10 things I like about Relay Foods

1. The website is very well done and easy to use, even for a TechnoDolt™ like me.

And that's saying a whole lot, because even websites most people find clear and easily navigable are oftimes a web of confusion for me.

Photos of items are crisp and clear; descriptions and prices appear where you'd expect.

When you order, a little graphic appears over the item that lets you select how many you want by clicking a plus or minus sign instead of having to go to your keyboard to insert a number.

That's sweet.

Bonus: you can go back any time and change the number without having to go through screen after screen.

2. As I mentioned yesterday, the more than 50 stores and merchants (below) offering their wares on the site — from an artisanal chocolate maker to full service supermarkets like Reid's or Whole Foods — enable me to find pretty much anything I'd want when shopping in person, with the huge benefit of not having to travel to various locales — in fact, not to any locale.

You have the option of picking up your groceries at a time and place of your choosing around town — they offer a number of locations for that — or you can go the full monty route like me and have them delivered to your home (or business).

They deliver between 3 and 7 p.m. Monday through Friday, for $8 regardless of order size.

If you like you can pay a flat fee of $25 for a month of weekly deliveries.

3. Groceries come packed in large closed Rubbermaid containers, with perishables and frozen foods inside insulated freezer bags full of blue ice. Nice and cold.

They leave the containers wherever you like (I prefer my side door) and after you unpack them, you put them outside for pickup the next time they deliver.

4. Fruits and vegetables are all in excellent condition as one would hope since, after all, if they give you mushy tomatoes you're not likely to buy them again.

5. Prices seem about the same on average as what I pay at Kroger or Harris Teeter.

6. You can go back into your order up until midnight the day before delivery to delete items, change quantities, or add new items. It's simple and easy and you don't have to check out again, the changes are simply added to the existing order online. Very nice if, like me, you forgot the peanut butter and jelly the first time around.

7. Others in your family or friends or whomever you allow can add to the order, again anytime until midnight the day before.

8. You can schedule your pickup or delivery for the next day or way in advance.

9. They keep track of your previous purchases so it's super quick to just click on the ones you want again without having to search.

10. Miraculously, the site works perfectly on my iPad. In fact, it's easier than using a computer.

And did I mention that I no longer have to stand in the checkout line for 30 minutes while some bag boy runs to the back of the store to find the price of an item so that a sleepy clerk can ever so slowly ring up my groceries as my ice cream and Edy's fruit bars melt?