We're just about a year into this COVID pandemic, and it is still an ongoing thing. While the pandemic lingers and will, I expect, continue to be with us for quite some time, some things have changed. Some little, some big.
I recall that one of the first public health messages, just a year ago, was to not wear masks. But that changed rapidly, so rapidly that it would be easy to forget that the very first reactions, by at least some authorities, were not in favour of masking. This is what science does -- learns and evolves.
A really huge change has been that people are being vaccinated in record-breaking time. The vaccines have been developed, tested, manufactured, shipped, distributed and injected within just a year. Just a year! By contrast, if I understand correctly, the previous record for the development and rollout of a new vaccine took 4 years. Science again: utterly remarkable, really.
While I know that the manufacture and distribution components are not going as fast as we'd like, I'd prefer not to whine or nag when so much has been accomplished against what would have seemed to be very long odds.
On a local and lesser level, our grocery store has evolved too.
My routine has been to schedule my orders and pickup for Tuesdays and then begin my next order when the new weekly flyers and sales come out, around Thursday.
I don't have to complete the order right when I begin it on Thursday. I just need to put a few items into my online cart in order to snag a pickup time for 11AM the following Tuesday. I am subsequently able to add to the order until the clock strikes midnight, Monday (going from Sunday to Monday if that confuses you as it sometimes does me).
The store then emails, texts and calls (Yes! all 3) sometime after 10 on Tuesday to tell me that the order will be ready at 11 and to let me know if there have been any omissions or substitutions.
Yesterday, they didn't do this.
Hmm. I had the sneaky suspicion that something was amiss and that it would be my fault. Naturally.
With a feeling of foreboding, I checked my cart on the app and had an uh oh moment when I saw that it was still full because it should have shown as empty after midnight Monday once the order was locked in. This meant that I had not secured my pickup time. I surmise that I forgotten the payment step, and so my scheduled pickup time had been withdrawn.
I checked available time slots and was very surprised to see that I could still reserve a time for 2 o'clock on the very same day, just 3 hours later than my preferred time.
And that, right there, is the change. For when the pandemic first hit, it took me weeks to finally nail a pickup time for my first order. I remember calling the company in utter frustration, wondering if the app was broken. It wasn't. The system had been suddenly overwhelmed.
Now, I can, apparently, make and pickup an order with just a few hours notice. I hadn't realized this improvement until just yesterday.
I am impressed how the company/store adapted to meet the profound new need. This is such a change since last year -- a little change in the grand scheme of things, but a much appreciated one, nevertheless.
Changes. Some huge, some little. All beneficial. All appreciated.
I agree the online grocery ordering aspect of this lockdown pandemic life has improved in leaps & bounds. At our Zehrs there use to be only 3 pick up parking spaces, now there's 10 spots dedicated to click & collectors. No more circling around & around until a spot opens. Mr Man & I were ones to mask up very early on in the pandemic. We looked at countries that woke masks as a curtesy during flu season & thought, they have low rates of transmission of flu, lets follow their example, just in case. Now it's double masks & or three layer masks with a filter. Thankfully most are following the science.
ReplyDeleteWhen we were in MD and in the retirement community we tried the pick up but found it a pain. They didn't let us no of items not available or substitutions. We finally just took ourselves into the store to shop. We do that here too. We clean the cart to start, follow the direction lines in the aisles, and wash hands on returning home. We used to do a disinfecting ritual with the food but learned that wasn't necessary really. Now hear we are in the home stretch with one shot done and immunity close.
ReplyDeleteAmazing. Especially the vaccines. We should be grateful and stop grumping about the rollout problems. I have a safe place in which to wait and so am quite prepared to be here until those who do not have a safe place are covered. Get the poor kids in the grocery done, for goodness sake. Talk about essential workers, that's them.
ReplyDeleteThe changes are appreciated. When there’s a pandemic, every little bit helps.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. It is is easy to kvetch and whine; better we accept what works for us, and be grateful that we live in a country where such luxuries as on-line shopping are available. But I have never used it for groceries. I buy books on line and I just ordered a headset for my new computer since it is not in store at the local Staples and is only available on line. As for groceries, all our local stores have early opening for seniors and those requiring assistance. I make it a point to be there when the doors open, and sometimes I am the only person in the store. I have my list organized with the flow of the store and I am in and out in no time, and I have been able to select my own produce. Works like a charm every time.
