SAVING CENTSABLY: Convenience can be costly

Recently our family received an invitation to join a program called Shipt, a grocery delivery service, for about half price off the typical membership fee.

Shipt is a service in which members download an app, order groceries, complete their payment, and expect delivery to their homes within an hour or so. I paid only $49 for the membership as the program was launching in the Savannah area.

You may know people who use Shipt in the Atlanta area. This is a growing program as many families seek ease and speed in their grocery shopping.

I registered with Shipt because I figured I could simply save time by having someone pick up our milk, eggs and cheese -- the things I buy almost every week -- as well as some of the BOGO items from the weekly Publix ad. Once the program actually launched, I downloaded the app and began shopping.

I read, before joining, that right now coupons can't be used with the service but I didn't really worry about that. Milk, eggs and cheese rarely (if ever) have coupons that can be used anyway.

The app has items divided by type but they do not offer everything a Publix store sells. During the summer, I often run to the store for canning supplies. I'll get into a project and discover that I need more flats or bands or even jars. I figured this would also be something that Shipt could help me with.

If I'm canning grape jelly and I find that I am short on an item, I could order quickly and Shipt would deliver the needed pieces within an hour or so and I could complete the project. However, these items were not available as part of the Shipt delivery program.

I then proceeded to begin to hunt down the weekly BOGOs. At the time, the app did not offer a separate section for these items. As a BOGO shopper, I would prefer to have them in one place rather than all mixed in with the item categories.

Unable to locate them without scrolling through every product offered, I moved on to hunting down the milk and eggs. That was easy enough.

When I added the milk to my shopping cart, I experienced a sticker shock, which ultimately led to my canceling my membership in the Shipt program. The milk through the Publix app was $4.29 in my area. Currently, I do not buy my milk at Publix. I purchase it weekly (sometimes twice a week) at Food Lion. I pay about $2.89 per gallon.

Because we purchase 4-5 gallons a week, the cost per week for me to have someone pick up my milk would be $7 added to my grocery bill. Over 52 weeks, the cost increase was $364.

It was a no-brainer that this program would not help me keep my grocery bills as low as possible. Convenience is costly, and fortunately I was able to get all my membership fee money back when I canceled!

Contact writer Rachael Mercer at savingcentsably@gmail.com.

This story was originally published January 12, 2016 at 8:21 PM with the headline "SAVING CENTSABLY: Convenience can be costly ."