(NOTE:  Raley’s, nor did any of its employees, or agents request, approve, or in any way influence this article.)

It’s not fair, is it? When I go grocery shopping, I park in a special parking space at Raley’s, make a call, my groceries are brought out, I pay, and I’m gone. Grocery shopping done, drop the mic. No finding a cart, wandering around the store, racing for the shortest checkout line, loading up the groceries. I park, I call, I pay, I’m done.

It should be called Raley’s VIP program, but they call it Raley’s ecart program. Raley’s has been developing this program for years, but they are in the process of installing the ecart program in the Nevada stores.

I ordered my groceries, by brand name, online at the Raley’s ecart website, I set a time to pick it up the next day, and then I showed up at my appointed time, parked in the ecart parking spot, and called the phone number on the ecart sign. After that, they did the rest.

No Cart, No Wandering
Grocery shopping counts as exercise, but not the most efficient use of a person’s time or body. Normal grocery shopping creates a set of customer responsibilities from the moment of arrival; however, with this program, all those responsibilities, (e.g., selecting a shopping cart, determining a route, or deciding to wander, looking for the best checkout line, taking the groceries to the car, and loading them up,) are taken over by the store, or are unnecessary. 

Saves Time
Grocery shopping is not an activity that most people seek out, but it is a necessary chore in a citizen’s life. A 2008 study concluded that people spend an average of 41 minutes shopping in the grocery store. Many people would choose to have that 41 minutes to spend doing something else. The Raley’s ecart program is a gift of time and energy to the customer.

Perfect For College Students
My Raley’s store is the closest grocery store to the University of Nevada and I cannot imagine how hard it would be to organize four to six roommates to create a shopping list, then go to the store and shop, especially if they are college students with little time to shop. Raley’s ecart allows each person to do their shopping on one online list, and then only one person has to go  to pick it up.

Saves Money
Raley’s ecart flags items on sale, so when I create my online list, I see which items that I can save money, and/or choose the number of the item needed to meet the requirements of the sale price (e.g., five for $5.00)

Safer
It doesn’t happen often, but I have, at times, been approached in various parking lots by someone asking for spare change. This action is dangerous because it could be a person who is needy, or it could be a person who is sizing me up in order to rob me or steal my car. By starting a conversation, a criminal can approach the person without causing them to be alarmed enough to yell or scream.

While it is not a benefit that people would realize, Raley’s ecart makes it safer for me to grocery shop, because I never have to leave my car.

More Personal
It assumed that any transaction on the Internet is less personal; however, my experience with Raley’s ecart was the opposite. The Store Manager was the person to deliver my ecart order to the car. I have lived in this neighborhood for over 21 years and I don’t think I had ever met any of the store managers before that day.

In addition, the Store Manager called me about two items on my list that were out of stock. Normally, I would have wandered the store for several minutes looking for the item, then given up and checked out. In this case, he was able to replace the item with an acceptable substitute and it added little, if any time to my shopping.

I still go in the store for minor trips, but I like unshopping, and I like being a VIP when I shop for groceries.