Episode 51 is a little different than a normal style episode I typically do. It’s a closer look into Walmart Plus. I talk about the benefits, the cost, my personal experiences in the trial period and a recap of my thoughts. If you are a current Walmart shopper, this episode is for you. If you are a “never in my life will I shop at Walmart” type of shopper, guess what, this episode is for you as well. You need to be informed or else, you could be missing out on potential savings of time and money.
Listen to the episode on your favorite podcast app or simply click on the play button below. If you find the episode valuable, please consider sharing with a friend and ensure you have followed/subscribed to the show so you don’t miss another episode. Enjoy!
SHOW NOTES: This post contains affiliate links. You don’t pay any extra, and I earn a small commission. I’d also like to call attention if prices I mentioned in this episode were prices I paid at the current time and may not reflect the prices you would pay at the time of reading or listening to this.
If you choose to dig a little deeper with a personal free trial to Walmart+, consider going through my link. It’s no cost to you, and I get a small commission. Above all, remember, what works for me or doesn’t work for me, might in fact, work perfectly for you! 🙂
Episode Recap:
Walmart+ is wrong for you…..
-If you live outside of an area that Walmart delivers to
-If you already know you wouldn’t take advantage of grocery delivery
-However, even so, I’d like Walmart+ to still be on your radar as a gift for someone in need. (more on that at the end of the episode)
Walmart+ is right for you….
-if having your groceries delivered sounds appealing to you instead of going to store or doing store or curbside pickup
-if you already are using a service like Instacart for groceries
What is Walmart+ and what are the benefits?
It’s a membership from Walmart that helps you save time and money.
Benefits include:
–Free delivery from your store.
Order as often as you want for free
Same everyday low prices you love
100% freshness guaranteed
-Early Access
Exclusive to Walmart+ paid members
Shop special promotions & events
Includes online Black Friday deals, product releases, & more
Free shipping, no order minimum
No $35 order minimum required
Huge assortment of eligible items
Items shipped by Walmart ship for free (this doesn’t include Marketplace items (which are 3rd party vendors selling on walmart.com)
Prescriptions for less
Get select prescriptions for as little as $0
Save up to 85% on thousands more prescriptions
Available at over 4,000 Walmart pharmacies
Member prices on fuel
Save 5¢ per gallon on fuel at Walmart & Murphy stations
Access member prices at Sam’s Club fuel centers
Over 2,000 convenient locations
Scan & Go
Contact-free checkout
Less time at the register
Streamlined store shopping
So, what’s the cost?
Annual $98 a year/$8 month
Monthly $12.95
There’s a 30 day trial right now….
Things to note:
There are no markups on items from the store getting delivered to your house, which is awesome!
Tipping is also done through the online process and you can change it up to 24 hours later
My personal experience in the trial….
-I tried out the grocery delivery. Girls got Covid, which is what prompted me to finally try the service.
Mine was a 15 day trial offer and then they offered me to extend to 30 days once I tried to cancel it. Want to extend your Walmart+ trial to 30 days? Take 3 question survey…um yes please…extended to 1/2/22
Grocery Delivery Recap:
First day home from covid for girls. The frozen/regrigerated delivery items were cold….great! I was not happy with substitution return policy. Who wants an Oreo gingerbread house substituted with Twizzler gingerbread house??….not me! Tried to fix in real time, but couldn’t. I think the return policy is lacking. If you’re appealing to people buying online, why would this be the return policy? Would have loved the option to have it returned to store with next grocery delivery planned.
My other grocery deliveries were nice. I liked this feature, however, the tipping gets me. I’m not, not going to tip. So, that’s a cost factor. Because as I’ve said in past episodes, I have more time than money. But on weeks where I have a ton going on or even more so in my working at a corporate office days, I would gladly not even think about the tip being factored in. Because the convenience was well worth the cost. So, in my case, if Walmart had their own employees, driving their own Walmart vehicles, and this service was a part of their normal work duties, then there wouldn’t be a question at all in my mind if I’d continue past the trial. I’d do it in heart beat. However, at this time, Walmart is using third party deliverers, and I want to make sure they are being properly compensated.
