SAN ANTONIO \u2013 What began as a pandemic necessity has now become a weekly routine for many families: curbside grocery pickup, home delivery and mobile app ordering. <\/p>\n
Purchasing certain items in-store is often cheaper than opting for curbside pickup.<\/p>\n
However, how much extra are shoppers paying for the convenience of skipping that in-store visit?<\/p>\n
San Antonio residents Karla Skates and her husband, Jorge Mata, have been tracking the cost difference between curbside orders and in-store shopping. What they found may surprise you.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe use it weekly,\u201d Skates said. \u201cEvery week I sit down, typically on a Saturday night, do our grocery list, load it up, and then pick it up on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
These curbside trips have become routine. According to Skates and Mata, the curbside service has almost become a \u201cnecessity.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mata remembers trying curbside pickup when it was first introduced in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started using it when it first came out,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd it was really just out of curiosity because it was a brand new concept that I\u2019d never really seen or heard of. And from there, prior to the pandemic, it was one of those things that we did on and off.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said just \u201ctrying out\u201d curbside changed to \u201cdepending\u201d on it during the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt started during the pandemic,\u201d Skates said. \u201cIt was challenging to go in-store \u2014at the time we had two small children \u2014 and it was not easy to go grocery shopping with two small kiddos under the age of 2.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mata agreed, adding that curbside became less about novelty and more about efficiency.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis actually saves a lot of time,\u201d he said. \u201cIt became a lot more about convenience and speed versus just doing it out of novelty.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, convenience comes at a price.<\/p>\n
Skates and Mata said they\u2019ve noticed a consistent \u2014 though not massive \u2014 markup when using curbside services compared to shopping in-store.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a little bit of a markup to use curbside service,\u201d Mata said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s reflected in each individual grocery item. But, when we go in the store, especially when we take our child with us, it is typically a lot less expensive using curbside because we\u2019re not susceptible to those impulse buys.\u201d<\/p>\n
During their most recent shopping trip, Skates said the estimated total via curbside was $141.14.<\/p>\n
Using the store app, she compared their curbside bill to what it would have been in-store, which was $139.79.<\/p>\n
So, on this trip, they could have saved $1.35 by shopping in-store<\/p>\n
Even on individual items, small price differences can add up. For example, Skates showed us that a 24-count of string cheese costs $7.34 on the curbside app, compared to $6.99 in-store \u2014 a 35 cent difference.<\/p>\n
Still, she said the benefits of curbside outweigh the added cents.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, it\u2019s worth it,\u201d she said. \u201cWe save time and have the convenience instead of spending hours at the grocery store fighting crowds and end up spending more money because of the impulse buys.\u201d <\/p>\n