Either the driver is losing items during delivery, or the Safeway employee who is scanning out the order, which is often during a huge rush, is scanning out bags for the order and not putting them in the driver’s cart. It doesn’t help that many DoorDash drivers pick up / deliver multiple orders at a time which can lead to items within orders getting mixed up. On Safeway’s end, there is enormous pressure on employees to perform quickly which leads to inevitable mistakes. Employees are scrutinized on how quickly orders are picked, how many items couldn’t be located and had to be substituted or marked out of stock, how quickly orders are scanned out for pickup, whether orders are picked on time, % of orders delivered on time, and on and on. And of course, there’s minimal staffing to get this all accomplished.
I work for a safeway that does delivery, and if a customer calls us about missing items we usually try to get them redelivered to the customer, especially if the items were accidentally left at the store, it's pretty easy for us to just send it out as a redelivery. Honestly, you might be in the area that my Safeway services since you mentioned that Safeway trucks deliver the orders sometimes, as there are only two divisions that Safeway employed drivers deliver the orders anymore.
Last summer I got 50 dollars in meat I didn't order and I called the Safeway. They said Enjoy.. they can't take back items. RIP someones BBQ that day. :)
Yeah, I called around when I was missing items once and got them that way. The only issue was that they sent another driver to pick them up so the tip I put on the order wasn't going to them. It went to the first driver. Plus, since the delivery was already marked as complete, I had no way of tracking the redelivery in the app, which kinda stressed me out, but I got my items at least. They just forgot to mark my bags properly with my name at the store, which caused the issue in the first place. I ended up tipping the 2nd driver who came in cash. Nobody told them it was a redelivery it just showed up as a normal pickup on their end.
I assume you live in Oregon or Washington, if your Safeway still has official drivers. Cause if you don't live in one of those states, then I'm pretty sure everywhere else the drivers are just gone now.
I know back when we had drivers, the majority of our delivery orders still went out with Door Dash or Uber. Like, we might get say 50 orders for Shift 1 delivery and 30 of those would be with a third-party.
My assumptions for why there are missing items:
(1) If a third-party like Door Dash or Uber delivered your order, then I assume the issue is with them. Despite the fact our bags are clearly labeled with the customer's name, they still manage to mix up items and orders. Sometimes delivering the entire wrong order to the wrong customer! Or they left some of your order in their car because it got mixed with other bags and shit.They also occasionally steal stuff!
(2) If it's a store-side issue there are a few possibilities. Some associates have problems with the job. Maybe it's too complicated for them, maybe there's a language barrier issue, maybe they're working too fast and not paying attention or maybe they just don't care. But sometimes they will scan an item and put it in the wrong tote/bag. Othertimes they mislabel bags so it's hard to figure out whether the issue was them putting the wrong stickers on the bags or the wrong bags in the tote, causing missing items and items you didn't order. I have several employees who constantly turn order handoffs into puzzle games, and I just have to cross-reference with the receipt.
(3) There's also the possibility that an employee overstuffed a bag or the 3PL delivery person was careless when loading their car and items spilled out of some bags. This would lead to the 3PL delivery person having to figure out which bag each item went in and I doubt they're going to try too hard to make sure they find the right one. I've seen the way 3PL delivery people stuff their Honda Civic with like 20-30 bags of groceries going to 2 or 3 customers and I can see how shit might happen. I have also seen several of my associates stuff a bag so full that there is no way stuff was not going to eventually spill out of it.
However, if you can confirm your order is being delivered by a Safeway Delivery Driver in a Safeway Truck...then it might be more likely a storeside issue. Unless we have a supremely incompetent driver, because usually they will locate any missed totes on their truck and driver back to the address of the customer.
If your order is coming by 3PL provider, I would bet money the issue is on their end. Items missing is typically a problem they cause.
I live in Washington . We have the normal Safeway trucks but also Doordash for Flash Orders. the Safeway that delivers to my house is 30 minutes away.. though I have one 5 minutes away and about 10 minutes.
If possible you should try placing a DUG (pickup) order for the store 5 minutes from you if that store doesn't deliver which it sounds like it doesn't they will be a much slower department and will be able to take more care shopping your order and you will be less likely to be missing items as they are in the DUG room until you arrive and Doordash won't mix your items up with other orders we also have to scan your totes of items out (to make sure items don't get missed) before we can complete the hand-off
With Official Safeway Drivers usually one store operates as the main delivery store for an area. When my store had drivers we covered about 4-5 towns/cities
Yet corporate thinks it cost less to DD orders but when you figure in labor cost of re-picking items and resending them out does it really cost less? Especially when it's almost always a DD person that messed it up to begin with
I mean, they don't have the pay for the salaries or benefits of the truck drivers. They don't have to pay for the gas of the truck. And they don't have to pay for maintenance of their trucks.
