If you don’t know by now, Walmart recently launched its own membership service for goods similar to Amazon Prime. Walmart + is a membership where it’s customers can get free unlimited delivery on goods and groceries. This is their main benefit to combat Amazon Prime, but it’s not their only benefit. One of their other benefits that is exclusive to the program, is their “Mobile Scan & Go” tool, which I will get into a little later. Below are the current benefits of being a Walmart + subscriber.
I have been using Walmart + for a good time now. When I try out new products or services, I like to test them out over a longer period. This allows me to give a proper full review, rather then a quick one. I have gotten delivery a hand full of times, but mostly have done pickups. In our area, weekend times sell out pretty fast. I am still trying to test a theory out with slot times and scheduling. If I want say a Sunday slot, I need to do the shopping on Friday as doing it the day before gives me no availability, at least for weekend days. Normally, delivery can range from$7.99-9.99 for each delivery so it has already paid for itself. While currently, in my area we don’t have any gas stations associated with Walmart, I can’t review their 5 cents off per gallon benefit, but that one is straightforward it seems. More recently, Walmart has included another stab at Amazon, Free Next Day/2 Day delivery on items on Walmart.com (no minimum needed).
The delivery and pickup of my groceries has been great so far, if you have shopped online for groceries before, then this should be nothing new. Basically, you pick your your date & time, choose your items, put them in the cart, and pay online. At the end, you can select which items you want substituted just in case they are out of that exact item. What’s good about Walmart is, say you like a specific brand of item or choose their Great Value brand, if they are out, they will substitute for the same of a different brand. So if you drink coffee and are fine with their Great Value brand of creamer and its out, they could grab the more expensive one and give you the same price as the Great Value price. Not bad don’t you think?
One of my go to features has been the Mobile Scan & Go benefit. I have used this mostly every time while shopping inside. If you shop at Stop & Shop, its similar to their system where users can use their store provided scanner tool or mobile phone, scan their groceries, bag them and just check out at a register. You already might be thinking that Stop & Shop doesn’t charge its shoppers to do this. You are right, but your also paying Stop & Shop prices and not Walmart’s as well as Walmart carrying just about everything you need in a store. The mobile scan & go benefit has saved me so much more time and provided me less stress. By scanning your items, placing them in the bag or cart, all you have to at the end is hit checkout, show your camera to the QR code already displayed at any self registers and leave. Sometimes depending on the item, you may be checked by an associate, these are usually items like alcohol(if your Walmart sells it) or others like harsh chemicals. You never have to touch the register screen which makes contactless checkout a breeze (not something Stop & Shop offers its mobile scan users). Usually, the self checkout lanes are pretty quick as most people will only have a few items, so if you shop on the weekends, you can bypass the main lines and check out your huge order because you already scanned and bagged it. Even though this is only included in the Walmart + membership, I hope they keep it in their paid benefit because its a great feature to have included with the already free unlimited monthly delivery you get with the program. The only downside of scan and go, is if you want to scan barcodes within Walmart to check prices and such, the only way to do so is to clears your cart as it runs within in the same app. Maybe a future update could fix this issue.
At the time of this post, Walmart + costs $12.95 a month or $98 a year. If your thinking that’s expensive, its not. It is in line with Amazon Prime (which we have as well). If you frequently shop at Walmart, then this should definitely be a subscription you test out if not get. Walmart is offering 15 days free to try it out but can be extended to 30 if you watch out for their email. Paying the year price upfront will save you $4.00 a month bringing the total to just $8.16 a month. To me, that’s a great deal just for the unlimited delivery, not to mention the additional scan & go feature and free delivery.
So if you are a frequent Walmart shopper either for groceries or other goods, I suggest you click on the picture below, signup for the free trial and test it yourself. Even though I also have Amazon Prime, this is a great addition to what I already do…Shop at Walmart!
Walmart +
12.99
Pros
- Price is competitive with features
- Free 1/2 day shipping, no min
- Free grocery delivery
Cons
- Can not use regular features while you have the mobile scan & go order
- Gas stations currently limited by regions
