T&C outsourcing grocery delivery to Instacart; begins July 31

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Starting July 31, Town & Country Markets, a local Seattle-area grocery chain with locations in Poulsbo and Bainbridge Island, will transition grocery delivery services to Instacart.

T&C also intends to discontinue grocery pickup options July 31. Customers will be directed to the Instacart website or use the Instacart app to shop for delivery.

“T&C recognizes the dedication and amazing level of service its employees have provided and is working with these employees to try to place them in other positions within the markets,” T&C representatives said.

On June 17, UFCW 3000, the union representing workers at T&C Markets across the Seattle area, was notified of the closure of the e-commerce department, which includes grocery pickup and delivery employees, per union spokesperson Rich Smith.

T&C has begun the process of transferring e-commerce workers to other departments. As of July 24, no workers have been laid off, with the contract requiring T&C to place workers in open positions based on seniority, Smith said. The union represents roughly 148 employees at the BI location and 219 in Poulsbo.

“Messaging from Town & Country on this issue then and now has been inconsistent. At first they said eliminating e-commerce would lead to layoffs due to loss of sales, but they’ve since transferred to other departments some workers who could have been impacted by these layoffs,” Smith said.

On July 15, UFCW 3000 posted a letter online stating T&C management intended to outsource the e-commerce department to third-party Instacart to pick and stage products for customers. Union officials filed a grievance with T&C stating that outsourcing is a violation of their contract.

“We believe Town & Country can keep good union jobs in our communities without outsourcing our work to a third party. We will continue fighting to preserve the high-quality products and services that our customers deserve and have come to expect,” said J’Nee DeLancey, UFCW 3000 executive board member.

T&C reps didn’t provide additional information regarding the filed grievance, and confirmed that the grocery chain has also worked with Instacart to avoid price markups following the transition. T&C started offering online shopping options during the COVID-19 pandemic to offer guests additional ways to shop.

“Today, online grocery shopping and delivery has become more ubiquitous, and in the shift over the past six years, the costs of executing online shopping and delivery have increased, while customer expectations have changed and expanded,” per T&C reps. “In an effort to adapt to the shifts and create a service more guests choose to use, T&C began exploring its own model and guest interests. The team extensively reviewed options and providers and chose to partner with Instacart because they believe it will be able to offer similar levels of service as well as more options for days/times for delivery and an expanded delivery range.”