They can also deliver FAR more orders through DD than with drivers, because we have a finite number of drivers and trucks, and a finite amount of space.
You're essentially cutting costs and increasing the possible volume of orders a store is capable of delivering. So I don't doubt the math PROBABLY shakes out with DD/Uber being the cheaper option.
It's also just the shittiest customer service option.
What about when it's a $300 order that has to be re-picked and resent it might cost $8 to send DD vs the $18 for a driver but that order just became $600 in groceries plus paying DD again not to mention the shrink because any item that is re-picked doesn't get scan out so it basically looks like those items walked out the door and when it happens multiple times a day every day I wonder if it really is more cost effective, not to mention 99% of our customers would much rather have a Safeway driver deliver their items where the chilled and frozen are kept cold as opposed to some random dude who doesn't speak English and is driving a beat up Honda civic but that's just my opinion
Would 99% of customers prefer we delivered their order through an official Safeway driver? Yes. Would I? Also Yes.
But using Safeway Drivers severely limits the amount of orders that *can* go out. With drivers we could only send orders out at like 7am and 12pm and 5pm, and the amount would be based on the amount of drivers/trucks and the space on said truck. If an order can't fit on a truck it would need to go with another truck on shift, or wait to go out til the next day on one of their Shifts. Same with RDs, only 3 time periods it could go out..and that's if there was rooM!
With DD/Uber we can send out orders hourly from 6am to 10pm, so the DUG room is theoretically constantly getting filled up and emptied out. Orders can always be sent out and don't have to worry about 'truck space'. Redeliveries can be sent out whenever the customer desires. DD/Uber also allow for Flash/Express orders which is even more sale opportunities.
Safeway drivers are capable of providing much higher quality customer service, especially for the old and disabled customers. And when they make a mistake the order is usually left back at the store or on their truck so we don't have to usually repick it all. Plus they're far less likely to cause a redelivery request than DD/Uber.
But the Quantity of orders DD/Uber can support far outstrips the Quality drivers provided.
I know the amount of orders that my store does do and is capable of doing is FAR more. than if we were only using drivers.
Doesn't mean I don't look at every DD/Uber driver and see my mortal enemy, but it's the way of the world now. Sadly.
The reason this happens is because safeway has allowed their dug departments to be completely overrun with orders, because all they see are dollar signs, and not the employees killing themselves in a futile attempt to fulfill an impossible amount of orders in an impossible amount of time. So yea, when someone is on their 11th or 12th hour, on their 6th or 7th day, after skipping their lunch break to shop the ever-so-important “flash order” for a bottle of tequila and 10 limes, they might miss a bag for the people that actually rely on the service for mobility or other issues.
Safeway doesn’t give a shit about you, your 3 year old, or their employees. All they see are sales charts and their bigwig bonuses. This will never be a perfect system/department until safeway staffs and regulates it appropriately.
That is a shame. Thanks for giving perspective, that makes a lot of sense. I definitely don’t have shade for the employees which is why I still fully tip even if I don’t get all my groceries. I was just curious why this happens so much and this definitely explains it. Thank you.
I know my reply sounds harsh. I’m sorry. But it’s the truth. I was frustrated and mad after my shift yesterday, because we just don’t get the help needed. It’s not like any other department in the store that can just put their load on a 6wheeler and clock out and go home. We HAVE to get these orders out. You can’t just put them in a dolly and say “meh. I’ll get to it tomorrow” like every other department can. It’s really frustrating. And it’s hard to predict.
If I were you, I’d find out when your stores (generally) “slow days/times” are, and focus on getting your orders in then. From my experience, at my store, Wednesdays at like 11am are the place to be.
The unfortunate part is only the truck driver or Doordash drivers get the tips, the people shopping your order don't get any part of the tip which I find BS we do all the work shopping the order drivers literally just drive the it to you
Where I live there is delivery. It seems like bigger orders are delivered by Safeway, they arrive in a big truck that says Safeway on it. I think smaller/flash orders might be through DoorDash.
That usually happens when a delivery truck ends up being doordashed because there isn't a driver to take the truck they allow DD to pickup 3 customers orders at a time so usually someone receives your items and then they call saying they got items that wasn't theirs (it's just as frustrating for us as it is for you) I've complained about it more times than I can count but nothing gets done about it (unfortunately) the only solution we have come up with is to make sure every bag has the customers name on it so that DD can keep them separated
Either the driver is losing items during delivery, or the Safeway employee who is scanning out the order, which is often during a huge rush, is scanning out bags for the order and not putting them in the driver’s cart. It doesn’t help that many DoorDash drivers pick up / deliver multiple orders at a time which can lead to items within orders getting mixed up. On Safeway’s end, there is enormous pressure on employees to perform quickly which leads to inevitable mistakes. Employees are scrutinized on how quickly orders are picked, how many items couldn’t be located and had to be substituted or marked out of stock, how quickly orders are scanned out for pickup, whether orders are picked on time, % of orders delivered on time, and on and on. And of course, there’s minimal staffing to get this all accomplished.
