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With all of the panic over the Coronavirus, a lot of people are beginning to use grocery pickup services to avoid germs in public spaces. However, there are plenty of other reasons to use grocery pickup. I have actually been using the Walmart pickup service for over a year and love it!
I’ve talked to many people who have never tried Walmart’s pickup service. Some have done the Kroger pickup but are worried about the quality of the Walmart equivalent. The Walmart service is free, afterall. With the whole “you get what you pay for” motto, it is understandable why people might be hesitant to do a huge grocery order through them.
However, as someone who has been using this service for over a year, I highly recommend using Walmart grocery pickup! Here are a few reasons why:
*This post contains referral links*
1. It’s very convenient
This is probably the reason most people decide to use online grocery shopping. It’s simply more convenient. You don’t have to go walk around the store for an hour to get everything or worry about standing in line. If you have small children, this is even more appealing. It also helps me get everything I need in one go instead of forgetting something and having to go back to the store the next day. While I’m making my order online, I can run to the pantry and double check for what I need. It’s so nice, and I find that I have to shop way less frequently. One caveat to this is that you do have to plan in advance to use this service. You can’t just place an order and pick it up in an hour. Usually it’s next day pickup, so that’s something to take into consideration.
2. It saves money
What’s even more appealing to me than the convenience of not going in the store is how much money you can save when you use this service! First of all, impulse buys are way less likely to occur. You aren’t walking around the store being drawn in by candy bars, cute mugs, or seasonal decor, so you are way less likely to overspend. Another great feature is that when you buy groceries online, it adds your total for you as you go. For the mathematically challenged (like myself) this gives me an idea of how much my total will be by the time I check out, which I’m pretty terrible at predicting when I shop in person. It is also really easy to find sales on items you are looking for. If you are looking for tortillas, you can just type that into the search bar, and then see if any of the options that appear are on sale. They usually have the price in red if they are. I usually don’t take the time in store to look that carefully for sales, so this has saved some money!
3. It helps us eat healthier
Again, using this service makes it much less likely to buy things impulsively. When you walk around the grocery store it’s easy for different (and often not so healthy) food products to catch your eye and wind up in your cart. The nice thing about shopping online is that you will only see those things if you actively search for them. Before I make a grocery order, I use this amazing meal planner app to create a schedule for our meals that week. Then I take the grocery list it creates and use that to do my shopping. It helps me stay focused on the food we actually need instead of buying what sounds good in the moment!
4. The produce is surprisingly great
Produce was a big concern for me the first time I tried this service. I was worried that the person shopping for me might not pick out the best veggies or fruits. The first time I tried this, I made sure to only order a couple of veggies so that I wouldn’t waste my money if they were bad. I was pleasantly surprised to realize that the produce they picked for me was better than what I could usually find on the shelves! I don’t know if they have access to fresher produce in the back or what, but I have never had a bad experience with produce using the pickup service.
5. You can get unexpected gifts and bonuses!
One of the fun, unexpected perks of using the grocery pickup service is that occasionally you get little bonuses or gifts! You usually get a gift bag full of sample products the first time you order, which was a fun little surprise. We did a pickup on Mother’s day this year and they gave me a gift bag with different healthy snacks and other little products to try. The same happened when we made an order when the school year started and the provided a little “back to school” gift, which was so fun when all I was expecting was groceries! Another perk is that occasionally they have to make substitutions for something you ordered. I know this doesn’t sound great, but it means you can sometimes get the name brand of something for the price of the generic. There have been several times where we have even gotten larger versions of the same product for the price of the smaller one we originally ordered. I can’t tell you the number of times we have gotten twice as much bacon for the price! (I always order the smaller package, and they pretty much never have it in stock.)
6. The people are very friendly
I realize that this could vary by location, but I have had nothing but great interactions with the employees who work in the grocery pickup. They are polite, efficient and they even load the groceries in the car for you! A lot of people think you don’t get any interaction when you order groceries online, but that’s not really true. I feel like I make just as much conversation with the people loading up my car as I would with a cashier.
I know there are probably people who are just against grocery pickup services in general, but there are definitely perks that make it worthwhile. It’s not that I never shop in person (I actually did a big grocery haul yesterday in person), but there are times where the pickup service is incredibly helpful!
I highly recommend checking out the Walmart grocery pickup. The minimum order is $30, so it’s not too risky to try...especially since if you use my referral link, you can get $10 off your first order!