YORK, Pa. — About a quarter of Americans no longer hit the check out line at the grocery store.
According to Drive Research, 22% of US shoppers order their groceries online and have them delivered to their home.
Most places that deliver has a clear delivery fee posted when you check out, but FOX43 Finds Out there could be extra hidden costs depending on where you live and what you buy.
FOX43 Viewer Shannon discovered on a recent delivery order from Giant Food Store that she was paying much more than if she were to pick up the exact same order at the store and we're not talking about just a delivery fee. That $7.95 charge and tip for the driver is clear, but it's the price of individual products that vary. So much so, that the difference between her delivery and pickup order was more than $46.
FOX43 Finds Out did our own investigation, and found similar results.
We set up two orders both with the same exact items. One was a curbside pickup at a Giant Food Store in York county and the other was a delivery to an address near that store in York.
We had 39 items in our order, 12 of them had the same price between pick up and deliver, but the majority of them, 25 individual items, were more expensive, some by more than a dollar. Overall, we found only 2 of the items to be cheaper for delivery compared to pick up.
At the end, the price for the delivery was $16.85 more expensive and that's before adding the $7.95 delivery fee or tip, that's just the price of the actual food.
That viewer Shannon we mentioned asked a Giant Employee about how this is possible saying that it seemed deceptive not to list the price different somewhere.
She was told in an online chat that items are more for delivery than pick up. When Shannon asked where that was disclosed, she didn't get a direct answer.
FOX43 Finds Out reached out to Giant to ask that question, too.
A spokesperson told us, "Customers are informed before checkout that prices shown are for online orders only and do not apply to in-store purchases." We did find that in tiny print at check out.
The spokesperson also said, "GIANT Direct delivery prices sometimes differ from prices found in-store or pickup, as is typical for delivery services."
But it doesn't seem too typical in the area. FOX43 Finds Out also shopped around at Walmart, Target and Weis to see if we saw a similar trend.
All of those grocery stores did have delivery fees that were disclosed, but the actual prices of the items were the same, no matter if you did store pick-up or delivery.
When we told giant that and asked if they had any response, we never heard back.
Also, Shannon she doesn't think that one line at check out is enough to inform people of how much more they might be charged for delivery.
Of course, it's up to you to decide if that price difference matters and where you shop.
If you have a story you want Jackie De Tore to look into, FOX43 wants to find out. Send her a message on Facebook or send an email to FOX43FindsOut@FOX43.com. You can also join the FOX43 Finds Out Facebook Page.