Gyroscopic Investing

Last Tuesday was four weeks ago when I last bought any outside food for either me or my pets.

At this point I'm down to about 10 days of the cat food (Friskies canned) that my cats are presently eating. As backup I do have several jars of dry food (which they wish they were getting instead).

I'm trying to keep myself isolated and out of the supermarket. Plus, even before this virus, my norm for buying cat food was to buy 100 to 200 cans at a time. During these times that might not be such a good look, even though, for me, it's just normal buying behavior.

Therefore, today, I need to research all the possibilities for the buying online of Friskies canned cat food, both terms of availability and price and then make some orders so as to, hopefully, have it arriving when needed.

All three of them seem to be picky eaters, liking some types of Friskies and not others. I could somewhat understand, perhaps, the two sisters having the same taste. But not why the third one, unrelated to the other two, also shares the same taste in the various Friskies type of canned food.

Both when I first got the three of them two years ago and, recently, I've been keeping an Excel worksheet for each different type of Friskie canned food which tells me how long it takes the three of them to eat a full can of a particular type. That tells me the ones I can load up on they do like and avoid the ones that they do not like.

Introduction over!

What experiences / successes have any of you had with buying cat food online and from where?

My first stops will be:

Amazon
Chewy
Walmart

Anywhere else?

Thanks

Vinny

We’ve ordered from Chewy 3 times. Always good, although I don’t like FedEx.

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:11 am We’ve ordered from Chewy 3 times. Always good, although I don’t like FedEx.

When is the last time you've ordered? In the last month? Interested in availability and delivery times.

Thanks

Vinny

MangoMan wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 8:38 am

dualstow wrote: ↑Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:11 am We’ve ordered from Chewy 3 times. Always good, although I don’t like FedEx.

What's your issue with FedEx? In general I have been happy with their service. Same with UPS.

Now USPS, ugh, terrible. Except the guy who comes to my office. He should be Postmaster.

I'll keep it short, since it's a protean situation:
Our UPS guy is amazing. The only one who bothers to knock, and friendly. He has raised the bar.
USPS has gone from bad to good. It helps that I know my carrier and tip her on holidays.
FedEx has at least one crummy guy who, even pre-Corona, drops boxes and runs without a bell ring or a knock. Other issues, too. Plus, FedEx outsources to Lasership and sometimes the so-called last mile delivery is done by a true non-professional.

So, I avoid FedEx like the, well, Plague. Except that I can't, always. Chewy uses them exclusively, for example. As does Winc.

Back on topic: I find Chewy to be very reliable. If I weren't determined to support the local Petco store that is minutes away on foot, I'd use Chewy for everything. I used to own their stock.

Results are in!

During these last few weeks the three cats have had 12 different types of Friskies canned food offered to them.

Upon analysis my three picky cats only ate four of them with any kind of speed (five hours or less to eat a can).

Amazon had all four types. And, at better prices for three of them than what I pay for them at Stop & Shop. Will arrive by the end of next week.

Chewy also had the same four types. But the somewhat astounding thing was their prices were exactly the same to the penny on each of the four types (including choosing the automatic delivery option)!

Walmart only had one of the types and was only available as a store pickup.

I'm going to stay with Amazon since they are generally almost 100% my go to for everything. Plus, I'll get an additional 5% using my Amazon credit card. I will be paying, though, 6.25% Massachusetts sales taxes. I did not pursue Chewy enough to determine whether or not I'd be charged sales taxes on purchases from them. Anyone know if they do charge sales taxes?

Vinny

Everyone I know orders canned food either from Chewy or Amazon, but it's nice to support a local non-chain pet store if you have one.

I feed my cats raw food mostly, so I don't have much experience with online can ordering. I get Sheba in a variety pack from Amazon (chicken, turkey, salmon) or Fancy Feast from the grocery, but they don't get this that often. I get raw frozen grinds in bulk from an online supplier (Hare Today). Lots of variety, but you have to supplement the grinds. I get a premix and add a measured amount to a 1 lb chub, which is 2 days worth of food. Works out pretty well.