One afternoon last month, 18-year-old Chanelle Nicholson shopped with her 1-year-old daughter, Camryn, at Food Depot, about four miles from their house. Nicholson's uncle had dropped them off at the store, passing an Aldi market that was nearer to home but smaller.
Nicholson filled her cart with a mix of foods - from frozen corn to soda - and took a hack back home. She said she rides supermarket hacks all the time, paying the drivers $7 or $8.
'I trust them'
"I trust them," Nicholson said, noting that she's taken hacks since she was a little girl tagging along to the supermarket with her mom.
Ella Chalk, 59, feels safe with the regular drivers but steers clear of unfamiliar faces.
"Only thing I worry about is the younger guys that look like thugs," said Chalk, who was a social worker until a car accident put her on disability a few years ago. "I heard one day they picked a lady up and drove off with her bags."
Chalk had no such trouble last month, when she took a ride from Ernest Peterson, 61. After walking out of Food Depot with the aid of a cane, Chalk asked Peterson to drive her to the Maxway variety store on the other end of the shopping plaza. He loaded her groceries - a 20-pound bag of dog food, juice and popcorn - into the trunk of his 2007 Chrysler and waited more than 15 minutes while Chalk bought dog treats, bleach and detergent at Maxway.
A long mile
Then Peterson, who loaded cargo at BWI for 26 years and took up hacking upon retirement two years ago, headed for her rowhouse a mile away. He has customers who want to go eight or nine miles, a trip that might earn him $10 or $12. But most live nearby, just too far to walk with bags. Many come by bus, but don't want to go home that way when they're loaded down with groceries
On the way to Chalk's home, over gospel music on the radio, they chatted about church. (He's a Baptist, she attends Bethel AME.) When they arrived, Peterson carried her bags inside to the kitchen.
"It's very convenient and very reasonable," Chalk said of the service.
That was an understatement. Chalk did not offer any money. Peterson left without asking for any.
He said that happens "every now and then," especially toward the end of the month, when people on government assistance tend to run low on money.
"Lot of people don't have it," he said. "If they don't pay, I just go about my business. The Lord'll take care of me."
