With more and more people ordering groceries for delivery, it’s getting increasingly difficult to find an open time slot on services like Instacart and Amazon Fresh. To combat this, many computer developers have made bots and other tools that automatically hunt for a free delivery slot, take it, and then complete the user’s order. This eliminates the need to constantly refresh the page, hoping for a slot to open up.
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One of these bots was created by data scientist Pooja Ahuja. Her bot checks for free delivery slots on Wholefoods or Amazon Fresh and can checkout automatically.
Ahuja tells Vice why she created the bot, "I designed the bot for those who find it extremely inconvenient in these times to step out, or find it not safe for themselves to be outside. It is my contribution to help flatten the curve, I really hope this'll help reduce the number of people going out."
Ahuja's design is rare. Most of the bots do not complete checkout. Instead, when a delivery slot is available, they notify the user, who then has to complete the order.
There is definitely a market for this kind of tool. In fact, an Amazon spokesperson even acknowledged the difficulty of ordering groceries when speaking to Motherboard: "Grocery delivery is a vital service as communities face the challenges of COVID-19. Our primary focus is increasing delivery availability every day so that we can serve more people. To do this, we’ve rapidly expanded grocery pickup, increased hiring, transitioned select stores to exclusively fulfill delivery orders and more. And, in the coming weeks we will release a queueing feature giving customers a virtual place in line to secure time to shop and schedule delivery, allowing for a more equitable distribution of delivery windows."
If you want to set it up on your computer, check here for step-by-step instructions.
