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_______________POD PEOPLE BY JANELLE BROWN (12/17/98)
	I was interested in hearing what Janelle Brown had to say about Peapod since I have been using the service for about a year. I can say that my experience has been much more positive than hers. But then again, my reasons for using the service are probably different. I am only 47, but have extreme difficulty walking in general, and through the aisles of a supermarket especially. If I didn't have Peapod, I'd have to depend of friends and family to provide me groceries. Is preserving my independence and a good sense of myself worth the fee I pay? You betcha. Though by no means perfect, I don't believe that Peapod deserves the rant Brown gave it. Think of the good things a service like that can do. -- Rosemary Gangi I really enjoyed Janelle Brown's article on Peapod. While my partner, John, and I were living in Boston, John heard an ad for Peapod and convinced me that we should use them to magically provision us at the click of a mouse. I'm from the old world and enjoy poking around smaller specialty food stores for whatever it is we need (other than the usual bulk stuff such as milk, OJ, toilet paper, etc.). For the sake of domestic tranquility, I agreed. We got our account, and John was beside himself with excitement as he placed a rather large order for various items and then waited. I took the dogs out for a romp while he kept wandering around the house waiting for the delivery. I got back 45 minutes later, and he was still waiting. The helpful "Why don't you give them a call?" was greeted with an icy stare. "They'll be here within two hours." (Sure, and I'm Doris Day.) Four hours later, the doorbell finally rang. John leaped at the door, snatched the bags from the delivery woman, signed something and ran into the kitchen like some kid on Christmas Day. I waited about 30 seconds or so before asking the loaded "Did they get the order right?" It was someone else's order. We have never used Peapod or any other shopping service again. -- Randy Sabbagh I wish Janelle Brown wouldn't agitate Peapod for pictures of each item! It isn't their fault if she doesn't know what she want to order. Putting pictures of each item online will only slow the system down to the point of unusability. Online shopping for anything is based on knowing exactly what you want. By all means go to the grocery store if you need to browse. And I can't get too worked up about the fact that they screwed up Brown's order after she tried to set up "musical delivery addresses." Yeah, they probably designed their system with the idea that a customer would have one delivery address. We have been using Peapod for six years. While we have had the occasional snafu -- including one as bad as hers -- and while it takes a while to master the substitute/don't substitute dance, we wouldn't trade it for the pleasures of Saturday at the supermarket any day. It's there, it's adequate and once you personalize your staples, it's fast. -- Steve Cohen I understand Janelle Brown's frustration with Peapod, because my husband and I are also customers and also have suffered from undelivered items or wantonly ill-chosen product substitutions. Despite the inconveniences that do happen, however, I like the fact that I can get the bulk of my shopping done without having to do anything more than make up a list. Then I can enjoy selecting my quality, gourmet items at the boutique-y grocery store within walking distance, without having to schlep all of the more mundane items home as well. Peapod has its very real flaws, but even so, it can work if you plan things out a little. -- Kristin Abkemeier San Francisco It's good that the Web site worked well for Janelle Brown. Getting the order shopped and delivered within a two-hour window is the difficult part of the business. We are working hard on the operations end of things. On Long Island, N.Y., we have opened up a store where we have more control of the inventory. This should alleviate the problem of out-of-stock items. Allowing online changes to delivery addresses increases the chances for fraudulent behavior. For this reason we have customers call our toll-free number to change their delivery address. We evaluate this every so often and may make online delivery address modifications an option in the future. -- Doug Van Beynen Senior Technologist, Peapod SALON | Dec. 22, 1998

R E C E N T L Y+| THE FEW, THE PROUD, THE RELIEVED BY JEFF STEIN

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