Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

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teelainen
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Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by teelainen »

Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Do they really give you free delivery on everything at the store with no minimum order size? Seems too good to be true.
runner3081
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by runner3081 »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Do they really give you free delivery on everything at the store with no minimum order size? Seems too good to be true.
No, not every single store item can be delivered. Many food items can't, same with some larger bulky items.
RudyS
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by RudyS »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Do they really give you free delivery on everything at the store with no minimum order size? Seems too good to be true.
There are some items that due to their nature, size, etc., are not available to ship. Not many, but some. So "everything" is not correct. They offer free shipping on what they do ship. May be other exceptions but I don 't know of any.
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quantAndHold
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by quantAndHold »

Amazon does 1-2 day shipping, plus Prime video and a bunch of other stuff, for $119. Compared to that, $98 is probably a bit high.
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gwe67
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by gwe67 »

No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
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Topic Author
teelainen
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by teelainen »

gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
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Bogle7
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Nope

Post by Bogle7 »

Not for me.
I order $35+ worth of groceries at a time and get free delivery.
Some items are delivered within hours from a local store.
Some take a few days.
Some take a week.
Speed of delivery is not important to me.

Walmart is losing money on me as my orders are as close to $35.01 as I can get.
Old fart who does three index stock funds, baby.
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gwe67
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by gwe67 »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:01 pm
gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
They do leave the groceries at the front door. There is a line item called "Store delivery tip" on the bill.

FWIW, I watched delivery guy drop several items in the street and then put them back in the plastic sacks. The delivery was also 20-30 minutes beyond the delivery window. Not a good experience for me.
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123
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by 123 »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?..
You don't have to get all dressed up in your finest to go to Walmart anymore.
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charis23
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by charis23 »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:37 pm Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Do they really give you free delivery on everything at the store with no minimum order size? Seems too good to be true.
We've done the trial and it's been pretty useful for us. Both in terms of delivering things (mainly groceries) to us and delivering things to our friends who might be sick or in need. I like how Walmart doesn't charge more if you order online like other retailers do. I also like how you don't generally have to order a 24-pack of something like you do on Amazon. I'm on the fence for whether to do it on top of Amazon Prime.

When I was at a Walmart, I saw some of the employees doing some of the shopping for presumably these pickup and delivery orders. They use a huge cart with multiple bins. It must be so time consuming to do that.
Katietsu
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by Katietsu »

I have several relatives that use it. An elderly relative started doing it last winter when curbside had to be scheduled too far in advance to know what the weather would be like. The expectation was that it would be a winter only thing. But they love it and kept it. A younger relative uses it so she does not have to load the minivan full of littles to pick up the groceries. I believe both probably get a delivery most weeks. If you need something right away like a milk or a battery, you can just add staples like laundry detergent to reach the $35 minimum. Note that the $35 minimum only applies to delivery specifically from your store. There is no minimum order from walmart.com and the delivery address can be anywhere. So you can order a $7 item to be delivered to your daughter 3 states over.

Note that Walmart Plus is the same price whether or not you have a local store that does grocery/food delivery to your residence. I would consider this to be a huge factor as to the value. The availability of appointments would also greatly affect the value for me. It is by far much cheaper than the grocery delivery options available to me. They either have larger fees or they charge you more for the items purchased than the in-store prices.
makingmistakes
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by makingmistakes »

teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:01 pm
gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
You shouldn’t get groceries delivered if you don’t want to tip.
falconsfan
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by falconsfan »

Use the 30 day free trial and see if it's useful to you. I got mine extended by answering a short survey, ymmv. I have bought some clearance items (slickdeal) for less than $10 and they were delivered in a couple days. Happy so far but I do not use it for groceries.
MBB_Boy
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by MBB_Boy »

makingmistakes wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 6:48 am
teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:01 pm
gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
You shouldn’t get groceries delivered if you don’t want to tip.
Why?
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ClevrChico
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by ClevrChico »

I did the trial, and they didn't disclose that tipping was needed, so didn't continue.

My regional grocery offers free delivery with a similar subscription, with no tipping required. (Delivery is done by grocery employees in company vans.)
They also offer curbside pickup, which is what we use. It's better than driving to the far 'burbs to go to Wal-Mart.

I DO use Wal-Mart's "ship to home" option, which is really good, but that's separate from their Plus/grocery delivery option.
Last edited by ClevrChico on Tue Jan 18, 2022 8:10 am, edited 2 times in total.
Invest4lt
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by Invest4lt »

Also, in case you have one, this membership is free with a AMEX Platinum via monthly statement credit.
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makingmistakes
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by makingmistakes »

MBB_Boy wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:06 am
makingmistakes wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 6:48 am
teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:01 pm
gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
You shouldn’t get groceries delivered if you don’t want to tip.
Why?
Because in most cases the delivery person is relying on tips to make a livable wage.

Don’t want to start another tipping discussion tangent though … heard enough from the boglehead self-righteous millionaires who justify not tipping.
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Godot
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by Godot »

gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
How much did they expect, and how was this conveyed?

Edit: Nevermind. Was answered later.
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Shackleton
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Re: Nope

Post by Shackleton »

Bogle7 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:05 pm Not for me.
I order $35+ worth of groceries at a time and get free delivery.
Some items are delivered within hours from a local store.
Some take a few days.
Some take a week.
Speed of delivery is not important to me.

