Do you ask your home care caregiver to write checks for you to sign? How do you know that your caregiver isn't buying things for themselves when they go to the store without you? I want to make sure I keep everything on the up and up and protect both parties. Your input is more valuable than you can know!
I think the best course is see if the store you shop in has curb side or even home delivery. Then the Caregiver just picks up the items.
Gift Cards to the store is a good idea. The receipt will show the balance left on the card besides the items that were bought. No caregiver should buy anything for themselves on the same receipt. I did it many times were I would put Moms stuff on the counter, pay for it, then put my purchases on the counter and pay for mine. I see people do it all the time.
If I also needed to grab a couple of things at the store, I would, of course, do my transactions separately, but I really tried not to do that. My time was being paid by my employer and even that extra 10-15 minutes that I took for something personal made me feel like I was cheating my client. Some clients were perfectly OK with me doing a little 'personal' shopping--but I had to be super careful.
Just be honest in all your actions and there won't be any problems.
Shopping online and having things delivered is wonderful--but for many seniors, the 'going to the store' is more than survival--it's interraction with the employees that makes shopping a very social event.
Shouldn’t you, as a caregiver, be doing everything you can to protect your patient from COVID????
Why put the caregiver and your loved one at risk (and wasting time) by trudging through stores???
Instacart costs a little bit more, but you or caregiver can order needed essentials from several different sources, and items are delivered right to the doorstep. This has the added benefit of allowing your caregiver to spend their time caregiving - not shopping.
If items on your list aren’t available, you can either preselect substitutions, or the shopper will “text” you via the instacart app. Instacart provides the receipt to via email. Amazon (Prime = Free Delivery) and Walmart also deliver groceries.
Prepay: order the groceries for curbside pickup and pay by credit card online. The caregiver picks them up as directed.
Reimburse: the caregiver pays and you pay them back. You would confirm that everything is yours by looking at the receipt, then give them cash or a check. The caregiver may not be ok with lending you the money or may find a check inconvenient.
Cash or gift card. Give the caregiver a gift card or cash with a shopping list. They buy the groceries and give you the receipt and the change or the card back. Check the receipt and count the change. Or confirm the gift card balance before and after each trip to match to the receipt. It wouldn't hurt to write the date and amount of cash given on the shopping list and to take a picture of it when you hand it off so you both have proof.
Remember to be fair about shopping on work time and mileage reimbursement.
A few people here are saying that it is a matter of trust, but even an honest person will have a week when they are running short of money or forgot their wallet and will just pick up a few things for themselves when shopping for their employer. They may even mean to pay it back, and forgot. But after one time there will be another and it will escalate.
Our caregivers are not wealthy people, and it is wrong to put temptation in their way. As others have suggested there are many alternatives.
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