In Praise Of PeaPod.

There’s a scene at the beginning of Arthur, where he’s absolutely shitfaced and talking to a woman in a restaurant. A waiter drops off another glass of scotch, and Arthur says to his companion: “Aren’t waiters wonderful? You ask them for things, and they bring them.” This is how I feel right now, sans scotch. Although I did get a nice bottle as my leaving present from some former co-workers, and believe me I’ll get to it.

So why the hell didn’t someone tell me about PeaPod sooner? I had several conversations today with people who were anti-Pod. “Why would I pay $7 for delivery when the supermarket is right down the street?” That makes perfect sense if you live in Somerville. But when you’re part of the captive audience in the North End, with no market within walking distance, the Pod could be God. The few stores we do have here sees the groceries marked up aggressively, and I think the margin difference on the PP pricelist more than makes up for any fee.

They said they would deliver my stuff between 4 and 6pm, and appeared around 4:30. So they’ve got Comcast beat in that respect. “Yeah, we’ll be there sometime before the next full moon. Read a book.” The delivery guy was cool and explained the billing etc. as he knew it was my first Podtastic experience. He hauled in heavy stuff like a case of water and had all my minute deli orders cut to specifications. The website was really intuitive and the whole experience just makes me feel stupid that I’ve been paying $6 for small boxes of pasta these last 7 years.

Take my money, PeaPod. Bring me bushels of American cheese and cajun turkey. Roll up with tubs of hummus and sprinkle me with white vinegar and mayonnaise. Ring my buzzer and stroll in with several tubs of feta cheese and perhaps a bag of mixed nuts. If they had a CoinStar machine outside on the truck, I’d be in heaven.