Another Errand You Could Skip: Get Alcohol Delivered
Did you know you could get alcohol delivered? People tend to spend hours running errands. When it comes to buying alcohol, for instance, it takes an average person about 20 minutes or more. Often times this goes up depending on travel time to the store, finding what you’re and the time you have to wait in a queue, if there’s any.
It’s a good thing that e-commerce has reached the alcohol industry, and it’s actually thriving. This industry is expected to grow more in the next few years. Have you ever had your alcohol delivered? What are you waiting for? Avoid these random trips to the store to satisfy your cravings, get your alcoholic beverages delivered!
Did you know you could get alcohol delivered? People tend to spend hours running errands. When it comes to buying alcohol, for instance, it takes an average person about 20 minutes or more. Often times this goes up depending on travel time to the store, finding what you’re and the time you have to wait in a queue, if there’s any.
To think, average drinkers usually lasts only a few days a week without alcohol. And, not every one of them can afford to buy in bulk, to keep it stored for future needs. This means more trips to the grocery or drive-thru liquor stores. If we put it in numbers, the time people actually spend on this errand could mean so much in the long run. Suppose, one spends 20 minutes travel time back and forth, and regularly buys alcohol - about once a week.
10 mins there + 15 mins shopping + 10 mins back = 35 minutes alcohol shopping
35 minutes shopping x 52 weeks/year = 30.33 hours/year
Remember in our earlier post where we used the calculators to estimate how much your personal time is worth? Go find out right now if you haven’t already.
How much value of your personal time do those liquor store runs cost you in a year? $300? $700?
Think how much time would you have saved in a week if only there’s another way to get alcohol? Imagine the relief of getting the batch of liquor and beer for that upcoming bbq you’re hosting?
It’s worth noting, each state’s liquor laws are different.
In just about every state, beer and wine are allowed. I have Amazon Fresh bring a lot of those for me when they bring my groceries. The wild card is the liquor and whether it can be delivered. In the DC area, you have 3 different state’s laws in play. In VA, ABC stores have a state mandated monopoly on all liquor sold, and they do not deliver. In DC and Maryland, it’s deregulated and can be delivered, so most all the resources below should work for you. Liquorama.com has a list of the states that do not allow shipments and those who only allow wine. The NCSL has a state by state breakdown in a chart, which is handy if you’re wondering about your state specifically.
Table based on the information taken from NCSL.
The remaining states not listed above only allow direct wine shipments. While these are all true, please also note that delivery of alcoholic drinks is only allowed to people 21 years old and above. The presence of one is required for every direct delivery.
For those of you, like me, that live in a state with restrictions, there is the potential for creative solutions too. Errand running services such as Taskrabbit, (here’s a referral code for $10 off your first use if you’d like to experiment with it) have people that will go run to the store for you and drop off what you need, you’ll just compensate them for their time.
It’s a good thing that e-commerce has reached the alcohol industry, and it’s actually thriving. This industry is expected to grow more in the next few years. Have you ever had your alcohol delivered? What are you waiting for? Avoid these random trips to the store to satisfy your cravings, get your alcoholic beverages delivered!
Here’s some of the apps/websites/services I’ve heard of or tried:
Drizly on mobile site
Drizly
I’ve used this one several times. With Drizly, there’s no need to worry about having an empty cup. Not on their watch, as they say. Drizly works with local stores and allows people to shop their beer, wine, or spirit of choice from their shelves at the touch of a button. Ordering can be easily done through any computer or smartphone by visiting their website.
Oh! They sell extras too. With their website, you can also have some snacks, mixers, sodas, and fruits delivered. Find some cocktail recipes too! Now, you’re so ready for that party.
Minibar Delivery
Get your favorite drink, straight to your door with Minibar Delivery. You can visit their website, or download their app from App Store or Google Play, and experience alcohol shopping with just a few taps. They partner with local stores and identify which ones are nearest to your location.