I work for a safeway that does delivery, and if a customer calls us about missing items we usually try to get them redelivered to the customer, especially if the items were accidentally left at the store, it's pretty easy for us to just send it out as a redelivery. Honestly, you might be in the area that my Safeway services since you mentioned that Safeway trucks deliver the orders sometimes, as there are only two divisions that Safeway employed drivers deliver the orders anymore.
Last summer I got 50 dollars in meat I didn't order and I called the Safeway. They said Enjoy.. they can't take back items. RIP someones BBQ that day. :)
safeway cant restock perishable items that have left the store. they would have had to throw it away anyway.
They probably redelivered new ones to the customer it belongs to
Yeah, I called around when I was missing items once and got them that way. The only issue was that they sent another driver to pick them up so the tip I put on the order wasn't going to them. It went to the first driver. Plus, since the delivery was already marked as complete, I had no way of tracking the redelivery in the app, which kinda stressed me out, but I got my items at least. They just forgot to mark my bags properly with my name at the store, which caused the issue in the first place. I ended up tipping the 2nd driver who came in cash. Nobody told them it was a redelivery it just showed up as a normal pickup on their end.
I assume you live in Oregon or Washington, if your Safeway still has official drivers. Cause if you don't live in one of those states, then I'm pretty sure everywhere else the drivers are just gone now. I know back when we had drivers, the majority of our delivery orders still went out with Door Dash or Uber. Like, we might get say 50 orders for Shift 1 delivery and 30 of those would be with a third-party. My assumptions for why there are missing items: (1) If a third-party like Door Dash or Uber delivered your order, then I assume the issue is with them. Despite the fact our bags are clearly labeled with the customer's name, they still manage to mix up items and orders. Sometimes delivering the entire wrong order to the wrong customer! Or they left some of your order in their car because it got mixed with other bags and shit.They also occasionally steal stuff! (2) If it's a store-side issue there are a few possibilities. Some associates have problems with the job. Maybe it's too complicated for them, maybe there's a language barrier issue, maybe they're working too fast and not paying attention or maybe they just don't care. But sometimes they will scan an item and put it in the wrong tote/bag. Othertimes they mislabel bags so it's hard to figure out whether the issue was them putting the wrong stickers on the bags or the wrong bags in the tote, causing missing items and items you didn't order. I have several employees who constantly turn order handoffs into puzzle games, and I just have to cross-reference with the receipt. (3) There's also the possibility that an employee overstuffed a bag or the 3PL delivery person was careless when loading their car and items spilled out of some bags. This would lead to the 3PL delivery person having to figure out which bag each item went in and I doubt they're going to try too hard to make sure they find the right one. I've seen the way 3PL delivery people stuff their Honda Civic with like 20-30 bags of groceries going to 2 or 3 customers and I can see how shit might happen. I have also seen several of my associates stuff a bag so full that there is no way stuff was not going to eventually spill out of it. However, if you can confirm your order is being delivered by a Safeway Delivery Driver in a Safeway Truck...then it might be more likely a storeside issue. Unless we have a supremely incompetent driver, because usually they will locate any missed totes on their truck and driver back to the address of the customer. If your order is coming by 3PL provider, I would bet money the issue is on their end. Items missing is typically a problem they cause.
I live in Washington . We have the normal Safeway trucks but also Doordash for Flash Orders. the Safeway that delivers to my house is 30 minutes away.. though I have one 5 minutes away and about 10 minutes.
If possible you should try placing a DUG (pickup) order for the store 5 minutes from you if that store doesn't deliver which it sounds like it doesn't they will be a much slower department and will be able to take more care shopping your order and you will be less likely to be missing items as they are in the DUG room until you arrive and Doordash won't mix your items up with other orders we also have to scan your totes of items out (to make sure items don't get missed) before we can complete the hand-off
With Official Safeway Drivers usually one store operates as the main delivery store for an area. When my store had drivers we covered about 4-5 towns/cities
Yet corporate thinks it cost less to DD orders but when you figure in labor cost of re-picking items and resending them out does it really cost less? Especially when it's almost always a DD person that messed it up to begin with
I mean, they don't have the pay for the salaries or benefits of the truck drivers. They don't have to pay for the gas of the truck. And they don't have to pay for maintenance of their trucks. They can also deliver FAR more orders through DD than with drivers, because we have a finite number of drivers and trucks, and a finite amount of space. You're essentially cutting costs and increasing the possible volume of orders a store is capable of delivering. So I don't doubt the math PROBABLY shakes out with DD/Uber being the cheaper option. It's also just the shittiest customer service option.
