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Hi there! Absolutely. This is why we are explicitly focusing on curbside pickup rather than delivery. It is not about snatching slots as soon as they become ava

Hi there! Absolutely. This is why we are explicitly focusing on curbside pickup rather than delivery. It is not about snatching slots as soon as they become available, but more about being able to check across dozens of stores at the same time. We've found that there are actually plenty of pickup timeslots available -- if you just look a bit outside super-urban areas. Call it human-loadbalancing-as-a-service if you will.

seltzered_ 6y ago
Thanks for clarifying. > "It is not about snatching slots as soon as they become available" Perhaps consider rewording your post title? It's currently: "Show HN: Get notified when grocery pickup slots are available" The idea of encouraging people to look for other stores seems to be something grocery stores are doing, I just noticed the Kroger-based chain's website I use (QFC) shows me a list of other locations with pickup availability.
perl4ever 6y ago
It may be more optimal in some sense, but it's reminiscent of how Google Maps sends people through residential neighborhoods during rush hour. Which you may have heard people get unhappy about. If it works as intended, assuming the demand continues to exceed the overall capacity, it's just going to spread out the overload more. If you have 200% demand then working on getting from 90% to 99% utilization is missing the forest for the trees.