Free shipping:
no $35 minimum….that was nice.
Scan & Go:
I have some mixed thoughts on this benefit…..
1) It was nice from the standpoint that when I was done shopping, everything was already totaled. However, you still have to wait in line at the express check out and scan your bar code at a self check out machine. I think there should be a separate line or scanner that allows Walmart+ Members to bypass the line, scan their barcode and be on their way.
2) I don’t know exactly how I feel about the act of scanning while shopping. Since everything is done on your phone, it was like a juggling act. I keep my shopping list on my phone To Do list where my husband and I both have access to it. So, I’d have to go in and out of the apps to check my list, then pull up the Walmart app, scan the item, then get out of the app, check my list, and repeat the process. I might just prefer to dump everything in there and scan everything all at once…especially since I’m going to have to wait in a line regardless.
3)If you have the scanner on the app running continuously it will significantly drain your battery…..I probably didn’t go in with a full charge and I can’t say that as a fact, but I definitely didn’t expect that. and guess what…you need your phone to access the app to ultimately complete your shopping trip by scanning that barcode. So, I’m unsure how that would have played out if my battery completely went dead.
4)I was thankful I was testing this out without having toddlers with me. I personally think it’d just be too stressful. My girls aren’t toddlers anymore, but yikes thinking back in those days. I did think that if I had my ipad and my phone with me the girls would probably enjoy scanning the products and putting them in the cart and then I could use one device to mark off my grocery list. So, all in all, this feature didn’t offer a big splash for me. Although, if Walmart added a special lane for Walmart+ Members with faster ability to get out of the store, I’d probably change my mind.
Prescriptions & Early Access to deals are not apart of the trial period, so I didn’t look into those further.
Gas benefit I didn’t use just because I have a costco membership and gas is always the cheapest there and I just didn’t care.
Laura Tips
-If a product is showing as a grocery item when you search and you aren’t wanting to spend the $35 on that shopping trip, see if it’s also flagged as a delivery item. I received a bottle of Hershey’s chocolate syrup on one delivery and body soap on two separate deliveries. They were scheduled to be delivered in 2 days; however, I guess it was cheaper for Walmart to deliver via the store, so I received them in 2 hours instead.
-When trying out the Scan & Go benefit:
-Bring your own grocery bags or as you come in head to the checkout lane and grab a handful.
-If you have some kind of phone holder that clips on to things, I could see that being handy fixed on the shopping cart.
-If you choose not to go with the Walmart+ membership, I still think it should be on your radar as a gift for someone in need.
So, to sum up:
For me, I didn’t pursue the membership after trial period. Mainly because of the fact I’d also need to incorporate tipping into grocery delivery. Unlimited grocery delivery is awesome, but if you’re tipping every single order, that adds up. Cause I’m not going to tip a $1. It’ll be more like between 10-20% given how I’m feeling that day, weather conditions, etc.
If you have more time than money and you are an Amazon Prime Member who is already committed to holding that Amazon Prime Membership no matter what, then you’re probably going to land in the same position as me. I still recommend trying out the service, because you never know. You may just really hate going to the store or messing with store pick up. You can avoid that with Walmart Plus.
If you have more money than time, and especially if you are an Instacart person, I completely think Walmart+ is a slam dunk for you. I would not dismiss this service if you are Anti-Walmart. I, for one, really like shopping at Walmart. So, while I didn’t choose to elect to continue with the Walmart+ Membership, it’s not because I don’t see value and it’s not because I don’t like Walmart, it’s simply because it’s not the right time in my life for the benefits to justify the cost.
If you end up trying out the Walmart+ Trial, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Simply leave a comment on this post or email me at Laura@shortcutshopper.com.
Take care!