Like others, they have extras too. No time to shop for gifts? Minibar Delivery got you covered with their Give a Gift offers. Better yet, easily and conveniently plan an event with the help of Minibar Delivery and just a few clicks with their Party Planner. You can even book a bartender for your next event. How cool is that?
budlight.com
Bud Light Button
This one is a funny and ingenius use of technology. It’s an app that is simply a button. You create a profile with your payment and credit card info, and the default quantity of bud light you want. 6pack? 12pack? After the initial setup you open the app and press the button, and in 30-45 minutes, bud light gets delivered to the location of the phone. I used it while I was at a social softball game one evening in DC and we ran out of beer. It was like magic! Used it one other time at a BBQ at a friend’s house. For light beer drinkers out there, maybe this app is for you.
LoveScotch
LoveScotch, like many others, is an online liquor store but it gives more emphasis on scotch and spirits. You can have the best range of rum, vodka, tequila, bourbon, and more, delivered across the USA.
They also cater gifting with an even more personal touch. You can have a personalized message engraved in the bottle of your loved ones’ favorite drink. That would be sweet, wouldn’t it?
Here are other options you might want to try, as well:
You may not be able to give up drinking, but you can give up random store trips for drinks. Save time and enjoy the comfort of ordering your drinks online and having them delivered in less than an hour!
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I’m Brian. I created Productivity Gladiator after I saw what a difference it made to share very small and very specific actions you can take right now, right away. They make a difference in your life, little by little, and the impact grows and grows. I want you to start doing the things you WANT to do, not get stuck chasing what you NEED to do. If any of this resonates with you, I’d love to talk with you or your organization about it, send me a note. Thanks for letting me share my Productivity Gladiator passion with you.
Get Groceries Delivered. You Running Errands? Or Are Errands Running You?
The average American spends on average 10 – 15 hours per week on tasks like doing laundry, picking up the dry cleaning or grocery shopping. And of course, this in addition to their regular “40” hour a week career, and this is frequently even more! This is more than just about work/life balance; it’s about taking back your time!
Let’s just zero in on those grocery store trips, for example. How much do your grocery visits cost? Let’s put a number to it…
The average American spends on average 10 – 15 hours per week on tasks like doing laundry, picking up the dry cleaning or grocery shopping. And of course, this in addition to their regular “40” hour a week career, and this is frequently even more! This is more than just about work/life balance; it’s about taking back your time!
Let’s just zero in on those grocery store trips, for example. How much do your grocery visits cost? Let’s put a number to it.
Data suggests the average person goes to the grocery store 1.6 times a week and spends 43 minutes there. As everyone knows, the grocery store can be quite headache with overcrowded aisles and the long lines to check out. Then there’s the travel time, which according to what I found is 15 minutes or less for 87% of people. For our estimating purposes here we’re going to use a travel time of 10 minutes each way door-to-door.
10 mins there + 43 mins shopping + 10 mins back = 63 minute grocery store trip
63 Minute Store Trip x 1.6 Trips Per Week x 52 Weeks/Year = 87.36 Hours/Year
How many dates could you have gone on with that time? How much would your relationships have been improved? How about time with the kids?
Remember in our earlier post where we used the calculators to estimate how much your personal time is worth? Go find out right now if you haven’t already.
If you value your time at even a very cheap $10/hr, for 87 hours that’s $870 of your time you spend going grocery shopping each year. At $25/hr that’s $2,184/year of your time. This doesn’t include the cost of the groceries either, this is just the time you spend on it.
Let’s add on another layer of going to the store. The more time you spend in the grocery store, the more money you will spend? If you have 15 items on your store list, you’ll likely come home with a few more items you found which were such a great deal, or something else you came across which looked cool, or you thought the kids would like.
Is there a way to break out of this time and money wasting cycle? Get your groceries delivered!
These services started to pick up steam around 2010. I’ve been getting groceries delivered since 2014. Here’s what I’ve tried, what I know, and resources I’m happy to share. Overall the change has been worth it. I only go to the grocery store maybe once or twice per year, the rest get’s delivered
Amazon Fresh
Best experience so far. Amazon Fresh Free Trial Referral Link: https://amzn.to/2InrRc1
Came to Washington DC in 2018, I quickly switched to give it a try. I haven’t looked back. Amazon Fresh is a service available to Amazon Prime members, for an additional $15/month. Unlimited deliveries included on orders over $40.
Pros:
Orders have never been late…ever.
Produce has been well picked. Have never had a product which I had to throw out
Orders have been correct
Many prices cheaper than competitors like Walmart and Giant.
