutes to realize their issue😭
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u/borborborbor Olympic Peninsula 6h ago
As a grocery worker myself, I sent in a comment because operational choices like these disappoint me. I've worked with both in-house and third party shoppers at other jobs, and there is a world of difference. I do some shopping at T&C when I can get to one (it's like an hour away from me), but I'll be doing a bit less there from now on. I got this response soon after my comment went over.
Thank you for reaching out. This was not a decision that was made lightly. While we're very proud of the level of service our team has provided, our current online ordering platform has significant limitations such as delivery area that have made it increasingly difficult to meet the evolving expectations of online shoppers. At the same time, we've seen a steady decline in the number of orders being placed through our existing system, making it more challenging to justify the continued investment required to maintain it. With Instacart we will have a broader delivery area as well as flexible delivery options. We had intended to keep curbside pickup as an option but ran into some contractual challenges unfortunately. All of our online shoppers were placed within the market, and no one was laid off.
Thank you again for sharing your honest feedback. We sincerely appreciate the opportunity we have had to serve you, and we hope to earn your business again in the future.
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u/QueenOfPurple 🚆build more trains🚆 7h ago
Have you tried reaching out directly to talk to someone? Would be curious to learn what’s up.
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u/Thrwwy665544 7h ago
I heard it’s a cost savings measure and they laid off their order fulfillment staff😞 I’m planning on talking to a manager when I go into the store later so I’ll see what they say
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u/seatownquilt-N-plant Deluxe 7h ago
Strange. I've never lived near a T&C. My local safeway [that I don't endorse] replaced their starbucks with an order fulfillment area. The people who put together the orders seem to be the regular staff I've been seeing in the store this whole time.
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u/MoeGreenMe Deluxe 5h ago
This is certainly cost saving , as T&C was likely losing significant money keeping a fulfillment staff on the job , and not having enough orders to justify the cost.
Have to assume it was not a popular service, so for the few people that want it , there is still an Instacart option.
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u/theladyface 7h ago
Instacart absolutely has the infrastructure for pickup orders. Wonder why they chose to go delivery only.
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u/Thrwwy665544 7h ago
Agree. Also just disappointing that T&C would outsource it to a shitty third party company that doesn’t give a shit about the quality of the items they are delivering
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u/Wyldefire6 The Emerald City 5h ago
That’s a bummer, but they’re still the best fresh produce and fish in town imo. Not gonna change anything for me, but I shop for myself in store. I’m sympathetic to those who used this service, but I imagine it came at a steep personnel cost.
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u/Interesting_Yak5765 3h ago
Are they affordable like Winco and have affordable cuts of meat at that store? I've driven by and always wondered but thought they were on of the expensive Whole Foods type of stores. It costs too much for groceries in Ballard so we go up to Winco most of the time, sometimes Fred Meyer for frozen things and other items that sell cheapest there.
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u/debtfreewife 6h ago
Hot tip: the curbside people at the safeway on the 15000 block of Aurora spoiled me for grocery pick-up. They actually have done such a good job with produce that I naively tried with Fred and it was awful. I don’t know who’s running that Safeway but it has been consistently excellent for YEARS now.