@iced wrote:On the larger topic, this sort of thing will probably gain traction in some areas and not so much in others. Amazon was (and is) pushing this type of technology pretty hard, but there's only so far some demographics want to go with online/hands-off shopping. In some markets, the idea that you need someone to pick out and deliver your groceries is still seen as tacky, lazy, and a few other 'murican traits, mostly negative.
What struck me the most in this article is just how many people buy food -- in particular perishable, non-prepared food like produce and meat -- from Wal-Mart. Maybe I've become ultra-elitist in my old age, but the only thing Wal-Mart's produce, meat, and dairy has going for it is the price. I've seen some pretty sad vegetables and dairy/meat with expiration dates I didn't believe in their stores before. Granted this was a few years ago and I've since sworn off buying anything fresh from them, so maybe they've improved a little, but they need to improve a LOT to get to where they're going to be attractive as a primary grocery store in places that are dominated by Whole Foods and similar stores. Or...maybe they're just not into that demographic and will stick to the red meat and potatoes parts of the country that shop by price above all else.
Perhaps. But in reality this has been going on since beginning of mankind, where "certain" people bring things to the higher echelons.
Nowdays it's more like the job of an intern or PA. But people still go to get other people things.
The days of getting a side of beef from your local Butcher are almost 100% gone, but that was most often the only way to get a decent cut of meat. Or one that doesn't look like it was drug from one side of the sotore to the other. Now somehting that has remained are Farmers Markets for fresher produce. Nethier of these do i buy from Walmart though, not being snobbish just particular.
