Eighteen months in, I was ready to crown Kroger Boost one of the smartest subscriptions I’ve ever paid for.
Now? I’m not so sure.
What started as a flawless system for saving time, money, and gas has recently turned into a string of misfires. If you're on the fence about Kroger Boost in 2025, here's the unfiltered reality. The good, the bad, and whether it’s still worth it.
How Kroger Boost Changed My Life (At First)
Before Boost, I was that person. Grocery runs twice a week, hauling bags through packed parking lots and dodging carts in the aisles.
Then Boost showed up and changed everything. I went from making weekly grocery trips to visiting the store maybe once every two months. The home delivery convenience alone was worth the cost. No Instacart. Just direct delivery through Kroger's app. Simple, seamless, predictable.
For the first twelve months, it worked like clockwork. Minor issues here and there, like the occasional substitution or a single misdelivery, but nothing disruptive. I stopped thinking about groceries entirely. It was one less thing on my plate, and that mattered.
The Benefit Nobody Talks About: Fuel Points
This part deserves more attention.
Boost members get 2x fuel points. On paper, that sounds minor. In reality, it's where the savings stack up.
Here’s how it breaks down. 1000 points equals $1 off per gallon, up to 35 gallons. Fill a big tank and you’re saving $30 or more in one trip. Do that twice a year and the membership already pays for itself.
Even with just regular fill-ups, the math works. For our household, the fuel savings alone justify the annual fee. Everything else is bonus.
Year One Was Perfect. Then Things Got Messy.
The first year was near perfect. Deliveries arrived on time. Customer support was sharp. I stopped thinking about the logistics because they just worked.
But over the past two months, things started slipping.
Nearly one out of every three orders now arrives late. Sometimes by 20 minutes. Sometimes by over an hour. That’s a problem when you’re timing deliveries between meetings or during breaks. But it gets worse.
Last week, I placed a Monday delivery. The window passed. No groceries. I checked the app. Canceled. No message, no heads up, just gone. I jumped into the support chat for answers. Nobody had one. They apologized and offered me $5 off my next order.
For reference, that order totaled $125.
Fine. I placed the same order again for Tuesday.
This time it was delivered. To the wrong house.
I spotted the delivery confirmation while on a call. Walked outside. Nothing. Checked the photo. Not my porch. I found the bags three houses down, sitting in direct sunlight for over 30 minutes. Everything cold was ruined.
I tried support again. Two failed attempts just to reach someone. Spent over 30 minutes waiting in the chat before they finally refunded the spoiled items. They made it right, but the entire interaction felt slower, clunkier, and less capable than before.
And all of this happened within two days.
So... Is Kroger Boost Still Worth It in 2025?
Yes. But with an asterisk.
The value equation is still strong. Fuel points are a cheat code. The convenience still outweighs the cost when it works.
But Kroger needs to clean this up. Quickly.
Reliability is the whole value proposition here. If that erodes, the entire model falls apart. I can deal with the occasional hiccup. But two major failures back-to-back? That’s not friction. That’s a red flag.
And sure, maybe this is a regional issue. But if it’s happening here, chances are it’s happening elsewhere too.
Final Take
For the past year and a half, Kroger Boost made my life easier. It saved money, reclaimed time, and removed a weekly task from my brain. That’s no small feat.
But right now, it feels like the foundation is cracking. And if Kroger doesn’t fix it, they’re going to lose loyal subscribers who actually wanted to keep recommending them.
I hope they’re paying attention. Because this was one of the best services I used in 2024. I want it to still be true in 2025.
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Want to catch every detail? Start with Parts 1 and 2 below:
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