Lugging Wegmans grocery bags on and off the bus is no longer the only way for students without cars to go grocery shopping. The Wegmans in Johnson City partnered with a delivery service this month, called Instacart, that allows customers to order their groceries online or on the Instacart app and have them delivered to their home.
In August, Wegmans expanded its partnership with Instacart to locations in Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester, New York before adding the Johnson City location. Instacart employs personal shoppers who pick out the food customers order and then deliver within an hour, two hours or any scheduled time within the week the order was placed.
The service will deliver to the following zip codes: 13760, 13790, 13850, 13901, 13903, 13904 and 13905.
Julie Eckstein, a junior majoring in English who lives off campus, said she’s excited about Instacart deliveries. She thinks college students, specifically, will enjoy the new service.
“I think it’s a really good idea,” Eckstein said. “I think it’s definitely targeting college students versus locals because I feel like college students won’t mind throwing down the extra $5 when they’re so busy.”
While the service will not deliver directly to a dorm on campus, the Instacart website said the service will deliver to the Binghamton University entrance by Denny’s, which is within the 13850 zip code.
Daniel Kim, a sophomore majoring in cinema, lives on campus and said he thinks this delivery service is a positive thing, but the fact that it doesn’t deliver to individual dorms makes it less enticing.
“That makes it a little less convenient, because I was assuming they would come straight to your door and you really have to do no effort with that,” Kim said. “College students hate giving effort for anything really, so it makes it a little harder.”
The delivery fee is $5.99, but the fee is waived for a customer’s first delivery. Customers also have the option of signing up for a yearly membership for $149 or a monthly membership for $14.99, which would not include a delivery fee.
Certain items from Wegmans cannot be delivered, including alcohol, prescription drugs, food from the hot and cold bars and over-the-counter drugs that require an ID.
Most of the foods found on the Instacart website for Wegmans are more expensive than the foods found in store. For example, on Instacart, one gallon of Wegmans brand 2 percent milk is $1.99, while the in-store price is $1.69.
Wegmans is not the only grocery store in the greater Binghamton area using Instacart. The PriceRite in Vestal, as well as various CVS stores and the Petco in Johnson City, have recently started using the delivery service.
Customers can place a delivery any day of the week between 9 a.m. and 10 p.m.