SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
Grocers are hiring new employees to meet the increasing delivery demand due to COVID-19.
Raley’s hired roughly 1,000 new shoppers this week and will begin training this weekend. FoodJets—which delivers the groceries for Raley’s—is quickly hiring new drivers.
Amazon is adding 800 new positions to its delivery network in the Sacramento area and 4,500 across Northern California.
“(People) bought a bunch of stuff — hoarded stuff — and so now the stores are being replenished,” FoodJets founder Darren McAdams said. “Depending on your store’s inventory levels you’re going to see, maybe in Auburn you can’t get a delivery for three days because it’s booked up, but in Sacramento it’s next day because the store has been replenished.”
The need is felt most for those homebound, where curbside pickup isn’t even an option.
“I mean, I went on Target, I went on Walmart. Even Amazon Fresh was out of everything,” Simone Patton said. “They’re out of certain things again—like toilet paper. I’m 60 years old and suffer from congestive heart failure.”
Patton lives in Rancho Cordova. The Army veteran is a breast cancer survivor, but currently has multiple chronic health issues—including asthma—and relies solely on delivery.
“Able-bodied people went into the stores and depleted the stores,” Patton said. “I found out this week I couldn’t get any Safeway deliveries orders until next week.”
Agency on Aging Area 4 oversees Meals on Wheels and other programs across Sacramento, Nevada, Placer, Sutter, Sierra, Yolo and Yuba counties and said the community is in unchartered territory.
Miller adds Meals on Wheels is still providing food delivery services and is accepting new clients. Whether there is a wait list depends on the county.
“Right now, we’re kind of at a crisis phase where everyone is just realizing that everything just has to be done remotely,” Executive Director Pam Miller said. “I would check on neighbors and families also at this point. I wouldn’t be afraid to ask for help at this point. And I’m hoping people who are neighbors are checking on older adults in their area and making sure there are things they can help them with.”
There has also been a growing number of people on the Nextdoor app offering to help others in need with shopping.
Miller cautions, while most are well intentioned, there is also the risk of scammers looking to take advantage of people at their most vulnerable.
Miller adds ideally, ask someone you know for help. But if you use online help be mindful of the risks.