I Stopped Going in Walmart 6 Months Ago & This Is Why
Have you ever used Walmart Grocery Pickup? Here is a how-to and review of Walmart Grocery Pickup if your a newbie!
The links in this post may be affiliate links. That means that if you click them and make a purchase, this site makes a commission. It will have no impact on the price you pay or the experience of your purchase.
You either completely love Walmart, or you despise it. There is really no gray area. And I am really black and white on most things, but this? There is gray area for me in my love/hate relationship of Walmart.
I mean you gotta love a store where you can go get cleaning supplies, toiletries, groceries, a quick outfit, and tires for the car in one stop. The store literally has everything. And the one by me has a pretty decent and affordable produce section, so then there’s that.
But then you have the long lines, never-ending short staff, and the less than quality service in most cases.
The Walmart by my home actually has pretty regular employees there, they have made a career of Walmart, are good with it, and so they are not grumpy all the damn time. So when we moved here, I was more than okay with shopping at Walmart. And with my number one grocery store, Aldi practically in the parking lot, to be able to knock them both out in one swoop made my life so easy.
But then it started being a gamble on how long I would be in line when Iw ould go. And there seemed like I really just didn’t have the time to do things like grocery shop lately. So I would find myself trying to piece meals together scrapping the cupboards, or running to the store real quick to grab a thing or two to cook.
And then I discovered Walmart Grocery Pickup, and life was forever changed!
I told you guys that my shopping strategy is Aldi everything I can, and Walmart everything I couldn’t.Now that Aldi has home delivery and Walmart pickup (and delivery too) I have not been in a grocery store in months.
All Your Questions Answered About Walmart Grocery Pickup + An Honest Review
What is It and How Does It Work?
Walmart Grocery Pickup is an online service that allows you to order groceries online, drive to your local Walmart and pick up the items without turning off, or even leaving your car.
Even beyond groceries, it allows you to order a lot of the other things you have to regularly shop for like toiletries, household items, and more! I order things like lotion, paper towels, paper plates, and even face wash. Shoot I think I added hair oil one day too. Basically, I am getting all. Of. the. Things!
…from my car people!
This makes me happy just typing it.
How Do You Order Using Walmart Pickup?
Ordering works just like any online ordering you do:
- Create an account
- Search items and put in cart
- Checkout
Literally 1-2-3. And once you save stuff to your favorites it is even quicker…
After signing in, you select from a store in your area and an available pickup time slot in one-hour increments. For me, the one that is closest to my house usually doesn’t have any same day pick up slots, so occasionally I drive a little further to go to another store if I need same day.
While you can order online on the website or the app, if you order online you want to make sure you download and sign into the app so you can check in. Once you hit the check-in button, if you enable GPS, it determines when you pull in the parking lot.
It’s a pretty seamless process.
The Pickup Process
Once you arrive at your Walmart store you follow the orange signs to the designated grocery pickup area. Normally on the side or back of the building.
You pull into the parking spot and then the app will recognize that you are there if you enabled GPS. If you did not enable GPS, you can mark that you have arrived.
When you arrive it will ask you to input the color of your car and the parking space number you are pulled into. The app then alerts the associates inside the store that you are there and they come out to load you up after confirming your order.
In the earlier days of the program, you were required to call the number on the parking space placard and let them know you have arrived.
I like this new way much better. Typically your shopper comes out to the car within a minute or two.
If there were any unavailable items or replacements, they go over that with you on their handheld device, and once you approve they ask you to sign for your order.
In the event you don’t want the replacements, they will remove them from your order and then update it before you sign.
The payment is pre-approved when you order, kinda like how it happens at the gas station when you use a card, and then it is not finalized and processed until you actually pick up.
What If I am picky about my produce?
I will tell you I am not one of those super picky people about my produce. As long as it looks good and isn’t spoiled, moldy, or all out rotten, I am good. However, if you ARE picky Walmart has a freshness guarantee where you only have to bring in your receipt for a full refund.
Also keep in mind, that things that are sold by weight will be an estimate when you order. Your shopper will try to get as close as possible to what you selected and the amount will be reflected in your final order.
Are There Any Ordering Tricks Or Special Things I Should Know?
Save Favorites. This makes future shops a breeze. You can “heart” the items you frequent and the app will put them in the “your items” section.
Plan ahead. My store hardly ever has same day appointments since it has gotten more popular. So try to plan to order at least a day ahead.
All Walmarts are not created equal. The Walmart by my house aggravates me sometimes, and most recently the service was not amazing. So I sometimes schedule the one on the way to my son's school because the people are always super friendly and organized.
My Honest Review of Walmart Grocery Pickup + Is Using Walmart To Order Groceries Really Worth It?
My answer is a resounding YES!
Walmart grocery pickup saves me time and it saves me money. The fact that I can’t randomly end up with stuff in my cart from strolling the aisles is the best part. It has done wonders for the budget and keeping down unneeded random things.
Most grocery items and non-grocery items are available for online ordering and that makes me happy. I don’t have to worry about normal household items either like soap, toothpaste and paper towels.
I have on occasion had a person who was lacking personality, but it happens. The biggest thing to me is that my order is right and if that is good. I am good.