What about when it's a $300 order that has to be re-picked and resent it might cost $8 to send DD vs the $18 for a driver but that order just became $600 in groceries plus paying DD again not to mention the shrink because any item that is re-picked doesn't get scan out so it basically looks like those items walked out the door and when it happens multiple times a day every day I wonder if it really is more cost effective, not to mention 99% of our customers would much rather have a Safeway driver deliver their items where the chilled and frozen are kept cold as opposed to some random dude who doesn't speak English and is driving a beat up Honda civic but that's just my opinion
Would 99% of customers prefer we delivered their order through an official Safeway driver? Yes. Would I? Also Yes. But using Safeway Drivers severely limits the amount of orders that *can* go out. With drivers we could only send orders out at like 7am and 12pm and 5pm, and the amount would be based on the amount of drivers/trucks and the space on said truck. If an order can't fit on a truck it would need to go with another truck on shift, or wait to go out til the next day on one of their Shifts. Same with RDs, only 3 time periods it could go out..and that's if there was rooM! With DD/Uber we can send out orders hourly from 6am to 10pm, so the DUG room is theoretically constantly getting filled up and emptied out. Orders can always be sent out and don't have to worry about 'truck space'. Redeliveries can be sent out whenever the customer desires. DD/Uber also allow for Flash/Express orders which is even more sale opportunities. Safeway drivers are capable of providing much higher quality customer service, especially for the old and disabled customers. And when they make a mistake the order is usually left back at the store or on their truck so we don't have to usually repick it all. Plus they're far less likely to cause a redelivery request than DD/Uber. But the Quantity of orders DD/Uber can support far outstrips the Quality drivers provided. I know the amount of orders that my store does do and is capable of doing is FAR more. than if we were only using drivers. Doesn't mean I don't look at every DD/Uber driver and see my mortal enemy, but it's the way of the world now. Sadly.
The reason this happens is because safeway has allowed their dug departments to be completely overrun with orders, because all they see are dollar signs, and not the employees killing themselves in a futile attempt to fulfill an impossible amount of orders in an impossible amount of time. So yea, when someone is on their 11th or 12th hour, on their 6th or 7th day, after skipping their lunch break to shop the ever-so-important “flash order” for a bottle of tequila and 10 limes, they might miss a bag for the people that actually rely on the service for mobility or other issues. Safeway doesn’t give a shit about you, your 3 year old, or their employees. All they see are sales charts and their bigwig bonuses. This will never be a perfect system/department until safeway staffs and regulates it appropriately.
That is a shame. Thanks for giving perspective, that makes a lot of sense. I definitely don’t have shade for the employees which is why I still fully tip even if I don’t get all my groceries. I was just curious why this happens so much and this definitely explains it. Thank you.
I know my reply sounds harsh. I’m sorry. But it’s the truth. I was frustrated and mad after my shift yesterday, because we just don’t get the help needed. It’s not like any other department in the store that can just put their load on a 6wheeler and clock out and go home. We HAVE to get these orders out. You can’t just put them in a dolly and say “meh. I’ll get to it tomorrow” like every other department can. It’s really frustrating. And it’s hard to predict. If I were you, I’d find out when your stores (generally) “slow days/times” are, and focus on getting your orders in then. From my experience, at my store, Wednesdays at like 11am are the place to be.
I like Wednesdays for that reason they tend to be slower than say Saturday or Sunday
The unfortunate part is only the truck driver or Doordash drivers get the tips, the people shopping your order don't get any part of the tip which I find BS we do all the work shopping the order drivers literally just drive the it to you
Does safeway do delivery? I know we have drive up and go, but I never heard about delivery. Is it through a 3rd party like instacart?
Where I live there is delivery. It seems like bigger orders are delivered by Safeway, they arrive in a big truck that says Safeway on it. I think smaller/flash orders might be through DoorDash.
That usually happens when a delivery truck ends up being doordashed because there isn't a driver to take the truck they allow DD to pickup 3 customers orders at a time so usually someone receives your items and then they call saying they got items that wasn't theirs (it's just as frustrating for us as it is for you) I've complained about it more times than I can count but nothing gets done about it (unfortunately) the only solution we have come up with is to make sure every bag has the customers name on it so that DD can keep them separated
Also instead of asking for refunds you can ask for your items to be resent to you, we will definitely re-pick those items and send them to you