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Comment by castratikron | Hacker News Reader

If 1) Amazon let me buy the groceries online and pick them up at the store and 2) started carrying "normal" brands, they would have my business. I don't want to pay $8 for a gallon of milk, and I don't want to see a sign that asks me to let the cashier know if I'd like the conveyor belt wiped clean in order to preserve the organic integrity of my produce.

Basically, just get rid of the attitude where you expect someone to pay $6 for asparagus in water, and we're good. (https://www.eater.com/2015/8/3/9090797/whole-foods-asparagus...)

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I took this photo of the milk at whole foods around the time the merger news with Amazon first broke, and people were going on about $8 milk. A gallon of non-organic milk is $3.49.

http://i.imgur.com/vfj52mx.jpg

A gallon of organic milk is $6.49.

http://i.imgur.com/Bly3ium.jpg

where I live organic whole foods milk is less

In all honesty... Walmart offers exactly what you're talking about[1]. Order your groceries online, pick them up at their store. None of the fancy organic-attitude stuff you talked about, either.

[1] https://grocery.walmart.com

Good luck finding a Walmart close enough to you if you live in New York City, Boston/Cambridge, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, or much of the SF Bay.

Hmm, I don't know about SF but I live in the Bay and there are at least five Walmarts within a short drive. Maybe SF real estate is too expensive in the city itself?

Perhaps driving is not an option if you live in major cities? Whole Foods has prime locations in urban centers.

Sure. I'm talking about Bay Area, not SF proper. There, not driving is pretty much not an option.

there is zero in SF proper, the closest one is in san leandro.

meanwhile I know of at least 2 whole foods i can go to.

walmart is pretty much impractical for people who live in sf even if they have a car.

I get that the more money you have the less any one dollar matters and that anyone who lives in those areas certainly has the money to pay for the convenience of shopping locally but driving 30min to go shopping isn't really unreasonable.

Or most places in rural America. It isn't uncommon for folks to drive 30-60 minutes to their nearest cheap shopping center. Sometimes there is a store closer, but they tend to have limited selection and high prices, especially on things like laundry soap.

That said, if you are going there anyway, the store-pickup still seems like an attractive option. Part of the downfall of Walmart is the time spent in the store, searching out things, wading through isles of people, and waiting for the badly staffed registers to get you through the line, only to be checked for stealing on your way out. This is worse if you must bring children with you. One can easily save an hour of time just picking it up.

ShopRite does this as well (northeastern US).

walmart is the largest seller of organic food in the united states and has been since they decided to be.

It's been a long time since I ordered something from Walmart for in store pickup, but it was a nightmare. Would have been much faster to locate the items myself and go through checkout.

You are not WholeFoods' market.

I go to Whole Foods all the time and I don't get the "attitude" you're talking about. They've got a good selection of cheese and prepared foods, they carry milk from local producers, the meat is fresh, they do a good job sourcing their sea food, and they offer free samples. What "normal brands" am I missing out on?

Coca-Cola.

So, I've never seen that sign, but more importantly: why do you think we should care about it? The sign, if it exists, addresses a silly concern. But it's costing you literally nothing. You don't want to frequent a place that is hospitable to people's silly concerns? My dude, my fine, fine dude, I have some terrible news for you about HN...

Amazon is testing car pickup options in Seattle. I think they’re even picking up your car’s license plate to trigger someone bringing out (and loading!) your groceries.

https://www.amazon.com/afx/nc/aboutpickup

If you want "normal" brands, you're more than welcome to shop at Walmart. It doesn't sound like Whole Foods is catering to you.

Apparent elitism aside, Walmart is actually specifically catering to what he wants. You can buy your groceries online, they have the kinds of products he's looking for, and you can ship them to your nearest store and pick them up or have them delivered to your house.

GP is absolutely correct. Whole Foods does not cater to the Walmart market. In SaaS terms, WF is Enterprise which sometimes dips into Premium with its 365 brand. Those complaining about WF prices are those that want to spend $5/mo on basic service.

P.S. I want a Ferrari. I don't want to pay $150k for one. So I'm not Ferrari's market.

That's a terrible analogy. Walmart is the massive enterprise company built around high volume and low margins. WF is the SaaS provider selling nice but very overpriced audio and video software to some niche of the film industry.

He wants "normal brands", cheap products (or at least not premium-priced), and doesn't care for pointless procedures around organic food. How is it elitist to assume that he isn't in the target demographic of Whole Foods?

I'd imagine it was the inclusion of "you're more than welcome to". Whether intended or not, that turn of phrase makes it possible to read the comment with a snarky tone.

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