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As if it isn’t bad enough to have to fight off the ravaging hordes to grab the last cauliflower gnocchi off the shelves, now you have to lug it home yourself!
Trader Joe’s shoppers are freaking out over the popular market’s announcement that it will deep-six home delivery as of March 1.
“You can’t not deliver groceries in Manhattan. How are they expecting to survive??” groused one woman on Facebook, where others chimed in and contemplated taking Ubers with their groceries or using “granny carts” to schlep home their Hold the Cone ice-cream treats and jars of cookie butter.
The chain, which is known for its low prices and unique items — some of which sell out early in the day — started posting signs last month that it was ending the service, adding, “We are happy to discuss any questions or concerns.”
That led one woman to quip on the Stuyvesant Moms Facebook group: “Do they have a therapist? This will seriously impact our life. I know, first world problems. But still. Big deal. We buy like 50 apples at a time, let alone the whole rest of the order.”
One woman on an Upper West Side moms group posted a link so that aggrieved Trader Joe’s fans would let their displeasure be known to the California-based company.
One reader of the West Side Rag blog noted that “Trader Joe’s stopping delivery is an unspeakable tragedy.”
The chain has 11 New York City stores, with seven in Manhattan. Those in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island have never offered delivery.
Now it will become one of the few Manhattan supermarkets without a delivery option.
The decision led some to speculate that the recent rise in the minimum wage to $15 an hour made the service unaffordable.
But a Trader Joe’s spokewoman said the minimum-wage increase was not related to the change and instead blamed “escalating service costs.”
“We are empathetic to the struggles associated with getting one’s goods from the market to home,” said Kenya Friend-Daniel, adding it would continue to consider unspecified options “to support customers’ shopping.”
The company outsourced its delivery to a company called XPO Logistics. A spokesman there would only say, “We love New Yorkers and are sorry we’ll no longer be able to carry home their Trader Joe’s groceries.”
Moustapha Kouyate, 19, who’s been hauling Trader Joe’s bags for a year, said he’s gotten an earful from angry customers.
“There’s a lot of old people, they can’t really carry all the things that they buy,” he said.
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