Massachusetts Shoppers Love to Abuse This Grocery Store Service

I suppose nothing should shock me anymore, but there's something that I have been seeing at Massachusetts grocery and department stores that shoppers downright abuse.

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Ever since supermarkets and department stores have offered online ordering and pickup, my wife and I have shopped for most of our products on the internet. She'll get the items ordered in the cart and then I'll go to the store and park in one of the "curbside pickup" spots (or various other names), call the number on the sign and a team member will deliver my items to my vehicle. I absolutely love this service as it saves me tons of time from the traditional in-store shopping. It's very convenient.

But over the past few months, when I arrived at a couple of the stores that I regularly shop, more spaces have been taken up by cars that don't have people inside of them. What's going on? You guessed it. These folks are using the curb-side pickup spots as regular spots for their vehicles when they go into the stores to shop. In addition, I have actually seen some people pull into the spot, get out of their vehicles and go inside the stores.

What Can Be Done About The Abuse of a Wonderful Service? 

Unfortunately, there isn't much that can be done. Team members at two of the stores have told me that shoppers abuse the service regularly and if anyone from the store mentions it to them, it gets confrontational, sometimes threats are even verbally thrown round. Many of the store employees have been told by management not to bring it up in the future.

It's frustrating for folks like me who actually follow the rules and legitimately use the service. As you can imagine, it becomes difficult to find a spot when many, if not all, are taken up by empty cars. I just wish there was something that could be done. This probably happens all over the state, whether it's Boston, Worcester, or Springfield, etc. I'm curious, has this ever happened to you and is there anything you've done about it?