Delivery drivers in most cases have followed directions (ex: leave groceries outside my door, call me when you arrive to let me know the groceries are here if I don’t answer the door)
They deliver the full lineup of Whole Foods products, so many of the generic brands are reasonably priced (Amazon just slashed prices on whole foods products)
Delivery windows are in 2-hour increments from early morning to late night, can even deliver the same day, rarely have windows not been available.
Cons:
Some items are Prime, some are Fresh, which are 2 different programs. Some are Prime Pantry, which is yet another program. Prices differ, need to pay attention
Peapod
I used Peapod from 2016-2018 up until Amazon Fresh arrived, because it was the best option I had at the time.
Pros:
Had full stock of all items available from Giant grocery store for the same price as available in the store
Had decent selection of delivery time frames, though they weren’t always available, sometimes had to order 2-3 days in advance
Cons:
Delivery drivers often over worked, tired, and sometimes irritable
Rarely did full order arrive as requested,
Only 1 out of every 10 times did the driver arrive within the specified delivery time window.
No way to resolve issues (ex: wrong item delivered, one of my eggs is broken, etc) automatically like amazon through the website, you had to email, then wait one business day for a response. You could also call but the wait was long on hold.
Instacart
Have tried this twice. Pricing on the app isn’t always the same as in the store, it’s sometimes inflated pretty drastically. Instacart is is currently the best option for Trader Joes delivery, though they drastically inflate the pricing. If they would match the price in the store, I this I would use Instacart as my go-to option more frequently and might even pay their monthly fee to get unlimited deliveries, but between the inflated prices, AND the delivery charge, I’ve stayed away and made do with other services.
Why do people say they don’t do this?
In my workshops, the most common response from people who were not on board with grocery delivery, it’s generally for 2 main reasons:
Only I can pick good produce.
Okay, I understand this mentality. Here’s 2 thoughts on this though.
a) if you had a friend who worked in a grocery store, and handled the produce all day, would you trust them to pick good produce? These are often the type of people that are picking your produce with these delivery companies.
b) These companies know if they bring you bad produce you’ll leave and never come back, there’s incentive and motivation to get it right for them. This is exactly why I left Peapod, it happened one too many times. With Amazon Fresh I’ve never had a problem.But I really enjoy going to the store.
I don’t want you to think I’m taking this away from you. If this really is your favorite part of your week and you absolutely love to shop at the grocery store, then I support you, I want you to do the things you love and enjoy! The reality for many people is there’s too much on their plate, they don’t have time, and something has to give, and if they’re going to sacrifice something, the grocery store run is lowest on the priority chain. For some (not all, just some) participants in my workshops, when we dug a little deeper we found out that they’re overwhelmed, and going to the store was one thing they felt like they were good at. They felt successful when they did, so it was more of a pick me up, and by taking it away, it was like taking a “win” off the board for them, which didn’t feel good either. It’s been intriguing to see the reasons why there’s more to this when you dig a little deeper.
Conclusion
This isn’t meant to be an all inclusive list of grocery delivery services, I just wanted to share a little of my experience with it to get you thinking about it. If you want to read about all the different grocery delivery services, here’s a thorough Lucie’s List article from 2019 which does a great job digging into many more of the options you may have available. Try commiting to getting your groceries delivered for a month, see how your life and schedule feel different without the regular pressure of getting to the store. I recommend you try one service with their free trial offer. Then another. Then another. You’ll learn as you go. Each time you’ll get a bit more savvy. Pretty soon you’ll not only be saving money from the cost of groceries in the store, but you’ll be saving the time to go and get them.
If you find you miss going to the store, you can always go back to doing it, but if you have too much on your plate, try letting someone deliver your groceries, see if it changes your life!
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I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that I was going to have a harder life that was likely 10-20 years shorter than normal. I’ve lived my best life every day since then, because you only get one chance to live it. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made to share small and specific actions you can take right now, right away, to achieve better work life balance, be more productive, and live your best life right now, today, not wait until retirement. I want you to start doing the things you WANT to do, not get stuck chasing what you NEED to do. If any of this resonates with you, send me a note. It brings me joy to share this passion with you.