Increased demand for grocery delivery leaves some waiting days for food

People being told to stay at home meaning grocery orders, pick-up and delivery, are taking much longer than normal, with some shoppers waiting days or even a week or longer for their orders to be ready.

Harris Teeter's website says that due to high demand they're having later time slots.

Viewers have told WRAL News that Harris Teeter, Food Lion and Walmart have little to no availability for delivery or curbside pickup right now.

Services that do have availability such as Instacart could take days to deliver.

List of stores offering grocery delivery and pick-up

"People like me and my family, we can't stock up for three or four weeks at a time just because we don't have the ability to do that," said Connie Green.

Her family has had groceries delivered since the pandemic began, but recently they've found that the deliveries are taking even longer.

"There's been an issue with Instacart getting the deliveries," Green said. "Now with the pandemic going on, it's taking three or four days," she added, saying that under regular circumstances orders could be ready in as little as five hours.

Instacart tells WRAL News that it's seen its highest customer demand in history, and that was before the White House emphasized the importance of continuing social distancing and staying at home as much as possible over the coming weeks.

"This is the moment to do everything that you can on the Presidential guidelines," Dr. Deborah Birx said at Sunday's White House briefing. "This is the moment not to go to the grocery store."