Just like my dad, I do most of the grocery shopping for our household. It’s partly because I’m a picky eater, but I also enjoy doing the math to make sure we’re getting the most value for our money. Most weeks, I shop online through Harris Teeter’s website and pick up the order the next day. But lately, I’ve been wondering– should I consider shopping somewhere else instead? And would it be worth paying extra to have the groceries delivered?

Food Lion beats Harris Teeter on price, but not convenience

Food Lion was $6.07 (6%) cheaper than Harris Teeter overall, and had the lower price on 15 of 23 items. However, Food Lion has a $1.99 fee for online pickup that brought their net savings down to $4.08 (4%).

Food Lion was significantly cheaper on fresh staples like chicken breast ($3.17 savings, or 29%), strawberries ($1.50 savings, or 60%), and spring mix ($1.30 savings, or 28%). But Harris Teeter made up some ground with a good sale on Greek yogurt ($1.98 savings, or 20%), and English muffins ($1.05 savings, or 28%).

Alternatively, if I did online pickup at both Harris Teeter and Food Lion, I could decrease the total grocery bill to $86.36, which is $10.51 cheaper than shopping only at Harris Teeter, or $6.16 than shopping at just Food Lion. Ultimately, even though it’s a little more expensive, I’m going to continue shopping exclusively at Harris Teeter because it’s slightly more convenient for me to get to.

Delivery adds about 13% to your grocery bill– not worth it unless time is your top priority

The fees are roughly the same at both stores; a $6-7 fee plus a recommended tip of around 6%. This would increase both grocery bills by roughly $12 (13%). I don’t mind picking up the groceries, so this probably isn’t worth it for me. Plus I’ll often need to go inside the store anyway in case I forgot to order something, or need to find a replacement for something that was out of stock online. If you do grocery delivery often, both stores offer membership options for $99 per year that waive the online fee (though you’ll still need to tip).

Amazon can also deliver groceries, although I’m still skeptical

In a subsequent week, I priced out a different batch of groceries on Amazon vs. Harris Teeter. Amazon’s subtotal of $73.24 was slightly cheaper than Harris Teeter’s total of $74.39, however after adding in Amazon’s service fee ($6.95) and tip ($5.00), it’s not very attractive. Plus 1. It seemed inefficient having groceries delivered from the closest Amazon Fresh store, which is 24 miles away in Raleigh. And 2. It’d be difficult to return an item or get replacements for poor substitutions. It could still be worth considering if you were dead set on delivery though since they have very competitive pricing on non-food items that you could otherwise find at the grocery store, like Tums or Naproxen. Note Amazon Fresh also has a $99/year subscription to waive their service fee (which is in addition to an Amazon Prime membership).

In conclusion, there are different ways to prioritize price and convenience (which could include delivery). However, I’m happy with the balance that Harris Teeter online pickup provides in terms of cost, convenience, and quality.

Want more?

Check out my post from earlier this year, where I compared the cost of meal delivery services and grocery prices over the past five years.