Walmart is losing money on me as my orders are as close to $35.01 as I can get.
I’m with Bogle7, this is exactly what we do. I prefer Walmart over Amazon for a variety of reasons, one of them being that if the order is fulfilled by Walmart it ships FedEx. With Amazon, it often came by USPS which is not my preferred delivery service.
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Beowulfto
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by Beowulfto »

I think the worth of this is very subjective. Those who can use or see value in the service may find it invaluable, but those who don’t make use of it will see it as a waste. Much like a Sam’s Club/Costco membership.
Some of the situations I have found valuable:
Christmas gifts - Free shipping to anyone anywhere. Much easier than packaging and shipping myself. Also much cheaper. Saves hours at the post office.
Free Delivery - Much like Amazon Prime, if I find something I need I order it. Don’t have to play the add-on game to exceed $35. Today it was A4 paper which will arrive Wednesday for free. No-one carries it locally, so saves me time and effort. What is my time worth?
Free Grocery Delivery - I don’t use this often, as I like to choose my own items. However, this has proven invaluable in a few situations. When the whole household was ill, this got us what we needed without having to make a trip, or trips every other day. During the holidays when schedules were packed and had very little time, we got exactly what we needed at our front door within hours. Being able to get what we need with little fuss was hugely valuable. And I didn’t begrudge a tip. We are planning a Spring Break trip. I plan to use the grocery delivery service to get what we need delivered to our condo. Saving 2-5 hours of vacation time? Priceless! Think about it like taking a toll road. I don’t do it often, but when I need to use it, its worth every penny.
Scan and Go - No one has mentioned this, but I signed up the first month they offered it. Being able to scan my items as I shop and pay with one scan at the register is excellent! Saves me hours.
To each their own. If you make use of the services, you will love it. If the services aren’t of value to you, it isn’t worth it. With a household that increasingly has more money than time, I see the $98 as a great investment in family time and peace of mind. When I stop seeing the value I will discontinue it.
jane1
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by jane1 »

We have done Walmart grocery delivery a few times. Our nearest walmart is >10 miles away, so saves driving time, gas and time wandering the aisles looking for items in the store and standing in checkout line.
I like the fact that the price is the same in-store or for delivery. And of course their prices are lower than the local supermarkets. I can also order small quantities (just like in the store). This is not often the case with instacart, costco online prices.
Ability to order dairy items, frozen items, fresh vegetables, etc from a saved lists & specifying substitutions is helpful. They have done a pretty decent job with the user-interface.
There have been several cases where they charged me for the weight (per my order), but the actual weight was greater!

Note that one can order regular (non grocery) from walmart.com with free shipping without the subscription.
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jabberwockOG
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by jabberwockOG »

I rarely need groceries that total less than $35. I have ordered from Walmart a few times . Their packaging and delivery quality is pretty terrible. Items like a bag of flour, have arrived damaged or broken in the box in a majority of Walmart deliveries. We use Walmart only as a last resort.
MBB_Boy
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by MBB_Boy »

makingmistakes wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 4:23 pm
MBB_Boy wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 9:06 am
makingmistakes wrote: Mon Jan 17, 2022 6:48 am
teelainen wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 10:01 pm
gwe67 wrote: Sun Jan 16, 2022 9:54 pm No. I started the free trial and had groceries delivered once. The expected tip for delivery was a deal breaker. I prefer to drive 2 miles to Walmart and have them load up the trunk with groceries, with no tip and no $98 Walmart Plus subscription.
Don't they just leave the groceries at your front door? How do they ask for a tip if they just leave the groceries at your front door?
You shouldn’t get groceries delivered if you don’t want to tip.
Why?
Because in most cases the delivery person is relying on tips to make a livable wage.

Don’t want to start another tipping discussion tangent though … heard enough from the boglehead self-righteous millionaires who justify not tipping.
Seems like a weird way not to start a convo, especially if you're going to call people self righteous. But whatever
mw1739
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by mw1739 »

We use it for the unlimited free grocery deliveries. We switched to Walmart pickup during the pandemic after the local Kroger store was consistently out of items. After a few months of the 30 minute roundtrip to Walmart, plus the actual wait to pickup our order, we switched to delivery. We've found the deliveries to be largely on time during the week, but occasionally late on the weekends. Similarly there seem to be more substitutions and unavailable items on the weekends. When we've found missing items, you simply check a box and request a refund on the app. Despite my general aversion to Walmart, this service seems to work well for us.
gpburdell
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by gpburdell »

Fyi, if you have an Amex Plat it covers the W+ subscription.
Trism
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by Trism »

I've used W+ twice in the months since it became an Amex Platinum benefit.

One order that I expected to be shipped and arrive in a couple of days was actually delivered from the nearby store in about 90 minutes.

This can be a blessing or a curse.

I happened to be home for that delivery, but I travel a lot and often order things while I'm out of town. I really don't want items arriving a couple of days early, only to sit next to the front door screaming "no one's home!" or "someone please steal me!"

The W+ "benefit" makes the Amex Platinum card worth an extra $0 a year to me.
DarthSage
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by DarthSage »

I don't see the value for me, personally. Walmart is 3 miles away, and I have no problem doing grocery pick-up, or getting delivery of non-food items through the website (no subscription required).

What I do is, pick a pick-up time a few days out, and place an order for basics and non-urgent needs--onions, say, or canned or frozen items. Then, I go in and edit the order when it's close to pick-up day, to add any new items. We've got 5 people living here, it's easy to come up with $35 worth of less-essentials for the initial placeholder. You can add to your order up to ~8 hours before pick-up.
yougotitdude
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Re: Is Walmart Plus worth the $98 per year?

Post by yougotitdude »

If you have young kids and if they delivery groceries in your area it is totally worth it.

I recently moved and they don't deliver groceries here. But for a couple dollars tip, getting your groceries delivered is huge. They have monthly memberships for $12 I think.
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