A Time Saving Tip: Harris Teeter Express Lane Service

Ah, the Sunday afternoon trip to the grocery store. I dread it. First there's the issue of finding the time. Then the list making, remembering to bring the list, the three-ring circus that is grocery shopping with a four year old who like to go rogue with her “shopper in training” cart.

I like to shop at Harris Teeter and recently found out that the grocery store chain offers a service called “Express Lane.” When I realized it was my turn to bring snack for the week to Sophia’s class (just imagine the haul required to feed 28 preschoolers for five days) I figured this was the perfect time to try it out.

How It Works

Go to the Harris Teeter website and look for the list of locations offering Express Lane. Unfortunately for me, the store I frequent most is not on the list. My next closest option was the Harris Teeter on Duke Street at the Foxchase Shopping Center.

This isn’t the most convenient location but I figured it would be worthwhile to drive a little out of my way if I was saving time in the store. The next step is to make sure there is an available window of time to pick up your groceries that day.

Now, the time consuming part. Enter your grocery list. I was excited to see that I would not have to make my list from scratch if I entered my VIC card. Apparently once your VIC card is linked to your online account, you can access the list of groceries purchased during your last shopping trip in the store or online. 

Unfortunately I haven’t had a physical VIC card in years and always use my phone number. You need your actual VIC card for this feature to work on the website. So I had to create my grocery list and the school snack list from scratch and this was not fun. Searching for apples yields lots and lots of apple varieties. I could never locate the raisins. Somehow I ordered five bags of regular sized bagels instead of the 5 bags of mini bagels I need for the class snack.

There isn’t a place to simply enter in the name of an item and search; you have to look under headings and subheadings. I gradually lost patience as I went along. I think this is something I will get better at as I use the feature more often and having a saved list in my account will make this much faster in the future.

Any frustration about the difficulties of entering my shopping list into the system disappeared when I arrived at the store to pick up my items. A friendly voice had already called me to clarify that they had substituted a different brand of crackers that what I ordered because what I wanted wasn’t in stock. I pulled into the Express Lane,  gave my name over the speaker at the call box, and my groceries were immediately delivered to my car. I felt like a VIP who has “people” doing their shopping for them. A pair of dark glasses and I could be Elizabeth Taylor!

Every convenience has a cost, but the Express Lane service only costs $4.99 (and this fee is waived the first time you use it). I think I’ve found a way to make Sundays a little less hectic – thank you Harris Teeter!