ReplyDeleteCanada does seem to be a little bit less slow in getting these changes instituted. Glad to hear you didn't have to wait for days! I shop in person but have started double masking.
ReplyDeleteThat's great to know, how your grocery shopping is doing so much better. And I agree that science has certainly done its thing...in many ways. Yet I also salute those who are making this new infrastructure work. The grocery people have hired shoppers to perform your shopping for you. My guess is that they work for minimum wages...and of course haven't been vaccinated yet...as a comment above mentioned. So it's a marriage of science and good business practice to go along with the changes we're going through. I have yet to order groceries, probably becauase I never know what I'm going to eat the next day. It's hard enough doing plant based eating...but I also want to finish the produce in the fridge that's been there the longest, so I don't have to throw it out when it spoils. I almost never buy some of the more fragile things for that reason. Today I'm looking at my alfalfa sprouts with a sigh...about half are gone, but the rest may hit the trash after I eat some for lunch today. My other realization is that many retail businesses have had to close up shop, including restaurants, because they just don't have income to keep going. And of course all us artists that used to depend upon sales in art shows or galleries are next to starving. Fortunately I've become so broke I'm eligible for Food Stamps. So I can afford to get the higher priced vegetarian things in balance with the cheaper rice and beans!
ReplyDeleteI have a few friends that constantly point out that we were asked not to wear masks before we were told to wear masks as some sort of conspiracy or government ineptitude. But as I point out, the key was that science never said wearing masks were ineffective. It was merely because there was a shortage of masks that we were being asked to not wear them and preserve the limited supply for those working the front lines. Fortunately supply caught up to where we can all wear masks.
ReplyDeleteI've never ordered my groceries for pickup and instead just usually go first thing in the morning when most people are on their way to a job. It was just a few days ago when I was walking down the toilet paper aisle and remembered the big rush on it and many other things at the grocery store last year. We had been fortunate in that we had just added a walk-in pantry to our kitchen and spent the winter before stocking up on staples when they went on sale. I've wondered if pantries will be more in vogue after 2020.
That is a clever idea about starting your order and adding to it. I think my store has that too and I should take advantage of it. In their busiest times, they didn't allow for any modifications of the order, but it's been easy to get a slot lately. I've been very happy with pick up! I agree with you(and Ed) about the masks; science evolves as does our knowledge of the virus. We are still learning!
ReplyDeleteThat is a great way to shop. We need to do something similar in my area.
ReplyDeleteWe have it here too, but I prefer doing my own shopping.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid this old boy will have to get with the program and learn how to order groceries.
ReplyDeleteOur county health department needs their software. Sign ons for a vaccination
ReplyDeleteare so thick and furious their system routinely crashes. They are switching o a lottery system.
I think it is going to be just like that with vaccine appointments too.
ReplyDeleteI think the shopping online and picking up is an aspect that many people hope will stick with us after things change back to where it is safer to shop indoors again. :)
ReplyDeleteWow. Long comments on this one. I have to read up before school starts. We've not got the bandwidth for two Google Meets as well as me.
ReplyDeleteI think we've learned a lot about masking. Certainly, flu is down. People see conspiracy theories in everything. We need to give it all time, and let the scientists do their work.
We've stopped the online orders. JB just goes in for 8 a.m. I began it when he was sick, and it worked for me. I loathe shopping!
So many changes dome for better, others, not so much. Things are shifting now as we and many of our friends are fully vaccinated. Lunch together seems daring but doable!
ReplyDeleteWow! So Canadians were ALSO told that masks don't help. We didn't believe that at all since all the other countries were wearing masks. If masks weren't important, why do doctors and nurses use masks in hospitals? It made no sense.
ReplyDeleteSeveral people we know have been shopping this way since the pandemic began and continue to do so now. As for ourselves, we have not done so and prefer to go on site, follow the necessary precautions and make our own selections. But, it's good news to read that for those who prefer the online process that it has gotten a bit easier to navigate.
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