The shoppers are not allowed to take tips, which is kinda weird to me. I mean nowadays you tip for everything, I’d gladly tip for a person to save me from shopping for groceries.
With things like the guarantee on produce and the amount of variety offered, it is honestly more than worth it. You really have nothing to lose. If you are looking at this review to determine if it is worth your time, energy, effort, money or whatever, my answer is yes!
Are There Any Special Discounts or Promo Codes To Use for Walmart Grocery Pickup?
I am glad you asked! I do have a promo code for you! If you click this link here, you can save 10 bucks on your first Walmart grocery order. And as a special thank you, Walmart gives me $10 dollars off too. We all win!!!
And the best part is that you can continue saving if you refer your friends too cause you will get your very own referral link to share. And in the very true words from uncle snoop (Snoop Dogg), “Ain’t no fun if the homies can’t have none?”
You May Also Enjoy:
- How To Maximize Savings {and time} On Weekly Grocery Shopping
- The Essentials For A Well-Stocked Pantry
It sounds like the results are pretty varied based on location. I live in the Atlanta area and I absolutely love the Wal-Matt pickup up! I am a person that has historically despised Wal-Mart. It’s just too much going in there and trying to get out (timely anyway) and don’t even think about trying to find someone to help. Well a friend suggested I try the pick up so I did. I will admit that sometimes I wait longer than I want to (like now…I’ve been here about 15 minutes), but I think that’s because it’s gained popularity rather quickly. I’ve not had a lot of issues. There was one time I got here and they had given my groceries to the person that was right before me so I had to come back later. They were beyond apologetic and gave me an “upgrade” on everything I ordered. (Example, I ordered a beef chuck roast and they gave me 2 beef chuck roasts!). They also gave me a $20 Walmart gift card for my trouble. The only downside on that was that I couldn’t use it on groceries. But it was still a very nice gesture. I can honestly say they made a Walmart shopper out of me.
I agree I hated Walmart before. But when I moved to NC it was more tolerable. But I would only go in there at certain times of day. Now with pickup it’s that much better.
Check your receipts when they send them to you as soon as you can! I’ve been using the WalMart grocery pickup, and only started checking my receipts a week ago. I’ve found that they’ve overcharged me 3 times now on 3 different trips in the last month. I’m now having to go back and recheck my receipts 1 by 1 through my bank statements, and I’m almost sure I’ll find more mistakes. Buyer Beware!
I have tried Walmart grocery store pickup and delivery and have had nothing but problems. Every single time I ordered for pick up my groceries were over one hour late. Last week they were supposed to be ready at 4 pm and were not ready until 7:45 the following morning. Many times in pick up I did not get all my food or got other people’s groceries. I decided to try delivery. My groceries were supposed to be delivered between 4 and 5 today. It’s after 6:30 now and customer service said the store hasn’t even started prepping the order. Maybe it’s because I live in a big city (Miami), but the service is terrible. I will never use it again.
I am so sorry to hear you have had such an awful experience. When I lived in Ohio, I was not a Walmart fan. I had experiences similar to what you mentioned. But when I moved to NC it has been amazing! Unfortunately, inconsistency is something that can happen when a company is that large. I also order using instacart, have you tried that before?
I tried it once, ordered at about 11am for pickup at 6-7 pm. Never got a email that the order was ready, contacted CS twice by email and once by phone. The phone CS was less than informative, dodging direct answers. So I put in on the table answer the question or get me a supervisor. She called the store after telling me over and over and over how the system was supposed to work. The message from the CS from the store they did not know. At this point we are past the pick up time. I demanded the order to be canceled. AGAIN with how it is supposed to work, which it does not. Today I get an email from the first email I sent offering me a 10 dollar credit. Nice but it is only good on the grocery. I feel that 8 hours is plenty of time to pick out an order. I did not care for the cavalier attitude of the CS nor of the responders email. I would imagine there is rocky waters for Walmart unless of course you place an order and give them DAYS to fill it. Amazon they are not not even close.
I am sorry you had such a horrible experience. I had one bad experience after I wrote this but it was not as bad as yours. I will say the level of service you get with Walmart varies from location to location and that is one thing I dont like about it.
We have been using grocery pickup for at least a year, and not having to go into the store is nice. Sometimes there are more out of stocks than in stocks on popular items, but in general they have what I want, and I do love being able to order non-grocery items. Around holidays they may not be ready on time, but all stores are crazy near the holidays. The employees are super nice and fun. I also like that you can check ingredients online, which is a must if you have food allergies. I have Celiac Disease, and Walmart offers a lot of items in store and online that you can’t get anywhere else. The prices are great, and who doesn’t love saving money? Occasionally I use the grocery delivery service. They even carry the groceries inside. Their commercials for grocery pickup are hilarious. If you haven’t seen it on TV, I think it’s on YouTube.
Oh wow! yes, that is awesome that it has all those benefits for you!!
I have not seen the commercials I am gonna have to check them out. I have not used delivery since pickup is free it’s easy. But I use delivery with instacart and I love that. Generally speaking, you just have to chill around the holidays, lol, and you’ll be fine. I just keep reminding myself that I did not have shop when I get frustrated, which is rare.