Jeanne Patterson, 67, of Upper Darby Township, went to the home deliveries platform Instacart in the early days of the pandemic, writes Christian Hetrick for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Now she’s a fan. Online ordering saves her hours of shopping, she said. 

And, she can use the app at multiple stores.

 “It’s really opened up the availability of products and stores that I wouldn’t go to because it’d be too far, too much of a hassle,” Patterson said.

But others who went to home deliveries during the pandemic are eager to get back into the stores.

Rich Allen, 39, of Center City Philadelphia, got frustrated over received orders with perishable items that quickly expired.

Some items like bread and cases of water, were more expensive through an app than on site.  That’s on top of existing service fees and driver tips.

 “There were just tons of times where we were getting the wrong items, or we didn’t get our items at all,” Allen said.

Demand for online home delivery exploded during the pandemic.  Now, with people feeling safer going into stores, online delivery has fallen, though the pandemic did generate some permanent converts.

Read more at The Philadelphia Inquirer about the desire to stay with online grocery shopping.

Video questions if the online grocery shopping boom from the pandemic can continue.

For those who order groceries online, here are 10 tips that will help make your shopping experience better.